If it weren't for the humpbacks, would you go to Tonga?

[NoDivingAllowed]

Tonga's #1 draw for me is swimming with the humpbacks (planning a trip in late Aug - early Sept). The diving doesn't seem to get rave reviews compared to other islands. I thought that since I'm going there anyway, I might as well get some diving done. So the question is pretty simple: would you go to Tonga for scuba diving if you weren't able to swim with the humpbacks?

 

[globalmark]

Hi Mate

I went to Tonga a few years Back for a Business trip (Ha'api island) and did about 10-12 dives while there - this was OFF season so no whales - great weather nice beach very very clear water and warm , very expensive also
I am a fairly experienced Instructor and dived all over the world bit spoiled probably , but i thought Tonga had some of the most boring Diving i have ever done in the world , out of all the diving there were very very very few fish (1 school of barracuda) and apart from that not much else. House reef at 2-3 meters deep was OK i pottered around with camera for couple hours ,
But everywhere i dived had almost no fish and limited corals (clear water)

So my answer is i would not bother if no whales - but if you are there anyway i would do a few dives for fun - also depends on your diving History and experience if you only done 5-20 dives before you might think it's great but for me without whales was just EMPTY - nice rock formations but no fish.
All i can say is I am glad i didnt pay full price for trip and diving as knew someone there.

Other people might have better ideas about Vavu (more famous for diving) but for me there are way better places to go for diving.
and way cheaper - all indonesia, malaysia, maldives etc , etc

Hope that helps
Mark

 

[BSOD]

I was in Vava'u in mid-late August a few years ago mainly for swimming with the whales, and had a similar diving experience as globalmark - nice clear waters, but not really much in terms of fish life seen while diving. Did see a handful of neat (to me) things over 3 dives, like bubble coral and an electric flame scallop, as well as hearing a whale singing in the distance. I had another dive scheduled as well, but those of us on the boat that day agreed/decided to skip it and continue looking for whales instead. So no, based on my brief experience, I wouldn't go all the way there just to dive - but if I was there to see the whales again, I'd probably fit in a dive or two just to explore. FWIW - one or two of the newer divers had a blast on some of the same dives and thought it was great, so YMMV. Think I saw more fish while snorkeling off one of the islands then on my dives.

If you're interested, here's my blog from that trip, though I think the op I went with closed up in the past year, and the island I stayed on has since changed owners/managers/etc.

 

[Griffins]

Went to Vava'u years ago on a 10 day dive trip, it was ok, but nothing special. IMO Fiji was much better, both above and below water.