Tonga ~ An Authentic Tropical Paradise

Ah the island of Tonga. Many of you may not have even heard about this country. To give you an idea, type "Tonga" into google maps and have a wee zoom in on all the many different islands, atolls, and reefs that make up the country. While in New Zealand I really wanted to visit a tropical island like Fiji, Bali, or even Hawaii - because why not while on this side of the world? Then I met Jack and told him about my dream to see a humpback whale and he decided to take me on an adventure of a lifetime to SWIM with humpback whales for my birthday. I have a pretty amazing man. So Tonga it was!

To give you a little rundown, Tonga is a country made up of many different islands in the Pacific Ocean, southeast of Fiji. Unlike Fiji, Tonga is not as heavily trafficked by tourists. It is however, greatly unique in that it is one of the only places in the world that you can legally swim with humpback whales. Pretty amazing right? Humpback whales come to Tonga to breed and give birth in the sheltered warm waters of Tonga. Between July and October they arrive from Antarctica (where they spend much of the year feeding on krill) and swim the few thousand miles to Tonga. The whales find safety sheltered by the reefs in Tonga. And with there being almost no predators - orca (aka killer whales) - in the area, it is the perfect place to have their vulnerable babies (calves). So during the months of July - October, Tonga is pretty much a humpback whale party! Whoo count me in.

We arrived in the main island of Tongatapu Wednesday the 16th of July. We heard that the island airlines weren't the most reliable, so I was a little nervous we wouldn't make our connection to get to the island of Ha'apai. Thankfully they let us on the plane, even though we were a bit late for check in. But it just makes me laugh how everyone is so chill about time, except for the airline that apparently sometimes leaves early for flights. When we landed on Ha'apai, we had to take a boat ride to the island of Uoleva which is where we were staying. I could tell Uoleva was paradise from the very moment I set eyes on the island. You know one of those picture perfect postcards showing a tropical paradise? Uoleva is that paradise

island.

The beaches are made of perfect white sand, the waters are crystal clear blues, and there are palm trees and beautiful flowers everywhere. Of course pictures don't do justice.

We stayed at Sea Change Eco Retreat which was one of the 3 establishments on the entire island. Sea Change was an amazing place with all the luxuries of a 5 star resort but instead of staying in a high rise hotel, we got to stay in these adorable fales (fa-lays) that were right off the beach. Sea Change runs completely off solar power and is off the grid. This makes it easy to enjoy the serenity of the island.

Our first full day in Tonga was just perfect. Waking up in a fale (fa-lay) just seconds from the beach in a tropical paradise is pretty incredible.

One thing I loved about being on the island is that I forever went without shoes!! Perfect white sand is everywhere and I didn't wear any shoes the whole time I was there.

The path that leads to breakfast, lunch, and dinner is lined with these beautiful little pink flowers in the morning! They have fallen perfectly during the night that makes it look like someone romantically placed a trail of flowers leading the way to breakfast.

After a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit, toast, and freshly baked muffins, Jack and I decided to go on a snorkeling trip. And boy are we so glad we did! We planned on going whale swimming the next two days and it didn't even occur to me that we might see whales on our snorkel trip. We ended up seeing 9 whales! 9!! This was pretty spectacular for a girl who's never seen one humpback whale before. We even got to witness 3 males fighting over a female - tail slapping and ramming into each other. Pretty cool! The coolest part however, was getting to hear the whales under water. While we were snorkeling we heard whales who were quite a ways away. They made the most incredible noises underwater. It was so loud that I thought one of our fellow snorkelers was messing around and playing "Dory" lol!

The snorkeling itself was phenomenal. I saw so many brightly colored fish it looked like a Windows screen saver! There's something so magical about floating on top of the water and observing a whole new world underneath. This is what I love about snorkeling. It is so so magical underwater and you can just stay at the top silently observing the beauty, while somehow also being a part of it. I saw angel fish, butterfly fish, bright blue fish, clown fish swimming in and out of sea anemones, parrot fish, striped fish, clear fish, bright yellow fish, and multi colored fish - so many fish I couldn't even begin to name them all, even if I did know all the names! The coral reefs were beautiful - and beautifully alive. I observed an eel, hiding in his coral hole, very cautiously and quietly since I'm terrified of eels. I just stood, well floated, there motionless for a while making sure he wasn't going to do anything rash. He didn't lol.

