TPOL has been accused of being frugal. I am guilty as charged. Frugality comes at a cost. Here, I wasted time in the immigration line and on an airport bench instead of the lovely Fiji Airways Business Class Lounge (see Fiji Airways Lounge Nadi: Inside & Out). Here’s what happened: I had one night at the Sheraton Fiji before my island hopping of the South Pacific. Not realizing that I would be lavished with bottle after bottle of champagne at the hotel (see We Appreciate Your Loyalty!), I bought two bottles of mid-priced Sauvignon Blanc at the duty-free. I took said bottles to Tonga and did not drink them there. I figured since they made it that far I should take them to Samoa with me. That meant I had to check my bag in Tonga, reclaim it in Fiji, and then check it in again. I immediately regretted this decision when I landed and encountered the longest, slowest immigration queue. If I had no checked luggage, I could have proceeded through the faster transfer line. After over an hour of waiting, I finally cleared customs and retrieved my luggage. Since my flight to Samoa was not departing until 11:55AM and I had arrived at 6:15AM, I could not check-in for my next flight. While the aforementioned business class lounge is great, Fiji Airport is not. There is nowhere to sit and nothing to do.
Where to Stay
There are no points properties in Tonga. I picked a hotel because it had great reviews for pizza. The name of the establishment was Little Italy.
While $129/night is a bit steep, the service was awesome. They provided the contact information for the whale swimming (see 
Here’s how it looks in calm conditions:
The Swimmers
I didn’t expect that music would be blasting and that there would be a small party here. 
The Divers
There were crazy locals jumping, diving, and hanging off of the rocks.
The Gimp
The crazy jumpers thought that out of fear was the reason I was hesitant to jump. They did not know that I had ruptured my Achilles in 2022 (see 
The Beach
Before heading out, I took a stroll on the remote beach.
The Earthquake
On the way back, we heard there was an earthquake on the other side of the island. Like a scene from Baywatch, it would not be fun to be stuck in a cave waiting for Mitch to arrive.
A Millonaire’s Yacht
Before setting off in search of whales, we were informed that we would have to make a stop at a mega yacht to pick up a few more passengers. Nothing says disposable income like a mega yacht. I asked the owner how much it costs to have a yacht such as that. He said the price of a car. He did not elaborate. I assume he didn’t mean a Toyota Yaris. 
Safety Instructions
All aboard, we were told to pay attention to the safety briefing. We were told to avoid contact with the whales. In the past, curious whales approached swimmers and did not practice social distancing. If, for some reason, the whale came too close, we were told to get away as quickly as possible. We were also told to wave our hands in the air should we have a panic attack in the open sea.
Procedure for Swimming
The swims would go as follows: the spotter would yell “whale starboard” or “whale port.” The group would then jump into the water and follow the guide while trying not to splash.
Whale Fact
Do you know that whales can hold their breath for one hour underwater? Their calves cannot and must come up every five minutes. Keep that in mind for later.
Whale Season
Whale season begins in July and ends on October 31st. I was there on October 27th. I was also told that since it was so late in the whale season that most outfitters had closed up shop for the year. Those guides typically only go out a few miles from shore to spot whales, finding it cost-inefficient to spend money on fuel to venture further. In addition to the legal disclaimer, I was also informed that it was not guaranteed that we would see whales. This reminded me of the great white shark experience in
Group 2 Ready! (Again)
The whales were spotted again and once again we were told to get ready. I jumped in the water. It was shockingly ice cold. I began to follow my guide. The other members of group 2 were hastily doing the same. I was kicked in the head by a flipper and was struggling to keep up with the guide. I was out of breath and exhausted. Meanwhile, waves were crashing down on top of me filling my snorkel with water. It was at that moment I came close to removing my snorkel, coming to the surf, and waving my hands in desperation. It was at that moment that it dawned on me that I was in the middle of the freezing cold ocean with relentless unyielding waves attacking me from all angles. And it was at that moment that I questioned why none of us were wearing life jackets. Instead of continuing to hyperventilate through my snorkel, I removed it from my mouth, reminded myself that I knew how to swim, and ignored how out of control this situation was.
The Adventure Continues
We went out a few more times after that. Each time the waves seemed bigger and bigger and the danger ever more clear and present. Within that chaos, I found calm, focusing only on getting more quality time with the humpbacks.
Time to Head Back
We were supposed to take one more swim with the whales but the guide said the water was too rough. You can imagine how bad it must be if, in my opinion, the waters were already treacherous. I asked the guide how far out we went. She said 30 miles.
Videos
Our guide had a GoPro and captured videos of the adventure. I also purchased videos that she had taken in what I presume were more calm times.
Versus my swim:
Overall
When I wrote, 
