GreyNurseGab
Guest
Early August 2009 saw the first of our tour groups from Ron Hunter's dive expeditions head off out of Sydney for Vavau in Tonga. This was to be the eighth year in row we had travelled to Vavau, to be enthralled by the greatest wildlife encounters available on our planet; the opportunity to swim with the Humpback Whales of Vavau.
Each ensuing year, the encounters with these gentle leviathans seem to get better. I always tell our travellers that I cannot put a tag of the best Whale day ever on any one of the days we go whale watching; every whale day is different, every day is special in its own unique way.
In 2009, as always, we had some days that just stood out as amongst the most memorable.
On one of these days we came upon a pod of thirteen adolescent male Humpbacks, around three quarters adult size of around 35 tonnes each, they might better be described as juvenile delinquents. They swam to our boat, jostling, bumping, and barging each other, then they proceeded to swim quickly in tight circles around our boat, coming as close as one metre away. Mostly too close or fast to photograph, they continued this boisterous behaviour for around fifteen minutes. Non-waterproof cameras were at risk, as we all were becoming increasingly wet by the spray from their blowholes, as they exhaled whilst they passed our boat.
This roiling mass of whales then broke into two groups and one group moved away to harass a small passing yacht. The second group of whales, numbering six or seven individuals, continued their rambunctious play about fifty metres away from our stationary boat. A group of five of us then decided, with some trepidation, to attempt to swim with this group of whales.
The five hardy souls slipped into the water and swam about forty metres to where the whales were continuing their play. The group of whales settled down somewhat and then set about inspecting their new playmates, the seemingly (to them) inept swimmers who were now floating on the surface of their playground. Being circled and inspected by a bunch of active, curious whales is one of those moments when you begin to realise how puny and out of your environment you really are. The five swimmers were treated to around fifteen minutes of absolute wonderment as these half dozen whales cavorted all around them.
During this time the second group of young whales, becoming bored with the slowly moving yacht, had moved over to a small inflatable tender from a nearby moored yacht. Carrying four people from the yacht and towing a kayak, this tiny craft was subjected to the same exuberant behaviour, close, very close swim bys and drenching from the whales exhalation blows, additionally the whales were swimming directly under the rubber boat and releasing massive curtains of bubbles, so that the boat appeared to be floating and buoyed upon a silvery blue cloud of sparkling bubbles. This was a champagne moment, in so many ways, for the mesmerised crew of the tender.
Like most adolescents the whales appeared to have a short attention span, and quickly growing tired of the tiny slow moving boat they now, once again, turned their attention to our stationary, larger boat. Our five swimmers were still in the water some fifty metres or so from our boat, being entertained by, and or entertaining the first group of six whales. Five more of us quietly slipped into the water at the stern of our boat and we just lay there fascinated by the group of whales swimming in circles around the boat and us. Humpback whales are extremely intelligent and cognizant mammals and despite their bulk are very agile and aware of their space. These whales swam around us returning our gazes with their all-knowing eyes. I guess if we had been able to cavort with them and be more entertaining than we were they might have stayed. But bored they became, and eventually they swam off, joining the other group of whales and moving out towards open-ocean.
Back onboard we slowly followed the pod and we all were now treated to display of breaching, pectoral-fin slapping, lunging and other adolescent hi-jinx.
Wow what a morning!
We left this pod of whales after a while and motored to a calm bay against one of the myriad of islands of Vavau. Lunch was the order of the day and we took the opportunity that the interlude presented to compare and recount what we had all experienced.
Our whale encounters were not over for the day, as we spotted a resting mother and her calf not far away from where we having our lunch. We very slowly and carefully motored over to near them and observed them from around fifty metres away. The mother Humpback was not moving at all, just resting stationary of the surface with her calf swimming slowly around her massive head. She stayed like this for a few minutes before, trailed by her calf, diving down to rest around twenty below the surface. Five of us entered the water very quietly and finned ever so slowly over to be above where the pair were resting. We then just floated there watching the calf being nursed by her mother. Around every seven minutes the calf would slowly rise to the surface to breathe, a fine mist of mothers milk streaming from her mouth as she rose, and on her way up she would check us out, eyeballing us, before swimming a few circles around us, then returning to her mum below. Every twenty minutes the mother Humpback would follow her daughter up and then the two of them would just lie there next to us around five metres away, and then after a number of deep breaths they would once again swim down and take up position twenty metres below us.
