'EUA ISLAND
WHALE WATCHING THE TONGAN SOUTHERN HUMPBACK WHALES
'Eua island whale watching is best In-between the months of July to November when the Tongan Southern Humpback whales return home to Tonga to there breeding season grounds.
The Humpbacks migrated from Antarctica to Tonga. Antarctica is the feeding grounds for the Humpbacks, they feed on a crustacean called "Krill". Antarctica has a rich marine environment of Krill for the Humpback whales to feed on.
They then migrate home to Tonga for there mating and birthing.
Scientists have a strong belief that the reason why they choose Tongan waters for there breeding and birthing besides the safer and warmer waters for there baby calf's it is also the 2nd deepest trench in the world "The Tonga Trench" The Tonga trench is 10.8km deep and starts from the east coast of New Zealand and runs up to Tonga but the deepest section of the trench is right on top of Tonga.
Scientists believe that this trench is the highway for the Tongan Humpback whales from New Zealand to Tonga.
For photos of whales Taken from Kikos whale watching boat click here.
Southern Humpback Whale
The Tonga trench is 10.8km deep, the 2nd deepest in the world.
The 1st deepest in the world is the Marianers trench in Micronesia, North Pacific at 12km deep. Mount Everest is 8km high, so you can put Mount Everest in both trenches and you still wouldn't be able to see the top, Pretty spectacular.
Out of all the islands in the Kingdom of Tonga, Eua island is the most eastern island in Tonga, which means that Eua island is the closest island to the trench, about 40 nautical miles from the eastern coast of Eua.
EUA ISLAND'S WHALE WATCHING STYLE
Eua whale watching has a unique style compared to the rest of Tonga and the South Pacific.
Out of 17 whale watch licences in the Kingdom of Tonga there is one operator on Eua, called "The Hideaway", also the Hideaway is the 1st and only 100% Tongan run whale watch operation ever.
Eua's whale watch boats are small local fishing boats that have been converted slightly into whale watch boats, they only can take eight people maximum at a time, which is great. This creates a low impact way of seeing the whales, small boats, not to many people on the boats, only one boat on the water, so this is a more personal experience for the watchers and most important of all, low disturbance and impact on the whales.
And that's not all !!!
'Eua has also got another way of watching the spectacular Humpbacks, you can just watch from land and if you are staying at the Hideaway you can just watch them from your accommodation or the Hideaway has a shaded whale viewing platform in front on the waters edge.This is a great unique way to see whales from land. Technically speaking land based watching is 100% purity because the whale doesn't know its being watched, so this is a whale viewing in 100% wild. Pretty cool !!!
Whale Tail
In peak whale season you can see a minimum of four sightings a day everyday from the Hideaway's whale viewing platform.
Because the whales don't know that you are watching them, you see it in 100% wild form and it behaves as such eg, just swimming by, spouting, side and tail fin slapping and the most spectacular of all, a full body breach right out of the water, WOW !!!
Out of all the whale species around the world the Humpback whales are the most active and playfull, almost the same as a dolphin but just imagine the dolphin at 40 tones and 62 feet long, pretty cool !!!
Watch Whales from land
For photos of whales Taken from Kikos whale watching boat click here.