Tonga with teens

Hi all,
We have just booked flights to Tonga in July 2009 for 9 days with our airmiles. (you have to be quick if you want to go during school holidays:-))
We have three children of then 15, 13 and 11 and don't mind a little basic to make it affordable (paying for everything times 5 tends to add up), but really don't want to compromise on hygiene. We'd love to do some good snorkeling, but from what I can tell, that means either going to one of the resorts north of Tongatapu or taking the plane to Ha'apai. Is this correct?
The only resort north we would be able to afford would be Pangaimotu (Tongan beachcomber resort), but I've heard stories about it being infested with rats. Is this correct?
And wht is the story on Billy's place? I heard Sally has left and it all has gone downwards since. Has anybody got any recent experience? (We'd love Matafonua but again, it gets a bit expensive if you need to buy all your meals there)
Are there good snorkeling safari leaving out from Tongatapu as an alternative?
How easy/difficult and reliable is local transport around Tongatapu? Are we better off renting a car for the five of us?
Cheers, Marthune

If you are staying in Tongatapu, it would be better to rent a car. Starting price would be T$50.00 per day. You can explore different beaches everyday, and also buy cheap take-away food and fresh bread.

Off-shore resorts (Pangaimotu, Fafa, and Royal Sunset Resort) offer day-trips everyday.

Ha'atafu Beach has a surfer's lodge, run by an Australian man married with a Tongan.

Hi

I found this web site really useful when trying to find places to stay in Tonga, so here is my bit to try & help anyone else thinking of going to Tonga.

We have just returned from a couple of weeks in Tonga, we took our 2 kids, (9 & 13) & spent almost all of our time in Ha'apai. Chatham’s Pacific flies to the main islands in Tonga several times most days see their website www.chathamspacific.com for prices.

We stayed at 3 places:

• Esi ‘O Ma’afu on the island of 'Uiha, this is a small low key place run by Kaloni who does all the cooking, & is a great cook, you will not be hungry, and all meals are interesting! The island has 2 villages, and a lot of uninhabited beaches to explore at the south end of the island, but snorkelling is only average. This cost us around $T140 a night for our family of 4 including huge breakfasts & dinners.

• Taianas resort on Uoleva Island, one island up from 'Uiha, this place has great snorkelling and beaches, and you often have the island to yourself, the only footprints you will see all day are you own! The hosts at Tainana are great people, the place is very basic, and not to everyone’s taste, but we enjoyed it, and we enjoyed the food also, not quite as impressive as Kaloni's though. Taianas cost roughly the same as Esi ‘O Ma’afu. Taianas is next door to another accommodation place, “Captain Cook Hideaway”, the owner of which was sick when we visited, so this place was temporarily closed. To enjoy Taianas & Esi ‘O Ma’afu you need to be happy to accept things as they are, & be happy to accept the Tongan way of doing things. They are both very reasonable places to stay cost wise, especially for a family, but facilities are pretty basic, so if you require hot & cold running water, power, don't want animals waking you at night and set times for meals etc, maybe go somewhere else. To get to these places you catch a taxi from Ha'apai airport to Pangai, around $T8 at the moment, then try your luck with a local boat to ‘Uiha, (there don’t appear to be set timetables as far as we could tell), but if you catch one the fares are pretty reasonable. The other option is catch a ride with "Jim the boatman", who will take you to Uiha for $T60 per person (30 for kids) each way, half that to Uoleva. You can book all these places, & “Jim the boatman” through the Tonga Visitors Bureau (TVB) www.tongaholiday.com. There is another resort being built on Uoleva, by an American woman, Patti, who showed us around the very nice looking fales, Patti hopes to be ready this December, her email is alohafrompatti@yahoo.com.

• Matafonua Lodge – www.matafonua.com. This is run by Sally & Dave, two New Zealanders and is pretty well organised. Matafonua is pretty popular so you need to book early, there is a nice beach here with snorkelling. Matafonua is more pricey than the other two places we stayed, but you also get more “Western style” accommodation & facilities. A taxi to Matafonua from Ha’apai airport was $T30 when we were there.

We managed to sort out all travel & accommodation by email, but were never really certain about accommodation booked through TVB, it all came together in the end but not quite the way we had originally planned. Hope you enjoy your holiday!

Hi all,
Thanks for the suggestions.
So far have booked:
- 2 nights Heilala Lodge so we can have a look around the island and go for a snorkel at Pangaimotu.
- 5 nights Matafonua Lodge at Ha'apai
and then I wanted to book 2 more nights at Otuhaka resort so we don't get in trouble with national airlines and miss our flights back home. Yesterday, I had some e-mails going back and forth about availability and price and when I sent the e-mail saying we were going ahead with the booking I got an e-mail back saying 'full'. That's it! So weird and not very reassuring...
But this is were I'm stuck.
We'd like some affordable resortstyle accommodation for those last few days, but Tongan beachcomber on Pangaimotu and Good Samaritan Inn both get terrible feedback on tripadvisor. Blue Banana's and the new White sands resort only cater for couples, Ha'atafu resort is more of a surfer's hang out and Fafa and Royal sunset are out of our league. Anybody knows about some new resort that is about to open? Or other suggestions?
Cheers, Marthune

There are two resorts recently opened.

Vakaloa Resort (formerly Nawai'ali'i)

Liku'alofa Resort

Cheers,