Whales are memorable
My heart skipped a beat as I watched in awed when the 40-tonne mother humpback whale breaches her entire gigantic body out of the water within point-blank range from our boat. The sound of her landing back onto the surface was amazingly powerful, the splash huge. Together with Natalia and Jake, I was sitting on the bow of the boat, some on the top deck while others still in the waters, we were all caught by surprise and were screaming in excitement but none of us has our cameras ready for this magical moment of life’s greatest wildlife encounters. That captivating display was the finale for my whale watching experience in Vava’u group of islands in Tonga and I took home with me many cherished and unforgettable memories.
Southern hemisphere humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a baleen whale and a rorqual whale that sings amazing songs. An adult female humpback whale can grow up to 16 meters in length and weigh as much as 45 tonnes. Adult males are slightly smaller. A humpback whale calf at birth is around 3 meters in length and weighs around one tonne. The humpback has a bulky head with bumpy protuberances (tubercles), each with a bristle. Humpbacks are acrobats of the ocean, breaching and slapping the water. They live in pods and have 2 blowholes. The name humpback describes the motion it makes as it arches its back out of the water in preparation for a dive. It spends around eight months of each year in Antarctica, feeding on krill, small prawn like critters, and shoals of herrings. The South Pacific kingdom of Tonga is one of the only places on the planet where tourists can swim with humpback whales. From July to September each year, the humpbacks migrate to Tonga to mate and calve in the island-nation's warm, sheltered waters. Boisterous courtship displays and mating occur during these months … it’s an exciting time to be observing the whales of Tonga.
Tonga – A distant Paradise
Tonga? Where’s that? Most people I mentioned to do not know about this unique archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean; let alone what the Friendly Islands has to offer. Tonga lies east of Australia and north of New Zealand with its closest neighbors Fiji in the northwest and Samoa in the northeast. Tonga, a constitutional monarchy, is the only South Pacific country never to have been colonized by a foreign power. Its comprises a scattered distribution of 171 islands, spread out in a north–south direction across 800 kilometers (500 miles) of the South Pacific Ocean. Only 45 of Tonga’s 171 islands are currently inhabited, but the population of nearly 100,000 is growing rapidly. There are four island groups including the mostly low-lying Tongatapu group, the volcanic and coral Ha'apai group; the flat coral islands of the Vava'u group, and the volcanic Niuas group in the far north. Tonga personifies the beauty of the South Pacific. It has an abundance of remote (almost endless) white sand beaches, all protected by reefs. Snorkeling and scuba conditions are pure perfection, and the Tongan people are very welcoming.
Getting there was no small task, I took off from Singapore to Sydney on an overnight 7 hours flight, stayed two days in Sydney catching up with some friends and did a dive at Bare Island for the weedy sea dragon before continuing on the planned Tonga/Fiji trip organized by Ron Hunter from Dive Forster (http://www.whaledive.net/). A 3.5 hours Pacific Blue flight into the main island of Tongatapu, overnight and then 45 minutes on an early morning Chathams Pacific flight later, I stepped foot onto Vava’u to begin an incredible experience beyond words.
The people I met on the trip are an interesting and fun loving mix. Our tour leader, Ron from Sydney is one such lucky guy and was on his 6th year whale trips; he yellow-carded me for chasing whales. Hey! This was my first! Go figure. My best traveling and kava parties mates, Daniel and Natalia from Brazil – Daniel, famous underwater photographer, was on an assignment working for National Geographic featuring humpback whales and Natalia, his beautiful fiancée and underwater model. Gia, my amazing roommate, was on her first snorkeling trip and even did her first Discover Scuba dive at 50. Big girl (as Steve call her) George, who cried for 10 minutes after seeing her first whales, is from London. The rest of the group is from different parts of Australia: Scott and Coleen from USA are now living in Brisbane, “Santa” Roger and lovely Ann, Neil and Poh Sin, Steve, Michelle, Gwen, Tony and my dive buddy, Jake aka Mr. Chef, from Germany and is also living in Brisbane working as a banquet chef. The new group who joined us on our last 2 days is also from Australia: Matous, Josephine, Tina and Lynn. They were very lucky, very lucky indeed! Not only are they on a small group (meaning more opportunity with the whales), they had the best first whale day on our last day!
