10 - Tongazuma’s Revenge
Gulping seawater the way I've been know to gulp down a margarita or two, I cough up a lungful of the briny South Pacific Ocean during this morning’s hunt for whales. A storm is blowing through and it’s made the seas a bit lumpy. It’s also cold and wet, with cold being a relative term. With a high of 23C and a low of 22C, or 74/72F for all you Yanks back home, it’s not time to break out the long underwear, but sitting on a little boat in 25 knot winds and drizzle, and only wearing my fur-lined Speedo, it's kinda miserable. For me, of course, not the other guests admiring my Adonis-like body.
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But, there are whales, and being 15’ from one quickly makes you forget everything going on in the real world as we re-enter this dreamlike domain we’ve been visiting for the past week. Today is our 6th day out swimming with whales, and there’s a gecko crawling on the ceiling of our #1 rated room.
Nope, neither of us is hallucinating, and I didn’t just suffer from a stroke. There really is a gecko somewhere up in the palm fronds our room is wallpapered in, and it’s chirping like a little bird. As I was just saying, being in the water with whales directly in front of you releases you from everything else, be they geckos, bandicoots, mosquitos, Trump or land crabs – with no offense meant to the mosquitos or land crabs.
OK, where were we?
The drizzle is off and on all day, but right now it’s back on. As a group of whale swimmers stand huddled and chilled inside the open windowed cabin of our little boat slogging through this mess of weather, our ever cheerful and upbeat guide, Amy, is sitting on the roof of the boat looking for whales. I decide to join her and find it’s actually kind of pleasant - the air feels warmer than inside the boat. I compliment her on her ability to do what she does on days like this. As she nods her head in appreciation, she suddenly shouts, “WHALE”, pointing off in the distance.
Once again we enter the deep blue aquatic world, coming face to face with humpback whales.
Nature can be ruthless or sensual. Today it is both.
A group of swimmers having a great interaction with a humpback whale |
With our aging bodies in need of more rest, we take today off and veg-out. Sleeping late, eating a big breakfast, eating a big lunch and then hanging around the resort to enjoy not being out on the water.
Along with most every other structure in the small nearby villages, our little slice of paradise that I refer to as a resort was destroyed several years ago after a cyclone passed directly overhead, producing winds approaching 150mph. After taking 1½-years to rebuild, it consists of 10 fales, 7 of which are right along the edge of Matafonua Lagoon, and 3 that are set back about 100’. Built on sturdy concrete pilings and raised up off the sand – ours is about 6 ½ feet up, they offer basic needs for the Tonga bound traveler. The floors are raw plywood worn smooth from the many sandy bare-feet that have walked over them. Interior walls and ceilings are exposed studs. The outside walls and roof are woven palm fronds with tin covering the roof to keep the rain out. They are primitive but functional.
Electricity is a reliable 220V and powers a single 2-¼ watt bulb secured over the bed. With the light barely able to reach the floor, it makes reading tough at night. The showers are solar heated and gravity fed, so water pressure is minimal, but they are constantly warm. Water is provided by a giant underground tank filled solely by rainwater collected off the roofs of all buildings and fales. It’s safe to drink, so there are no worries of Tongazuma’s Revenge.
Our fale, with laundry hanging up in the patio to dry |
The 'siding' of our fale did little to keep the wind and critters out |
An onsite restaurant serves a variety of pizzas, hamburgers, sandwiches, wraps and an all day breakfast. Everything is made on the premises; from the pizza dough, hamburger buns and beef patties, French fries and even the potato chips we mistakenly order on our first day. They’re so good hot out of the fryer we make it a daily habit to spend the afternoon going over that days encounters noshing on a fresh bowl of them. I have a feeling we’re going to be the size of some of the Tongans by the time we leave.
Sitting in our 12’ x 8’ covered patio/clothes drying area of our 12’ x 12’ room, we enjoy a stunning view of the lagoon and nearby islands, while we watch the numerous black and pale yellow butterflies flit on by. Birds seem to be rare here, but there are frigates that occasionally fly by, dive-bombing into the lagoon for a quick meal. In the early evening with daylight drawing to a close, a group of fruit bats can be seen darting across the lagoon, snacking on insects as they go by.
From the restaurant, this path leads to the lagoon |
Getting the boat ready for a day of whaling |
The guests are primarily from Australia or New Zealand, with an occasional UK’er or European thrown into the mix. We’re the only ones here from the US. Some come for just a few days, moving on to other Tongan islands, but most are here for a week or more. There’s one gentleman here on his 7th visit and he generally stays for 2-3 weeks.
Everyone on the lookout for whales |
"Let's wait until this one calms down before getting into the water with it" |
For lunch today we head to an island a few miles away from our little beach resort. It’s about 200 yds. in diameter, uninhabited with very dense growth right up to the sandy beach, but there are 2 structures on it. The resort next to us rents it out to people who want to create their own ‘Survivor’ style experience. Other than fish to eat, the only other thing I can imagine on the island is bird crap. The sky over this island is filled with various species of shore birds.
The past few days out on the water haven’t been as spectacular as the first few were, as it’s hit or miss with whale interactions. But, how bad can your day really be if you’re in the ocean and a humpback whale is swimming directly in front of you?
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Enjoying the ability of sleeping late with another off day, we eat breakfast under clearing skies. With rain, drizzle or just thick dark clouds the past week or so, it’s nice to see blue in the sky again. With the prospect of a sunny day, we take the occasion to bike down the sole road that connects all the small villages, to see what else the area has to offer.
The houses and buildings we pass on our bike ride are either brand new box houses or in pretty sad shape. Cobbled together mismatched sheets of corrugated tin form the walls and roof of many dirt-floored homes. The new box homes are roughly 16’ square wooden boxes built up on cement piers.
The blue skies are slowly taken over by the dark clouds we’ve had the past few days, as our time here is coming to an end and we prepare to leave.
People from all over the world come to San Diego, which, in their eyes is paradise. Being a native San Diegan, I will be the first to agree with them. But, when San Diegan’s want to go to paradise, this is where they go to; http://matafonua.com/
Thanks so much to all of you for continuing on to the end of my long-winded story.
Words fail me to express how much I deeply appreciate my loving and adventuresome wife. She is always happily at my side as we voyage to the ends of the earth in search of more tails tales.
Andy & Mary
Waving us all a "Good Bye" |
More pictures of Tonga (with a few whale pictures too) and lots more of humpback whales