 Tonga Sunday is the perfect day to go to the beach in Tonga – if you're a visitor; an islander found swimming on the Sabbath is subject to a fine. Yes, they do take their religion seriously in the "Friendly Isles."
Tonga, like its neighbor to the west, Fiji, is not just one island, but an entire archipelago of far-flung isles. In Tonga's case, the islands number about 170 (only about 45 are inhabited), geographically divided into four distinct groups. Tongatapu, with the capital of Nuku'alofa, is the hub of this island chain in western Polynesia. Two of every three Tongans live here ...
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 Cook Islands Rarotonga is one of those islands that old South Seas hands recalled fondly when the talk around the bar turned to the quintessential island paradise. Fact is, the island can still lay a pretty good claim to that title. Long a favorite with sailors, Rarotonga, with its volcanic landscape of jagged peaks and deep valleys, is the only mountainous island in the Cook Islands. Its interior is mostly lush rain forest, and miles of white-sand beaches and an uncommonly clear lagoon fringe its shore.
Dive shops on the island lead trips to about 40 sites that cover the full gamut of the water world:...
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