After we cleared immigration and collected our luggage, we were met by Mano, the friendly driver from Paradise Hotel and transferred to the hotel by bus via a 45 minutes journey. The road, which snakes through the township of Neiafu, has spectacular views of the harbor, with the Catholic mission occupying one of the most commanding locations in the township. Along the way, Mano showed us the banks, Post Office, Market Place, and Beluga Dive Center which are located about 7~15 minutes walk from the hotel. Occupying a 15-acre site and overlooking the Port of Refuge Harbor, the hotel was constructed in the early 70s and is need of a “facelift”. Upon arriving at the hotel, we checked in and were assigned our rooms. Gia and I were allocated a double room but changed it to a twin room instead. Many from the group also have their rooms changed due to some utilities not working or cleanliness of the room. The rooms are obviously in need of some cleaning and maintenance. Our room is spacious, with a double bed and a single bed with a private balcony and en-suite hot shower. It is air-conditioned but the air-con is old and noisy. The temperature was set at 24 deg C and not adjustable. It was constructed with wood and wood shavings were falling from the ceiling. Carpeting the whole room is a bad choice as the floor has become rather moldy due to snorkelers/divers walking in wet over prolonged time. The water supply was cut-off for the whole day on our last day and some of us didn’t get a shower. I have stayed on many small islands in Asia and the rooms might be smaller and basic but clean and well kept. On a sad note, this hotel just isn’t Paradise at all! On a very positive note, the welcoming and accommodating Tongan staff made our stay a pleasant one.
Where and what to Eat … The hotel offers free continental breakfast everyday and the menu was the same each day. The menu consists of fresh fruits (papaya, pineapple, bananas and watermelon), cold cereals (Wheatabix), toast, eggs prepared to order and omelets, juices, tea and coffee. I miss my Asian breakfast and had to make do with instant noodles for the last three mornings. Lunch was usually the delicious egg, Tuna or chicken sandwiches prepared by the ladies from Beluga Diving on whale-watching days or a quick sandwich or pasta meal washed down with a glass of fruit smoothie at the Aquarium Café after dives. Most afternoons, I enjoyed stopping by the Aquarium for a Gin & Tonic or two, reading my book or just chilling out. From 5.30pm – 6.30pm daily, free cocktails and beers are available from the hotel bar. It was when we will all gathered together to recount the happenings of the day, had fun and lots of laugh on the “Truth Chair” while enjoying the free drinks before making dinner plans. We frequented few restaurants suggested by Ron for our dinner. Actually the food is decent here but can’t speak much of a variety comparing to Asian cuisine.
Aquarium Cafe is an Internet cafe, restaurant, tour-booking agent and general social area. Its’ waterfront location provides a beautiful view of the harbor and I like the fun and laid-back atmosphere here. The American owners and staff are very friendly and the waiting time for our food was reasonable. They served Tapas style dinner consisting Spanish style potatoes with paprika dip and Mexican samosas, Chicken curry with rice, Tongan style tropical fish, French style Chicken Cordon Bleu or Blue cheese Ravioli and so on. I did not try the desserts but those who did say the coconut cake, brownie and ice cream was a treat. We also had a small birthday celebration for Gwen here and we had an absolutely fun and lovely time playing drinking games and singing along to the musicians. If for some reason you can only eat at one dinner at a Vava’u restaurant, don’t even think of passing up the Aquarium!
Mana’ia served an assortment of Italian inspired dishes and freshly made gourmet style calzones and pizzas. I had the Marinara and Capricciosa pizza with Gin & Tonic on 2 different evenings and they were delightfully good. Actually, everything that the group had here has been really good. No complain.
Mango is a modern waterfront bar/restaurant situated in front of Moorings yacht charters. The menu is rather limited and on 2 occasions when we were there, they do not have fresh fish and therefore do not have the tuna rolls that we liked. The fish and chips were quite good but the pizza was non-appetizing. It was more expensive to dine here and the portion was quite small. Also, this place runs on “Tongan” time so expect more than an hour for your meal to be served.
Dancing Rooster offers a very popular Wednesday night "All-you-can-eat" BBQ comprising of fish, chicken, sausage and lamb with assorted salads and fruits. We were here on both Wednesdays and I found it to be value for money.
Humpback whale encounters and Dive trip itinerary
Day 2 (10th Sept) - 2 dives for divers and cruise on Catamaran for snorkelers
Day 3 (11th Sept) - 1st whale day: Swim with 2 adults and 3 juveniles, witness heat-run between 2 males and a female from the boat, breaches and tail-slap.