We took these opportunities to alternate another group of five swimmers into the water above the whales. This pattern continued for the next three hours, during which time the whales never moved from their position at all other than to surface and dive next to our groups of five swimmers. Never at any stage did we have to swim to change position near the whales, just slowly to and from our boat which was standing-off around fifty metres away. We eventually left our small family of whales in the careful hands of another whale watch boat and we headed back to shore after one of the most memorable and special days we could have ever hoped for.
Every whale day is different; every day is special in its own unique way. Two days later this analogy proved to be once again so true.
On this day we initially came upon a mother and calf resting quite close inshore, in area where the water visibility was only around fifteen metres, not the thirty to fifty metre plus visibility that we had come to expect. We left this pair with just a passing glance and proceeded out to sea into thebig blue.
Our regular whale boat skipper, Moa, a delightful Tongan lady, was once again in command of the vessel we were onboard. Moa is without a doubt the most talented whale boat skipper I have ever had the pleasure to go out with. I am also a whale boat skipper, but Moas natural instinct and skills go far beyond anything I could ever hope to achieve.
Moa on this day felt that there would be numbers of whales out to the south of the archipelago, in or adjacent to the open ocean. Sea conditions were a bit choppy as the normal soueast trade winds were blowing around 15 knots. Sure enough around twenty minutes into our exploration of this part of the ocean we spotted a number of blows, feathery sprays of water vapour that the Humpbacks produce as they exhale upon surfacing. One of the blows was substantially smaller than the other two indicating the presence of a calf with her mum and a male escort (prospective suitor / mate). We carefully followed the small family of whales until they became used to the sound of our boat and the water slap against the hulls, as well as the steady murmur of the four-stroke motors.
The three whales quickly became used to the presence of our boat and began to swim lazily near our vessel, not in any hurry to go anywhere really. Five of us slipped into the water and the whales swam around us, checking us out before slowly moving off. We followed them and when they stopped near one of the tiny, uninhabited islets in the area, we once again managed to get into the water, taking turns, five at a time, until all of us had been swimming with these three whales for over two hours.
We had had such a great time; we could hardly imagine how it could get any better. But better it quickly did get. Two more male escorts literally burst upon the scene breaching and lunging as they boisterously made their presence known to the other three whales. One of the new arrivals was a fully grown male, very dark in colour with only a small white area on his belly and around fifty tonnes and sixteen metres long, the other was an adolescent, markedly different to his companion with white extending from his belly right up around two-thirds of his flanks, and of only around thirty-five tonnes and fourteen to fifteen metres in length.
The pod of now five whales started to slowly swim away, and we took the opportunities to position ourselves close enough to get into the water in front of them and be there so that they would curiously inspect us, before becoming bored with our inertia, they would set off on their way again. We followed them for around one hour continuing this pattern of dropping in front of them and having them swim around us for five to ten minutes before heading off again.
It wasnt all happiness and happy families now with this group, the three male escorts were all there to compete for the affection of the mother Humpback, who would likely come into season, ready to mate, at any time. The adolescent was certainly out of his depth, so to speak, swimming aside as the other two potential suitors began barging and trying to intimidate each other, blowing massive bubble curtains and head-butting into the flanks of each other. Exciting to be in the water swimming with them during this argy-bargy? Well yes! And much, much more!
