Ha'apai at last

It was still dark when we drove to the airport on Monday morning and we were the first to check in for our domestic flight to Ha'apai. The attendant took our passports and handwrote our boarding passes as another attendant weighed our bags. We had the two 20kg boxes of food donations, plus our own travel bags 5kg each. After weighing our bags, we ourselves had to step on the scale! I thought it was a joke at first, but when I saw the plane I understood why. They didn't hassle us about our weight at all, even though I also had my purse in addition to my 5kg overnight bag. Technically I wasn't allowed a personal item, but after looking around at the locals I decided that me and all my bags (even the 20kg donation box) still weighed less than most of them. 

 

We sat down across from the check-in counter and waited until they were ready to board our flight. When it was time, they simply opened the doors and we stepped out onto the tarmac and climbed into the plane, taking our seats right behind the open cockpit. No security, no prohibitions on liquids, overall a very relaxed (and pleasant) flight. Much smoother and quieter than I was expecting, especially with such a small plane.

When we landed in Ha'apai, we couldn't find our bags at the pick up counter. One of the other passengers on our flight had already picked up their bags and hopped in their car and were on their merry way, but there were a few other passengers waiting near the counter as well. P took our baggage claim tickets to the counter and they took the tickets and walked away with no explanation. Finally, another passenger asked if we were waiting for bags too and explained that some of the bags had been put on the next flight. Apparently they had been warned of this back at the mainland, but we were told nothing! 

Our hosts Finau and Talanoa arrived to take us into town and we explained the situation with the bags. They explained that the sea was too rough, so we'd have to wait until tomorrow to go to their place on Uoleva where we were meant to be staying and helping clean-up/rebuild. They dropped us off at the guest house in town and arranged to pick us up again to collect our bags, which went off without a hitch. We left the bags with them as that was their intended purpose and Finau was very grateful for the help. 

Since we weren't leaving until the next day for island clean up, we had plenty of time to relax. Luckily there was a cafe right beneath the guest house, so we ordered some lunch and chatted with the Polish lady who owns it. She directed us to a beach on the opposite side of the island that might be a bit calmer than the seas on our side/in the direction of Uoleva. We waited until after high noon in hopes that it might cool down a bit and then gathered up our snorkels and suits and headed to the beach. It took less than the 20 minutes we were expecting and we arrived to find our own private beach, with beautiful low tide and calm seas. It was a beautiful sand that felt heavenly between my toes, but the sea was full of coral and plenty of fish! We tested out our brand new underwater camera case and managed to snap a few good shots of tropical, colourful fish- the kind I'd been missing in New Zealand's colder waters. Oh, and did I mention the water was warm? It felt like a bath! What a beautiful way to spend the afternoon.

 

We headed back into town and took a welcome and refreshing cold shower. Then we grabbed some beer and cookies from the local China shop and watched the sunset from the wharf. Not having much else to do, we crawled into bed soon after the stars came out and untied our mosquito net to let it fall over the bed- did Erin explain any tricks for using these in her blog? It seemed to get in the way of my head unless I stayed toward the middle of the bed (if you know me, I move around a lot in my sleep) and I wasn't confident that I had sealed all the gaps along the bottom and imagined swarms of mosquitoes flying up into my net in the middle of the night. I was pleased to wake up in the morning with no noticeable bites.