Snorkeling with Tonga's Humpbacks, August 12,13,18,19,23, 2019

My wife Donna and I are just back from a great trip to Tonga.  Tonga, for us, was a return trip, we first visited there in 1987 when we bareboated with the Moorings on a 42 foot sloop with our friends Greg and Chris Hoberg.  It was our second bareboating experience, the first was in 1984 in the BVIs.  A sad outcome of this wonderful trip is that there was a coup in Fiji on our way home from this trip and all our photos were seized at the airport.....This time we again bareboated with six friends on the 46 ft catamaran Thalassa, again with the Moorings.  I took a two day catamaran sailing class in May to be ready for the transportable condominium. This time, we got home with our pictures!  Also, this time, we were there during Humpback season.  This edition of my diving blog will cover the five days of "whale swims" that Donna and I had on this trip.    The first two whale swims were during the four days we spent at the Tongan Beach Resort, the final three were while we were on our 11 day bareboat trip on the Thalassa.

The view we enjoyed from our Tongan Beach Resort apartment, mere steps away from snorkeling, kayaking, and the dock where the "Blue Sky" and "Press Play" whale swim boats picked us up for our first two Humpback Whale swims.

    Our first whale swim was with lone adult Humpbacks that were mostly napping.  You'd enter the water, four tourists, maximum, with a guide, and hover over the just barely visible Humpback below and patiently wait for it to surface and take a breath before going back down to snooze.  Most of my photos the first day were pretty dark with the subject 40 ft or so down in dark water..Encounters on later trips were better.  There is nothing like looking in the eye of a large whale and seeing the thinking being there considering you.

 After spending much of the trip patiently waiting for all too brief whale surfacing encounters we stopped at Swallow's Cave for some fun snorkeling on the way back.

One of our whale swim party, Wilma, was an excellent snorkeler....like I was when her age...Though I steadily improved through the course of our trip, 30 ft for me was as challenging, at first, as 60 ft were back in the day...47 years ago...

 Our first encounter on our second day of whale swimming was with a pod of either false orcas or pilot whales.  After reviewing my photos and those of false orcas and pilot whales on line I'm confident these were false orcas aka false killer whales.  We could hear them clicking like crazy well before they came into view and made a close pass.

    My first encounter with False Orcas, really exciting but all too brief.  Only got off a couple shots.

Here's our group waiting for its next turn to swim with Humpbacks.  The boats may only have five people in the water at a time, one being the guide and only one team of five maybe with the same whale or whales at the same time.  The boats do a good job of sharing the cooperative whales they find.

 I've been quietly hanging above a barely visible Humpback impatiently waiting for it to come up for a breath, here it comes!

Thar she blows, then back down to nap again, we go back to the boat to await our next turn...

                                          Our whale swim boat, "Press Pass"

 Here she comes.

 Thar she blows!  I wasn't close enough to even attempt an over/under shot...

Back to Press Play, end of the second day of whale swim.  Our next whale swim was five days later, our third day out on our Moorings bareboat, Thalassa.

 Whale swim, day 3, August 18.  Our whale swim boat, "Blue Sky" picked us up off Thalassa at anchorage 7, Port Maurelle.  Here there is whale action just off the starboard bow, time to deploy four tourists and their great guide, Michael.

If you look carefully at the upper left of the photo you can see our guide Michael's arm up which signals he's got a whale.  Behind him, to his right, are the four snorkelers kicking madly trying to catch up in order to be in position when the whale surfaces.  The guides do a great job of positioning you wisely for where the whale will surface while not crowding, frustrating, and driving off the whale.

 We had several good swims with a trio, a male and female closely accompanied with another hopeful male.  Menage a trois, Tongan Humpback version.

    Humpbacks are amazingly graceful, it was underwater ballet.

 Donna waiting for the next opportunity.

             Tom, Tracy, and Tessa waiting for the next whale.

  Congregating at Blue Sky's boarding ladder for pickup.

     Donna with a new friend!

 A Humpback beckons from ahead of the boat!

 Mother and calf!  As the calf grows the mothers get more and more content to let them swim with snorkelers!

 Sometimes the calf becomes inquisitive and even playful.

                                     Lily waiting for a whale.

                                          Lily and Guy

                                          Tom ready for pickup

                                          Waiting for pickup

    Guy with Humpback and her calf.

                             A rambunctious calf passes by Tom coming my way!

    The playful, curious calf comes in for another close pass, on his back.  You hope the youngster is well-coordinated because, compared to the whale, you are immobile!

     What a beauty, about 5 weeks old...

    This was really, suddenly, very close.  His pectoral fin was about a foot from my lens.  Fortunately he executed the tight turn flawlessly leaving me intact.

    Tom with calf.

                                 The end of the whale encounters part of our wonderful trip.  We had, obviously, terrific whale encounters, lots of them!  My next blog will cover the four scuba dives we made while on our 11-day cruise on Thalassa.

To see more from our Tonga trip, please go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ASmRi8YPDnoPxffn7