And I did.  From Nakolo, we can see whales while standing on the road.  Granted they are far away, but the spouts and splashes are unmistakable.  I took much pleasure in watching these magnificent creatures, even though I couldn’t make out the whales themselves, just their disturbance of the water.

Until I went to ‘Eua.  After a crazy weekend I decided I needed a break and so I took the 7 minute flight to our neighboring island visible from my village.  It was great to see friends and explore this new island.  In addition I spent some time at the Hideaway, a guest house near the capital.  They have a lookout platform at the edge of the water and the reef is about 40 m. from there.  Just beyond the reef is a huge drop off.  Well I don’t know how deep it really is, but it is deep enough for whales to swim there.  We saw many whales, some as close as 50 m. away!  It was amazing, or faka-awesome as I like to say.

I saw many whales, but the highlight for me was a large adult jumping almost fully out of the water.  Wow.

Now I am content as I have seen whales so this latest one was a special treat.  I was at the beach with my youth group and everyone started looking at the sea, pointing or running to see.  I followed suit and ran to see a whale casually swimming just past the reef. Wow they can be close to our beach too!  This has been a wonderful experience, and I haven’t even left land.