Tongatapu Island, Kingdom of Tonga
Today, we passed an important threshold in our expedition within the South Pacific. We officially left Melanesia behind yesterday when we departed Fiji and this morning entered the almost unimaginable vastness of Polynesia. The area known as Polynesia, which literally means ‘many islands,’ includes all the lands within a huge triangle that extends from Hawaii in the north to Easter Island in the east and to New Zealand in the southwest. Our first event upon arrival in Polynesia was an encounter with a pod of sperm whales. We found them right near a sea mount that rises up more than 6,000 feet (1,818 m) from the sea floor to within 700 feet (212 m) of the surface. This is precisely the type of habitat where we hoped to find sperm whales, because they often accumulate in such places to hunt potential prey, such as large schooling fish and squids. We were very happy to observe several sperm whale calves playing at the surface, being looked after by two adults as the rest of the pod made deep dives in search of food.
By lunchtime, we reached our first port-o-call in Polynesia when the ship anchored off Nuku'alofa, a town located on Tongatapu island in the southern-most group of the Tongan Archipelago. This is both the main port and capital of the Kingdom of Tonga, which is the only remaining monarchy in the South Pacific. At 20 miles (32 km) in length, Tongatapu is the largest and most fertile island in the kingdom. Most of us opted to explore the island this afternoon, stopping first at the Royal Palace and Royal Tombs, then driving across the island to the western coastline where we climbed on an ancient fossilized coral reef system and observed a long, rocky shoreline punctuated with a system of blowholes. Fortunately, the wave action was equal to the task and provided some very exciting blows. On our return to Nuku'alofa, we stopped beneath a noisy colony of fruit bats, or flying foxes, resting in a line of eucalyptus trees. Several individuals were flying about, and we marveled at their smooth, graceful aerial abilities. Everyone agreed they are quite appealing with their little fox-like faces. In the meantime, another group went on an archaeological expedition to seek out the famous Trilithon, a megalithic archway structure dating to the early 13th century, and some other sites of the interest. Some of us even managed a little shopping time in the colorful market before returning to the ship in the late afternoon.
Today, we passed an important threshold in our expedition within the South Pacific. We officially left Melanesia behind yesterday when we departed Fiji and this morning entered the almost unimaginable vastness of Polynesia. The area known as Polynesia, which literally means ‘many islands,’ includes all the lands within a huge triangle that extends from Hawaii in the north to Easter Island in the east and to New Zealand in the southwest. Our first event upon arrival in Polynesia was an encounter with a pod of sperm whales. We found them right near a sea mount that rises up more than 6,000 feet (1,818 m) from the sea floor to within 700 feet (212 m) of the surface. This is precisely the type of habitat where we hoped to find sperm whales, because they often accumulate in such places to hunt potential prey, such as large schooling fish and squids. We were very happy to observe several sperm whale calves playing at the surface, being looked after by two adults as the rest of the pod made deep dives in search of food.
By lunchtime, we reached our first port-o-call in Polynesia when the ship anchored off Nuku'alofa, a town located on Tongatapu island in the southern-most group of the Tongan Archipelago. This is both the main port and capital of the Kingdom of Tonga, which is the only remaining monarchy in the South Pacific. At 20 miles (32 km) in length, Tongatapu is the largest and most fertile island in the kingdom. Most of us opted to explore the island this afternoon, stopping first at the Royal Palace and Royal Tombs, then driving across the island to the western coastline where we climbed on an ancient fossilized coral reef system and observed a long, rocky shoreline punctuated with a system of blowholes. Fortunately, the wave action was equal to the task and provided some very exciting blows. On our return to Nuku'alofa, we stopped beneath a noisy colony of fruit bats, or flying foxes, resting in a line of eucalyptus trees. Several individuals were flying about, and we marveled at their smooth, graceful aerial abilities. Everyone agreed they are quite appealing with their little fox-like faces. In the meantime, another group went on an archaeological expedition to seek out the famous Trilithon, a megalithic archway structure dating to the early 13th century, and some other sites of the interest. Some of us even managed a little shopping time in the colorful market before returning to the ship in the late afternoon.
