Ruby Slippers

Wow! We actually got to swim with whales!! It was so cool!!! Okay. Enough with the exclamation marks, on with the story.

Today we decided to drag up our anchor, fire up the engine, and go look for whales. Another boat had seen a group of them not too long ago, and Dad saw a couple this morning when he hiked to the top of the island. We motored over to where Dad had seen the whales, and at first we didn’t see anything. Then, we spotted a whale watching boat that takes you out to swim with whales for 250 pa’anga ($125) per person, no refunds if you don’t see whales. We had thought about going with a company, but we wanted to try to find whales ourselves first. When we got closer to the boat, we finally saw a whale surface. We watched for a while, and then saw what the boat had been looking for: a mama whale and her calf!

This next part is pretty frustrating, so I won’t say much about it. We watched the whales playing on the surface for about an hour (that’s not the frustrating part), with the people from the tour boat swimming about 20 feet away most of the time. We couldn’t get in the water, because there are rules that say you can only have 4 people in the water at a time with the whales, and you can only swim with them for 10 minutes. The 2 groups of people from the tour boat disregarded the second rule, since the baby whale was showing off so much, and after the first boat went away a second one came and did the same thing.

Now, fast forward to the second whale boat finally leaving. Mom and Dad had to take turns swimming and driving the boat, so Mom went in the water with Jessie and me first. It was 60 feet deep, but we could still sort of see the bottom. Ahead of us, about 20 or 30 feet under water, were the whales! The calf was about 15 feet long, and the mother was at least 50 feet. They were resting, and we could see the tip of Baby’s nose peeking out from under Mama’s chin. At first, I was a bit nervous because they were so big, but I got used to their size pretty quickly. When Dad took a turn in the water, the boat drifted right over the whales when I was still hanging on to the swim ladder. I could see a bunch of remoras (sucker fish) stuck near the base of Mama’s tail. It was amazing to be so close to them! I swam over to Dad and Jessie, and we watched as Baby and Mama surfaced to breathe, and then swam off. They were so graceful. We got back on board and followed them, and Mom took a look again. Then I guess the whales got tired of being goggled at by us teeny little humans, or we got cold, or both, so we headed back to Neiafu.

is about when to leave Tonga to go to New Zealand. It is about an 8-day trip, and the weather information available is only for about 3 days out, so you can’t be assured that the weather will be good throughout the crossing. Leaving too early will only reap very cold and stormy weather in New Zealand. If we leave too late, cyclone season will have begun in the tropics. The consensus seems to be that somewhere between October 15th and November 15th is the best time to go. During that period, you just watch the weather closely and pick your day to leave. If the weather turns while you are underway, there is a small spot called Minerva Reef about 200 miles from Tonga. You can stay there and wait for better weather, then high-tail it to New Zealand. I guess the crossing can be rife with storms that come up unexpectedly. One boat told us they had 3 knots of wind on the beam, 12 knots of wind from behind, and 30 knots right on the nose, all in an 18-hour period. We checked the weather today, and it said there was no wind at all leaving Tonga, but that there were 40-knot winds approaching New Zealand. Guess we won’t be leaving just yet…

Besides, so many great things have been checked off our “must do” list! Swimming with the Humpback whales is right up there at the top (see Molly’s update below). For me, it was as if it was Valentine’s Day, and God gave me this great big present and said “I Love you!” It was so tender to see the baby whale resting underneath the mother’s chin, and then gracefully coming up to the surface for a breath of air. Mom, knowing she had taught her child well, stayed below, keeping a watchful eye on us, and waited patiently for Junior to come back for the rest of his nap.

We found the village and the church that were so memorable to us 15 years ago when we were here. The village is called Hunga, and it is in Anchorage #13, for those who are keeping track. The church looks the same, but they had taken down the velvet painting of puppies and kittens that decorated the walls yea those many years ago. The seating was still on the floor. The church had changed to a Church of Tonga, however, which has proven to be not the best for singing, and the preacher tends to scream for an hour, and then it’s over. So, we didn’t go to that church – we went to the one across the path, and heard some great singing. These Tongans know how to belt it out.

We met the school teacher of the village. Her name is Sarah, and she is a Peace Corps volunteer. She is in Hunga for 2 years, and is the only teacher to the 35 elementary-aged kids in the village. She is not a teacher by trade, but is learning as she goes. Her main job is to find and train another person to take her place when her time is up. We had been looking for a village to give some school supplies that we had purchased specifically for needy Tongan kids, and this seemed to be the right place. Sarah said that during most of their school lives, these children had been sharing a couple of pencils between them, and had no paper to write on. We gave them paper, tons of pencils and sharpeners, color crayons, colored pencils, and writing tablets. They were very grateful and seemed excited to get to know Molly and Jessie better. About six of the kids followed us back down the path toward the dock, so we invited them to hop in the dinghy and we brought them to the boat for a tour. Jim and Jessie played the guitar for them, and they sang a song for us. It was right out of National Geographic.

Good thing #3: Jim caught a Wahoo today! Wahoooo! It was about 40 pounds, and has been cut up into about 10 good-sized meals and placed lovingly in our freezer. Wahoo is a very sweet, white fish, and has kind of a salmon-like texture. It was nice to have fresh fish tonight! Jim’s manhood has been restored. He hasn’t caught a fish in well over two months, and was beginning to doubt his hunting/gathering skills. We have no money for counseling, so I’m glad he’s back on his game.

Our favorite local restaurant, the Aquarium Café, had an “open-mic” night a couple of weeks ago. Jessie played her one song – the Spanish waltz, and did a great job. There is another performance opportunity coming up this week, so she is working hard on her second piece.

There will probably not be new pictures in the media gallery until we get to New Zealand. With only one satellite for all of the Tongan Islands, uploading is painfully slow. So, instead, I will leave you with a couple of salient quotes. ~ Jeanna

A lot of people ask me if I were shipwrecked, and could only have one book, what would it be? I always say ‘How to Build a Boat.’  - Stephen Wright

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.

I was able to upload some pictures after all.  Check out the media gallery for new pictures from Tonga!  Thanks, Jeanna

Yesterday evening was hot and humid, so we decided to take a dinghy ride to get away from the confinement of the boat.  We had heard about a colony of fruit bats, or flying foxes, at the end of the harbor, and we went to check it out.   

At first I didn’t see anything except leaves and branches, but I was looking in the wrong place.  Up and to the left a bit, the trees were teeming with bats!  Fruit bats don’t live in caves; they hang upside down in the trees all day, looking (as Jessie put it) like hundreds of over ripe bananas.  It was amazing to see so many of the world’s only flying mammals all in one tree.  A few bats were gliding around, but most of them were still wrapped up in their wings.  Then, all at once, most of them took off.  They just let go of the branches, unfurled their wings, and off they went!  What we were looking for was the mother bats.  The babies have to hang on to the mother’s bellies all the time.  Think how hard it would be to land!  We got some great pictures of bats in trees, bats in the air, and bats with babies, so please check out the latest addition to the media gallery!  ~ Molly