Day 3 (12th Sept) - 2 dives for divers and Go-Kart rides for snorkelers
Day 4 (13th Sept) – 2nd whale day: Swim with a mother and calf pair (in the waters 4x) before handing them over to another boat, more breaches and tail-slap.
Day 5 (14th Sept) - 3rd whale day: A male whale singing upside down in mid waters (So surreal) and swim with 3 adults (briefly)
Day 6 (15th Sept) - 2 dives for divers and Free & Easy for snorklers
Day 7 (16th Sept) – 4th whale day: Very brief underwater encounters with 2 juveniles and a mother and calf pair, followed 5 whales at the surface for 30 minutes while seeing them separated, re-grouped, breached and tail-slapped etc.
Day 8 (17th Sept) – 5th whale day: Whales at the surface but avoided us as soon as we went into the waters for 5 hours. Finally, got the chance to swim up-close with a mother and calf pair with 1 male escort for 10 minutes. Awesome.
Day 9 (18th Sept) – 6th whale day: First mother and calf pair didn’t want to play, was with another mother and calf pair with 1 male escort for 3 hours before handing them over to another boat. Female whale breaches her whole body out from the water about 5 meters from the boat. Truly sensational!
It is illegal in Tonga to swim with whales without a licensed whale-watching operator. There are 12 licensed whale-watching operators and we use Beluga Diving (Diving in Tonga Vava'u. dive courses Tonga Pacific Island. Whale watching tonga), which has 7 years experience and the crew are truly professional and helpful. Moa, our skipper is the BEST and always positioned us to have the best encounters with the whales. The humpback whales encounters are very clearly regulated by a code of practice and professionally handled. Only a licensed whale-watching operator may be within 300 meters of the whale. There can only be 4 snorkelers and 1 guide in the water with the whales at each time. Snorkelers are told to perform a Soft-In-Water entry, avoid big splashes and any rapid movements while in the water to avoid stressing the whales. No flash photography is allowed and strictly no touching or any physical contact with the whale. Respect and Do Not harass the whales.
My heart skipped a beat as I watched in awed when the 40-tonne mother humpback whale breaches her entire gigantic body out of the water within point-blank range from our boat. The sound of her landing back onto the surface was amazingly powerful, the splash huge. Together with Natalia and Jake, I was sitting on the bow of the boat, some on the top deck while others still in the waters, we were all caught by surprise and were screaming in excitement but none of us has our cameras ready for this magical moment of life’s greatest wildlife encounters. That captivating display was the finale for my whale watching experience in Vava’u group of islands in Tonga and I took home with me many cherished and unforgettable memories.
Southern hemisphere humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a baleen whale and a rorqual whale that sings amazing songs. An adult female humpback whale can grow up to 16 meters in length and weigh as much as 45 tonnes. Adult males are slightly smaller. A humpback whale calf at birth is around 3 meters in length and weighs around one tonne. The humpback has a bulky head with bumpy protuberances (tubercles), each with a bristle. Humpbacks are acrobats of the ocean, breaching and slapping the water. They live in pods and have 2 blowholes. The name humpback describes the motion it makes as it arches its back out of the water in preparation for a dive. It spends around eight months of each year in Antarctica, feeding on krill, small prawn like critters, and shoals of herrings. The South Pacific kingdom of Tonga is one of the only places on the planet where tourists can swim with humpback whales. From July to September each year, the humpbacks migrate to Tonga to mate and calve in the island-nation's warm, sheltered waters. Boisterous courtship displays and mating occur during these months … it’s an exciting time to be observing the whales of Tonga.
Tonga – A distant Paradise
Tonga? Where’s that? Most people I mentioned to do not know about this unique archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean; let alone what the Friendly Islands has to offer. Tonga lies east of Australia and north of New Zealand with its closest neighbors Fiji in the northwest and Samoa in the northeast. Tonga, a constitutional monarchy, is the only South Pacific country never to have been colonized by a foreign power. Its comprises a scattered distribution of 171 islands, spread out in a north–south direction across 800 kilometers (500 miles) of the South Pacific Ocean. Only 45 of Tonga’s 171 islands are currently inhabited, but the population of nearly 100,000 is growing rapidly. There are four island groups including the mostly low-lying Tongatapu group, the volcanic and coral Ha'apai group; the flat coral islands of the Vava'u group, and the volcanic Niuas group in the far north. Tonga personifies the beauty of the South Pacific. It has an abundance of remote (almost endless) white sand beaches, all protected by reefs. Snorkeling and scuba conditions are pure perfection, and the Tongan people are very welcoming.
