Humpback whales in Tonga with NAIA - August 2018

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paolobl65

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Location
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I was in Tonga last August with Naia liveabord and I'd like to share my experience .

Naia is a well known liveaboard sailing Tonga during July , August and September and Fiji during the other months .

All on board is great : cabin , food , service , professional cruise director , wonderful fijian staff !

The trip was 10 days - 9 nights - 8 full day in water with humpback whales . A lot of time with only one target : .... whales !!
Seeing whales above water and underwater as well ( snorkeling only allowed )

I must confess at the beginning I was afraid to get bored , but day by day I understood that all that time is necessary to " get in touch " with the whales . This means not only take a snapshot but let the whales accept me in water !

The trip start from Nukuʻalofa with a full night sailing to north to get the middle area of Tonga ( Ha'apai, ) where there are only a couple of resort so we were the only divers in the waters ( the area were resort are concetranted is the north one : Vavau ) .

We spent our time in that area , in the morning after breakfast the boat start moving in search of whale action , and usually we had two session in water per day ( 2 - 3 hours each one ) .
We were splitted in two groups to board the two skiff ( 8 person per skiff ) .
Rule of whake watching is 4 snorkelers in water + 1 guide , so we switched every more or less 15 minutes .
Freediving was allowed only when dive guide said "OK" , to avoid scare the whale away .

Sometimes if the action is more above water ( ie ... whales jumping ) we spend more time looking at their jump !

Sea condition was good ( almost flat ) as well the weather ( no rain , no strong wind ) .
Water temperature 25 C .

A word of advice about water activity : there is a lot to swimm ! a lot ! so better to get fit well in advance to enjoy at best this kind of trip .
And also jump in and out of the water many times per day is tiring .

I can say I liked this trip immensly .

May be the best of my life .... to see these gentle giant slow moving in the water ... always looking at me .... and also hear them singing .. !

No word to describe this experience .... better to show you some photos , hope you like :


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And we were lucky the baby wanted to play with us :


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... but no problem baby .... big mama is always watching at you !!!

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and always take care of you !!

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Nice write up but amazing images! Thank you for sharing.
 
What Hoag said - AMAZING! These are the images we dream of taking at least once in our lifetimes!!!
Thanks a lot for sharing.
Matt
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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