A Fond Farewell to Tonga

As the allotted time on our visas dwindled down, we still had two activities on our Tongan bucket list:  swimming with the whales and the Botanical Gardens.

The whales start migrating up to Tonga in June, with the Type A whales arriving first around the first two weeks of July. That’s why we extended our stay so long. It’s a little of a crap shoot since you want a light wind/small wave day with good weather for underwater visibility. Finding that type of day in Tonga is just about impossible, however. 

We finally settled on July 10th hoping the weather would calm down a bit. We got light winds and fairly calm seas, so that was a winner. After waiting at the dock for about 45 minutes for some Italians who were supposed to go with us, the guide decided to take off without them. That was great with us since it meant more whale watching time. After 30 minutes of high speed motor boating to get to the whale watching area we got a call on the VHF to come back and get the Italians, who had shown up at the dock at 9:15 am compared to the scheduled 8:00 am report time.  To say we gave them icy stares is an understatement. They didn’t apologize, just said something about it didn’t look like a good day to go when they woke up. US/Italian relations were set back about 100 years that day.

The humpback whales begin migrating to their breeding and calving grounds in Tonga around June, with the first whales arriving in late June to early July. August is the prime whale watching month.

Once we got to the whale watching area the guide (on the roof top) and the driver begin scanning for the telltale signs of whales:  a white plume of exhaled breath in the air. It didn’t take long for us to spot our first whales, they were frolicking off the port bow. The technique is to sidle the boat up to within 100 feet of the whales and then observe their behavior. Sometimes they just dive and pop up 1/4 mile away. The guide said we’re essentially looking for “friendly whales” (sounded good to me). We all suited up in our shorty wet suits, masks, and fins. I noticed the Italians moving towards the back of the boat and realized they were just going to jump in. Since you can only have four in the water at a time (Tongan rules) the guide said clearly to the Italians:  I’m going to take Meryl and Walter first, then they will get out of the water and you four will get in. Naturally the minute Meryl and I jumped in I noticed the Italians following right behind us. So much for the rules. They continued to be obstinate for the whole trip, but the whale swimming made up for everything.

We followed one group of three males chasing a female. The guide called this a “heat run.” The largest of the males would roll sideways on the smaller whales who got too close to the female. I guess size does mater. Anyway, they never slowed down so they weren’t a good group for us to swim with.

Meryl and I finally got a chance to get in with two humpback males who were sitting about 30 ft. down on the bottom. As we swam over them, they slowly came to the surface and swam just ahead of us. I was on my own heat run and kicked hard to keep up but at some point they slowed down and I almost crashed into the last male, who didn’t like me that close and gave a big whomp with his tail that turned the water into a zillion little bubbles and flipped me aside. I had all this on GoPro but found I’d hit the Stills button in my excitement instead of the Video button. Oh, well, it was still the experience of a lifetime.

During our first visit we enjoyed a delicious fish and chips lunch while gazing out over 'Ene'io Beach.

The shallow area extends quite a distance out to the reef. This is one of Vava'u's favorite swimming beaches.

The last item on our bucket list was to visit the famed Botanical Gardens at 'Ene’io Beach. We had courageously rented mountain bikes one day and rode the 14 miles out to the gardens. Unfortunately we picked both a hot day and a road with the most hills, but it was still a great ride. We had a very  nice fish and chips lunch and talked with Haniteli Fa'anuna, the former Directory of Agriculture for Tonga. He told us the gardens feature over 3,600 examples from 100 plant families and 500 plant species.

Haniteli Fa'anuna, the founder of the 'Ene'io Botanical Gardens.

Haniteli has an interesting background, including being given the original 8 acres for the park when he was only 8 years old, and his striving for a better education which included a degree in Horticulture from the University of Hawaii. Most interesting, he married a young surfer girl while in Hawaii and had three children with her. He was taken by her dedication to surfing and physical fitness. While he didn't know it at the time, she was the oldest daughter of the famous Vic Tanny, founder of the modern fitness club concept in the US. At the time quite a wealthy man, Tanny later sold some of his clubs that went on to become Bally Fitness Centers. It's a small world, as they say.

Haniteli explains the medicinal purposes of many of the plants found in his gardens.

This is the plaque when Haniteli opened the park with the Queen in attendance.

On July 18th we took a cab back to the Botanical Gardens, and along with a nice Australian couple, did a 2 1/2 hour tour of the 22 acres that make up the botanical park. Haniteli proudly told us that Tongans are required to plant 200 coconut trees on their property and he fondly remembered his dad digging the holes and Haniteli planting the coconuts.

Haniteli "sells" the right to have a street named after you in the park. Koyama Avenue is named after a famous Japanese horticulturist who didn't belief Haniteli had as large a collection (which all has to be identified and cataloged) in his gardens.

You can tell how much Haniteli loves the Gardens by how animated he gets when describing the various plants in his collection.

When Mel Gibson (who owns an island in Fiji) sent his son to learn all about vanilla propagation, he ended up buying an avenue for the Gibson Family.

At the time we visited there were few flowering plants, so this beautiful ginger plant really stood out.

As we walked through the gardens he showed us 20 different types of palms, and detailed the medicinal properties of various plants such as aloe. We also liked the spice trees such as allspice, and the nono tree whose fruit has a wealth of medicinal properties. He showed us how they plant vanilla so it wraps around another plant for support, and how they have to hand pollinate the vanilla plants for them to reproduce. All in all a great day and a wonderful finish to our stay in Tonga.

We’re now getting the boat ready for the 4-day, 180 mile passage to Fiji. We are very sad to be leaving Tonga and all the great friends we’ve made while here, especially Franklin, Telia and her family, Calvin at the Aquarium Restaurant, Bear and Char at Falaleu Deli, Barry and Cindy at Hunga Haven, and finally, Mr. Everything:  Greg at the Tropicana Restaurant who provided us with computer time, filled our gas bottles, rented us bikes, sold charts, and made a great hamburger. 

Thanks guys, it’s been great.