Where in the world can you get a handwritten personalised boarding pass? Join me today for a three-day business trip to EUA, flying ‘Real Tonga’ airlines, on their eight-seater plane. The flight takes 7 minutes!
My personalised boarding pass
Great view! 
Eua coastline 
One of the Humpbacks seen from the plane
EUA is the most southern island of Tonga and is located closest to the Tonga Trench, a 7km deep sea ‘highway’ which the Humpback whales (the most playful of all) use for their annual birthing migration. Whale-watching and swimming with whales are relatively new activities here. Great care is taken not to interfere with these whales which can grow up to 20 metres lenght and 40 tons in size. Sightings are plentiful during the July to November annual migration period. I spotted several whales from my seat in the aeroplane, saw many of them playing in the water from the seashore, and I hope to go and swim with them one day!
One of my jobs was to update the Eua tourism brochure. My workplace happened to have a direct outlook to the sea where several Humpbacks could be seen enjoying themselves and leaping (partly) out of the water just to be crashing back into it and sending huge sprays of white water into the air! What a show!
Updating the Eua tourism brochure 
My view from the office
Here is our local team – visiting one of the resorts on Eua.
Our Eua Team
Life on EUA is no rush! People have time. Everybody knows everyone among the 5,000 inhabitants. The island has very fertile soil, it has its own rainforest and is blessed with many other natural treasures. Life is basic but good here; some would call it ‘still in order’!
Fishermen going out to catch fish normally don’t have to worry about undersized fish. Check out the size of the ‘Kingys’!
There is only one main road and cars don’t travel more than 40km/h. And there appear to be some different safety rules! (This reminds me that I still need to enquire about who has the right-of way: The cars or the pigs!)
School bus Eua-style 
Who’s got right of way?
For lunch we headed to one of the local restaurants. Anyone for a Ken Tucky [‘Ken Tooky’] chicken with chips? Price: NZ$ 4.50! Too cheap – we told them.
The Ken Tucky menu 
Pretty restaurant setting
Tonga produces one of the world’s finest Vanilla Beans. It has become a lucrative industry here in Eua with farmers fetching NZ$120 per kilo of green beans. Here is a picture of the EUA centralised drying and processing facility:
Drying Vanilla bean 
And people are so generous! At the end of our Business Mentoring session a local wood carver wanted me to have one of his beautiful hand-crafted whale-tails. Something to treasure and also a reminder that I’ll still need to book my whale swim!
Enjoying your and Sabine’s informative stories.
Hope the Island can retain its ‘naturalism’ if future tourism takes off.
Those whales are a treasure!
GB
M
Wow Rolf,
It looks beautiful. You are getting to see so many interesting things. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Thanks Lofi for sharing these impressions. So amazing and different and beautiful. And mmmmh, I love vanilla! Now I know where the best comes from!
So interesting to read about what you two are doing. Hope you are starting to feel settled now.
Hi Papi,
It is so cool that you got to see Humpback Whales!
I’m sure you will be able to swim with them one day!
Enjoying your blog. Missed you at the run last week.
Cheers
Broady