Humpback Whale Swimming in Tonga (Day 1 of 6)

My whale swim package included pick up and drop off at the airport. When I arrived in Vava'u from Tongatapu, I looked around and did not see anyone holding a sign with my name or the Blue Lagoon Resort. I looked and looked. After asking, I was directed toward a couple of guys who were standing around talking. I asked for Blue Lagoon and one of the guys motioned to a van sitting across the parking lot. We walked over and I had no idea if he was the arranged driver OR if he thought I wanted to pay to go there. I was comforted when he mentioned Tabu (who I had been emailing at Blue Lagoon). It was wild...the van was stuffed with stuffed animals and religious articles including very faded stickers.

I was transferred to a boat. Blue Lagoon Resort is on one of the outer islands. The trip took 40+ minutes by boat from the dock on the mainland to Foe'ata Island. It was fun to ride along and look at the other islands of Vava'u in the deep blue water. Some of the islands were quite large and some were little more than a clump of trees. I was surprised that most of the islands had lush, green vegetation on top of rocky cliffs. Some of the cliffs were interesting to look at because the rock was being undercut by the water lapping below. The first thing I noticed was this island that had been separated from the main island. There were several trees growing strong on this little clump of land. I thought it was a great picture for one of those motivational (or de-motivational) posters...something about persistence and growing in the face of opposition.
We pulled up to the pier and I was helped off the boat. They showed me to my fale. It was quite spacious and had a huge bed that was draped with a mosquito net. The whole back was open to the bay and I could hear the water lapping on the beach below. My favorite part was the verandah that looked out on the bay. Beautiful!
I walked around the island. It took less than an hour to circumnavigate. The interior of the island was not very nice and seem to be a broken down dump area. I found out later that the debris on the island was from a cyclone that had hit the island hard.
The beach areas were nice. There were some chunks of coral skeleton that I would have loved to have carried home...but the picture will have to do. The most exciting part of my island tour was the sign I saw walking into the restaurant. The sign said "Whale Watch Depart 8am". Yea!

I did not sleep well that night because I was so nervous and excited. I did not need my alarm to wake me up for the 8am breakfast...I was already awake. While we were eating breakfast we spotted the sprays from whales. WOW! Seeing whales from breakfast! I was already jumping up and down.
Getting on the boat was a challenge. They put a ladder down to give us a walkway between the dock and the boat. However, the nails did not hold the slats of ladder square. With the boat was moving, the pier was the only constant. The elevation of the roof was also low compared to one's height standing on the ladder. It was a bit disconcerting. You had to step across the ladder, then step between the ladder onto the boat and then avoid the ladder while walking onto the boat without knocking your head on the roof. Thankfully, the boat driver, Ullie and our whale guide, Sam, helped us get on by holding our hand on either end.

We spotted a whale spout almost immediately....then another two bursts of water shot into the air. We followed the group of humpbacks for a little bit. They would swim and then dive. Then surface and dive again. When the whales dove, Sam would note the time. An adult humpback can hold their breath for up to about 20 minutes. Calves need to breathe more often so they resurface much earlier. We looked the entire time but as the 20 minute mark approached, we kept a particularly keen eye out so that we would not miss where they surfaced.
After a while Sam got in the water to check things out.
There was nothing to see but he said that we could get in and hear the whale song. I jumped at the chance and threw on my mask, fins and snorkel. We had to dive down to hear. I did a duck dive and, after equalizing, I could hear the deep beautiful sound of the song.... I wish I had weights on so that I could stay down longer...grrr...I am too buoyant! I dove again and again to hear for as long as possible. Apparently the moms with calves don’t sing but the males who are looking for love belt out their songs (as all good courting men should do...ha-ha). I was overcome by how amazing it was to be in the water and hear the song and know that they were close. I was here.

Back on the boat we were on the hunt, searching for whales. We found. Boy, did we find! We wandered over to a spot that seemed very open with little islands in the distance. We spotted a whale at 12:00 and started to travel in that direction. Suddenly, Ullie turned the boat around. I started to ask why when I saw the water spout. He had seen a group of at least 2 whales at 6:00. He explained that it was MUCH easier to swim with a group that included a calf than with one solitary animal.
The group was traveling at a reasonable speed. It turned out that there were 3 whales, an escort with a mom and calf. The escort is normally a male who is waiting for an opportunity to mate with the female. He tries to guard against other males. Sometimes the escort is aggressive and defends the female against any intruder including boats...sometimes not. This escort was pushing the mom and pushing the mom even more. He even pushed the baby a couple times. We followed for a little bit and just as we were getting ready to leave the group to not stress out the mom, they slowed down. The mom must have told the escort to lay off or something because he disappeared.
The two seemed to be resting (understandable after being pushed so hard). Sam went in to test the waters to see if she would be amenable to us swimming with her. He lowered himself in to minimize splashing and slowly made his way over to the mom. We were given the signal to join him. I reminded myself to lower in gently to limit any splashing regardless of how eager I was.
I swam over and saw the momma. She was smaller than I expected. The baby came up slowly next to his mom and it was so little...I was shocked. Thinking the mom was small was an optical illusion because she was so huge next to her calf. The little guy was easily twice my length. It was awesome! Not awesome like the everyday word of "Oh...I found a $10 in my pocket...that is awesome" but AWE-SOME from the root of the word...Awe inspiring. I was so moved that I was tearing up (not a good thing because if steamed up my mask). I tried to memorize every detail of this amazingly huge gentle giant with a graceful long pectoral fin and a long bumpy head wearing a smile.
We swam with them twice. We swam with them until they moved too far for us to see and then we got back in the boat and repositioned and had another 30 minutes with the pair. I can not put into words how amazing it was to be in the water next to a humpback whale.