The original male escort now asserted his dominance and managed to drive the two, would be usurpers, off. The now family of three began to wend their way further out to sea, and the two vanquished pretenders now turned their attentions to us. Still full of beans, (or is that krill? They are baleen whales after all) they began to swim right up to us, the older, larger whale more circumspect and in control, whilst the younger, much more exuberant adolescent practised honing his swimming and manoeuvring skills by passing closer and closer to us. These two whales would repeatedly circle our small groups of snorkelers, the more mature whale sedately, inquisitively passing by inspecting each of us in turn. All the while his younger, energetic and decidedly cheeky companion would attempt (and succeed) in scaring the life out of us. He was now passing by us at some speed as close as one or two metres away, pulling his pectoral fin in so as not to brush us and ceasing the movement of his massive powerful tail so as not to bump us. This went on for over an hour; with the pair of whales seemingly swimming off into the blue almost out of vision, before turning back to once again thrill their newfound playthings (us) with their antics. Each time people in the group would all be excitedly talking about the last encounter, when one of the group of snorkelers, face down in the water would see the whales rapidly returning, and would excitedly call out to rest their coming back, which was the signal for everyone to go face down in the water again.
So careful, so agile, so cognisant, so intelligent, so curious, so trusting, so emotional and so many puckering moments that none of us is will ever forget.
Swimming with the Whales in Vavau is done according to guidelines set down by the Vavau Whale Watch Association. These guidelines have been very well thought out, and have the Whales welfare and safety paramount. All encounters and swims with the Whales are conducted with the utmost respect and care for the Whales.
The Whales of Vavau definitely enjoy and seek out the encounters, they are inordinately curious about us. And now we are even interacting with these superbly intelligent mammals by singing to them, and they in response are curiously swimming up to us and whilst eyeballing us, hang there stationary, seemingly seem interested in our attempts at singing.
We will of course be returning to Vavau and the Whales once again next year, 2010, for our ninth year in a row of being mesmerised by the Whales of Vavau. Many of our travellers have already booked again for the 2010 season of tours, and many more will book again around March to April when the Whales will start calling them again.
We have eight tour departure dates every Monday ex: Sydney starting July 26 then right thru August and September.
Tours to Vavau and the Whales are led by Shark, Dolphin and Whale experts, David Hinshelwood, Marcus Coombes, Gabby Hunter, Josh Kirkman and Ron Hunter.
post a reply or PM me if you want any more information.
ALSO: The SCUBA diving is fantastic - Warm, clear water, with coral reefs, reef sharks, and tons of fish life.
ggg
Each ensuing year, the encounters with these gentle leviathans seem to get better. I always tell our travellers that I cannot put a tag of the best Whale day ever on any one of the days we go whale watching; every whale day is different, every day is special in its own unique way.
In 2009, as always, we had some days that just stood out as amongst the most memorable.
On one of these days we came upon a pod of thirteen adolescent male Humpbacks, around three quarters adult size of around 35 tonnes each, they might better be described as juvenile delinquents. They swam to our boat, jostling, bumping, and barging each other, then they proceeded to swim quickly in tight circles around our boat, coming as close as one metre away. Mostly too close or fast to photograph, they continued this boisterous behaviour for around fifteen minutes. Non-waterproof cameras were at risk, as we all were becoming increasingly wet by the spray from their blowholes, as they exhaled whilst they passed our boat.
This roiling mass of whales then broke into two groups and one group moved away to harass a small passing yacht. The second group of whales, numbering six or seven individuals, continued their rambunctious play about fifty metres away from our stationary boat. A group of five of us then decided, with some trepidation, to attempt to swim with this group of whales.
The five hardy souls slipped into the water and swam about forty metres to where the whales were continuing their play. The group of whales settled down somewhat and then set about inspecting their new playmates, the seemingly (to them) inept swimmers who were now floating on the surface of their playground. Being circled and inspected by a bunch of active, curious whales is one of those moments when you begin to realise how puny and out of your environment you really are. The five swimmers were treated to around fifteen minutes of absolute wonderment as these half dozen whales cavorted all around them.
During this time the second group of young whales, becoming bored with the slowly moving yacht, had moved over to a small inflatable tender from a nearby moored yacht. Carrying four people from the yacht and towing a kayak, this tiny craft was subjected to the same exuberant behaviour, close, very close swim bys and drenching from the whales exhalation blows, additionally the whales were swimming directly under the rubber boat and releasing massive curtains of bubbles, so that the boat appeared to be floating and buoyed upon a silvery blue cloud of sparkling bubbles. This was a champagne moment, in so many ways, for the mesmerised crew of the tender.
