Ferries in Tonga and other stuff

I will be in Samoa for two months this summer and plan to break my trip up a bit by coming down to Tonga, a place I have never been. My thought is to stay for two weeks.

Can you tell me the cost of a ferry from Tongatapu to Haapai and also the trip duration?

Also what is the ferry cost and time length from Tongatapu to Vavau and Haapai to Vavau?

How often do those ferries run? Every day? A couple of times a week? Once a week??

Is it possible to swim with whales in June? I'm not sure of the season.

There's been a new used ferry/barge brought in from Malaysia so the schedule/rates might not yet be finalised.

Try emailing Fins n Flukes on Ha'apai if they don't respond here in a couple days or so.

Can't help you with specifics about Tonga but the seasons are reversed depending on whether you are north or south of the equator. South of the equator June would be winter. In Fiji (south of the eq.) the winter months bring better u/w visibility. You might contact some dive resorts in Tonga for local info.

PADI's website will probably have links.

Hey there,

the new ferry from Malaysia has arrived in Tonga but currently it seems like there is no company nor crew that can operate the vessel, so it is not in action yet. Hopefully that will change soon, but so far we don´t have any info yet. The old ferries took around 8-12 hours from Tongatapu to Ha'apai and approx. 10 hours from Ha'apai to Vava'u. Costs were around T$70 each way. However, don´t rely on this info as this may change once - and if - the new ferry starts operating. At the moment I wouldn´t recommend relying on the boat, but planning your trip by plane. It´s a little more pricey, but pretty reliable and a lot quicker. Check out www.chathamspacific.com for prices and schedules.

June is a difficult month for whale watching. Last year we had the first swim of the season at the start of June, but generally your chances are best between August and October.

Guys,

Is there any update on the ferry situation since the last post by Finsnflukes (May 2010)? I am wondering if the ferry to Ha'apai from Tongatapu is (will be) operational in June-July 2011.

Thank you guys (residents and recent travelers) for this info.

Cheers!
PM

Update to my own query:

Yes, the ferries are operational- typically, every week sees one old ferry and one new ferry plying from Nukualofa to vavau via ha'apai & back. No ferries on Sunday. If the old ferry leaves Nukualofa on a Monday, say, then the new ferry would typically follow it on Tuesday and thus lag behind it by one day throughout it's journey cycle. This would give a traveller from Nukualofa, say, who relies on ferries either one day or one week on Haapai before he catches the next ferry to Vavau. All this goes awry once a month (no fixed date known) when one of the ferries goes further beyond Vavau to the Niuas. This example is too complicated & I will not elucidate further.

So, in general, if one plans to spend a week on each island group during a 4 week trip to Tonga, one can technically visit both Haapai & Vavau using ferries return to Nukualofa without any need of expensive flights. Of course, as with everything else in Tonga, the opposite is true, as well...

Thanks for that info! THats great! :) Just wondering if you could give some indication on the cost of these ferries? Cheers! :)