Tonga’s Too Cute Piglets

These piglets were from the dozen born two weeks prior from the sow next door to an artisan gallery.

Surely there are more pigs in Tonga than people.  As it’s spring here in the Southern hemisphere, piglets are everywhere.  There’s also some seriously tired sows.  Though nary any adult males, as it appears they’ve done their duty, then chop-chop for pork chops or the whole shebang (or would that be he-bang?) for the ever-popular Tongan pig roasts.

Surely this little piglet looks like he’s smiling!

Most of the pigs, wandering freely, scattered whenever we approached, even if simply passing by on a roadside walk.

We didn’t see any local pork sold in the stores, though some bacon, from abroad.  We’re guessing the locals take care of the own and there’s not enough of us seasonal yachties to require pork provisioning of the stores.   While we are not vegetarians and we do eat pork, maybe it was a relief to not see them in the store in such close proximity to where they frolic. 

It did strike me as particularly ironic to see a pig, happily laying down to rest like a pet dog with some Tongans, only a few feet away the (then unlit) Visitor’s Center BBQ pit.  It was just about the size of one I saw getting roasted there just a few days prior, on a rare occasion I did not have my camera on me.

Isn’t the curly tail on this tyke cute?

Happily, I did manage to take some piglet photos…. If you’ve never seen baby pigs (are read “Charlotte’s Web”) let me know if you’re surprised at how cute they are.

Location Location

This post was written in Neiafu, Kingdom of TONGA (oops -- don't have my lat/long with me here ashore in Tropica wifi cafe -- will update).  By the time this posts, we hope to be cruising some of Tonga's Vava'au outer islands.

Communication Access

Tonga wifi access is slow, so most posts will be set up to post when we’re in Tonga’s more populated areas.  Once we get to New Zealand in November, we expect much better wifi and will catch up on some recent cruising experiences and, eventually, some short video clips.

Cruising Progress by the Numbers

As of our start, December 7th 2014, from Jacksonville FL NAS, USA until our current (September 26, 2015) travels around the Neiafu, Tonga are -- ~9 months, we’ve spent about a third of our time --120 days -- sailing and covered 8,724 nautical miles.  The prior 2 years combined, we sailed 3762 miles.  By the time we arrive in New Zealand in November, less than a year from when we set out, we expect we’ll sail over 10,000 miles this year.  That’s a lot of miles for a boat with a hull speed of 7 knots; we usually sail far slower than that.