Soft Coral - with tentacles extended

We ate lunch on the boat. Lunch consisted of two egg sandwiches and a piece of fruit. Yep...egg. Strange! We snorkeled a bit after lunch. It was a nice snorkel. There was a large amount of coral but not very many fish. The coral was densely packed all vying for their spot of ground and bit of sunlight. In one spot I saw the relatively fast growing branching corals (acropora and porities) trying to reach for the sun by extending upwards; the plate corals (acropora and turbinaria) reaching out horizontal to find more sun; the coral boulders (faviidae and porities) that grow slowly and take more ground space but are strong and less sesceptible to currents and the soft corals that bend and sway in the current and uses chemical defenses to secure their territory. It was a pretty place. The reef was quite shallow and with all the coral species, the colors were vibrant.

After lunch we joined a line of boats waiting to swim with a mom and calf. The rule is that no more than 2 boats can wait in line. Each boat gets 2 swims or 30 minutes with the whale and after 1.5 hours, all boats must leave the whale to rest. It was hard to wait. In the far distance I spotted a whale breaching and saw a spout from another whale a bit closer. Thankfully the line of boats moved fairly quickly.
When our turn came, we lowered into the water quietly. It was fantastic! The mom and calf were below the surface sitting nose to nose...a picture perfect postcard (I just wish the water was clearer so I could have taken a perfect picture). They floated to the surface for a breath. The pair were completely relaxed and spent some time at the surface. Again, I was taking in the beautiful smile, the wise eye, the long ridges along the belly, the arch of the pectoral fin...every detail that I could.

They floated back down and we were able to get a great view from the top. The baby began to surface and did this beautiful dance to the top including a perfect pirouette and then rolled on her belly to the surface. The mother joined. I was captivated at the grace and beauty. We watched as their tails disappeared in the distance. WOW! We were back in the water in no time. The whales were so calm. The mom and baby dove and started to swim under the boat. I went one way and the others went another. They were RIGHT under us. The baby started toward the surface. He was so little next to his mom even though he was longer than me.

Humpback Calf wanting to Shake Hands

He slowly ascended and as he did he turned to look at me. This is not me thinking this...he turned so that I could see his eye. I looked him in the eye and he followed me, watching as he surfaced. Time stood still as he kept getting closer and closer and continued to look at me. He was breathtaking. We both looked each other in the eye until he turned to join his mom. She had started to surface and swim away. She had watched her calf ascend and it seemed like she had decided it was time for him to stop playing with the humans. He looked back at me one more time then he and his mom swam off. It was magical! After they were out of sight, I stuck my head out of the water and yelled. Owhhhh! Oh my goodness! He was extraordinary...so graceful in the water. :) Sam mentioned that the calf had come so close to me that he could not get a picture without me in it. He was less than 2 meters away from me. He was so amazing! I tried to take a picture of his eye (since he filled my camera field of vision) and I could only get his fin. What a day!
On our way back we saw another single whale in the water. She was sitting on the top of the water and just relaxing. We were told that we could fit in another swim if we hurried. Sam went to "test the waters" and signaled for us. The whale was on the surface. She slowly floated down and then turned and began to swim away. The movement looked like it was effortless. She turned back and circled towards us. We were able to get a great view of her from the bumps on her nose to the white underside of her tail and her long beautiful pectoral fins complete with growing barnacles. She turned and then swam away. We popped our heads out of the water when we could no longer see her tail. Wow! She flipped her tail in the air and hit the surface with her tail a couple of times as if to wave goodbye.
I could not move for a bit. I pinched myself to see if this day really happened or not...it felt more like a dream than reality. We were told that it was a remarkable and not normal. All THREE whale interactions were incredible and that did not even include the singing. The experiences on the first day exceeded my hopes.

I did a bit of snorkeling on the reef in front of the island to complete the day. There were not many things to see but it was fun to watch a group of clown fish swimming in their anemone. The dominant fish in a clown fish group is the female. This female tried to defend her territory from my camera. I also enjoyed looking at the crazy shapes and spaces that the bright blue starfish molded himself into. What a GREAT first day in the water in Tonga!  Incredible to think I had 5 more...