Tonga

You won't find any commercial water sports like Para-sailing, water skiing or jet boats here, which is great. However, the country is blessed with some of the best waters in the South Pacific for sailing, game fishing and whale watching and there are some excellent coral reefs for snorkelling and scuba diving.

There are two great regions for Kayaking in Tonga. The myriad of islands in the Vavau Group offer calm waters and great exploring, and the Haapai Group further south has good small island hopping potential, visiting secluded beaches along the way.

The islands are also known as the Friendly Islands, the name given by Captain Cook because of the friendly reception he received. He happened to arrive at the time of Inasi festival, the yearly donation of the first fruits to the Tu’i Tonga and was invited to the festivities. According to the writer William Mariner, in reality the chiefs had wanted to kill Cook during the gathering, but had been unable to agree on a plan.

Understanding The Geography

Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an independent archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean. It lies about a third of the way between New Zealand and Hawaii, south of Samoa and east of Fiji.

Tonga consisting of 169 islands, 36 of them inhabited, and is divided into three main groups – Vava’u, Ha’apai, and Tongatapu, which together cover an 800 kilometre (500 mi) long north–south line. The largest island, Tongatapu, on which the capital city of Nuku’alofa is located, covers 257 square kilometres (99 sq mi).

Geologically, the Tongan islands generally comprise two types: volcanic islands rising directly from the ocean floor (e.g. Kao and Tofua in the Ha’apai group), and seismically uplifted coral limestone islands overlaying an older volcanic base (e.g. Tongatapu). The active volcanic islands are situated in an approximate north-south line located west of the more populated islands. A new volcanic island broke the ocean's surface in the Ha’apai group during the 1990s.

Climate Conditions

The climate is basically subtropical with a distinct warm period (December–April), during which the temperatures rise above 32 °C (90 °F), and a cooler period (May–November), with temperatures rarely rising above 27 °C (80 °F). The temperature increases from 23 °C to 27 °C (74 °F to 80 °F), and the annual rainfall is from 1,700 to 2,970 millimetres (67 to 117 in) as one moves from Tongatapu in the south to the more northerly islands closer to the Equator.