Nekton

To the east of Fiji and south of Samoa lies the island kingdom of Tonga, a still unspoiled South Pacific paradise consisting of 170 islands scattered over a 160,934 square kilometre area, but with a land mass of just 700 square kilometres.

With only 36 of the islands inhabited, Tonga has three major island groups. The largest of these, (in the south and accounting for nearly one-third of Tonga's total land area) is Tongatapu, where the capital, Nuku'alofa is situated. About 155 kilometres to the north are the islands of Ha'apai, the historical setting of the famous mutiny aboard 'HMS Bounty', while a further 108 kms north again lies Vava'u, one of the South Pacific's most unique destinations.

Leaving Sydney, we flew to Nuku'alofa via Auckland. After an overnight stay in Nuku'alofa, we flew to the northern island of Vava'u.

The main town of the island of Vava'u, Neiafu, (population 5,000) is a delightful mix of old world charm with a waterfront lined with old Victorian style wooden buildings, palm trees, churches and quaint waterfront cafes looking out over Port Refuge, one of the finest anchorages in the South Pacific and a draw card for yachts from around the world. At the time of our visit, in September, 2002, in excess of one hundred yachts were swinging at their moorings, a majority attracted by the annual migration of humpback whales that are regular visitors between the months of July and October.

The air temperature was quite cool for a few days at 19 degrees C, this warmed up to a very pleasant 28 degrees C later in our stay, the evenings here were cool allowing for restful nights.

Tonga is known as the "Friendly Isles", and this description is so apt. The native Tongans were the friendliest, most obliging people one could ever wish to meet; people who have a great sense of pride in their land and its environment. In that regard, Tonga

The Diving
Highlights of the trip were the diving around the undercut, mushroom like islands and their limestone caves; and, facing the open Pacific Ocean, the unspoiled coral reefs. Water temperature was a steady 25 - 26 degrees C and visibility was generally 25 to 40 metres and on the outside dive sites, facing the Pacific Ocean, the water was the clearest, deepest blue that I have experienced anywhere.

Our first dives at Vava'u were at "Split Rock" and "The Fingers", both dives were at a maximum depth of 25 metres, with most of the better diving in the 12 to 15 metre deep range. Split Rock had swim-throughs, tunnels an small caves to explore. In one cave,
painted crayfish filled every nook and cranny. Hard corals abounded here; the fish life was mostly restricted to small schools of fusiliers, angel and butterfly fish and numerous small tropical species together with several anemones complete with attendant clown fish.

There was a lot more to see - and a greater variety of fish life - on our second dive at "The Fingers", a site that we returned to for an enjoyable night dive later in the week and where we saw Lion Fish, Indian Leaf Fish, lobsters and giant sea worms.

Unfortunately, adverse weather conditions prevented us from venturing out too far on our second day of diving. Nevertheless, we did dive "Reef One" and "Reef Two", sites that were both a little disappointing as much of the coral had been damaged by the cyclone that hit Vava'u the previous New Year's eve.

The weather had improved markedly for our third day of diving and we ventured out to the last points of land before the open ocean. Our first dive was at "White Patch", a superb wall adorned with masses of white and yellow soft corals that plunged down to more than 50 metres and where we were swept along by a moderately strong current while we admired the abundance of fish life. Several black-tipped reef sharks were sighted below us and a green turtle swam up for a curious look. Towards the end of our dive the current swept us over a bare canyon-like depression in the reef where scores of huge Coral Trout were marauding below us at around 40 metres. Visibility on this dive was over 40 metres; this was blue, blue water.

Our second dive of the day was at "The Fans". This is another superb dive site featuring two huge open caverns along the edge of an undercut island. Yellow gorgonian fans festoon the wall outside the second and larger cavern, while delicate, white, soft coral covers the entrance walls and floor. Outside of this cavern is a huge boulder, part of the island that had broken away years ago. The top surface of this boulder is only 5 metres deep and is covered by hundreds of anemones of various types together with their attendant clown fish. A full dive could be enjoyed just here in the shallows.

Following the fire that led to her demise in the cargo of copra, the forward section suffered extensive damage. The "Clan McWilliam" is located in the harbour at Neiafu and on the day that we dived on her the visibility was around 5 metres, which is fairly normal. However, on occasions visibility can exceed 20 metres on the wreck. This was a very good wreck dive, even given the limited visibility that we experienced.

We next dived the wreck of the "Clan McWilliam", a 140 metre long and virtually intact steel freighter that had sank upright in 40 metres of water, in 1927. It is 27 metres to her deck. This is a very large shipwreck, with the most interesting section being from the mooring line at the stern to amidships.

We also dived several sites at the island of Tu'ungasika. "The Canyons" was a massive area of vertical walled hard coral fingers and trenches, each canyon we explored led to another, and yet another, all beckoning and inviting further exploration. This was such an interesting dive. Everyone arrived back on the boat with tales of seeing something different in their exploration.

