After spending 6 years in a row travelling to the great Kingdom of Tonga to swim with whales, it was time to go and check out French Polynesia and see what all the fuss was about. Like Tonga, it is a nursery for humpback whales during the months of September and October, so with its growing popularity, it was time to add a new tour to our evolving business.
Of course, this trip was before covid came on the scene and brought the travel industry to a screeching halt. To be reminiscing about these times is extra special and as a small family run business, we are truly determined to get back on our feet and have every faith that we will come back bigger and better than ever. We invite you to stop your crochet project or pause Netflix to spend a few minutes with us and imagine a day when we can all travel again, and why not start with the pristine French Polynesia.
Moorea Tahiti
The most well known spot to swim with whales in French Polynesia is Moorea Tahiti…. and boy it did not disappoint, it really is as beautiful as all the postcards. You catch a ferry from Papeete over to the island and the first thing that strikes you besides the colour of the water is the luscious mountains, so green and striking. We were staying at the beautiful Manava, so we hopped into the car waiting for us at the port. After a long trip over, it was so nice to get to our room, the first thing we did was jump straight into our private garden pool. It was late afternoon so we dried up and headed straight to the bar for Pina Coladas before the traditional Polynesian dance. I am one of those people who always gets pulled up on stage when there is a show on, so of course I had to get up and do my best Polynesian dance, which in case you were wondering is terrible! But all eyes were on the incredible Polynesian men and women, so I was free to do dance my daggy mum style without criticism.
The next day was our first whale swim in Tahiti. When we arrived at the boat, we went out searching for our first whale to swim with. For anyone who is familiar with Tongan whale swimming laws, it is a little bit different in Tahiti… Tonga you can only have 4 people in the water at a time, which I love, but Tahiti don’t currently have a cap on how many so it is up to the discretion of each boat. We find that on the most part, boats are responsible and work with each other to ensure safety and respect for the whales and guests as this is paramount for this industry to survive. Within an hour or so, we had found a mother and calf and we watched them for a little while. The mother seemed very curious, she let her calf swim and play between herself and the boat, which is a sign that she didn’t feel threatened. Four of us sat on the side of the boat and slid into the water very quietly and swam over to the whales. What a beautiful sight it was, this majestic creature the size of a bus was looking us in the eye, her calf was gentle but playful, spinning and dancing underneath us. I have swum with humpback whales many many times, but I can honestly say hand on my heart that I never get sick of it and each time is a memorable experience for me. We spent 30 minutes with this beautiful duo until they decided to slowly swim down into the deep.
This day we were lucky enough to swim with another whale, but what is also so great about Tahiti is that they are not the only marine life that you can encounter. We came across pilot whales, turtles, reef sharks, dolphins and rays. As we went back to the shore starting at the backdrop of the volcanic mountains, we had the biggest smiles on our faces as we knew that we could create such a wonderful tour in Tahiti.
Rurutu
While we were over there, we also decided to visit a lesser known island called Rurutu, as we had heard they had insane water visibility and humpback whales visited frequently. It was a bit of a shaky flight over there, honestly I am such a scaredy cat when it comes to flying.. some may say I have chosen the wrong career! When we landed my first thought was how different this island was to the others, no big resorts, no bustling restaurants, just some cute little guest houses scattered down the rugged coastline of this untouched island. English was not spoken everywhere in Rurutu, so we had planned to meet up with a lovely local English lady who not only gave a rundown of the island’s history and offer her advice, but also served us up a delicious homemade lunch.
That afternoon, we settled ourselves into one of the little guest houses and had a big rest to prepare ourselves for another day of whale swimming and sight seeing. When we woke up, we headed to breakfast and were served the world’s most giant baguette, we were told that the average person in French Polynesia eats two and half baguettes per day! Soon the car came to pick us up and off we went to see the whales. They were not kidding when they said Rurutu has some of the clearest waters in the world, the visibility is 30-60 meters and it’s the first thing we noticed when we jumped in the water. The second thing we noticed of course was the giant whales in front of us! We were so excited and were snapping away taking as many pictures and videos as we could. Of course as murphy’s law would have it, somehow we actually turned our camera off and got no photos at all! So disappointing. Whales are not the only draw card for Rurutu, they have deserted beaches, pristine lagoons and they are well known for their limestone caves. If you enjoy being off the beaten track and relishing the simple joys of life, I can highly recommend visiting this small unknown island.
Overall, we were so impressed by French Polynesia. From the people, to the scenery and of course the whales, we will be back before you know it!
