Nuku’alofa, Tongatapu, Tonga
Yesterday, a guest from her perch in the library on the starboard side asked, “When will we see the morning whale?” It was a reasonable question, since we have seen whales daily. This morning the answer came just after 0700 when two humpback whales blew, off to starboard. They were in shallow water and we were headed for Tongatapu and other “blows.” I had thought that “blows” might dominate our day but a new theme emerged at recap.
After landing at Nuku’alofa, we boarded vans for a ride to the west side of Tongatapu where the heavier surf created ‘blows’ of a different nature. There we watched as the swell crashed against the shoreline creating columns of water that splashed spectacularly on the elevated limestone shoreline. The pools created by these blows were edged with travertine. Its creation perplexed us.
On the return trip from the western shore, we stopped to view trees full of fruit bats. These large mammals, roosting in a yard full of casuarinas trees, were hanging from their hinds legs with their wings wrapped around their bodies. Here they roosted waiting for the night so they could forage over the island for food. We used all of our photographic skills including taking pictures through our telescopes to view their habitat and behavior.
After setting sail, we anticipated finding sperm whales in the deep waters west of Tonga, but we were unsuccessful. This lack of success may have contributed to the recap when we focused on some unanswered questions. For example, why does a coconut palm create a branched trunk, a truly exceptional occurrence? Or why could we find no male papaya trees? Or how do you tell a male coconut from a female when it has germinated? As Roger Payne asserts, “an observant local always…always knows more than a visiting scientist” although naturalists and guests did not lack for hypotheses. These and other questions were posed during this recap. Indeed, an expedition is as much about unanswered questions as it is about those that can be answered. Wasn’t it Einstein who said that there is far more that we don’t know than what we do know?
So while there were blows before breakfast and blows in the limestone and missed blows of sperm whales, we did inquire into the nature of things and had an extraordinary day. There is no better rationale for traveling than to seek answers even if they are not easily forthcoming, there is much joy in the quest.
Yesterday, a guest from her perch in the library on the starboard side asked, “When will we see the morning whale?” It was a reasonable question, since we have seen whales daily. This morning the answer came just after 0700 when two humpback whales blew, off to starboard. They were in shallow water and we were headed for Tongatapu and other “blows.” I had thought that “blows” might dominate our day but a new theme emerged at recap.
After landing at Nuku’alofa, we boarded vans for a ride to the west side of Tongatapu where the heavier surf created ‘blows’ of a different nature. There we watched as the swell crashed against the shoreline creating columns of water that splashed spectacularly on the elevated limestone shoreline. The pools created by these blows were edged with travertine. Its creation perplexed us.
On the return trip from the western shore, we stopped to view trees full of fruit bats. These large mammals, roosting in a yard full of casuarinas trees, were hanging from their hinds legs with their wings wrapped around their bodies. Here they roosted waiting for the night so they could forage over the island for food. We used all of our photographic skills including taking pictures through our telescopes to view their habitat and behavior.
After setting sail, we anticipated finding sperm whales in the deep waters west of Tonga, but we were unsuccessful. This lack of success may have contributed to the recap when we focused on some unanswered questions. For example, why does a coconut palm create a branched trunk, a truly exceptional occurrence? Or why could we find no male papaya trees? Or how do you tell a male coconut from a female when it has germinated? As Roger Payne asserts, “an observant local always…always knows more than a visiting scientist” although naturalists and guests did not lack for hypotheses. These and other questions were posed during this recap. Indeed, an expedition is as much about unanswered questions as it is about those that can be answered. Wasn’t it Einstein who said that there is far more that we don’t know than what we do know?
So while there were blows before breakfast and blows in the limestone and missed blows of sperm whales, we did inquire into the nature of things and had an extraordinary day. There is no better rationale for traveling than to seek answers even if they are not easily forthcoming, there is much joy in the quest.
