Above: The King’s Palace in Nukualofa.
Today we head back to Tongatapu on the 1535 flight. The timing would allow us some activities (at a push) if we had been unsuccessful with whaleswim on the preceding days. Since we had been rather lucky, we could do absolutely nothing but laze around the guesthouse then go for lunch.
We left for the airport around 1400. Check-in for the Convair flight was quick. But we were soon advised that the old lady of an aircraft had broken down after departure from Tongatapu. They turned back to have the problem fixed. We ended up before 1h45 late.
We got to Tongatapu around 1830 and taxied into Nukualofa staying at the International Dateline Hotel. The hotel was nice from the outside but rundown in the rooms.
At first I was disappointed with the delay as it cut short our already brief stay in the capital. But I realised there wasn’t much to Nukualofa and I had seen most of it in the taxi ride from the airport. We walked around briefly and went to Friends Cafe then had a yummy dinner at the Emerald Hotel’s Chinese restaurant.