Week 13 July 2nd - 8th
Week 13
After school the next day we took a taxi into town. In town we had breakfast at the Crows Nest and then did some shopping. After we had done some shopping we went back to the boat. Later on Daddy Mummy Daisy and I went in the tender to a beach on the other side of the island. When we got to the beach we had our pack lunch from the Crows Nest, we then went to another beach before coming back to the boat and having supper.
The next day after school I went for a wind surf around the bay. After I had gone windsurfing Daisy and I went for a windsurf around the bay. After I had gone wind surfing Daisy and I went for a doughnut around the bay. After we had got back to the boat we had supper and then went to bed. The next day it was raining and raining. The weather was so awful that we were allowed to watch some DVD’s for the first time in three months, So we watched Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Over the Hedge and Pirates of the Caribean. As it started to clear up late in the afternoon we took the tender around the island to have a look while Daisy and I were in the doughnuts. After we came back we had supper.
The next day we took the boat out to an island called Mounu. There was a restaurant on the island so we asked if we could have lunch, but we had to make a booking. We had lunch on the boat and then went to a beach in the tender. On the beach there were lots of mosquitoes which kept biting us so we went back to the boat. When we got back to the boat we took it back to the main harbour where we had supper at Mangoes.
The next day we went for breakfast at Café Tropicana and then did some shopping in town. When we got back to the boat there were hundreds of jelly fish. As we were pulling the anchor up we saw two big brown Ramoras and a big fish. After we had pulled the anchor up we went to the island with the restaurant for lunch, because we had made a booking. On the way to lunch we stopped at an under water cave so Daddy and Mike could dive into it.
As they went into the cave Mummy spotted two whales in the channel lying on the surface. By the time Mike and Daddy were back on the boat the Whales had dived down, but we waited for a few minutes and they came up. We then continued onto lunch. On the way we saw three more whales. When we got to Mounu island we went to have lunch at the restaurant. During lunch we saw four more humpback whales.
At the restaurant there was a telescope that we looked through, where you could see two whales fluking.
After lunch we went whale watching with some people from the restaurant. We followed two whales which started breaching. (This is when they jump their whole body out of the water) We learnt that the Whales come up to Tonga from Antarctica to have their calves and mate in warm protected waters. The calves don’t suckle from their mothers like most mammals, but the mother squirts her milk into the water and her calf filters out the milk from the water. The mothers don’t eat anything while they are in Tonga, as there is no krill for them here. We then saw a third whale further away, but the light was fading and we went back to the boat, had supper and went to sleep. Humpback whales are covered in barnacles, and can carry up 450 kgs on its body.
The next day we went Whale watching again, with the people from Mounu Island. We were watching a male and a female. We watched them and then went swimming with them. When I went in we didn’t get very close, and in the murky water only saw the tip of it’s tail as it went down. When Daddy and Daisy went in they got very close and saw the whole whale. We kept following the whales and Mummy and I had another swim with them, but they dived down and we didn’t see them at all. When we got back to the boat we had supper and then went to bed.
The next day Daddy, Mummy and Mike went for a snorkel at the reef. When they got back we took the boat to the Blue Lagoon. Just as we were about to go into the blue lagoon we saw two Whales. As we went over to them they dived down, but when they came up they did two half breaches and then dived down again. After seeing the Whales we went through the pass into Blue Lagoon. The water in the lagoon was all different shades of blue because of the different depths. When we were through the pass we anchored in front of another boat, but there wasn’t much room, and were glad when they left. I went windsurfing upwind to the beach, and then around the lagoon and back to the boat. When I got back to the boat we had supper.