Tonga was five stars in the water.
Absolutely incredible.
And yet, as I sit here reflecting on the adventure, I find myself thinking about the questions I might ask myself before booking the next one.
Where do I begin?
One friend posts a video of a whale in a WhatsApp chat and, within minutes, the swim buddies are in.
That was it.
No research.
No questions.
No checking the itinerary.
Just an overwhelming case of FOMO.
And so, before I knew it, I was booked on a trip to Tonga to swim with humpback whales.
My first rookie error was assuming that swimming with humpback whales meant we were heading off on some sort of SwimTrek-style adventure. You know the drill. Hours of swimming. Beautiful water. Swimming from one spectacular location to another. And then, perhaps, somewhere along the way...
WHALES.
Hmmmm. I was delusional. My first inkling that this trip might be slightly different came on the bus from the airport. I casually asked our guides if we could go for a swim before breakfast. They looked at me strangely. Then said something along the lines of...
"We've never been asked that before."Right. Interesting. When we arrived at our accommodation, things became a little clearer. We were staying at the Waterfront Lodge — a quaint timber building reminiscent of an old-world Hawaiian-style house. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? Except the waterfront was across the road from a port. Think shipping containers. And boats. Lots of boats. Not the tropical beach I had hoped for. Some of our friends ended up staying even further away at a place called the Fantasy Inn.That's another story. The name really says it all. It was becoming increasingly clear that this was not going to be a SwimTrek. This was going to be something completely different.
Our trip was less about swimming and more about whale hunting.
Or, as our guides preferred to call it...
Whale spotting.
DAY ONE
Our guides reminded us to take Travelcalm before leaving. Apparently, it might be a little rough. That should have been another clue. We were then handed these fabulous bright orange nylon dry-robe-type coats with royal blue fluffy polar fleece on the inside. Not my colours. My first thought? How am I going to make these stylish in photos? Priorities. There were sixteen of us, split between two boats. The day began full of enthusiasm. Did I mention it was overcast? And blowing a gale? Around 40 km/h winds. White caps everywhere. So naturally, the trip out was... Bumpy.
Our boat was cosy. Definitely perfect for the calm turquoise waters you see in the brochures.In these conditions? Maybe not so much. There was limited seating if you wanted to stay dry. And about those orange coats... They were warm. But they weren't waterproof. After the first couple of waves, most people were drenched.I chose to stand. It seemed like the safest way to stay dry. So there we were.Out on the horizon.
Looking.
And looking.
And looking. For hours. Hours and hours of scanning the ocean for whales.
Then suddenly...
"Whale! Twelve o'clock!"Everyone spins."Six o'clock!" Everyone spins again, while simultaneously trying not to unbalance the boat. And then...Gone. The whale disappears beneath the surface. Did you know humpback whales can stay underwater for around 40 minutes? We do now. Eventually, we stopped for lunch. Lunch was... unexpected. No Esky. Just a plastic box containing chicken that had been cooked that morning and was sitting there staying warm. We all looked at it. Then at each other. Nothing says adventure quite like wondering whether lunch is going to come with a side of food poisoning. But hey. We were in Tonga. We were on an adventure. And somewhere out there... There were whales.
Finally, at around 2:30pm, it happened.
We were getting in.
Wetsuits on. Goggles. Snorkels. Fins. Forget the idea of leisurely floating beside a whale. This was hectic. The guide goes in first. His arm shoots into the air. He's got the whale. We slide into the water — no jumping because it can disturb them — and then...GO. We frantically swim after the whale. And let me tell you, that whale was flying. Keeping up was an effort. Five minutes later, it was changeover time. The next group gets their turn and, before you know it, the whale disappears. Back onto the boat. Back to spotting. Then we find a mother and calf. And this time, we are lucky. Mumma stays almost completely still while her calf frolics around her.
Suddenly, everything feels calm.
After all the wind, waves, rushing and waiting, we are just floating there watching them.
Seeing an animal weighing around 40 tonnes only metres away from you is almost impossible to describe.
Mind-blowing.
Absolutely five stars.
DAY TWO
The conditions were too rough for our smaller boats, so the whole group headed out together. on one larger vessel. And this was so much fun. By now, we'd worked out the drill. It started to feel like a military operation.
"Team One ready!"
Action.
"Team Two ready!"
Action. Seal Team Tonga was officially operational. In and out of the water we went. Every encounter was different. Sometimes we were chasing. Sometimes we were floating. Sometimes there was one whale. Sometimes three. And every single time you slipped beneath the surface and saw one of these enormous animals appear in that deep blue water...
Pinch yourself stuff.
Whatever expectations I'd had before arriving, this part exceeded them all.
DAY THREE
No whale spotting today. Instead, we headed to Anahulu Cave on Tongatapu. And this was completely unexpected. You enter along a path and make your way down into a huge limestone cave. It's dark, but lit just enough to see this incredible deep, crystal-clear freshwater pool below.