Like most adolescents the whales appeared to have a short attention span, and quickly growing tired of the tiny slow moving boat they now, once again, turned their attention to our stationary, larger boat. Our five swimmers were still in the water some fifty metres or so from our boat, being entertained by, and or entertaining the first group of six whales. Five more of us quietly slipped into the water at the stern of our boat and we just lay there fascinated by the group of whales swimming in circles around the boat and us. Humpback whales are extremely intelligent and cognizant mammals and despite their bulk are very agile and aware of their space. These whales swam around us returning our gazes with their all-knowing eyes. I guess if we had been able to cavort with them and be more entertaining than we were they might have stayed. But bored they became, and eventually they swam off, joining the other group of whales and moving out towards open-ocean.
Back onboard we slowly followed the pod and we all were now treated to display of breaching, pectoral-fin slapping, lunging and other adolescent hi-jinx.
Wow what a morning!
We left this pod of whales after a while and motored to a calm bay against one of the myriad of islands of Vavau. Lunch was the order of the day and we took the opportunity that the interlude presented to compare and recount what we had all experienced.
Our whale encounters were not over for the day, as we spotted a resting mother and her calf not far away from where we having our lunch. We very slowly and carefully motored over to near them and observed them from around fifty metres away. The mother Humpback was not moving at all, just resting stationary of the surface with her calf swimming slowly around her massive head. She stayed like this for a few minutes before, trailed by her calf, diving down to rest around twenty below the surface. Five of us entered the water very quietly and finned ever so slowly over to be above where the pair were resting. We then just floated there watching the calf being nursed by her mother. Around every seven minutes the calf would slowly rise to the surface to breathe, a fine mist of mothers milk streaming from her mouth as she rose, and on her way up she would check us out, eyeballing us, before swimming a few circles around us, then returning to her mum below. Every twenty minutes the mother Humpback would follow her daughter up and then the two of them would just lie there next to us around five metres away, and then after a number of deep breaths they would once again swim down and take up position twenty metres below us.
We took these opportunities to alternate another group of five swimmers into the water above the whales. This pattern continued for the next three hours, during which time the whales never moved from their position at all other than to surface and dive next to our groups of five swimmers. Never at any stage did we have to swim to change position near the whales, just slowly to and from our boat which was standing-off around fifty metres away. We eventually left our small family of whales in the careful hands of another whale watch boat and we headed back to shore after one of the most memorable and special days we could have ever hoped for.
Every whale day is different; every day is special in its own unique way. Two days later this analogy proved to be once again so true.
On this day we initially came upon a mother and calf resting quite close inshore, in area where the water visibility was only around fifteen metres, not the thirty to fifty metre plus visibility that we had come to expect. We left this pair with just a passing glance and proceeded out to sea into thebig blue.
Our regular whale boat skipper, Moa, a delightful Tongan lady, was once again in command of the vessel we were onboard. Moa is without a doubt the most talented whale boat skipper I have ever had the pleasure to go out with. I am also a whale boat skipper, but Moas natural instinct and skills go far beyond anything I could ever hope to achieve.
Moa on this day felt that there would be numbers of whales out to the south of the archipelago, in or adjacent to the open ocean. Sea conditions were a bit choppy as the normal soueast trade winds were blowing around 15 knots. Sure enough around twenty minutes into our exploration of this part of the ocean we spotted a number of blows, feathery sprays of water vapour that the Humpbacks produce as they exhale upon surfacing. One of the blows was substantially smaller than the other two indicating the presence of a calf with her mum and a male escort (prospective suitor / mate). We carefully followed the small family of whales until they became used to the sound of our boat and the water slap against the hulls, as well as the steady murmur of the four-stroke motors.
