tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38744001651778085702012-01-27T20:03:43.344-08:00Swimming with whales, exploring the stunning underwater world, beachlife and a rich culture - living in Ha'apai in the Kingdom of Tonga is full of adventures.Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.comBlogger351100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-49903127856862079062012-01-02T00:04:00.000-08:002012-01-20T20:22:32.221-08:00

A brief introduction to our dive sits in the Northern Ha’apai group of Islands, Kingdom of Tonga by Brian Heagney of Fins ‘n’ Flukes Ltd, Pangai, Ha’apai. Please note that this is a work in progress. Existing descriptions will be expanded upon and newly discovered sites added as as when appropriate. With several years of experience totaling over 1000 dives in Ha’apai I have seen many of the

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-40466927344583699812011-10-27T03:00:00.000-07:002011-10-27T03:00:11.687-07:00

After discovering the anchor of the Port au Prince English Privateer ship of war back in 2009 we were very excited to learn of the prospect that a featuredocumentary/drama may once again bring the amazing story of the ship and her doomed crew back to life in the modern age. Rebekah (Bex) Kelly contacted us a couple of weeks ago expressing an interest in what we may know about one of the most

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-21553230271809067512011-10-08T23:40:00.000-07:002011-12-01T05:15:10.549-08:00

After sporadic initial sightings of Manta Rays at a specific locale in Ha'apai we have been investigating the area periodically to establish a schedule for these animals. When are they here, is it the moon, is it the tide, is it random etc etc....? Our understanding of this fantastic Ha'apai attraction will surely evolve. We have found that thie secret location is being used by Manta Rays for

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-46280784598486849032011-07-14T02:23:00.000-07:002011-07-14T02:23:06.996-07:00

We spent one and a half hours with a female Humpback that spent pretty much all of the time standing on her head with her flukes completely out of the water. It was amazing and happened when we were only on a diving trip! The pictures say it all really! Enjoy.

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-81724003624511344412011-07-12T00:28:00.000-07:002011-07-12T10:52:19.723-07:00

Although we have already spent a number of days with the whales this season, today offered the first occassion when they allowed us to swim with them. It was great to be back in the water with such an amazing creature. We grabbed a few shots for your pleasure. Lunch was on the deserted island of Luangahu - mmm, mmm, mmm. Asleep when we arrived Wakey, wakey, rise and shine. Full Frame

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-83043067577095837592011-07-01T19:17:00.000-07:002011-07-01T19:19:25.847-07:00

This week we went out on our first whale watching trip of the season. Honestly, we didn't expect much since it is still so very early, but sometimes low expectations seem to be the trigger for big events. We encountered a total of 8 whales today, among them two very playful subadult males that kept tailslapping, spyhopping and teasing our boat Malolo to come closer. After them we found another

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-81219398382070620902011-06-28T02:11:00.000-07:002011-06-28T12:00:48.545-07:00

Please click below to sign our petition trying to save endangered sea turtles when the visit the Kingdom of Tonga. Grant Royal Protection for Sea Turtles in Tonga. A dead, drowned, entangled green sea turtle - such a shameful image. Thank you for your support. var Care2P_Parameters=["http://www.thepetitionsite.com/xml/petitions/367/979/558/feed.rss", "small", "single", "357285774", "0", "

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-69255294472283397022011-06-14T01:42:00.000-07:002011-06-16T12:44:34.268-07:00

Fins 'n' Flukes Ltd entered into corporate existence in 2008 with Brian, Sabine and Malolo (our little boat). Since then we only managed to expand our business with the addition of Micky. At only 21ft long and in the traditional Tongan design Malolo proved herself to be a true work horse throughout the subsequent years of our small business. Noted that she was a little souped up with

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-39230458026272902872011-04-29T02:12:00.000-07:002011-04-29T17:43:31.441-07:00

This is the revised version after Thomas pointed out I have the very first calculation (and the easiest one), for the volume of the concrete block,  incorrect. You you know why I need help. Here goes again, can someone check the math on this. I want to lift a concrete block from 15ft deep. (4.57m) The block measures 60cm x 60cm x 30cm or 0.108 cubic meters. Equivalent to a displacement of 3.8

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-25683234512782607762011-04-09T23:05:00.000-07:002011-04-27T22:07:24.468-07:00

The Port au Prince was an English private ship of war, a vessel of 500 tons armed with 24 long nine and twelve pound guns as well as 8 twelve pound carronades on the quarter deck. She carried a “letter of marque” and this document permitted her Captain and crew to become pirates against the enemies of England, primarily France and Spain.  In payment for their pirate raids any plunder they seized

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-66094484739125054012011-04-08T21:36:00.000-07:002011-04-08T21:36:43.788-07:00

After our nice long holiday in Europe (another Irish wedding) we returned to Ha'apai three weeks ago. Apart from the garden having grown into what resembled a nature reserve and minor pig damage due to the shed that used to be part of our fence having collapsed during cyclone Wilma, everything was just fine. Neither Wilma nor the mini tsunami generated by the big earthquake in Japan had done any

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-67949665499814100192011-02-22T09:09:00.001-08:002011-02-22T09:09:57.800-08:00