And yes...
You can swim in it. You can also jump from the rocks and swim underwater into the darker parts of the cave. Not for the faint-hearted. We had a few brave — or possibly crazy — friends who did exactly that.
Me?
Absolutely not. Did I mention the bats? Yeah. Not great. Afterwards, we walked down to a beautiful beach surrounded by reef. A very different day. And, for me, a welcome one.
DAY FOUR
Early start again. Coffee with a side of Travelcalm. Did I mention Travelcalm doesn't make you drowsy? It does, however, make you very thirsty. The weather had improved slightly.The winds were down to around 11 knots. Sadly, the sun was still hiding. We hadn't been on the boat long when...
BANG.
We hit the reef. No problem, apparently. We continued. Except now we seemed to be taking on water. Soon we were standing ankle-deep in it. We were reassured by the crew that everything was okay. The pump would drain it. And it did. Except the water kept coming back.
Still, we carried on.
We spent the morning following a mother and calf. Mumma cruised up and down while the baby put on an extraordinary show — breaching, spinning, diving. We were mesmerised. Unfortunately, they were moving too quickly for us to get in. Then word came through of 3 juvenile whales playing about. They seemed far more interested in having spectators.
Team One in. They had a fabulous swim. Then it was our turn.
Team Two in. Off we went. For the next 16 minutes and 44 seconds — according to my video — we followed these magnificent animals. Swimming. Watching.
Trying to take it all in. Then our guide stopped. So we stopped. And then came the words you don't really want to hear when you're floating in the middle of the ocean.
"Oh XXXX... where's the boat?"
There were four of us in the water with our guide. No way to contact the boat. No flare. No GPS. Nothing. Just fins, goggles and snorkels. The wind and chop had increased during the day and this made it difficult to see each other between the swells. It made it even harder to see the boat. Our guide told us to stay together and start swimming towards the island. The island was in the distance.
How far? Honestly, it was impossible to tell. Five kilometres? Ten? Every few minutes we'd stop and regroup. Our guide was swimming with a large, heavy underwater camera, which made things even harder for him. So we kept swimming. Then eventually...
We saw the boat.
Relief. We screamed. We whistled. We waved. And then we watched as the boat...
went away from us.
That was the moment it really hit.
They don't know where we are.
The wind was howling. Our guide took off one of his fins and held it high in the air. We yelled again. And finally...
We were spotted. Another boat approached with some of our friends onboard. Relief doesn't begin to describe it. But the adventure wasn't over. They began towing our boat because it had lost its ability to steer. Then the tow rope broke. Our spotter and guide ended up standing near the outboard motors trying to manually steer the boat. Crazy cowboy stuff.
Not a lot of WHS happening here. Eventually, a much larger boat arrived and we transferred across.Around an hour later, we were finally back on dry ground. There were hugs all round.
And then...
A few G&Ts.
It wasn't until later, when the adrenaline wore off, that the reality of what could have happened really started to sink in. We spoke with the Australian tour operator we'd booked through afterwards. Unfortunately, we found their response dismissive, with responsibility seemingly passed back to the local operator. After what we'd experienced, that was disappointing. And it also made me realise something. Maybe watching one whale video on WhatsApp and immediately booking an international adventure isn't quite enough research. Who knew?
So... would I do it again?
Here's the strange thing.
Tonga was absolutely five stars in the water.
Swimming beside a humpback whale and her calf is one of those experiences I will never forget. The scale of them. The sound. The deep blue water. That moment when you look beneath the surface and suddenly realise there is a 40-tonne animal five metres away from you. Nothing prepares you for it. It was exhilarating and peaceful at exactly the same time. But would I do this particular trip again?
One and done.
Tonga has definitely changed the way I'll approach the next adventure.
I might even ask a few questions.
What sort of boat are we going out on?
What are the sea conditions it can safely operate in?
What safety equipment is carried?
How do you communicate with swimmers once they're in the water?
What happens if the boat loses sight of the group?
And perhaps most importantly...
How much actual swimming are we doing?
Because apparently a WhatsApp video, a group of swim buddies and a severe case of FOMO isn't quite the same thing as reading the itinerary.
Who knew?
But then again, sometimes those are the adventures you remember most.
The ones that turn out to be absolutely nothing like you imagined.
The ones that scare you a little.
The ones that make you laugh afterwards.
And the ones that give you a story you'll probably be telling for years.
Tonga?
Five stars in the water. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As for the rest?
One and done.
1. Lesson learnt. My skills at Underwater photography zero, a big shout out to our clever swim buddy @myfishyphotos_ for all her amazing shots.
2. Safety first - watch this space for THE SWIM SET - TOW AND DRY BAG COMMING SOON