May 17, 2014 Pictures

We are on our way to the boat for a day trip to Atata Island.  You pass through the fish market
on the dock and it is quite educational.  They sell all colors of fish......

.......and octopus!  Don't they look appetizing?

Many have their own little catch of the day....fish and octopus.

Why waste time cooking them, when you can just have a snack to tide you over....

The trip to Atata Island takes you by several small uninhabited islands.  Notice the coral reef
that we are having to negotiate through.  It is an interesting trip as the driver listens to
 a young person who sits on the front and tells him which way to stear through them.

This is the South end of the small island that we are going to.  It is a beautiful Island!

We are pulling into the dock which is on the opposite side of the last picture.

Our marine biology lesson continues....if you are still reading after digesting the first pictures!
We see lots of different shaped Star Fish.  This one is around ten inches across.

Local beach bums!!  Mom, Sister Aland and Sister Mitchell ready to walk the beach
 looking for critters.

Houses here are like the poorest ones that we see on Tongatapu, except here the Chinese have
mounted a solar panel at every house on the island....which isn't very many.  There are only
200 total people on the Island.

They have their own government primary school.  This is the first school that
we have been able to visit.

The furniture is typical for all the government schools.  It is primitive at the best
and supplies are very limited.  Notice the shortened Tongan alphabet...

......and this is their library.  When your kids complain about their schools, remind them
of this fancy library with it's volumes of books.  It really is sad...we probably took that
many books to D.I. before we left.

The flowers are beautiful every where we go.

This is "Main Street Atata".  There are no cars here so the street just has walking trails.

Ever wonder where vanilla comes from?  The vanilla beans of course!

The kids are easily entertained in their front yard.  That is their home in the back.

 

 

They took some of us out beyond the reef to snorkel.  The most impressive thing I saw
were the huge clams.  They were two to three feet across and the inhabitants were
purple or blue or green or......also, there were lots of fish in a rainbow of colors.