FWAP! FWAP! FWAP!
The bottom of our boat slapped against the waves as we headed away from the calm lagoon waters and into the open ocean. I let my hair down out of its messy bun and scooted toward the back of the boat, my fins and mask in my hands. Salty wind pressed against my face as we pushed further and faster until, finally, Ule slowed the boat down and pointed north. We were there. Ule yelled a Tongan command and his deckhand, Tao, took off swimming into the morning surf. I watched him intently, eyes fixed on the lime green tip of his snorkel. It was the first morning of our expedition to the Kingdom of Tonga and we were searching for the main attraction. Suddenly, when he was about 50 meters away, Tao raised his right arms straight into the air. “Go now!” Ule yelled. I shoved my snorkel in my mouth and lowered myself into the water.
Once beneath the surface, all I could see was blue. The water was hundreds of feet deep and as I looked down I was enveloped in its vastness. There was none of California’s giant kelp or famous orange Garibaldis – this was a whole new world. As I got closer to Tao, I could feel my excitement growing. My breathing quickened and I searched the deep shadows frantically. Until, there it was – a humpback whale.
People swimming with whales was something that I had seen before, featured in nature documentaries or behind the filter of my Instagram feed, but I never thought I would be able to do it myself. When I did, I was consumed with awe and humility. Over the next week, our team would have the opportunity to swim with about 10 unique humpback whale individuals and the butterflies never left my stomach. Each day, we learned a little more about them, their relationship with each other and their relationship with us. Most importantly, we learned about the unique connection between the local Tongan people and “their” whales.
This relationship is nuanced. Tongans need the whales, but also understand that they do not own them and cannot rely on them. They respect them, but also have a history of hunting them for food. Over the course of this expedition, the Blue Latitudes Foundation sought to capture this complex relationship on film and examine how this relationship may be beneficial to the sustainability of Tonga’s environment, economy and culture. Moving forward, we will be applying the knowledge we gained from this experience towards future research and examining how humans can elevate their relationship with nature. We will be delivering the results of the Tonga Expedition analytically through a research report, additional blog posts, and visually through a short documentary film, produced by the Matador Network.
So dive in with us, Explorers! More adventures are on the horizon.