Aloha
I spent a week in Happai, and week in Vavau last year and concentrated on the whales. While I love diving, I opted to concentrate on the whales. The expereince was incredible. So good in fact I am returning this september and again in late August 2008.
I will not bring dive gear on these trips as this Tonga is one of the only places where it is legal to swim with whales. That does not mean they just swim up to the boat, just that you wont go to jail for swimming with them. I live in hawaii where there are thousands of whales each season, but to swim with them one risks a $20,000 fine and jail time.....
There are hundreds not thousands of whales in the Tonga chain, so it is harder to find them. Once successful, there is no guarantee they will intereact and allow swimming to take place. It takes a lot of patience.
Instead of bringing the dive gear all the way to Tonga, I will leave it in Fiji, and spend five days diving after Tonga, on the way back to Hawaii. While only 1.5 hours away, Fiji has the incredible soft coral and colorful anthias as well as pelagics.
We checked out a lot of reefs and saw some good subjects for macro, but nthing really spectacular. However the area does have some good arches and caves.
The water is a bit cool and a five mil suit will be appreciated if doing two or three dives a day. Last year I had a three mil suit for snorkeling and a 1 mil hood and I was fine.
I have chartered a small speed boat that takes no more than 3 participants as interaction is the goal. Fewer people in the water means longer encounters. Its all about making the mother whale comfortable with our presence. If non agressive themother will not be nervous and that when magic happens.
To see images from the last trip go to douglasjhoffman.com
ENJOY!