The Grand Chief of Papua New Guinea, Rt. Hon. Sir Michael Somare visited Vava'u over the weekend, hoping for a chance to swim with the whales, but no luck this time.

"There were no whales", said Sir Michael. "But I will be back next year!"

He told a Press Conference in Nuku'alofa this morning that when he visited Vava'u during the Retreat of the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in October he noticed a billboard advertising swimming with the whales. He told his wife about it and he wanted to do it himself.

Sir Michael and Lady Veronica Somare arrived in Tonga on Saturday December 29 and headed for Vava'u where they discovered that the whales visit every October.

In Nuku'alofa this week the Somares were guests of honour at a New Year's Eve party hosted by the Princess Regent, Princess Pilolevu Tuita.

Sir Michael, the former chairman of the Pacific Islands Forum spent some time with the Tongan Prime Minister Dr Feleti Sevele, the current chairman, to discuss a few Forum issues, such as RAMSI, climate change and a labour mobility scheme for Australia.

When Sir Michael and Dr Sevele were asked if the Forum had to expel Forum members whose leaders came to power after staging a coup de'etat, Dr Sevele said that under the existing principal of the Forum, "we will never expel anyone, it is better for them to be here (in the Forum)."

Sir Michael said he believed that, "sometimes the West interprets what we are trying to do as against the principal of western democracy, but we have a better record [with democratic reform] than some of the countries in South America and others. When they have coup, people die and life is disrupted.

"Thousands of Australians are going to Fiji for holidays, even though there is a military government. And you say there is a disarray and disorder on the islands? We are humanist, we are hospitable people," he said.

Sir Michael Somare has been generous to Tonga. In October he donated $116,000 toward the political reform that is currently underway, and yesterday at the island of 'Atata he donated $20,000 toward a Children's Conference Centre on the island.

The Somares leave Tonga on December 4.