When we got back from the snorkel trip, we decided to teach ourselves how to paddle board. I wasn't quite sure how it was going to go since I've never paddle boarded in my life, but surprisingly Jack and I did really well! We only fell off a couple times. I absolutely loved it. Paddle boarding is such a fun activity and good form of exercise.

I think we paddle boarded for about 4 hours. Boy did our white skin see some sun that day haha.

Waking up in a tropical paradise is pretty nice, even though the night is filled with sounds of fruit bats squabbling and coconuts falling from the trees. There's just something about the sound of the ocean, just steps away, the warm air on your skin, and the soft sand under your feet. Today was the day we were going on our first whale swim! And boy was I excited. We got on the boat with our lovely guide and friend from Kaikoura, Lauren, the skipper Telfie, other guide Kevin, and this wonderful Kiwi family of three whom we were quick to become friends with.

One thing I really loved about the whale trips is that the group of people on the boat was kept really small. There's something very intimate and special about this. It feels more like a personal adventure rather than a tour group. We had an awesome trip. Honestly the weather couldn't have been anymore gorgeous. It was sunny, 75, and the ocean was flat as. We saw 19 whales that day. The tour trip takes you out at 8:45 am and allows you to stay on the water for 6 hours. I love being on the water so the 6 hour boat trip in itself is pretty awesome. The whales were not in the mood to stick around, so sadly we didn't get the opportunity to swim with them that day. Every time we got close they would just take off. At one point on the trip we had a whale swim underneath our boat! That was pretty cool.

Because the whales were moving so fast, we mostly saw humps and tails. This is a hump of a grown female humpback whale.

The day is spent looking for whales that would be cruisy enough to swim with. Generally the whales that are good to swim with are juvenile whales or a mom and calf. As a passenger, you help out to spot whales too and I think I got pretty good at it. Then around lunchtime we stopped at a reef and snorkeled for a while where we saw even more aquatic life than the day before.

We had a nice little lunch and morning tea break on the boat, and then searched for more humpback whales. All the whales we found after lunch were still in a hurry to swim somewhere else. Our Tongan guide blamed it on the full moon. It was "Oh well!" for us because we still had the next day to try to swim with them. And no matter what we had an amazing day on the boat, even if we didn't get to swim with the whales.I felt so bad for our Kiwi friends though. They had been looking forward to this trip for a whole year and that was their only chance to swim with whales :(. They were so positive about it though which I thought was so cool. It's so special to meet such awesome, positive, and all around wonderful people like they are. Our friendship grew and grew throughout our stay.

After the whale trip, Jack and I practiced our paddle boarding skills and paddle boarded until sunset. The water was so clear we saw fish underneath our paddle boards! We were also treated ton a rainbow that went all the way across the island, which was an absolutely beautiful sight.

The evenings at Sea Change were just magical. Every night about 7:00 we would gather at the outdoor dining area/bar and await our delicious dinner. Sea Change always had the most amazing meals, that were both beautiful and extremely tasty. It was always a treat awaiting what deliciousness would be in front of us.

We usually sat family style around the table, which was really nice. There was only about 11 people max staying at the resort while we were there which made it really easy to get to know people.

The table was always beautifully set. This specific night we had a Tongan feast which was comprised of: baked mahi mahi in a banana leaf, vegetarian paella with bread fruit chips, fresh fish salsa, deep fried kumella (like sweet potato), cauliflower, and potatoes, and cole slaw. As you can see, we really did eat like kings and queens.

One of my favorite nights the owners treated us to some lovely guitar music and we all had a sing-along which was lots of fun! Everyone was having a great time.