Whale watching and dolphin encounters

After the most awful weather yesterday, we woke up at 6.30 to the most beautiful morning with wall to wall sunshine – what a contrast! I must say New Zealand has all types of weather as well as its rivers, lakes, hills, mountains and sea. However you can almost be sure that if there is a bad weather day, then the next will be pretty good and that must be why there is the most incredible scenery here.

Our early start was to go whale watching. Izi and I were really excited about this, I had never seen a whale in the wild before and this was one of my “must dos” in NZ. Izi on the other hand had done a research project into humpback whales in Brazil so was very clued up.

The team that took us out into the Pacific Ocean that morning was very professional and after briefing us on the various types of whales and their behaviours, located a Sperm whale feeding at the bottom of the Kaikoura Canyon by listening to clicking noises.

Lying hidden just offshore, the 2km deep Kaikoura Canyon is one of the world’s great undersea wonders. Two strong sea currents converge in this enormous trench and draw vast quantities of plant and animal nutrients to the surface in a great upwelling.

This is the catalyst for a population explosion of small fish and crustaceans that in turn attract an astounding food chain of larger marine life, the most famous being the Giant Sperm Whale.

When these clicking noises stopped this meant that the whale was about to surface from the bottom of the canyon. We all waited in quiet suspense for the first spout to appear and sure enough there he came to the right of the boat.

We could see about a third of his 14 metre length above the water with his regular spouting to fill his lungs and airways with oxygen ready for the next dive.

We watched in awe for about 15 minutes before he finally dived into the depths of the Canyon again, briefly lifting his tail behind him for us to photograph. Wow what a fantastic experience!

This was the first time I had seen a whale in the wild.

The rest of this trip was given to viewing various birds, including the Albatross which has the biggest wingspan of any bird in the world and can sleep on the wing.

We also saw some Fur Seals on a rocky island and delighted in watching the antics of Dusky Seals as they leaped up in front of the boat and twisted in mid air. There were many pods of dolpins, some included calves and we were mesmerised by their activity in the water for some time, trying to photograph them but most of the time they were so quick.

Izi and I had planned to swim with them later in the day and viewing their amazing speed and activity in the water made this all the more exciting for us.

We returned from whale watching with just enough time for a bite to eat before heading to the other end of town to join the dolphin encounters. We found a nice little café en route and sat outside. Izi had fish and chips and I chose a Seafood Chowder.

The seafood along the coast here is just so fresh and tasty.

It wasn’t long before we found ourselves wet-suited, snorkelled and flippered ready for our dolphin encounter.

The sky was clear blue and the sun hot as we slipped into the cool turquoise waters of the Pacific right in front of a pod of Dusky Dolphins. We had been told to make a lot of noises to attract their attention as they love to interact and how true this was. I was paddling along with my arms at my side (dolphin style as we were told) looking downward through my goggles and started making silly noises under the water.

Before I knew it I was joined by two dolphins and we turned and turned together. They stayed with me for quite a while as I talked to them in dolphin language… they seemed to understand it anyway! It was the most incredible feeling.

The Bottle-nosed dolphins in Pahia were bigger than these and not so interested in the swimmers but these Duskies, black and white in colour were much more friendly and interactive. We had several encounters like this in different parts of the ocean before the day ended with a hot shower on board and a hot chocolate and ginger nut biscuits. What an absolutely amazing day!