The story
Vava'u Blue Water Festival in Neiafu/Vava'u
The Vava'u Blue Water Festival is Tonga's largest cruising and sailing event, held in Neiafu on Vava'u at the end of September. Centered on yacht racing, it also includes charity auctions, school children's cultural performances, charity dinners, and community barbecues, drawing sailors from across the South Pacific cruising circuit into one of Vava'u's busiest weeks of the year.
Vava'u, Tonga's northern island group, is where the country's cruising and yachting reputation is built: a maze of sheltered channels and small islands that draws sailors from across the Pacific and beyond, many of them arriving as part of longer regional cruising routes.