Tonga: Unexpected experiences in the Pacific with humpback whales

Take us to Tonga in the Pacific Ocean, where you can swim with humpback whales and experience a fantastic island.

Tonga: Unexpected experiences in the Pacific with humpback whales is written by Aviaaja Schlüter.

The dream of swimming with humpback whales

After seeing humpback whales from ships and boats in Arctic and Antarctic Over the years, the dream of experiencing these mighty creatures underwater has taken hold.

The dream had to come true, and after several good recommendations we booked a two-week holiday in Tonga. in the Pacific Ocean with the main purpose of swimming with humpback whales.

Off to the Pacific Ocean – the plan is ready

We traveled from our home in Westport in New Zealand to Christchurch and on to Auckland, before we could fly directly to the main island of Tongatapu in Tonga.

Here, a single overnight stay awaited in a cozy bed & breakfast in tropical surroundings and then with a small local Twin Otter plane the following morning to our final destination Vava'u.

In typical island style, of course, things didn't go according to plan at all.

Chaos and patience in the Pacific

Before we flew from Auckland, we had already been told that our bed & breakfast was fully booked and that we would instead have to sleep in a small room in the city. Luckily, our host had arranged both transport and accommodation for us, so it was just fine.

When we landed in Tonga late at night, the next message came: the flight to Vava'u had been cancelled, and the tropical heat hung like a heavy blanket while we waited for new information. Fortunately, we are both used to delays from our work in the polar regions, and 24 hours on or off shouldn't make much difference. We had included a day's buffer.

See Countries in Oceania: Here are all the Pacific countries you can travel to

Unfortunately, the one day delay turned into a 3,5 day delay, and the mood was honestly sad. Luckily, we were able to stay in the small guest house, and sweet Poli, our host, was very helpful.

I was able to purchase roaming for my New Zealand phone number and spent an hour each morning waiting in line at the local airline Lulutai Airlines before we had breakfast. Next we visited the local Lulutai Airlines office, where there was very little information to be found, but we were persistent.

Unexpected experiences in Tonga, far out in the Pacific Ocean

The capital of Tonga is Nuku'alofa, and it's a special place. It's not a particularly big city, but there are an awful lot of cars. This means that there is traffic jam most days from morning to late afternoon in the city center, and it can therefore really pay off to be on foot at certain times of the day.

We took some trips around Tonga and managed to get something positive out of every day on the main island.

We visited the landing site of explorers James Cook and Abel Tasman, greeted the sleeping fruit bats, walked around what may be the world's largest 'tsunami stone', experienced the South Pacific's answer to Stonehenge, saw the three-headed coconut palm and visited the Anahula Cave, where you can swim in the clear cave water.

We enjoyed delicious dishes and fresh fruit at Café Friends every day and ended up getting to know the city's streets well.

A tropical postcard from Tonga

The delay from the start unfortunately meant that we missed the first three days at sea – and therefore humpback whales. So we really wanted to get to Vava'u as soon as possible. We finally flew out on Saturday morning in the small plane and had an insanely spectacular flight from Tongatapu to Vava'u.

It was just a total postcard view from the small plane window, and the flight ended up being one of the highlights of the trip. While the main island of Tonga is busy and completely overcrowded with cars and traffic, Vava'u is a much more calm and charming tropical paradise in the Pacific Ocean – exactly what we had dreamed of.

We stayed in the coziest little tree house with a beautiful terrace and a view of paradise. There were palm trees, colorful flowers, birds in the bushes and lots of peace. We quickly jumped into the water and tried out our snorkeling equipment in the bay.

The water was crystal clear, the sun was shining through the surface, and the coral reefs were glowing. Colorful fish were flying playfully between the corals, and it was a thrill to finally be in action.

See Countries in Oceania: Here are all the Pacific countries you can travel to

Hymn singing and snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean

Sunday is a public holiday in Tonga. It is written into the constitution that you are not allowed to do any kind of commercial activity – not even going out to look for humpback whales. In fact, you are not allowed to do anything other than go to church and spend time with your family. There are an incredible number of different forms of Christianity on the islands, and the population is very religious.

From early morning the island was filled with hymn singing. We could hear choirs from different churches in the neighborhood while we were eating breakfast. So we chose to go to Sunday service at St. Joseph's Cathedral. It was a cool experience, and it's impressive how the people can sing through it.

There was no other instrument than a melodica on which the choirmaster set the tone. The rest was pure lung power, and it resonated across the islands.

The entire ceremony was in Tongan except for a short speech that was translated into English. The translated speech dealt with infidelity, how it was not advisable to get divorced, and that one should expect to get a little tired of one's spouse over the years. "The spark, as we know, doesn't last." What an experience.

We also spent Sunday hiking up the highest point, Mount Talau, which is also an approved Sunday activity, and got a nice view of the islands before heading home and jumping into the Pacific Ocean again.

See Countries in Oceania: Here are all the Pacific countries you can travel to

When the weather is bad and the humpback whales don't show up

When Monday finally arrived, we were ready to get in the boat and find some whales. Unfortunately, the weather was unsettled and the waves were high, so it was a tough ride aboard the small boat.

We saw two whales, but unfortunately they were not interested in swimming with us, so we had to enjoy them from a distance while holding on to the railing.

It had apparently been a strange whale season in Tonga that year, with the whales arriving too early, and at the end of the season they seem to have disappeared earlier than usual. Whale watching tours run until the penultimate week of October.

We didn't have much luck with our trips, and both Tuesday and Wednesday were whale-free. Instead, we used the daily 7-hour sailing on the Pacific Ocean to go out to some local caves and snorkeling spots to swim around and at least enjoy the scenery below the surface.

It's probably some of the bluest and clearest water I've ever seen. Amazing snorkeling. We saw lots of fish, starfish and a single shark, and one day we could even hear whales singing below the surface - absolutely magical.

An unforgettable experience up close to Tonga's humpback whales

When it was Thursday, there was a lot of stress in the group. The other guests were a little frustrated about the missing whales. Luckily, we found two sets of humpback whales with mother and calf, and on this very last day we finally got in the water with the whales.

See Countries in Oceania: Here are all the Pacific countries you can travel to

When you are in the water with humpback whales, you swim with a local guide and have 15 minutes in the water at a time, where you can swim at a safe distance from the enormous whales.

It was incredible to see the whales so close, and it almost felt like they were an arm's length away from us, even though I know we were several meters away from the animals. It was especially fun to follow the young calf, who mostly stayed close to his mother, but then the next moment got curious and came a little closer to check us out.

The young calves respond to underwater dancing and they love it when you spin them around. Several times we saw the young calves copying our movements. It was a really wild experience.

One calf in particular went wild on the surface with acrobatics, tail flapping, jumping and flapping. Even when we were above water, the whales were a sight we can't get over.

We were completely exhausted when we got home, and it was just amazing to have snorkeled with humpback whales. Although much of our trip had gone in an unexpected direction, we had our Pacific adventure in Tonga with all the chaos and beauty that comes with it.

Farewell to the tropical paradise in the Pacific Ocean

To everyone's surprise, the local flight flew back to the main island with only an hour's delay. Since we knew Tongatapu inside and out after our longer stay, we chose to go to a deserted beach close to the airport, where we spent four hours at the water's edge before returning to check-in.

See Countries in Oceania: Here are all the Pacific countries you can travel to

We enjoyed the last warmth and sun in the Pacific before returning to our work in Antarctica.

If we go to Vava'u again, next time we would prefer to fly direct from Fiji to Vava'u and avoid the local Lulutai Airlines.

Have a good trip to Tonga and your own Pacific adventure.