An ethical – and safe – place to swim with whales

The Islands of Tahiti have long practiced the ancient conservation custom of rāhui to help preserve their maritime spaces and species, including a seasonal refuge for humpback whales.

More than 2,000km of Pacific Ocean separate the 118 islands and five archipelagos that comprise French Polynesia, and while idyllic images of overwater bungalows, palm-fringed beaches and aquamarine lagoons entice many travellers, some journey to this South Pacific paradise for an entirely different reason: to swim with humpback whales.

"I have great respect for the whales because they are part of us here in Tahiti," says Patea Alexandre, whose home island, Moorea, is a prime destination for swimming with the gentle giants. "But the ocean is not Disneyland, and being in the water with them is a privilege."

Driving whale tour boats professionally since 1998, Alexandre founded Moorea Blue Water a decade later and says his small-group excursions are usually booked by word of mouth. "The moment of eye contact is unforgettable. One minute the water is filled with nothing but light rays, then suddenly a silhouette appears from the deep blue, ascending gracefully toward you," he tells me, describing a humpback experience. "Swimming with whales is not just an adventure; it's a profound encounter that stays with you forever."

Once devastated by commercial whaling, whale populations have made a remarkable comeback. Whale-watching tourism generates more than $2bn annually worldwide, and although most whale-watching operations recognise the need to protect whales and are respectful of the animals and regulations, in some places, illegal operators compete to take tourists as close to the whales as possible. This can disrupt regular feeding and resting behaviours and cause a drop in the area's population numbers due to stress.

However, in French Polynesia all cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are protected by a public ordinance. Indigenous leaders of Tahiti, the Cook Islands and New Zealand recently signed a treaty that recognises whales as legal persons, affording them teven greater protection. For adventurous travellers, swim-with-whale tourism is a growing niche market, and French Polynesia is one of 10 or so countries in the world where it's possible to spend time in the water with these highly sentient creatures.

Tonga, Australia and the Dominican Republic also permit "free swimming" encounters with different species of migratory whales, and corresponding state and federal governing bodies manage how activities are conducted, but French Polynesia has developed some of the strictest regulations to protect its whale populations during tours. Boats must stay 100m away and swimmers 30m, with limited group sizes and capped interaction times to minimise stress on the animals during low-impact encounters.

In contrast, swimmers in the Kingdom of Tonga can approach whales up to 5m and boats up to 10m, distances many experts believe are too close for the whales' well-being and, after instances of direct contact leading to injury, the safety of the swimmers.

"Being able to offer this once-in-a-lifetime experience is exceptional, but we do so with the utmost respect for the whales and their sanctuary here," says Vaihere Lissant, chief marketing officer at Tahiti Tourisme.

French Polynesia may have set the benchmark for ethical whale-swim tourism but proposed new guidelines for 2025 aim to make encounters even more wildlife-friendly by reducing the number of swimmers per boat. The changes are welcomed by captains like Patea, who will limit his group size to four swimmers in accordance.

"The new regulations are a logical development where pressure on the whales is the strongest, but on other islands, locals have always kept their distance not out of fear but out of respect," he says.

July heralds the start of whale season in Tahiti, when humpback schools follow a more than 6,000km migratory path from Antarctica to rest, breed and rear their young in the warm tropical waters. Swim-with tours (where groups of six people per boat don masks, snorkels and flippers and slide into the ocean for passive encounters) are permitted from 1 August through 11 November. Most book with operators on Tahiti Nui and neighbouring Moorea, but Lissant shares that the island of Rurutu (also known as "whale island") in the remote Austral Archipelago, a 90-minute flight from Tahiti's capital Papeete, is considered the mecca for swim-with-whale adventures. "You'll wake up at your guest house and watch them dance in the ocean right before you during breakfast," she adds.

