Rainbows and Whales

I swam with whales today!!! The sun broke through, casting bright colored rainbows over the ominous dark clouds. The winds shifted, and the waves calmed, so we were able to get out to see the whales. We saw about 20 whales on the surface, but most of them were males chasing the females, or pairs of whales that were moving too quickly to have a long encounter. We finally found five whales, which were sticking in one general area and were able to hop in with them two different times. It was amazing. Just being in the water with animals of this size is such an incredible feeling. They move with such grace and power. I was told that it was just a taste of what’s to come, as these encounters were brief. So cool! I was so distracted (and excited) by looking for the whales that I forgot to reapply sunscreen on my face (the only exposed part of my body) so unfortunately, my face is glowing with a nice shade of tomato red! Good day.

I saw reef-squid underwater for the first time today! In my 12 years of diving so far, I have never seen them before, but have always heard how fun they were. I had a good 45 minutes with four of them this afternoon, watching them swim both backwards and forwards, flashing from a dark brown, to an almost translucent white. Their piercing big blue eyes never seemed to leave me. They were incredibly curious, however, wouldn’t let me get too close. The waves were crashing overhead and jolting me all about due to the 30-knot wind that has accompanied the blustery, rainy weather we’ve had for the past few days. Unfortunately this has meant that we haven’t been able to get out to see the whales. We went out on the boat this morning all ready to go whale watching, and as we were driving over to the sailboat our guest was on, the rains picked back up, fog rolled in, and the waves were too big, so the decision was made to scrap the trip.

We haven’t had any guests here the past few days as well, so it has been incredibly relaxing. I finished my second book of the summer (nothing to write home about… a beach read), and am starting on my next book. Patelo, a local Tongan man who works here as well, taught me how to get coconut cream. It’s a much more extensive process than you would imagine. You start by finding the coconuts, breaking off the outer layer, opening up the nut with a huge machete-like knife, scraping out the coconut flesh, and finally squeezing the cream. It was very cool. Patelo was a fantastic teacher too – he was incredibly patient as it took me many attempts to do each step.

I don’t think the weather is supposed to clear up for another couple more days, but my fingers, toes, and every other appendage is crossed in hopes that this crummy weather and high winds push past.

Getting coconut cream to use for dinner!

Ulli

Black-tailed grubfish

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White-banded goby

White-banded goby spitting out sand from it's hole.

Small reef-squid

We saw the first baby whale today. It couldn’t have been more than a week old, Allan guessed. It was tiny. I tried to take some video of them on the surface, and it’s a good thing I’m practicing, because when reviewing the footage, I had pressed play when it was supposed to be stopped and stopped when it was supposed to play. So, unfortunately, I got some nice shots of people’s feet and the boat, but none of the whales. I should have it down for future attempts. The mother whale (cow is what they’re called) wanted nothing to do with us, so when we saw them surface again, they were a ways from the boat, so we let them be.

I did some island exploring yesterday and got some macro shots of some of the flowers and am starting to feel more comfortable with my underwater system with the macro photography. I’ve found some creatures, which have been very cooperative and have allowed me to creep closer and closer. I have also been trying to fill in my amazing biking tan that is still there since last summer on my legs, and while doing so yesterday, I got a splotchy burn on the upper portion (can’t say I’m too surprised though, as I’m pretty used to having amazingly bizarre tan lines (if that’s what you can call them!))

Happy birthday to my cousins Marcus and Ashlee… they’ve had two birthdays actually since it was yesterday, here and today in the States! Who knew that someone could be so lucky!

We’re going out on the boat tomorrow, so fingers crossed that we get some cooperative whales.. and that hopefully I can get in the water with them!!!

It was this time last week that I was leaving Muskoka, but it feels like ages ago. It’s crazy how much can happen in the span of a week. There haven’t been many guests these last few days, so what I suppose would be a normal routine hasn’t really set in. I’ve been trying to go snorkeling everyday, and yesterday, Ed showed me a nice spot. To get there, we kayaked out over the crystal blue water where you can see all the way down to the bottom. It was unbelievably calm. While kayaking, I saw the shadow of a small reef shark go zooming by underneath me. I was hoping to see some on my snorkel, but didn’t. The coral on the reef itself is not in the best condition, however, it is teeming with life. I had a weight belt on as well, which made it much easier to stay down to get some photographs. The previous day it must have been hysterical to watch me attempting to stay underneath the water as my fins were sticking straight out, flailing around. Turns out, I’m very buoyant in this water!

I’ve been into town twice now, which is about a 30-35 minute boat ride. The first time into town was to go run errands and get supplies, including food and gas. There was a funeral going on in the village, so everyone who was attending was wearing black with a woven mat around their waist. The mat is worn as a sign of respect, whether it is for a funeral, or at school. Due to this funeral, a number of the stores didn’t have certain items that we needed, including rice. So, to do the shopping, we went to four different stores, and the local market. The second time I went into town was last night with Kirsty, Ed, and Chris to go watch the Australia vs. South Africa rugby match (where Australia creamed the South Africans much to Ed’s delight!). We went to the local dive bar and they had the game projected onto a large wall. It was a great time. We met up with three New Zealanders who we had met when they kite-boarded over to the island the previous day. On the way home we saw some people who we had met at the bar on their fishing yacht playing the guitar, so we stopped and hopped on. We hung out with them for a few hours. Over the side of the boat, you could see these amazing jellyfish coming in and out of the boat lights. It was very cool. The boat ride home reminded me of coming back from being out at night in Canada, although there was an almost full moon to guide the journey.

The food here is fantastic. We’ve had the freshest sashimi on many occasions from fish that were either caught by spear, deep-sea trolling, or by a local fisherman. We’ve had seared tuna, and what they like to call here, “one-pot wonders” which is a meal that is prepared only using one dish for (and by) the staff. We’ve had an incredible chicken, veggies, and rice in a fresh-squeezed coconut broth dish, and spicy onion, garlic, mince, veggies in a tomato-based sauce over rice to name a couple. So, I’m definitely not starving that’s for sure!

I’m hoping to do some more snorkeling today, might go out for a kayak as well. It’s another calm, hot day – I love Tonga winters! 

Mounu Island - dining and kitchen area.

My room... behind the kitchen.

Kirsty kite-boarding.

Chicken the cat found a nice place to take a nap.

Woman wearing woven mat to show respect for the funeral.

School girls wear different style woven mats.

Marta's son on his 6th birthday.

Allan waiting to help land the boat.