Swim with Whales in Tonga

Fitness and Experience

• This trip will suit everyone from the non-diver, snorkeler, beginner diver through to the experienced keen diver
• There is a lot to do both on land and in the water and the accommodation has been chosen to suit all needs

What to Bring/Wear

• Dive Certification Card (for all SCUBA divers), very important! No card, no dives!
• Summer clothes are a must, pack a light jumper for the cooler nights Insect repellent is a must, and so is sunscreen
• Moisturiser and bandaids will also come in handy
• Please bring your own personal toiletries and medication
• During your actual dives and whale watching, prepare as you would for a beach day
• You will need swimmers, a towel, and a hat
• If you have your own wetsuit, mask or other equipment, feel free to bring those along
• Personal travel insurance (mandatory)
• Any required visas Items of a personal nature
• Valid Passport (with at least 6 months validity
• Dive Medical Certificate (if required)
• Personal spending money - budget on $50 a day for food plus personal shopping
  

What is Supplied

• Return airfares ex. Sydney to Nuku’alofa (based on low season special fares)
• One night twin share accommodation at the Royal Tongan Airport Hotel, standard room accommodation - Nuku’alofa
• Return airport transfers in Nuku’alofa and Vava’u
• Return domestic airfare ex. Nuku’alofa to Vava’u
• Eight nights twin share accommodation at The Puataukanave Hotel on the waterfront -Vava’u (Standard Room)
• Lunches whilst out on the whale days
• Four full days Whale Watching Cruises (opportunity to swim with the whales)
• World renowned whale and dolphin experts as your tour guides
• Applicable Australian departure and airline taxes
• Six dive package including the use of tanks, weights and dive guide services for Certified Divers
  

More Information

Upgrade to Deluxe Waterfront Room is available, extra c.$150 pp (Single supplement add c.$550) or to a Superior Waterfront Room an extra c.$315 pp. Limited spots available!

The Puataukanave Hotel is located on the waterfront of Neiafu in the beautiful Vava'u island group. The hotel is only right in the centre of town. A great place to enjoy world-class diving, whale watching, fishing, secluded beaches, translucent waters and peaceful surrounds. 

Enjoy the sunset while looking out over the harbour sipping a cocktail in the evening after a day swimming with the whales. Take a dip in the pool in the afternoon to cool off after a couple of great dives. Not only watch a tribal dance but join in with the tribal dance after a feast. 

About the Whales
Whales are warm-blooded, air-breathing mammals that give birth to live young and live in the ocean. Whales and dolphins are collectively known as cetaceans and divided into two suborders - Mysticeti (Baleen Whales) and Odontoceti (Toothed Whales).

The Whales we dive with are south pacific Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) which follow annual migration routes between the southern polar Antarctic waters during summer and various tropical areas during winter.

The kingdom of Tonga is one such special area, with pristine warm waters offering the perfect home to many pods of Whales each year from July through October for mating and calving.

Humpback Whale facts..

Humpbacks are baleen Whales, with hundreds of dark baleen "plates" hanging from each side of their upper jaw with which to filter huge amounts of water for food. Each adult can eat over 1300 kg (about 1.5 tons) of krill (small shrimp-like crustaceans) and small fish a day!

Adults can grow to over 18 m (about 60 feet) in length, about 50 tons in weight and to an estimated 95 years of age.

The calves when born are usually 3-4.5 m (about 10-15 feet) in length and can weigh over 900 kg (about 1 ton). Nursing at frequent intervals on their mother's rich milk when young, they gain around 1 kg (2.2 lbs.) every hour. During this nursing period in tropical waters the mothers can lose up to 1/3 of their body weight as they do not actively feed other than opportunistically if they chance upon a shoal of pilchards or the like.

Humpback calves do not actually suckle from their mothers but have the rich stream of milk squirted into their mouths when they are quite close, and are weaned onto solid food after about a year. Whilst adult females can produce a new calf every year, the new mothers avoid mating until their existing calf is one year old - this allows the attentive mother to look after this calf through a two year period, affording it a much better chance of survival.



Their classic pectoral fins or flippers can be up to a third of their body length and feature in the origin of the genus name Megaptera. This stems from the Greek "megas" (great) and "pteron" (wing), which literally means big wings. The common term "Humpback" originated from the distinctive way in which the Humpback arches its back before sounding.

The primary means of propulsion is their massive tail (or fluke) which can often be seen raised out above the surface of the water. The colouration and edge shape of each Humpback Whale's tail is unique, a fingerprint-like trait used in modern "photo-identification" recording and research. With a certain breathing pattern, their exhalation blow is a single straight column that rises like a fountain up to over 3 m (about 10 feet) high. They will generally breathe every 20-30 seconds for 2-3 minutes at the surface then dive in their peculiar "Humpback" fashion, staying under the water for anywhere from a few minutes to about half an hour.

Although both male and female Humpbacks are capable of song, the male is the main singer of the family. During mating season males will sing complex, organised songs with distinct themes and melodies for up to 20 minutes, sometimes repeating the song continuously for hours at a time. Whalesong can be heard over hundreds of kilometres away (underwater) and appears to change gradually from year to year.

They are also well known for hurling their massive bodies completely out of the water in magnificent displays called breaching. Three strokes of a Humpback's tail is all that is needed to launch 40 tonnes of Whale clear of the water.

Theorised to be associated with courtship or play activity, it is in fact a method of dislodging the huge barnacles that attach themselves to the Whales whilst they are in the Antarctic. These barnacles do not survive in the warm tropical waters and the Humpbacks clear their skins of these parasites in this most spectacular fashion. Young calves engage in the breaching as well, emulating their mothers in this survival skill.

During these breaching displays the Whales slough, or lose some of their skin. Scientists are now collecting this shed skin for DNA comparisons and research.

With the turn of the 21st century, even though Humpback Whales are found in every ocean on earth and their numbers have appeared to be slowly and steadily growing, they are still considered an endangered species. In the 1960's estimates of their numbers were as low as only a few thousand in total, and the International Whaling Commission (IWC) gave them world-wide protection status in 1966. Original global population estimates hundreds of years ago are of the order of 150,000 or greater, whilst at the year 2004 estimates range from 20,000 to over 30,000 and climbing - which is great to see.

There is $60 surcharge for the tours beginning on the 25th September as flights are more expensive due to school holidays.