Another great dive site at Tu'ungasika is "China Town", aptly named for the acres of pagoda-like Porite coral formations. There were several bright red anemones providing homes for families of clown fish. Dozens of large white cowries were scattered about, each with its jet-black mantle protruding and partly enveloping the shell. Several sea kraits, (black and white banded sea snakes) hunted amongst the corals. Emperor Angel Fish, schools of Surgeonfish, Harlequin or Clown Trigger Fish and clouds of fusiliers inhabited the reef and multi-hued tubeworms poked their collecting polyps out of seemingly every stand of coral.

With over 50 islands in the Vava'u group there is so much to dive and explore, including areas that have never been dived before.

Our trip was organised to coincide with the time of the year when, from July through October, the Humpback Whales give birth and mate here in the sheltered waters that surround the small islands that extend out from the main island of Vava'u.

A full day trip to snorkel with the Humpbacks is a must on a visit to Vava'u.

Vava'u, in Tonga, is one of only two places in the world where you are virtually guaranteed the opportunity to snorkel with Humpback Whales, an amazing experience that is extremely difficult to convey in words.

We sighted our first Humpbacks, a mother and her calf, within ten minutes of arriving at their favourite area. The pair put on a display of breaching and pectoral fin slapping as we quietly approached. We let them get used to the presence of our boat for a period, and then they curiously approached us.

Once they were comfortable with being in close proximity to our boat we quietly - four people at a time - slipped into the water and snorkeled over to them.

The calf swam up to us less than 2 metres away and inquisitively circled us, establishing eye contact, puzzling what these puny critters were doing in his realm. Mum would surface oh so carefully, rolling gently sideways to avoid brushing us with her bulk, re-establish contact with her calf and then, with her calf tucked under her massive head, slowly circle the group of snorkellers.

This whale / human interaction was entirely at the discretion of the whales. They definitely were very curious about us and displayed great care and skill in such a close quarter's encounter. After all, fifty tonne of whale blundering about can be detrimental to one's health! I managed to free-dive down to 20 metres beside the pair and swam alongside them for a time with both mum and her calf establishing eye contact. What a buzz!!!

Snorkeling with the whales was so unbelievably good that we booked another day to do it all again. Our second day out with the whales was entirely

There were ten Humpbacks in this pod, and after a typically adolescent display of breaching, fin and tail slapping, these 35 tonne youngsters settled down and curiously approached our stationary vessel. It was then that we quietly slipped into the water, four persons plus a guide at a time. The whales swam around and under us to a distance of about three metres away. Accompanying them were about one hundred Spinner Dolphins, a very rare occurrence according to our guides.

The Spinner Dolphins were riding the pectoral fins of the whales and to our delight and amazement, one of the Humpbacks casually pushed aside one of the Spinner Dolphins with its pectoral fin. This action was not at all aggressive, just a gentle reminder, perhaps, that life is not always a "free ride".

I free-dived down to around 15 metres and had two Humpbacks swimming ever so slowly beside me less than 5 metres away on a parallel course. One of these whales was almost entirely black with just small patches of white, markings that were strikingly different to all of the other whales in the pod that all displayed large patches of white on their bodies and pectoral fins.

I was intent on getting good photographs of these two whales, when I sensed something on my other side. Turning in that direction, I discovered another of the whales also swimming slowly on a parallel course to me only 4 metres away. I was so in awe of the experience that when the time came for me to surface, I realised that I had descended to around 20 metres or so! (Gee! it's a long way back up after such a period of excitement and some exertion!)

The best place in the Pacific
All things considered, Vava'u is, in my opinion, the best diving and adventure location in the Pacific. It has it all; superb diving in the clearest of blue water; very good dive operators with an excellent dive boat. No malaria, no insurrections, no rascals, no crowds, cool nights, the friendliest people, good food, good beer, (both at very reasonable prices) and best of all the Humpback Whales.

The interest in experiencing all that we enjoyed is such that we are running two trips to Vava'u, in Tonga, in 2003.

The trips depart Sydney on Friday 8th August 2003, and Friday 19th September 2003, for eight days, with optional extensions on both trips to eleven days. We will enjoy eight or twelve boat dives, two full days snorkeling with the Humpback Whales, plus all that Vava'u and Tonga has to offer.

Of equal appeal to non-diving partners, the costs for the trips are $2450 for the eight day adventure and $2790 for the eleven days, both ex Sydney and will be led by David Hinshelwood and Ron Hunter.

For more details contact Ron Hunter at Fisherman's Wharf, Forster, NSW.
Tel: +61 (2) 6554 7478 or e-mail ron@diveforster.com.au

Ron Hunter has been the owner of Dive Forster @ Fisherman's Wharf for over 20 years and has dived extensively around the Pacific, Asia and Micronesia, accompanying groups of divers to remote locations.
After a lifetime of diving Ron has not lost any of his ennthusiasm, and likes nothing better than to "lead dives and show visiting divers some of the best diving on the planet, right here in Forster". Visit his website at: www.diveforster.com.au