Humpbacks of Vava'u

Humpbacks of Tonga

Whale season in Vava’u is mid-July through October. Some days are sunny; some days are cloudy. The weather is warm, but you’ll want to bring a wind jacket to keep you comfortable on the boat. Water temperature is around 77 F (25 C).

Only snorkeling is allowed with the whales as they don’t like divers’ bubbles, and it’s hard to keep up with whales on SCUBA. The topography of the islands allows us to work in most conditions, excluding intense weather days of course.

We will go out and swim with the whales in most conditions; the weather and seas don’t seem to affect the whales at all. We search for the whales in calm, sheltered bays, open sea — pretty much wherever the day takes us!

Tongan waters are birthing and mating grounds for a specific population of humpback whales, which means they are around for months each year. Even better, the islands that surround Vava’u provide protection from the winds, ensuring that we can go out on the water almost every day.These are snorkel trips, as it’s near-impossible to scuba dive with whales since they move quite quickly. Clients should have snorkeling experience and understand that there is a lot of swimming involved on these tours.

We generally get in the water with whales almost everyday, it really comes down to the quality of those swims. We aim to get 1-2 quality swims on a 5 swim day trip, and 3-4 quality swims on a 8 swim day trip. A high quality encounter to us is one that lasts over 10 minutes and is in close proximity to a set of whales.