In the Waters of the South Pacific, Maggie Shipstead Enters the Domain of Some of the World’s Largest Creatures and Discovers That, Sometimes, Beauty Can Conquer Fear.
a confession: I’ve always been afraid of deep water. Like most phobias, mine isn’t entirely rational. It’s not about drowning, exactly, or being eaten by a sharp-toothed creature, although that wouldn’t be ideal. It’s more about not knowing what’s below me, about darkness and emptiness and my own insignificance.
And yet there I was, floating in the open ocean, peering down through a snorkel mask into water hundreds of feet deep. Above the surface there was wind and swell, blowing spray, gray sky. In the distance were the limestone cliffs and tousled coconut palms of Vava’u, an archipelago of 61 islands within the Kingdom of Tonga, itself a collection of 176 islands scattered across approximately 260,000 square miles of the South Pacific. Beneath the surface, there was stillness, vastness, silence. There was the saturated cobalt blueness of the Tongan waters, and there was a mother humpback whale 50 feet below, resting with her calf tucked under her.
The sight was both familiar and alien. I’d seen countless humpbacks on television and IMAX screens, gazed up at life-size replicas hanging from the ceilings of natural-history museums, even caught glimpses of flukes and fins from whale-watching boats. But now I was floating above a 40-ton, 50-foot-long animal with a beating heart and a mind full of unfathomable instincts and impulses. The white edges of her pectoral fins and fluke glowed bright aqua. The rest of her was a massive charcoal shadow, suspended in space.
Nisi Tongia, a local guide who works for New Zealand–based Whale Swim Adventures, gripped my wet-suited upper arm, anchoring me against the current. We formed a loose cluster with three other swimmers—five of us in all, the maximum number legally allowed in the water so as to avoid crowding the whale. Because scuba diving with the whales is not permitted, we had only snorkels and fins.
Denne historien er fra January 2017-utgaven av Travel+Leisure.
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Denne historien er fra January 2017-utgaven av Travel+Leisure.
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Oodles of Noodles
Slurping through a lantern-lit alley in Sapporo, Japan, where miso ramen was born
The Sweet Spot
Just an hour south of Miami, Nora Walsh finds a candyland of tropical fruits ripe for picking.
Freshly Brewed
In the Cederberg Mountains of South Africa, Kendall Hunter discovers the powerful effects of the humble rooibos plant.
SHORE LEAVE
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Of Land and Sea
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FAMILY-STYLE
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HAPPY MEAL
Many tascas, the no-frills dining spots in Lisbon, have vanished. But others, Austin Bush discovers, are being lovingly reinvented.
A City Abuzz
In underappreciated Trieste, Taras Grescoe finds some of Italy's most storied-and spectacular-coffee shops.
FJORD FOCUS
Norway in December? Crazy-and crazy beautiful. Indulging a family wish, Akash Kapur discovers a world of icy enchantment.
DESTINATION OF THE YEAR Thailand
Full disclosure: I didn't like Bangkok at first. I didn't get it—the chaos, the traffic, the fact that everything was hard to find. But like all good love affairs, my relationship with Thailand—which deepened when I moved from Vietnam 12 years ago to work at Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, where I'm now editor in chief—took time to blossom.