A common question is; “Whats the difference between whale watching in Ha’apai and Vava’u?” Hundreds of Whales stop at Ha’apai each year between July and October and as Ha’apai is further South geographically many whales wishing to travel to Vava’u have to pass through Ha’apai first anyway. Being further South the sea is slightly cooler in Ha’apai and the whales like this. Ha’apai has fewer

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-39483986001629246672011-02-18T09:36:00.000-08:002011-02-18T09:36:42.585-08:00

Good news for whale lovers and environmentalists: Japans Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has called the whaling fleet back from Antarctic - one month before the end of the hunting season and with the whalers having taken less than 10% of their quota! Read the full story on the websites of WDCS: http://www.wdcs.org/story_details.php?select=739 and Sea Shepherd: http://

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-5897417741147899422010-12-21T21:31:00.000-08:002010-12-21T21:31:02.869-08:00

Squeezing in another short post before Christmas about our lately discovered dive site "The Raptures". It boasts fantastic hard coral cover lots of fish life and steep drop-offs into the deep blue (possibly around 70 meters) where bigger fish like hanging around - even a Great Hammerhead Shark, like you can see in the video. Enjoy! The Raptures - Diving in Tonga from finsnflukes on Vimeo. And

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-5315439641688663922010-12-19T21:17:00.000-08:002010-12-19T21:17:54.915-08:00

You would think that after living in Tonga for almost 4 years, there is nothing that can surprise me anymore. Then again, a volunteer from Samoa said to us the other day, any sentence you want to begin with "You would think that ..." when you live in this part of the world, you can forget about straight away. He was right. A few weeks ago we had to get our annual health check done and while I

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-12342821129131767572010-11-13T15:12:00.000-08:002010-11-13T15:42:04.702-08:00

I've postponed this post as long as I could, but now there's no denying anymore: another season with the whales has come to an end. Our last trips were still quite successful with very nice swimming encounters, but we could definitely feel the whales had itchy feet (or flukes) and were preparing for their long journey (about 4,500 miles) to Antarctica. Nevertheless, a few late departees are still

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-37239661649183569232010-09-13T00:18:00.000-07:002010-09-13T00:18:57.792-07:00

It was a rough start to the week, but we had a great encounter with 6 Humpbacks today. 4 amorous males chasing after a mother and calf. A few close passes by the boat made everyone hold their breaths plus we got covered in whale snot - can't get any closer than that! Another surprise moment was when a baby Hammerhead Shark cruised past the boat on the surface. We were wondering where mum was,

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-18102376994678375382010-09-09T20:37:00.000-07:002010-09-09T20:43:18.076-07:00

Despite some rough weather over the last few days we got to do some awesome diving thanks to our intrepid guests from Japan, Australia and Scotland. The visibility was suprisingly good (was not really expected with the windstrength of 25 knots) and we got to enjoy the pristine coral gardens of Atlantis and the Garden Wall as well as the historical dive site of the anchor of the Port au Prince. We

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-77771545968244076732010-09-07T20:51:00.000-07:002010-09-09T20:40:23.751-07:00

The last two weeks have been magic with the whales and we also got some surprise visitors. We were cruising in search of whales when two of us suddenly saw some splashing and a little fin being lifted out of the water. We got excited because we thought it was a Humpback calf playing on the surface. But after the next few splashes it became clear that it was too small even for a baby whale. Our

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-24098872201016418852010-08-21T16:18:00.000-07:002010-08-21T16:18:32.716-07:00

That could well have been the motto of the last couple of weeks - our encounters with animals in the water were just incredible. The whale season started off really well and it is great for us to see the positive development of the Humpback population in Ha'apai itself and also the calves' progress over the weeks. We witnessed a few training sessions with mothers demonstrating breaches,

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-42615347905806066362010-06-15T01:34:00.000-07:002010-06-15T01:34:22.155-07:00

It's been a while since our last blog and there's much to tell. Brian and me enjoyed a well earned holiday in Europe and visited our family and friends in Germany and Ireland. I attended a real Irish wedding for the first time and boy was it even more fun than I had thought: lots of dancing, drinking and laughing. And meeting all the 28 cousins and eating 9 different potato dishes! Okay, that's

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-39881142310437324772010-04-22T08:12:00.000-07:002010-04-22T08:12:43.411-07:00

Our friends Erika and Jerry with his daughter Aoife returned to Tonga earlier this month and besides a few other nice places we took them out to newly discovered Blake´s Reef. Apart from the spectacular coral gardens we were spoiled with the visits of a huge school of Great Barracuda (now I know where they got their name from) and around sixty Midnight Snappers seemed to want to guide us on our

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-81731541346515297042010-03-10T17:30:00.000-08:002010-03-10T17:30:04.321-08:00

The still rising temperatures and our friend Grant´s desire to go diving led us to the decision to pack the boat with dive gear, tents and sausages and head out to a deserted island called Nukupule, around 10 nautical miles from here. The weather was perfectly sunny and calm and so me and Brian, Alyssa and Grant and our two dogs got on the way. The first stop was made close to Lifuka Island to

