whales ... Rurutu vs Tonga?

[Wingy]

Road trip?

 

[charlier]

Road trip?

Years ago, every december, I would drive from Seattle to the Mexico border. I would cross the border at 4am, drive to southern Baja California (1000 km+) with wetsuits, mountain bikes, four extra gas cans, good water, tequila, and beer... A month later, we would return to hot showers, cold weather, and too much traffic.

 

[Etan]

Snorkeling with the Humpback whales in Niue Island costs about half of what you pay in Tonga, and whale in-water encounters are possible as close as 100m from shore. Very short boat ride. Awesome encounters already this year, with whales coming as close as 2m from the snorkelers. 6 snorkelers plus the guide are allowed in the water with the whales in Niue. Let me know if you require more info.

 

[fish80]

Just to throw another idea into the mix - snorkelling with Humpacks is also now approved at Exmouth/NIngaloo

Humpback Whale Swimming

I'd combine humpback snorkelling with diving the navy pier and also Whale Sharks, Mantas and dugongs frequent the area - you can do whaleshark tours or sometimes, you get lucky diving and get a nice surprise

Looks amazing but I am flying from HNL and looks really pricey to get there! :-( It's cheaper to got french polynesia or tonga from here... But I will keep it in mind for sure!

 

[fish80]

Years ago, every december, I would drive from Seattle to the Mexico border. I would cross the border at 4am, drive to southern Baja California (1000 km+) with wetsuits, mountain bikes, four extra gas cans, good water, tequila, and beer... A month later, we would return to hot showers, cold weather, and too much traffic.

Cabo Pulmo? It's amazing!

 

[fish80]

Snorkeling with the Humpback whales in Niue Island costs about half of what you pay in Tonga, and whale in-water encounters are possible as close as 100m from shore. Very short boat ride. Awesome encounters already this year, with whales coming as close as 2m from the snorkelers. 6 snorkelers plus the guide are allowed in the water with the whales in Niue. Let me know if you require more info.

I was looking at Niue too! I would love to go there, where shall I look for flights? I searched on kayak and found nothing... I fly from HNL

 

[charlier]

Accessible from Air New Zealand from - go to:

Niue International Airport - Wikipedia

 

[fish80]

Only one whale swimming event and even then it was coming back from a dive.

any suggestion regarding cameras? I am thinking to get wide angle lenses but I am not sure how wide thy should be since i don't know how close the whales normally get...

 

[Fibonacci]

I had good results with a Canon S95 in a WP-DC38 housing with a machined Delrin adaptor to take 67mm filters and close up adaptor.
Incredibly i didn't have the closeup filter attached for once so just shot as-is.
If i was trying to specifically take whale pics i would go for a wide angle or even 15mm equivalent fisheye... sometimes they can drift very close if you remain calm.
It is very difficult to control your pounding heart and breathing evenly with such a huge mammal so close... but apparently they can 'hear' your heartbeat and keep clear if they feel uncomfortable.