Ha'apai
Activities on Lifuka

Background Info

Ha'apai´s history
Tonga has a rich and interesting maritime history and the waters of Ha’apai have seen some of the greatest of such tales unfold.

In 1774 Captain James Cook named Tonga “The Friendly Islands” due to the kind welcome he received on arrival in Lifuka. However, and as later revealed by the historian William Mariner, Captain Cook, his crew and the HMS Resolution narrowly escaped their death and destruction only because the village chiefs of the time could not come to agreement on a suitable plan of attack.

William Mariner arrived at Lifuka Island aboard the English private ship of war, The Port au Prince, in November 1806. This was to prove her final anchorage as she came under attack from the islanders who killed most of the crew and the ship was eventually burnt. Mariner survived the massacre, was subsequently adopted by the warrior king Finau ‘Ulukalala II and spent the next four years in Tonga before escaping to England and penning his famous account of the Tongan Islands.

In 1789 the giant volcanic Island of Tofua provided the backdrop for the Mutiny on the Bounty when the ousted Captain William Bligh and 18 loyal crewmen were set adrift in a small launch just thirty nautical miles offshore. They made land on Tofua to gather provisions where one crew member was stoned to death by the inhabitants. The spot is now known as “Murderers’ Cove”.

Over two hundred years later, the historic island of Lifuka, with its port town and capital village of Pangai, remains the main island of the Ha’apai group and the administrative centre of these islands. Thankfully, you can now expect a genuinely friendly welcome when you arrive in Ha’apai.