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20 October 2012
We dived with Aquasamoa while on Upolu, Samoa. At that time, they were the only dive operator on the island as the other ones which we had read about appeared to have gone west. As with any dive outfit, the experience depends on who your dive master is on the day. We were very lucky. We […]
20 October 2012
We woke around 0700 and had breakfast of toast and fruit in the poolside garden. The Outrigger Hotel is an old but very well-kept place. It is somewhere we would come back to for another stay if we were to pass through Apia again. At 0815 we were collected by Aquasamoa for our dives back […]
1 September 2012
There was enough time to catch a light breakfast at Friends Cafe (which turns out to be owned by an ex-colleague of Kim’s). We headed to the airport around 0900 for our 1120 flight back to Auckland. On leaving Tonga, here’s my summary: It is probably my favourite Pacific Island so far. It is cheaper […]
31 August 2012
Above: The King’s Palace in Nukualofa. Today we head back to Tongatapu on the 1535 flight. The timing would allow us some activities (at a push) if we had been unsuccessful with whaleswim on the preceding days. Since we had been rather lucky, we could do absolutely nothing but laze around the guesthouse then go […]
30 August 2012
Today is our “spare” day in case weather or other factors prevented us from achieving our whale-swim or dives. Since everything had gone so well, we rented a scooter today to go sightseeing around the Vava’u. Due to its odd octopus-like shape, we thought we could go to a few different arms of the island. […]
29 August 2012
Above: With no underwater camera, all we can capture is a surface photo of the crystal-clear water. Diving in Vava’u was a bit of an afterthought after such an awesome day yesterday’s whale-swim where we got really close-up to three humpback whales. We toyed with the idea of doing more whale-swims. But no one could take […]
29 August 2012
Above: With no underwater camera, all we can capture is a surface photo of the crystal-clear water. We toyed with the idea of doing more whale-swims. But no one could take us; they’re all full. It’s probably better that way as our companions told us our experience yesterday was unbeatable compared to the other days […]
28 August 2012
We walked down to Dolphin Pacific’s office with a large wad of cash at 0830 for our whale-swim adventure. There were 8 guests including ourselves (with 2 of them picked up at a resort rather than setting out with us). The rules require a max of 4 pax in the water plus the guide. Some […]
27 August 2012
We landed on time at Tongatapu shortly after 1100. Our connection to Vava’u was in less than three hours which would be enough time on a good day (and touch-and-go in case of a delay). As it turned out, we got through immigration and customs very quickly as we had no checked luggage. We shuttled […]
14 August 2012
It was decidedly cool and unhumid in Kota Bharu this morning as we walked out of the hotel. I thought Malaysia was tropical but obviously I was wrong. I had the famous Nasi Kerabu (Kelantan specialty) for breakfast again before packing and heading out to the airport. The flight to KL was delayed for […]