Good stuff! Very informative and nicely put together. Can you recommend a tour guide/operator on Moorea? And is Bora Bora good for whale encounters? Going next October!
We can highly recommend Tonga Blue Lagoon Resort at Vava'u in northern Tonga in September 2023. In our week we took 5 on water days. Awesome local family owned resort. Own island and lagoon. Only 8 guests and two whale swim boats. Regulations in Tonga only permit 4 guests plus whale guide in the water on any one encounter at one time. Food fabulous. Hosts marvellous Accommodation comfy and rustic. Whale encounters awesome. 7 hours a day on the water. We swam with Heat Runs, mother and calf logging at the suface. Mother and calf diving and surfacing and calf checking us out. Singer. Saw breaches, pec and tail slaps... We researched the options all over the world. The results exceeded our expectations. Cost around $10.000 US for two, all in except airfare via Fiji and wine... Good value, especially in comparison to others that have 6 or 8 on a boat with 4 in the water on rotation..
@jayxnina My Bulgarian friend into nature experiences including mountain gorillas in Rwanda came all the way to join us. He paid single supplement so we only had 3 on our boat plus whale swim guide and skipper.
@jayxnina My partner seems to be a Soul that attracts Nature... Our first day we had 3 heat runs. The first had 12 males to the one female. Our Aussie guide Jess would only take one of us with that many whales. So he was the one... Boy o boy did he have a silly grin on his face after he came out of the water... He was the one who expressed uncertainty about swimming with anything that big. Next Heat Run with 7 whales we all 3 swam plus Jess. The third heat runs with 4 males were not considered 'swimmable'... We are told one swimmable Heat Run in a week is lucky. Two out of three on day 1 blew our joyous little brains out. That afternoon we were treated to a close encounter with a mum and young calf logged in the shallows just hanging out with us... Tonga Blue Lagoon has a locational advantage being further south near to the whales. Sometimes even in their lagoon along with the 3 resident turtles.... Walking from our Falet over the sandspit to the dining area for breakfast we saw whales in the distance spouting on the windward side of the island... That said you spend 6 to 7 hours a day on the water for 5 days to get the spread of encounters... Not everyone is quite a lucky with whales and weather... This place gives you a head start.
@ In different states of Australia. And possibly a few countries in Asia. I’ve only done it in Western Australia but I know for a fact it is legal and available in at least 3 states. I’ve yet to do it in Polynesia and Tonga though!
Check out our Island Life Vlog covering all 7 days that we spent on Mo'orea!!
ua-cam.com/video/syCDBupmBh4/v-deo.html
Ahhh!! The best 🙌🏻 Lots of “training”. Love how you put it that way 😉
Talk about a workout!!! But yes, every swim was was preparing us for the next!
How exciting, even though you were not able to do what you hoped, you gained knowledge and did experience being close.
Exactly!
Humpback whale swimming is also allowed in Dominican Republic, Cook Islands, okinawa in japan and maybe in Mauritius
Good stuff! Very informative and nicely put together. Can you recommend a tour guide/operator on Moorea? And is Bora Bora good for whale encounters? Going next October!
I enjoyed this video. One correction is that the Silver Banks is a 3rd place in the world to swim with humpbacks. Thank you!
@@lauriebranch6051 huh I’ve never heard of that-where is it?
Amazing animals! You can actually swim with the humpback whales in Australia too :)
Really?! Where specifically?
I know for sure of a company in Jervis Bay NSW called Woebegone, and pretty sure there are a few around Gold Coast area that do also :)@@jayxnina
@@kuratregenza285 so cool! Thanks for the info
You can do it in the Cook Islands too
No way! Good to know
We can highly recommend Tonga Blue Lagoon Resort at Vava'u in northern Tonga in September 2023. In our week we took 5 on water days.
Awesome local family owned resort. Own island and lagoon. Only 8 guests and two whale swim boats.
Regulations in Tonga only permit 4 guests plus whale guide in the water on any one encounter at one time.
Food fabulous.
Hosts marvellous
Accommodation comfy and rustic.
Whale encounters awesome.
7 hours a day on the water.
We swam with Heat Runs, mother and calf logging at the suface.
Mother and calf diving and surfacing and calf checking us out. Singer.
Saw breaches, pec and tail slaps...
We researched the options all over the world. The results exceeded our expectations.
Cost around $10.000 US for two, all in except airfare via Fiji and wine... Good value, especially in comparison to others that have 6 or 8 on a boat with 4 in the water on rotation..
wow what a dream! That sounds incredible. We will definitely have to check it out
@jayxnina My Bulgarian friend into nature experiences including mountain gorillas in Rwanda came all the way to join us. He paid single supplement so we only had 3 on our boat plus whale swim guide and skipper.
@jayxnina My partner seems to be a Soul that attracts Nature...
Our first day we had 3 heat runs.
The first had 12 males to the one female. Our Aussie guide Jess would only take one of us with that many whales. So he was the one... Boy o boy did he have a silly grin on his face after he came out of the water... He was the one who expressed uncertainty about swimming with anything that big.
Next Heat Run with 7 whales we all 3 swam plus Jess. The third heat runs with 4 males were not considered 'swimmable'... We are told one swimmable Heat Run in a week is lucky. Two out of three on day 1 blew our joyous little brains out.
That afternoon we were treated to a close encounter with a mum and young calf logged in the shallows just hanging out with us...
Tonga Blue Lagoon has a locational advantage being further south near to the whales. Sometimes even in their lagoon along with the 3 resident turtles.... Walking from our Falet over the sandspit to the dining area for breakfast we saw whales in the distance spouting on the windward side of the island... That said you spend 6 to 7 hours a day on the water for 5 days to get the spread of encounters... Not everyone is quite a lucky with whales and weather... This place gives you a head start.
@@stephenberry8658 i hope you got some videos!! That sounds unbelievable
@jayxnina my Bulgarian friend had a GoPro which he was just getting used to, and we had an Olympus Tough TG5 underwater to 5 metres. Lots of pics.
I live in tahiti everyone i can tel you everything from french 🇵🇫 polynesia
Do you know any local “must visit” places that are totally worth seeing?
actually it is possible and legal to swim with humpback whales in more places than French Polynesia and Tonga!
@@Kaaashhhhhhh really? Where?
@ In different states of Australia. And possibly a few countries in Asia. I’ve only done it in Western Australia but I know for a fact it is legal and available in at least 3 states. I’ve yet to do it in Polynesia and Tonga though!
Whale whale whaaaallle
I live in tahiti everyone i can tel you everything from french 🇵🇫 polynesia