Tonga ultimate whale swim

I am still in awe and a bit humbled by what happened to Emmanuelle and me. We have lived something very unique that very, very few people get to live. So read this because it is incredible!

On the second day of whale swimming we find 3 whales (a mother, an adolescent calf and a male escort). I had instructed Wolfgang, our guide, not to speed to them as he had done the previous day, but to approach them discretely and let them get used to us. A few minutes later the whales are all around our small boat. Just to get an idea, this is a 5 meter boat with a single, very old and clunky mercury outboard motor and we are 3 miles out to sea surrounded by 16 meter whales (Radio? Emergency flares? Floating devices? EEPIRB? nah, we've got a mobile phone to call for help).

I slide in the water to avoid a splash as the whales do not like that and Emmanuelle follows immediately. What happened next is really incredible. The 3 whales played with us for more than 2 hours. They kept circling us, swimming to the deep and then straight at us. When Emma swam down with her arms wide like an airplane and doing a full twist, we saw the whales doing the same: THEY WERE IMMITATING US! When I reached out my arm -as if they were flippers- one whale did the same and came closer and closer with a flipper extended at me. My heart said: Yes, my body said: no and I missed the touch by 20 cms. I swam down and one whale turned on its back and swam up to me, it got really close: maybe 3 meters away.

Okay, reality check:

• Too far on the Ocean to see any land.
• Pretty big 2 meter swell
• Nearest Island is the Shark Callers Island Eu'iki, well known for its... sharks.
• Nearest ground: about 250 meters below us.
• The only thing floating is a dodgy old boat driven by a man we've just met.
• Below are three 16 meters long, 40 tons weighing animals that just want to play with you.

Emma and I rip off our masks and give each other a big hug! This is a-maz-ing. We utter words like 'holy shit', 'incroyable', 'I don't believe it', 'DID YOU SEE THAT', 'They're still here'!

This hug takes far too long for the whales and they soon circle us at the surface and playfully splash us with their tails and fins. We take the hint and start playing again: spinning, diving, making noises, dodging flippers and tails. After an hour and a half, the whales are so enthusiastic and accustomed to us that we really had to watch out, they are coming too close and it seems they aim at touching us (not recommended without a thick wetsuit because of the barnacles). Emma and I decide to take a break.

Back on the boat, our German friend yells out: 'Ziz iz incretipel, I hef nefer efen heurt of ziz befor'. The whales insist they want to keep playing and I say to Wolfgang: 'Mate, I've got a boating license, just jump in and have a swim'. It took me 1s to convince him and soon he and Emma are swimming with them. Wolfgang got touched by a tail and said it was very gentle.

The 3 whales decide to give Emma and Wolfgang a bit of a scare and dive deep. They come straight up as a tight group directly under Emma and Wolfgang who now have nowhere to go. At the very last second the three whales turn sharply each their own way at the surface and very narrowly 'miss' Wolfgang and Emma. This HAS GOT to be coordinated; these whales knew exactly what they were doing! Turns out whales have a sense of humour as well, scaring tiny, puny swimmers and having a good chuckle afterwards.

I decide to jump in for another half an hour and have the time of my life. One tail slap misses me by no more than 10 cms. Although playfully intended, that one might have hurt. I keep diving down and twisting and all three whales turn their white bellies toward me with their fins aimed upward as if to say: come on then; give us a hug. Once we decided to leave, it was clear that the whales were not done playing just yet and gave us a display of spy-hopping, tail slapping and pectoral fin splashing.

All we can say is: WHOA!