Tonga Part II - Ha'apai and Whale Swimming

Many places in the world offer whale watching trips, and various of these also offer whale swimming, but few can compete with what Tonga can offer in this regard. Every year in August and September (winter in the Southern Hemisphere) hundreds of humpback whales migrate from Antarctica all the way up to Tonga.

The feeling of seeing such a graceful creature sometimes more than 15 meters long and weighing perhaps 40 tons directly below or ahead of you is difficult to convey. It's not comparable to many other experiences in life. As is always the case with nature, each encounter is unique and different, and no two days spent with the whales are ever the same.

Beyond the sheer size, another striking aspect of some of our encounters was the playfulness of the young calves. On multiple occasions we found ourselves having to actively swim away as calves became curious and would continue to approach closer and closer. Whilst endearing in principle, close contact is neither permissible under whale watching guidelines or indeed safe for either humans or calves - like all babies they are still improving their spatial awareness and ability to manoeuvre. Getting inadvertently hit by an animal more than 5 meters long weighing a few tons when it is moving at speed wouldn't end well.

Over the course of close to two weeks we were privileged to spend time with the whales in a variety of different situations and in quite variable conditions (as can be seen from the photos below).

We were really delighted with our choice of operator, staying with Matafonua Resort in Ha'apai. The resort is comfortable and sensitively constructed and considered, has a great kitchen and vibe coupled with a really experienced and efficient hotel and whale watching team that is above all respectful of the whales and the natural environment. There are also few other resorts nearby in Ha'apai which means competition or crowding are not issues. Finding all those things together in such a remote and beautiful location is a rare thing indeed.

All photos were taken with an iPhone in a DiveVolk housing. We found that simple was best, so no 'wet lenses' on top of the iPhone or housing, minimal use of 'ultra wide angle' due to lens distortion, shooting 4K video (60 fps if possible) obviously without lights. Two reasons for video shooting: the 48 megapixels of the iPhone camera are actually a hindrance when the light level is lower and almost monochrome blue underwater, it pushes exposures longer or ISOs higher, both of which give weaker results. The better approach for us seemed to be to take the smaller resolution of 4K video (8MP) with 5 times as much light per pixel, a single frame from the short video can be taken and then, if really needed, the image can be rescaled back towards "normal" iPhone resolution with for example Gigapixel. Clearly a good digital SLR with full frame sensor in a housing would also do very well (better than an iPhone) if you can go down that path.

Some practical thoughts below in case you were to add Tonga whale swimming to your bucket list!

• Whale watching/swimming is offered throughout Tonga but the nature of the experience will differ between operators and island groups (Vava'u, Ha'apai, 'Eua and Tongatapu). We chose the Ha'apai island group because it was less crowded with operators than Vava'u, has a very experienced, efficient and well run operation at Matafonua Resport and is also not as expensive as various locations in Vava'u.

• As will be explained by the operators, there is never any guarantee of swimming with whales, it depends on whether the whale behaviour and whether they are comfortable with that in each encounter.

• At 4.5 hour duration the trips from Matafonua are a little shorter than some other operators but we found them to be about right when going out for many days in a row, particularly taking into account weather and sea conditions that change day to day, and the need to have some energy left for the rest of the day with the young travellers!

• We rarely saw another boat and never had a case of 'queueing' or having to leave a whale because another operator was there before us or arrived, we also never had to go far from the "home beach" to locate whales.

• Our experience of Ha'apai was that sea conditions were calmer here than what we saw in either 'Eua or Tongatapu.

• Whilst it may be tropical, it is winter, and the water (generally 23C or less) is cooler than equatorial regions. You will likely be in and out of the water multiple times and away from land there is always wind. Bring a warm, hooded windproof jacket to keep warm and avoid windchill.

• There are many many variables in any whale encounter, including water visibility (it can be less than 10m or more than 50m), wind, weather and swell, the characters of the whales and the age of any calf, the presence or not of "escort" whales in addition to a mother and calf etc etc. If you have come all that way, allow for at least a handful of trips to ensure you get some good conditions and encounters.

• Depending on your level of fitness and commitment to swimming and water activities you could consider investing in a fair of spearfishing or freediving style fins (e.g. Pathos, Seac, Leaderfins, Cressi). These are longer, lighter and more powerful than diving fins or snorkelling fins and can help a lot when the priority is energy efficiency and distance rather than fine movements and agile manoeuvring which short fins are better for.

When approaching the Ha'apai group, occasional reefs and seamounts appear below the clouds.

Small islets can be seen along some of the fringing reefs of atoll lagoons.

The Ha'apai group has many islands, however only approximately 20 are regularly inhabited.

One of the beautiful views from the thatched fale cottages at Matafonua on Foa Island in Ha'apai.

The kitchen and restaurant area look across a channel in the lagoon, perfectly positioned for the sunrise.

Looking back to the restaurant area from the channel. For those with an interest in maritime history, the mutiny on HMS Bounty occurred close to the island of Tofua, which is visible from the tip of the beach on a clear day. With thanks to Darren at Matafonua for kindly providing this picture from one of his drones!

Whilst the islands tend to be long and thin (as usual with atolls) they still support gardens with crops such as taro, papaya, and some other fruit and vegetables.

Most visitors however are drawn by what is below the water.

In areas of the lagoon where there are regular currents and movement of the water with the tides there are nice coral bommies and coral garden areas.

Always nice to see some of the more decorative reef fish like these Canthigaster janthinoptera, but the real interest for many lies a little further out with the humpback whales.

Seeing your first whales come out of the plain blue background and effortlessly glide past you faster than you can swim is a moment to remember. It takes some time to really take in their size.

Despite the enormous size, they can hang effortlessly in the water, an amazing sight when almost vertical in the water.

When the sun is strong the rays penetrate far down into the water, giving an almost celestial or angelic quality to the scene.

Amazingly they will also on occasion hang in the water with their tail above the surface - a behaviour called "Tail Sailing". This pair of photos show the below and above water view of this.

On some days the water will be amazingly clear...

...but on other days full of particulate, almost resembling a snow shower underwater.

Particularly when they had younger calves they appeared to favour the edges of the reefs, during our swims these seemed to be in the range of 15 - 30m.

From time to time they would also rest on sandy bottoms which were shallow enough to clearly show their shadow in periods of sunlight.

Their graceful movement underwater was in stark contrast to our efforts to keep up, stay together as a small group of 4 swimmers as the whales and curious calves moved around us. On one occasion we had six whales converging on us at some speed, a lot to keep track of!

Some of the photos may look serene, but those moments were mixed in amongst periods of intense action with calves pirouetting underwater, sometimes breaching and tail slapping, sometimes coming directly towards us, bubbles everywhere as the swimmers try to keep together on one side of the whales through the waves, not getting between calves and mothers etc.

It was nice to have the tables turned on occasion and feel that the whales were observing us just as much as we were observing them.

The bubbles weren't just coming from our swimming efforts either, rolling around, tail slapping and pec slapping were the favourite activities for the playing calves we were able to observe for some time...

... sometimes ending up in overexcitement and being led away by mum (the whale, not us, usually).

Even without the whales the clear water on the deeper shoals and reefs was a beautiful environment to experience.

It usually wasn't too long before the whales announced their presence again though ...