Fiji and Tonga trip report - August 2019

[AngryMoth]

Just got back from a week in each country. While I enjoyed both, Tonga I think is a really special place that should be on everyone’s bucket list and I hope I’ll have chance to go back someday. But let’s start with…

Fiji

Flew in to Nadi from London via LA which is quite a journey but both Virgin Atlantic and Fiji Airways economy seats were comfortable enough to make the 2 11 hour flights bearable so no complaints there. The first place I stayed was called Manta Ray Island, part of the Yasawa archipelago which took about 3 hours to reach by boat from the mainland, quite an enjoyable ride as the islands there are all stunning. What I have to say though is everything was very expensive and I didn’t feel this part of the trip was good value for money, compared with what I’m used to anyway. I have low standards when it comes to accommodation but this was extremely basic and the food in the restaurant was pretty average.

I did 3 dives there which were all nice, beautiful corals and some cool caverns, saw a couple of white tips and a green sea turtle. The snorkelling on the house reef was also really good, one of the best snorkel spots I’ve ever seen actually. They run snorkel trips to see mantas when their boats have spotted them but sadly that didn’t happen in the few days I was there. Overall this place wasn’t really my thing but I’m sure others would appreciate it if you don’t mind splashing out a little and enjoy some relaxing downtime

Next was onto Pacific Harbour for the famous shark dive. I did 2 days with Beqa Adventure Divers who ran a very well organised and safety oriented operation so I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. The dives were indeed spectacular and not like anything I’ve ever seen before, the density of sharks is a sight to behold. It’s definitely a bit of a circus show, but it’s a bloody good one. I was a bit apprehensive over the ethics of feeding sharks in this manner but I watched Rod Stewart’s documentary Sharkwater: Extinction on the plane ride over I was really horrified by how dire the decline in their numbers is, and I think this kind of shark tourism that helps more people to love them and care about protecting them is probably a net benefit for the species. Plus there’s a levy which goes to local villagers to protect the marine reserve from fishing which is nice. I think you can probably get the full experience just doing a single day but I was glad I did 2 and I had my shutter speed too slow the first time around so I’d have been stuck with a bunch of blurry photos otherwise!

The town itself was pretty small with just a few restaurants dotted around, Baka Blues cafe was my favourite. I stayed in a great AirBnb called Studio 224 which was part of a beautiful villa owned by a nice guy from New Zealand. This trip was my first time trying AirBnb and it worked out pretty great, nice way to save some money as well.

 

[AngryMoth]

Tonga

My experience in Tonga (Vava’u) was truly magical and one of the best weeks of my life. I ended up staying in an AirBnb here as well as the accommodation I had booked was cancelled last minute without explanation (think they may have gone out of business), but this worked out well because the place was clean and the host was extremely nice and gave me a great tour of the town when I arrived. She also was nice enough to buy a portable wifi for me to stay in touch and this turned out to be the best way of getting on the internet as everyone I met staying in the hotels said it was barley working there.

Vava’u is a lot less developed compared with Fiji and hasn’t really succumb mass tourism yet. There is one town called Neiafu which is small enough to walk across in 10 minutes and it has a really great atmosphere with very friendly locals and expats. I much preferred the vibe here compared to Fiji, although if you are used to luxury accommodation and fancy restaurants you’ll find there isn’t much.

I did 5 days of whale swims with a company called Tonga Expeditions and I would HIGHLY recommend them based on my experience. The day would run from 7am - 2pm with 8 people on the boat, but there are only 4 people allowed in the water at one time so we would rotate between 2 groups for the swims. The captain and guide were very clear that their number one priority was respecting the whales and following the regulations which I was very happy to see. They were true to this and probably less than half the time we saw a whale did they deem it was suitable to try swimming with them as they wouldn’t allow it unless the animals were relaxed, particularly for mothers and calves. In spite of this thought they understood that we all paid a lot of money and flew along way and they worked tirelessly to give us a great experience, and boy did they deliver.

Day 1

For me this was the most special day. We encountered a whale nicknamed by the guides “crazy whale” who they hadn’t seen for a couple of years. I was under the impression that the humpbacks have amazing spacial awareness and while curious wouldn’t get too close. Not the case with this whale. I barely got any good shots because she was so close the entire time. I have always believed strongly in the no touching policy when it comes to marine life and did my best to follow it here but it was impossible, she would literally swim directly into us and there was no getting out of the way of something that big! Both groups on the boat were able to do 3 swims with her and the other whale she was with and each time she would come around for multiple passes, gleefully showing off by doing barrel rolls and such. She even tried lifting me out of the water on her nose which freaked me out the first time but when she had second attempt I just embraced it and gave her a kiss. An experience I will never forget.

In the afternoon after all the action they took us to a place called swallow’s cave which was really beautiful cave teaming with small fish and a great spot for a bit of free diving.

