Humpback Whales filmed in Vava’u in 2018 feature in a new TV Series ‘Secrets of the Whales [2]’ currently airing on Disney+.

The four part TV series was filmed by award winning National Geographic explorer and photographer Brian Skerry, produced by James Cameron (Titanic, Avatar), and narrated by actress Sigourney Weaver.

The aim of the project was to capture and understand the behaviour of different types of whales, filmed in 24 locations around the world, including Tonga.

Five whale species feature in the series including orcas, humpbacks, belugas, narwhals, and sperm whales.

‘Secrets of the Whales’ is also a new book and appears as a cover story on the National Geographic magazine’s May edition.

Filming in Tonga

The filming in Tonga was carried out with the help of Alistair Coldrick and Ali Takau from Dolphin Pacific Diving in Vava’u.

Alistair said only two people were on this project, Brian Skerry and his assistant.

They filmed in Tonga at the end of July 2018 for two weeks, and again at the end of September 2018 for two weeks.

“We also worked along side six-time Australian Professional Nature photographer of the year, Darren Jew,” he added.

World class Tongan skipper

Meanwhile, Alistair highlighted Ali’s role in the project.

“My skipper on this shoot was Ali, who lives in Vava’u. We have worked together for 16 years and he is regarded as one of the best skippers around whales in the whole world,” he said.

“He has even gone to Norway to work with Orca’s because clients have wanted his expertise and skills.”

Alistair said some Tongan skippers are absolutely world class in this industry and have more experience with whales than most people in the world. 

This is not the first time they have worked on filming projects, having done a number of major projects for the BBC, GoPro, IMAX, and Virtual Reality companies.