The three whales quickly became used to the presence of our boat and began to swim lazily near our vessel, not in any hurry to go anywhere really. Five of us slipped into the water and the whales swam around us, checking us out before slowly moving off. We followed them and when they stopped near one of the tiny, uninhabited islets in the area, we once again managed to get into the water, taking turns, five at a time, until all of us had been swimming with these three whales for over two hours.
We had had such a great time; we could hardly imagine how it could get any better. But better it quickly did get. Two more male escorts literally burst upon the scene breaching and lunging as they boisterously made their presence known to the other three whales. One of the new arrivals was a fully grown male, very dark in colour with only a small white area on his belly and around fifty tonnes and sixteen metres long, the other was an adolescent, markedly different to his companion with white extending from his belly right up around two-thirds of his flanks, and of only around thirty-five tonnes and fourteen to fifteen metres in length.
The pod of now five whales started to slowly swim away, and we took the opportunities to position ourselves close enough to get into the water in front of them and be there so that they would curiously inspect us, before becoming bored with our inertia, they would set off on their way again. We followed them for around one hour continuing this pattern of dropping in front of them and having them swim around us for five to ten minutes before heading off again.
It wasnt all happiness and happy families now with this group, the three male escorts were all there to compete for the affection of the mother Humpback, who would likely come into season, ready to mate, at any time. The adolescent was certainly out of his depth, so to speak, swimming aside as the other two potential suitors began barging and trying to intimidate each other, blowing massive bubble curtains and head-butting into the flanks of each other. Exciting to be in the water swimming with them during this argy-bargy? Well yes! And much, much more!
The original male escort now asserted his dominance and managed to drive the two, would be usurpers, off. The now family of three began to wend their way further out to sea, and the two vanquished pretenders now turned their attentions to us. Still full of beans, (or is that krill? They are baleen whales after all) they began to swim right up to us, the older, larger whale more circumspect and in control, whilst the younger, much more exuberant adolescent practised honing his swimming and manoeuvring skills by passing closer and closer to us. These two whales would repeatedly circle our small groups of snorkelers, the more mature whale sedately, inquisitively passing by inspecting each of us in turn. All the while his younger, energetic and decidedly cheeky companion would attempt (and succeed) in scaring the life out of us. He was now passing by us at some speed as close as one or two metres away, pulling his pectoral fin in so as not to brush us and ceasing the movement of his massive powerful tail so as not to bump us. This went on for over an hour; with the pair of whales seemingly swimming off into the blue almost out of vision, before turning back to once again thrill their newfound playthings (us) with their antics. Each time people in the group would all be excitedly talking about the last encounter, when one of the group of snorkelers, face down in the water would see the whales rapidly returning, and would excitedly call out to rest their coming back, which was the signal for everyone to go face down in the water again.
So careful, so agile, so cognisant, so intelligent, so curious, so trusting, so emotional and so many puckering moments that none of us is will ever forget.
Swimming with the Whales in Vavau is done according to guidelines set down by the Vavau Whale Watch Association. These guidelines have been very well thought out, and have the Whales welfare and safety paramount. All encounters and swims with the Whales are conducted with the utmost respect and care for the Whales.
The Whales of Vavau definitely enjoy and seek out the encounters, they are inordinately curious about us. And now we are even interacting with these superbly intelligent mammals by singing to them, and they in response are curiously swimming up to us and whilst eyeballing us, hang there stationary, seemingly seem interested in our attempts at singing.
We will of course be returning to Vavau and the Whales once again next year, 2010, for our ninth year in a row of being mesmerised by the Whales of Vavau. Many of our travellers have already booked again for the 2010 season of tours, and many more will book again around March to April when the Whales will start calling them again.
We have eight tour departure dates every Monday ex: Sydney starting July 26 then right thru August and September.
Tours to Vavau and the Whales are led by Shark, Dolphin and Whale experts, David Hinshelwood, Marcus Coombes, Gabby Hunter, Josh Kirkman and Ron Hunter.
post a reply or PM me if you want any more information.
ALSO: The SCUBA diving is fantastic - Warm, clear water, with coral reefs, reef sharks, and tons of fish life.
ggg
