Tonga: Day 22 - Whale Watching

Monday, July 22, 2013

We went for this whale experience boat tour today. It was really expensive and kind of a gamble since it is not guaranteed that you see any whales. We were really looking forward to hoping in the water and swimming with them.

The weather was a bit better than it had been the rest of the week. It did not rain, and we had a few sunny periods, but it was still a little cold.

We first took the boat over to this gorgeous little island called Mounu where we picked up our guide, Kristy.

A little dog ran out to welcome us.

We were also greeted by this rainbow in the distance.

After we picked up our guide, it only took about an hour before we saw our first whale.

We ended up seeing about a dozen whales in all directions and got to see various tail-slaps and even two huge breaches where whales jumped all the way out of the water and came splashing down. I unfortunately didn't have the camera rolling at these times.

Sadly, we only got to see these whales for a short period of time and then spent the rest of the day just motoring around looking for more. We were all really let down that we couldn't swim with them.

After giving up, we went back to Mounu for some coffee/tea/milo and some shortbread.

They had some whale bones on the island. Here are some 70 year old upper-jaw bones.

And here are some more recent lower-jaw bones and rib bones.

And finally, here is the huge tooth of a sperm whale.

It was a fun day, but it is a little sad that the best pictures I have from a whale experience tour is of an island.