Although this post is a little over due, I had an unbelievable spring break experience in the Kingdom of Tonga which is a small set of pacific islands not too far from Fiji. I went with a few mates from my abroad group and we stayed in a small house, on the main island, in the capital city of Nuku’alofa. My first impression of Tonga was that the whole entire country was filled with absolute units. What I mean by that is, the people are gigantic. Just landing in the airport I began to notice how big Tongan people were.
The population of Tonga is roughly 108,000 people and their national sport is rugby. Although they do not have the luxury of a large selection for their rugby national team they still compete at a very competitive level on the world stage. Which is honestly no surprise after seeing the size of some of these Tongan men.
Before getting there we did not really have a plan on what we were going to do day to day besides try to go fishing one day. We ended up being very busy and made time to snorkel, fish, go to a traditional Tongan dinner, go to the beach, swim with whales, and explore other islands besides the one we were on. Without a doubt the highlight of this trip was swimming with whales. We got on a little boat at about 8:00 am with the guide and went out a few kilometers in our snorkel stuff to meet some massive waves. The crew was standing on top of the boat trying to spot whales. Finally, when the crew saw the whales in the distance the boat took off and we sped up right to where they were spotted breaching. We were there in late August/ early September which is whale migration season. Both groups of whales that we spotted were a mother with her calf. It was a really special moment to be in the water and watch the mother and calf play amongst themselves. They are such intelligent animals and I tried really hard to high five the calf but the guide would not let me get that close for safety reasons.
Tonga was a great experience and is a place that a lot of people can not say that they have been to. I will never forget my time spent there and some of the people I met in the Kingdom itself.
Joe