Famous for their haunting "song", dramatic breaches and performative tail fluke slaps, humpback whales are often considered the stars of the whale-watching world. For many, being in the presence of a 40-ton humpback and her calf underwater affords an otherworldly opportunity to witness the magnificence of nature – a humbling experience that can also help advocate for marine conservation. However, natural resource conservation and preservation have always been central to the Polynesian way of life. This harmony with nature is all part of Mana – the spiritual force connecting all living things on land and sea – a key example of which is the tradition of rāhui, which involves placing temporary "no-take" restrictions on harvesting or fishing designated areas that, in turn, allow ecosystems to regenerate.

"Rāhui is a form of sustainable community resource management," explains Dr Hervé Ra'imana Lallemant-Moe, special advisor for environmental affairs to the Government of French Polynesia. "The term means 'to gather after prohibition' and was used in pre-European Polynesian island societies across the Pacific but is still relevant today because it puts everyone in charge of safeguarding our land and marine spaces."

Adopted by the Islands of Tahiti as part of its sustainable ecotourism practices, including responsible wildlife encounters, a modern interpretation of rāhui was applied on a major scale in 1996 when French Polynesia banned industrial fishing within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) – a 1.9-million-sq-mile expanse of territory waters equivalent to the landmass of the European Union – with line fishing reserved solely for the Polynesian fishing fleet. Then, in 2002, the Islands of Tahiti created the world's largest marine mammal sanctuary: a "no-take" zone for protected marine mammals with additional legislation protecting sea turtles, rays and 21 shark species within the EEZ. Twenty-four species of whales and dolphins also call the sanctuary home, including approximately 3,200 humpback whales. This fact remained undiscovered until 1987 when groundbreaking research by marine biologist Dr Michael Poole revealed French Polynesia was a breeding ground for an unknown population of humpback whales.

"People thought they were just passing through to the Cook Islands or Tonga," he says. "But our studies of their movements, DNA and song showed the whales had been coming here and breeding since the turn of the 19th Century."

A staunch advocate for whales' protection, Poole spent a decade garnering community support and governmental action that led to the sanctuary being established. He also created three cetacean rest areas, a No-Take Marine Protected Area on Moorea and French Polynesia's first whale-watching tours in 1992.

Poole's boat-based Dolphin & Whale Watching Expeditions help support an ongoing Marine Mammal Research Programme he runs with visiting students to collect data on whale populations and behaviour. "Our photographic, acoustic and genetic databases have tracked the same whales for more than three decades on journeys from French Polynesia to Antarctica and other breeding areas in the South Pacific," he says.

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Having studied cetaceans for more than 40 years, Poole shares that one of his most moving whale encounters took place during a research trip on Moorea with his eldest son, Temoana. "We got in the water near a pod of three adult whales accompanied by a small school of rough-tooth dolphins, but after a short time, they started coming directly toward us," he explains. "As we swam back to the boat, I worried the huge size of the whales, each one equivalent in weight to six elephants, would frighten Temoana, who was five years old at the time. Instead, after asking what he thought about our time in the water with them, Temoana recalled how their brilliantly white undersides contrasted with their dark upper bodies and how their long pectoral flippers stretched out like wings as the whales glided underwater."

Encountering humpack whales in the wild with respected guides like Poole and Patea is a fantastic way to learn about these long-distance travellers and virtuosos of the deep, whose migrations are one of the longest of any mammal and whose haunting songs are some of the most complex vocalisations in the animal kingdom. Yet, it's also a great way to learn about their significance in Polynesian culture and why they return to Tahiti each austral winter. Beyond their essential role in the lifecycle of ocean ecosystems, the whales have an immemorial cultural and cosmogonic dimension, writes Hiriata Millaud, vice chief of staff at the vice presidency, in the adoption of French Polynesia's recently updated whale regulations.

"The return of these mythical beings in the waters of Te-Moana-nui-a-Hīvā, a respectful term for the Pacific Ocean, during the season of Matāri'i-i-raro signalled the entry into a time of maturity of products from land and sea, in that of wisdom and access to great knowledge. This long-awaited great journey of these giant ocean creatures is the promising omen of happiness and joy to come."

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