Getting there was no small task, I took off from Singapore to Sydney on an overnight 7 hours flight, stayed two days in Sydney catching up with some friends and did a dive at Bare Island for the weedy sea dragon before continuing on the planned Tonga/Fiji trip organized by Ron Hunter from Dive Forster (http://www.whaledive.net/). A 3.5 hours Pacific Blue flight into the main island of Tongatapu, overnight and then 45 minutes on an early morning Chathams Pacific flight later, I stepped foot onto Vava’u to begin an incredible experience beyond words.
The people I met on the trip are an interesting and fun loving mix. Our tour leader, Ron from Sydney is one such lucky guy and was on his 6th year whale trips; he yellow-carded me for chasing whales. Hey! This was my first! Go figure. My best traveling and kava parties mates, Daniel and Natalia from Brazil – Daniel, famous underwater photographer, was on an assignment working for National Geographic featuring humpback whales and Natalia, his beautiful fiancée and underwater model. Gia, my amazing roommate, was on her first snorkeling trip and even did her first Discover Scuba dive at 50. Big girl (as Steve call her) George, who cried for 10 minutes after seeing her first whales, is from London. The rest of the group is from different parts of Australia: Scott and Coleen from USA are now living in Brisbane, “Santa” Roger and lovely Ann, Neil and Poh Sin, Steve, Michelle, Gwen, Tony and my dive buddy, Jake aka Mr. Chef, from Germany and is also living in Brisbane working as a banquet chef. The new group who joined us on our last 2 days is also from Australia: Matous, Josephine, Tina and Lynn. They were very lucky, very lucky indeed! Not only are they on a small group (meaning more opportunity with the whales), they had the best first whale day on our last day!
After we cleared immigration and collected our luggage, we were met by Mano, the friendly driver from Paradise Hotel and transferred to the hotel by bus via a 45 minutes journey. The road, which snakes through the township of Neiafu, has spectacular views of the harbor, with the Catholic mission occupying one of the most commanding locations in the township. Along the way, Mano showed us the banks, Post Office, Market Place, and Beluga Dive Center which are located about 7~15 minutes walk from the hotel. Occupying a 15-acre site and overlooking the Port of Refuge Harbor, the hotel was constructed in the early 70s and is need of a “facelift”. Upon arriving at the hotel, we checked in and were assigned our rooms. Gia and I were allocated a double room but changed it to a twin room instead. Many from the group also have their rooms changed due to some utilities not working or cleanliness of the room. The rooms are obviously in need of some cleaning and maintenance. Our room is spacious, with a double bed and a single bed with a private balcony and en-suite hot shower. It is air-conditioned but the air-con is old and noisy. The temperature was set at 24 deg C and not adjustable. It was constructed with wood and wood shavings were falling from the ceiling. Carpeting the whole room is a bad choice as the floor has become rather moldy due to snorkelers/divers walking in wet over prolonged time. The water supply was cut-off for the whole day on our last day and some of us didn’t get a shower. I have stayed on many small islands in Asia and the rooms might be smaller and basic but clean and well kept. On a sad note, this hotel just isn’t Paradise at all! On a very positive note, the welcoming and accommodating Tongan staff made our stay a pleasant one.
Where and what to Eat … The hotel offers free continental breakfast everyday and the menu was the same each day. The menu consists of fresh fruits (papaya, pineapple, bananas and watermelon), cold cereals (Wheatabix), toast, eggs prepared to order and omelets, juices, tea and coffee. I miss my Asian breakfast and had to make do with instant noodles for the last three mornings. Lunch was usually the delicious egg, Tuna or chicken sandwiches prepared by the ladies from Beluga Diving on whale-watching days or a quick sandwich or pasta meal washed down with a glass of fruit smoothie at the Aquarium Café after dives. Most afternoons, I enjoyed stopping by the Aquarium for a Gin & Tonic or two, reading my book or just chilling out. From 5.30pm – 6.30pm daily, free cocktails and beers are available from the hotel bar. It was when we will all gathered together to recount the happenings of the day, had fun and lots of laugh on the “Truth Chair” while enjoying the free drinks before making dinner plans. We frequented few restaurants suggested by Ron for our dinner. Actually the food is decent here but can’t speak much of a variety comparing to Asian cuisine.
