It was ferry time again! The slow ferry took us in 12h overnight from Nuku’alofa to Ha’apai – a journey much more comfortable than on our beloved MV Anjeanette in the Solomons, but therefore also a little less exciting and adventurous. The coolest part was spotting some whales from the deck of the ferry in the morning hours before we arrived in Pangai, the main town (village) of Ha’apai.
We spent one day and night here, renting bicycles and cycling the whole length of Lifuka and Foa islands. These two islands are connected by a bridge, the trip is about 14km one way and at the end of it, there’s a pretty beach to chill and snorkel (whereas the snorkelling in the sheltered area was not that great and out further there was a ripping current). But a very pretty spot for a afternoon!
Next day, we got picked up by Taiana’s Resort and transferred by boat to their place on Uoleva where we spent the next 5 nights camping directly on this amazing beach:
Awesome, right? So for the next few days, it was mainly about beaches and chilling. There was not much else to do! Once, we walked around the whole island which takes about 3-4h and offers loads and loads of beautiful views.
For the rest, we swam, read, enjoyed the sun and chatted with all the other travellers (the place was fully booked!). Aaaaand we went snorkelling with whales, twice! In Tonga, every year around June-September you can have the chance to see humpback whales! The mothers come with their calves into the sheltered bays where they can nurse them in peace. Tonga is one of the only places in the world where you can not just go whale watching, but you can actually get into the water and snorkel with these amazing creatures!
First time we went out, we barely got our wetsuits on and were already told to get ready to jump into the water! The first mother and calf were especially relaxed and let us come really close. We were able to stay and swim with them for about an hour, with the little one coming very close at times, playing with us! We were speechless – they were just soooo cute and beautiful!
We had a couple of other good encounters after that – one ended with the mother and calf breaching just metres away from us! One moment we were watching them underwater and the next one they were jumping up right next to us. Super cool!! The impact and loud sound the mother’s breaching made, was crazy!
All in all, we had two awesome whale watching days with Taiana’s Resort. They’re not only much cheaper than other companies, the groups are smaller so you get more time in the water with the whales and the money goes to a local family instead of Aussies or Kiwis who run most other whale watching tours. From Uoleva, we went back to Pangai for a night to catch the fast ferry next afternoon to Vava’u since the slow ferry was broken…
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