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Tonga September 2008
By Jovin Lim on 10 October 2008 - comments
Whales are memorable
My heart skipped a beat as I watched in awed when the 40-tonne mother humpback whale breaches her entire gigantic body out of the water within point-blank range from our boat. The sound of her landing back onto the surface was amazingly powerful, the splash huge. Together with Natalia and Jake, I was sitting on the bow of the boat, some on the top deck while others still in the waters, we were all caught by surprise and were screaming in excitement but none of us has our cameras ready for this magical moment of life’s greatest wildlife encounters. That captivating display was the finale for my whale watching experience in Vava’u group of islands in Tonga and I took home with me many cherished and unforgettable memories.
Southern hemisphere humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a baleen whale and a rorqual whale that sings amazing songs. An adult female humpback whale can grow up to 16 meters in length and weigh as much as 45 tonnes. Adult males are slightly smaller. A humpback whale calf at birth is around 3 meters in length and weighs around one tonne. The humpback has a bulky head with bumpy protuberances (tubercles), each with a bristle. Humpbacks are acrobats of the ocean, breaching and slapping the water. They live in pods and have 2 blowholes. The name humpback describes the motion it makes as it arches its back out of the water in preparation for a dive. It spends around eight months of each year in Antarctica, feeding on krill, small prawn like critters, and shoals of herrings. The South Pacific kingdom of Tonga is one of the only places on the planet where tourists can swim with humpback whales. From July to September each year, the humpbacks migrate to Tonga to mate and calve in the island-nation’s warm, sheltered waters. Boisterous courtship displays and mating occur during these months … it’s an exciting time to be observing the whales of Tonga.
Hellopes - Penzance
By Mark Milburn on 10 October 2008 - comments
Redeemer had a charter for the weekend out of Penzance, he had headed down there during Friday daytime to be able to get out early on Saturday. If we wanted to do our normal Friday evening dive it would have to be out of Penzance, and if we were diving out of Penzance we would have to dive the Hellopes.
The Hellopes was a 97m long steamship carrying a cargo of coal, it sank on 21/12/1911 on its last voyage before being scrapped. It had been in a collision a short time before and deemed not to be worth keeping afloat. With its last cargo on board it headed for Falmouth to be scrapped, but it started sinking off Lands End after its cargo shifted in strong winds, eventually going under in Mounts Bay. The 2774 ton ship ended up on the sea bed at a depth of around 36m on low water. That was the state of tide when we were going to dive it.
Isle of Erin - Shipwreck Research Information
By on 10 October 2008 - comments
Shipwreck Research Information
Stamped beside her entry in Lloyd’s register of 1908/9 are the words “Missing since 10, 08.”
The following reports appeared in the Shipping gazette and Lloyd’s list weekly summary and Lloyd’s list:-
ISLE OF ERIN. – Kirkwall, Oct. 27, 3.15 p.m.
Reported here from North Ronaldshay that a barque passed near the lighthouse on Monday night with heavy list, yardarms near the water; also a broken boat drove ashore with name Isle of Erin.