Aquarium Cafe is an Internet cafe, restaurant, tour-booking agent and general social area. Its’ waterfront location provides a beautiful view of the harbor and I like the fun and laid-back atmosphere here. The American owners and staff are very friendly and the waiting time for our food was reasonable. They served Tapas style dinner consisting Spanish style potatoes with paprika dip and Mexican samosas, Chicken curry with rice, Tongan style tropical fish, French style Chicken Cordon Bleu or Blue cheese Ravioli and so on. I did not try the desserts but those who did say the coconut cake, brownie and ice cream was a treat. We also had a small birthday celebration for Gwen here and we had an absolutely fun and lovely time playing drinking games and singing along to the musicians. If for some reason you can only eat at one dinner at a Vava’u restaurant, don’t even think of passing up the Aquarium!
Mana’ia served an assortment of Italian inspired dishes and freshly made gourmet style calzones and pizzas. I had the Marinara and Capricciosa pizza with Gin & Tonic on 2 different evenings and they were delightfully good. Actually, everything that the group had here has been really good. No complain.
Mango is a modern waterfront bar/restaurant situated in front of Moorings yacht charters. The menu is rather limited and on 2 occasions when we were there, they do not have fresh fish and therefore do not have the tuna rolls that we liked. The fish and chips were quite good but the pizza was non-appetizing. It was more expensive to dine here and the portion was quite small. Also, this place runs on “Tongan” time so expect more than an hour for your meal to be served.
Dancing Rooster offers a very popular Wednesday night "All-you-can-eat" BBQ comprising of fish, chicken, sausage and lamb with assorted salads and fruits. We were here on both Wednesdays and I found it to be value for money.
Humpback whale encounters and Dive trip itinerary
Day 2 (10th Sept) - 2 dives for divers and cruise on Catamaran for snorkelers
Day 3 (11th Sept) - 1st whale day: Swim with 2 adults and 3 juveniles, witness heat-run between 2 males and a female from the boat, breaches and tail-slap.
Day 3 (12th Sept) - 2 dives for divers and Go-Kart rides for snorkelers
Day 4 (13th Sept) – 2nd whale day: Swim with a mother and calf pair (in the waters 4x) before handing them over to another boat, more breaches and tail-slap.
Day 5 (14th Sept) - 3rd whale day: A male whale singing upside down in mid waters (So surreal) and swim with 3 adults (briefly)
Day 6 (15th Sept) - 2 dives for divers and Free & Easy for snorklers
Day 7 (16th Sept) – 4th whale day: Very brief underwater encounters with 2 juveniles and a mother and calf pair, followed 5 whales at the surface for 30 minutes while seeing them separated, re-grouped, breached and tail-slapped etc.
Day 8 (17th Sept) – 5th whale day: Whales at the surface but avoided us as soon as we went into the waters for 5 hours. Finally, got the chance to swim up-close with a mother and calf pair with 1 male escort for 10 minutes. Awesome.
Day 9 (18th Sept) – 6th whale day: First mother and calf pair didn’t want to play, was with another mother and calf pair with 1 male escort for 3 hours before handing them over to another boat. Female whale breaches her whole body out from the water about 5 meters from the boat. Truly sensational!
It is illegal in Tonga to swim with whales without a licensed whale-watching operator. There are 12 licensed whale-watching operators and we use Beluga Diving (Diving in Tonga Vava'u. dive courses Tonga Pacific Island. Whale watching tonga), which has 7 years experience and the crew are truly professional and helpful. Moa, our skipper is the BEST and always positioned us to have the best encounters with the whales. The humpback whales encounters are very clearly regulated by a code of practice and professionally handled. Only a licensed whale-watching operator may be within 300 meters of the whale. There can only be 4 snorkelers and 1 guide in the water with the whales at each time. Snorkelers are told to perform a Soft-In-Water entry, avoid big splashes and any rapid movements while in the water to avoid stressing the whales. No flash photography is allowed and strictly no touching or any physical contact with the whale. Respect and Do Not harass the whales.
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