Encounters with Tonga's Whales
During July and August of 1996 and 1997, during a holiday from scuba diving charters in Fiji, NAI'A completed several extremely successful research cruises among the humpback whales of Tonga. Carrying friends, family, and scientists from the South Pacific Humpback Whale Project, we surveyed the waters of the Ha'apai Group in central Tonga, an area not recently surveyed for humpback whales. We found many whales, and we found them quite easily approached. NAI'A was an ideal platform from which to observe humpbacks closely. We were exceptionally careful in maneuvering the ship around the whales, an approach which proved beneficial to all because it led the whales to approach us closely, which allowed us repeated opportunities to swim with them.
In July and August,1997, we combined a survey of Fiji and Tonga's most densely-packed humpback whale habitats with the best of Fiji's big-fish diving. During two weeks we worked our way gradually east through Fiji's Lomaiviti and Lau Groups and eventually across to Ha'apai, Tonga. The 1997 season saw an increase in the number of humpback whales in Fiji with sightings throughout southern and eastern Fiji waters. During the expedition we saw humpbacks both in Ha'apai and in Vava'u, Tonga. Conditions were especially good for fluke photo identification and several of our passengers bagged some great photos.
These two expeditions were like dipping our toes in a deep wide pond. The ground work was laid for a long future of whale watching and research trips in Tonga aboard NAI'A. And our ultimate sanction from the Tongan government, as well as assistance from local tour operators like Royal Sunset Resort, has us champing at the bit to spend our next winter in Tonga again among whales.
A Tantalizing First Time - NAI'A in Tonga, 1996
Our first Humpback Whale Expeditions were mounted in 1996 as exploration and research tours in coalition with the South Pacific Humpback Whale Project and the University of Auckland. Humpback whales have had a profound and universal (if little understood) impact on our psyche, infiltrating ancient myths and modern fantasies and inspiring great change in the way humankind regards nature and their place in it. Their enormous size and large mammalian brains; their complex relationships and mysterious courtship and mating rituals; their astounding migratory paths, flamboyant displays and graceful movement; their intricate songs and their new-born calves. These were the things we came to see with our own eyes, to admire with our own hearts and to interpret with our own minds.
We were far from certain that we would even see whales, let alone whether we'd get close enough to follow, photograph and, perhaps, swim with them. But, we found many more whale pods than we even hoped for! Every day we spotted whales, sometimes so many that it was impossible to keep track of the sightings. We saw mothers with new born calves wildly breaching and tail slapping then peacefully nursing and resting - the calves offered up to the surface air on their mothers' rostrum like a gift lifted to God. We saw charging pods of males battling violently for dominance and putting to rest the old clich* about these animals being "gentle giants". We saw some pairs and many lone whales, some singing probably to impress and seduce a nearby mate, some wandering casually over shoals and others clearly with a destination and a deadline. Sometimes the whales continued without paying us any mind, sometimes they chose to avoid us and a sometimes they surfaced right next to NAI'A! They seemed to first check out the vessel and the vibrating hum of its engine, before allowing snorkel-divers to slowly slip into the same sea and swim together in bottomless blue.
Some encounters lasted a few glorious moments, others stretched for more than 15 breathtaking minutes! The journey's absolute highlight was an extraordinary encounter with a lone female whale who literally would not leave us alone. Each time we attempted departure, she would swim around NAI'A making the ship's captain too nervous to move or maneuver. This precocious behavior is known as "mugging". During the hours she hung out with us, everyone got to swim with her several times. Eventually we had to leave her behind to move to a safe evening anchorage! Her (we were able to get close enough to sex her) ability to glide throughout the flailing bodies, remaining only inches out of reach, put to rest any assumptions that a 35 ton animal must be a hefty, blundering, clumsy beast. She was, quite simply, beautiful. Being in the water with her was an experience that bonded our group with memories we will share until our final days.
Observing humpback whales from a comfortable (for the whales) distance is also fascinating and rewarding. From the deck of NAI'A we observed behavior and interactions that we could never has witnessed as an in-water intruder. We watched couples courting, mothers and calves nursing and playing, male groups competing (call it racing or fighting if you like) as well as just tracking traveling paths, diving/breathing rates and speed, recording and studying the purpose of song and simply watching them "log" (or rest) at the surface. Recording and "interpreting" song - itself an intricate task as each year and region inspires a distinctly separate "tune".
On our way back to Fiji, more than 50 miles out into open sea and far from where these whales are "supposed" to be, a single humpback lay still on the surface, facing the sunset. The sight of this lonely whale, perhaps even lost, reduced us to tears. Our empathy for whales matches the understanding we lack. Perhaps the humpback whale's desperate search for a mate and tentative grip on survival illuminates our own solitary nature and our own mortality. Perhaps humankind is the lonely one - craving the company of something grander, more intelligent and sensitive than ourselves.
Read more about the 1996 Whale Expeditions in the NAI'A Log story of The Last Lonely Tribe.
