Timely Tonga Story

Several months ago, the Travel section had an article about couples renting sailboats and traveling throughout Tahiti (“South Seas Cruise for Eight,” Jan. 16). It mentioned that the group’s next adventure would be Tonga. We had always wanted to go there, so we signed on for the trip. What’s even more amazing is that two weeks before we were due to leave, the Travel section’s cover story was on Tonga (“Tonga: Outpost of the Old South Seas,” April 23). Thank you for the preview.

ALEX and CINDY VRACIN

Paramount

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I was delighted to learn from your article that very little has changed in the past 40 years in Tonga, unlike Tahiti and Fiji.

I spent six months in 1961 roaming the South Seas, including a month in Tonga. Since there were no hotels in Tonga at that time, I stayed with a local family. I was a guest of the royal family at their private beach and was lent the now-King Tupou IV’s swim fins and snorkel gear.

GRAHAM A. ROWE

Los Angeles