Paella

0800 Position 18-43S 173-59W. On a mooring off Tapana Island, Vava'u, Tonga

During yesterday's morning radio net the moderator mentioned how cold it was the night before, and said it would get down to 16C last night in Vava'u. By my calculations that's 60F, pretty cold for a Hawaiian. I don't think it is much above 70F during the day. Yesterday I wore a sweatshirt all day and the sleeping has been great at night.

The wind blew all day long so we stayed put and hunkered down on our mooring. It was a good day for reading. The rest of the crew went ashore in the dinghy to explore. I stayed aboard and nursed my sore foot.

One of our reasons for coming to Tapana was to go to the Paella Restaurant. Run by a Spanish couple, the Paella has been a fixture here for decades. Rob recalls eating there in 1990 when it was nothing more than a coconut palm frond lean too just off the beach.

Owners Maria and Edwardo were circumnavigating on a sailboat when they passed through Tonga in the mid-1980s and decided to stop and settle here. They leased some land on Tapana and started building a restaurant that caters to visiting yachts. Over the years the restaurant has relocated and grown. It now sits on a hillside overlooking the anchorage and can seat about thirty guests. Reservations are required at least a day in advance using VHF channel 11. We called and made reservations for last night as soon as we arrived in the anchorage.

Bruce and Carrie from Haven were also in the Tapana anchorage and joined us for dinner making it a party of six. There weren't any other guests. Dinner was a set menu of a variety of tapas followed by a huge plate of paella.

After dinner was over it was time for the entertainment. Edjuardo is pretty old now, and it didn't look like he had either cut or combed his hair since settling in Tonga. The splitting image of a long haired Charles Manson minus the tattoos, he stepped barefoot on the stage with a guitar and started to play. The music sounded like a blend of Bob Dylan, Joe Cocker, and Carlos Santana. I don't know what language he was singing in, but it wasn't English and I don't think it was Spanish. It sounded to me like "talking in tongues" except it was singing. He got so wound up at one point that he kicked a drum over with his foot that started a domino like cascade of instruments and tables falling over. Like a real professional, it didn't phase him a bit. Somehow the music seemed to fit the venue and was pleasant and entertaining.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com