Dolphins and Whales :o)

Looking cool.
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Jes:

Our travels from the grey place took us on to Hamner Springs where Al had a fantastic time (hopefully he will wright about this) then on to Kaikoura where there was two things that we really wanted to do: No1 was Swim with Dolphins and No 2 was see some whales. I had phoned in advance and couldn't get to swim untill the 28th (chris's b'day), we had a day spare inbetween, so we went to the Whale shop the day before and booked onto a tour.  All of the tours for that day had been cancelled so our fingers were crossed for the next day being ok. We got up at 6 and had to be ready at 7.15 fo the boat to leave at 7.45. All was running smoothly apart from the 'Moderate' warning when we checked in! I'm glad i took my Kaikoura Crackers with breckie!(travel sickness tablets!)

there was a bunch of adults all sounding like Dorie (from finding nemo) speaking whale

Flippin'
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Onboard the boat and we had a fantastic guide who told us loads about sperm whales (non of which i can remember now tho!) and after a 45 min boat ride over the canyon (there is a HUGE underwater Canyon near the shore in Kaikoura, thats why the whales are there). we stoped and all got to the correct side of the boat ready to see the huge creature, however you could only see the slither of his back and Al decided to go snappy happy and takes loads of pictures of slithers of black in the water! However the whales dive after 5-15mins of surfacing and when they do they flick their tail up in the water! so it was worth it. We got some good whale tail pictures! They say on their sign that they give 70% of your money back if you dont see any whales, however we were very lucky and saw three! It was a good boat ride and intresting to see them in the wild.

Mummy and pup
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The next day was my turn to get cold and Al turn to take some more of his fantastic photos! Up early again and back to town to the dolphin Encounter office where we were told that the see was 'moderate' (thats ok with some more pills!) and that i was to get wet suited up (wet suit, flippers, snorkle and a gimp mask!) and off to the boat we go.

Once on the boat the ride was really nice as we were allowed to sit outside on the back where it is a little less bumpy. After 30mins we found the pod of dolphins and were allowed to jump in. Well when i say a pod of dolphins there was more like 300?  I jumped in and OMG it was FREEZING, well 15oc to be correct, but on a day where the air temp is 20ish, thats pretty cold! When in the water we were told to make funny noises to attact the dolphins, so there was a bunch of adults all sounding like Dorie (from finding nemo) speaking whale! The water was a little merky, but all of a sudden there would be this grey creature underneith you, who wants to come over and play! WOW, it was truely amazing swimming around in circles with dolphins. At one point i remember that there was about 10 that swam one after another underneith me! it was really cool, but a little scary. Out in the ocean with wild dolphins swimming around you! But the experience was absolutly amazing.

swimming next to the boat
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Once out of the water and into walm clothes we were allowed to takes some photos of the dolphins. Al was already on this task as he had not been in the water, but it was brilliant to stand and watch the dolphins play and do acrobatics in front of you! After a hot cocolate and a bickie we were headded back to shore and the 4hrs were up! :o(

After this amount of wildlife we thought we would go in search of some more. We headded around the perninsular where there was a nice walking track, however we decided that we would walk the shore line first. All of a sudden i grabed Al by the arm as we were walking into Seal waters! OMG they were right in front of my Noise! so we nicely stepped around them, untill we navigated around a rock and OMG there was one sitting on top of it! How did he get there? There didn't seem to be a way to get around without hitting seal, so we headded up the banks of the hill and strait into an Albatros nest, where he decided he didn't like us and would swoop at our heads!

thats me with a dolphin in front of me :o)
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So after that encounter it was time to head up further towards the North Island, but one stop before hand - Able Tasman (yes he was Dutch!) bay!