Today we experienced one of those special moments that’s almost impossible to describe. The goosebumps are still at work and the sense of awe still running through my veins, but I’ll do my best to describe the indescribable in words.
This was our last full day with Elizabeth and Alex so we decided to make it a special day. We booked a whale watching tour with our friends from Moonshadow, John and Deb. The day was scheduled to began at 7:30AM on a 23 foot catamaran open fisherman with dual Yamaha 250HP outboards. That time was difficult as it was our first appointment in a long time and the leisurely pace of coffee in the morning was interrupted by the deadline. We got up at 5:45 in order to be ready. Even with all that time, I ate my last bit of eggs while the boat was rafting up and we made it aboard by 7:35 along with two Swiss tourists who had been swimming with whales all week. We then we picked up John and Deb and were off!
We motored out about an hour to the archipelago where there are dozens or hundreds of little motus or islands. The first sighting elicited a “thar she blows” and the captain said, I’ve heard that a million times. We approached from a 45 degree angle and when we got close enough they said, “the family goes first” since regulations dictate that only 4 plus a guide can approach a whale at a time. Jerri, Eddie, Alex and I quickly donned our fins and masks and sat on the side of the boat waiting to slip into the water with a minimum of splash so that we wouldn’t disturb the whales. We saw a mother and calf and possibly a male. We swam what seemed like 100 yards as fast as we could while holding on to one another, kicking sideways so that we could keep our fins underwater and not splash too much. We finally got to the mother and while it was pretty murky we could see the big mother gently coasting along. I could only see about half of the whale, but it took my breath away and soon it was time to return so that the other group could get their turn.
We got back on board and the 4 our us were pretty pleased that we saw a Humpback whale up close and personal, but I was a little disappointed and wished that the visibility was better.
We kept chasing these whales for the next several hours, but didn’t get to see them underwater again. We finally gave up around lunch time when we were served some really lovely roti sandwiches and taro chips. I suspect we were all thinking that we were lucky to swim with the whale and her baby along with sighting multiple breaches where the whales jump out of the water. We talked to the guides and suggested that we stop off at the Sparrow caves to snorkel on the way back, but not cut significantly into our remaining time to find whales.
We then got a call from another boat about a momma and calf and raced over to this sighting. The momma was logging and the baby was swimming around her playing. The other boat had guests (professional
photographers) in the water so we waited our turn but after about 20 minutes we jumped in and swam over to the colossal mother humpback and her calf. We floated about 10 feet from the eye directly in front of the pectoral fin. The fin was about 15 feet long, very craggy and had bunches of barnacles in small groupings near the leading edge. The baby and the mother had a lot sucker sharks cleaning them and momma was resting while the baby was checking us out. We were mesmerized by this gentle giant that was at least 50 feet long and yet so tranquil.
We swam back to share this incredible opportunity the other group who experienced the same show. Brilliant.
After their return the momma suddenly woke up and put on a show of breaching over and over again all around our boat. The calf imitated the mom and we felt like they were trying to communicate with us and everyone was taking pictures. That episode had as much activity as you could expect from Sea World and yet it was a private show in nature. Totally awe inspiring.
It was getting late so we thought that we were done, but both groups got another chance to spent another 10 minutes with Momma and calf edging closer and farther away from the front of the whale. We then headed back to our harbor, got off the wet suits and took hot showers. All night we talked about the day and how thankful we were to have such a spectacular day with the whales.
Words don’t describe the feeling you have hovering over a humpback whale with a basketball sized eye and body the length of a small jet airliner. Anyone considering such an adventure would be well served by coming to Tonga!
Check out the video.