Days 2 and 3

These days were a lot slower than the others which is why I would recommend anyone travelling to Tonga to book at least 3 days on the boat to have a strong chance of great encounters. We were still able to get in the water with the whales but the encounters were brief and from a distance. At the end of the 3rd day we were all a bit tired and hadn’t been in the water all day, but fortunately one of the other boats “shared’ with us a mother and calf who had been interacting with people all day. The captains are on the radio to each other all the time and I think it’s good that they cooperate in this way as it reduces everyone’s chance of having a complete dud day, although that can still happen as the captain said usually there’ll one day a week without any swims.

Day 4

Another incredible day. Pretty early in the morning we ran into the same mother and calf we had seen previously but this time we had them all to ourselves. The calf was about a month old so around the size of a small car and he was becoming more and more bold and curious which was amazing to see.. Every time I thought he was gonna dive back down to mum he just kept coming around again, closer each time until his fins were millimetres from my dome. It’s really amazing when they are making direct eye contact with you. As he became more used to us he even started playing, I tried slapping my fins on the surface and to my amazement it worked and he started slapping back with his tail. As we rotated groups he played with us for a full hour before we went on our way to give them a rest.

In the afternoon we saw another calf feeding, which turned out to consist of it breaching continuously for an hour while the mother was slapping her pectoral fin to scare away fish. We weren’t able to get in the water with this one but it didn’t matter because the show from the boat was so spectacular.

Day 5

We got to see a heat run with 8 whales and saw 2 of them mating which was not something I was expecting to see! I think the advantage of doing it for 5 days plus is that you have a chance to see different kinds of interactions like this. We could only see them briefly underwater as they were moving so fast but the action on the surface was pretty great too with lots of adults breaching almost completely out of the water.

I was also fortunate to have a meet a fantastic group of people on the boat over the week. I was a little nervous about doing this trip by myself but there were actually quite a few other people travelling solo as well. I love it that I can come somewhere like this and sit around a dinner table having a conversation about Ocean Ramsey where everyone knows who she is, not something that would ever happen back home. Having spoken to a lot of people who doing the whale tours with other companies I believe we were extremely lucky both to have ended up on a boat with such a great crew and to have had such incredible, once in a life time encounters. There was a guide who’d been doing tours for years and said that said he’d hadn’t had the kind of close up we did this week. One thing to note seems like it is better to book in August or September as although the season is meant to start in July they were saying a month ago there wasn’t so much action.

 

[AngryMoth]

Here’s my video montage of the trip, happy to answer any questions.


Also, while it was too far away to get a good quality image I did manage to capture a humpback breaching in front of a rainbow on the last day…

 

[peeweediver]

Wonderful pics and report. Thanks.

 

[WetPup]

All the whale sightings in Tonga have me cautiously optimistic for my trip to Niue this week

Awesome shots!

 

[drrich2]

Wow. Whales seem like a 'maybe someday but probably not' bucket list wish/dream for some of us (me, anyway). Outstanding.

Since you're based out of the UK, what's commonly discussed as a dive destination vs. what's hardly heard of may vary from a U.S. perspective. That said, I don't recall hearing of Tonga. You did whale swimming there. Is it also a great scuba destination, or is it mostly about the whale swimming?

Richard.

 

[AngryMoth]

Wow. Whales seem like a 'maybe someday but probably not' bucket list wish/dream for some of us (me, anyway). Outstanding.

Since you're based out of the UK, what's commonly discussed as a dive destination vs. what's hardly heard of may vary from a U.S. perspective. That said, I don't recall hearing of Tonga. You did whale swimming there. Is it also a great scuba destination, or is it mostly about the whale swimming?

Richard.

I think most people from the UK haven't heard of it either, it was only on my radar since afaik it's the best place in the world if you want to get in the water with a whale, although I believe there are a few other places you can do it too. Basically the entire flight there was made up of divers and whales watchers. Apparently they just started doing in it Tahiti but it's a bit of a shitshow because they didn't regulate it yet so lots of people in the water. The whales migrate to this region from July to October for mating and giving birth so there's a lot of them around, don't think we ever went more than an hour without at least a sighting from the boat.

It would have been possible for me to do a bit of scuba in the afternoons but I chose not to as I was usually pretty spent after the whale tours in the morning. Heard good things though from that had did some dives, lots of beautiful caverns, plenty of turtles and reef sharks around and great vis, but don't think it's in the world class category like a few other nearby places such as French Poly and certain parts of Fiji.

 

[FindingMenno]

I sailed and dived in Tonga for about 3 months. The best diving in my opinion was in the Ha'apai group of islands. I absolutely loved the Matafonua lodge: https://www.matafonua.com/

Diving is certainly worthwhile, but it wouldn't see it as a pure diving destination. I feel other areas offer better diving. But Tonga has beautiful island, lovely people and is certainly worth a visit!

 

[Shasta_man]

Thanks for the trip report. At least one of the Fiji liveaboards goes to Tonga for whale watching trips part of the year. People say it's a great trip.

By the way, not everywhere in Fiji is like Pacific harbor and Nadi and the Yasawa islands. Lots of less developed spots as well.

 

[CWK]

At least one of the Fiji liveaboards goes to Tonga for whale watching trips part of the year.

The Nai’a no longer does the Tonga whale trip. I believe that the Tongan government will no longer permit foreign boats to do whale watching trips.