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-35753268018928330172010-02-24T19:26:00.000-08:002010-02-24T19:32:30.398-08:00

Where to go if you live on a tropical island and need a break? A different island! Not many other options here, so that´s what we did and spent the last weekend on the neighbouring island Uoleva. It has approximately 6 permanend inhabitants (if you don´t count the pigs), who are the owners of the three resorts down there. We stayed at Diana´s Resort, a lovely little place with basic beach huts on

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-29962598852727437702010-02-16T00:35:00.000-08:002010-02-16T01:12:25.855-08:00

That´s where we were around 30 hours ago. Tropical cyclone Rene hit Tonga and the Ha'apai Islands around midnight local time on Sunday night. Thankfully we had enough preparation time, so we took our boat Malolo out of the water, packed basically the entire office into boxes and locked ourselves including dog and cat in our apartment. It all started with slightly stronger winds than we normally

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-80718099964300132412010-02-11T14:53:00.000-08:002010-02-16T00:55:43.188-08:00

So we say in German. It may not be entirely correct this time (although we really have started a vegetable garden), but we do have a casualty to mourn. Brian´s centipede Molly found an untimely death only one day after she had moved into her display box together with geckos and cockroaches meant to be food. The next morning we found everything dead in the box - apart from the cockroaches. Me as a

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-7976682416090191642010-01-29T18:33:00.000-08:002010-01-29T18:33:50.689-08:00

Well, we´re not exactly living the fancy life in Ha'apai anyway, but now we might really have to start living on yam and dogs. (I apologize for digressing a little bit here:) Yes, they eat dogs here; and cats. We already lost two dogs and one cat to the Tongan cooking pots and even Micky is regularly eyed by the locals who openly tell me that she looks ready to eat. The cats (in Tongan very

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-20124615745068796642010-01-27T23:25:00.000-08:002010-01-27T23:25:52.350-08:00

My heart was in my mouth this afternoon as I watched the Pulapaki Ferry towing the stricken Punalei fuel tanker into the Pangai Harbour. The tanker has no control due to a damaged prop shaft which happened on her way back from Fiji after refilling. I do not know how many thousands of liters of fuel the tanker can hold but she was fully loaded and this was really a disater just waiting to happen.

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-71491641897514078512010-01-23T17:02:00.000-08:002010-01-23T19:27:04.460-08:00

Until yesterday we only had one animal companion to look after, our one year old dog Micky. Now we have a new family member: the much feared Tongan "Molokau". It is a brownish-black centipede, about 15 cm long, with nasty looking pincers and lots of fast little legs. Last year I got bitten by one while sleeping - it had crawled inside our moskito net and I woke up to a stinging pain in my knee

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-64778916301856248922010-01-23T03:22:00.000-08:002010-01-23T03:23:58.269-08:00

Having gotten more and more familiar with our new cameras, a Nikon D80 for Brian and a Canon Powershot G10 for Sabine, we took a lot of underwater photos this past season and got some really great results. We finally got around to enter a few photo competitions, too, and are proud to say that we did make the first place three times this month: two online competitions at www.digideep.com and 

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-50272013297536661802009-06-13T15:27:00.000-07:002009-06-13T15:31:09.426-07:00

The expense of buying a storm anchor was alleviated on Atlantis last week when we found a 20Kg Danforth at 32 Meters on the wall! It took myself and Sabine 40 minutes to raise it and we even stopped to have a lengthly gaze at a sleeping Leopard Shark on the Plateau. Karmatastic.

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-68238671210341844692009-06-04T23:22:00.001-07:002009-06-04T23:27:20.140-07:00

A very close encounter with an inquisitive Giant Trevally at Unbelieveareef had Issey, conducting his advanced course, almost bang his head on the ceiling of one of the overhangs. His Aware Fish ID Dive will be remembered for a long time to come I'm sure.

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-6990950882967359832009-06-04T23:22:00.000-07:002009-06-04T23:26:47.989-07:00

A very close encounter with an inquisitive Giant Trevally at Unbelieveareef had Issey, conducting his advanced course, almost bang his head on the ceiling of one of the overhangs. His Aware Fish ID Dive will be remembered for a long time to come I'm sure.

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-1861415992604173852009-02-24T20:10:00.000-08:002009-02-24T20:13:12.534-08:00

The glass is on and it all went reasonably smoothly apart from having to dash and cover her at the end because it decided to rain a little. Painting is next, however in typical Tongan style when I checked my Yacht White marine enamel it actually contained Post Office Red instead. Wonderful, a quick swap should see it sorted soon. Primer and antifouling can go on in the meantime.

Sabine and Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01563936315869491862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3874400165177808570.post-72841733594847814052009-02-24T01:13:00.000-08:002009-02-24T01:20:07.404-08:00

Fibreglass shoulod be finished by tomorrow, thankfully. I don't know if you have ever had the misfortune to have to work with chopped strand mat and ployester resin but it is horrible stuff, especially in the heat. If you thought putting it on was bad then you should have a go at grinding it off again, itchy for several days. Anyway, to have our beautiful little boat on the water and to be able

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