359328 5 Location 467032 <p>Paihia in the Bay of Island is one of the warmest places in New Zealand and known as the "winterless north" by the locals. Becuase of its warm climate it is abundant in marine life such as dolphins, whales and birds.&nbsp; We chose to cruise with <a href="/go?l=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dolphincruises.co.nz&tracking=external" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kings Dolphin Cruises and Eco Tours</a><a href="/go?l=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dolphincruises.co.nz&tracking=external" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> follwoing a number of recomendations from locals. The government of New Zealand control the access to the marine reserves throughout the country and you need to ensure you are cruising with a reputable boat company. </p><p>We set off just after 9am in search of our first pod of dolphins. Our skipper told us all to keep a look out while he contacted local fishermen in the area for any sightings. The boat cruise began with a visit to the strange looking black rocks just outside the main harbour. The rocks are made of volcanic rock and looked very strange. Just as were leaving our first dolphin sighting was called in by another boat and so the skipper gunned the engines and we were off! </p><p>We soon found ourselves in the middle of what appeared to be a seas of jumping dolphins! they were literally everywhere! 50-10 dolphins according to the crew. Unfortunately due to the sear numbers we were unable to swim with them, however we were more than happy to watch them circling the boat and jumping in all directions. </p><p>After about 20 minutes they began to disperse and we moved on an area named Cape Brett and on the formiderble looking "hole in the rock". Carved over millions of years a huge hole has been erroded in the the rock, big enough to sail our large catamaran through!</p><p>Just as we had cruised around the rock we recieved another call of "dolphins" and so we were off in the hope this time we would be able to actually get in and swim! </p><p>As we approached we could see several dolphins performing thier airial acrobatics. The skipper informed us that we would be able to swim and so we donned our masks and snorkels and made ready for an experience of a lifetime. (the boat hand wetsuits but we didn't need them).&nbsp; The kings&nbsp; boat has a unique&nbsp; boom net that hangs over the side of the boat. This enabled us to appraoch the dolphins in a more relaxed way and not scare them off with 20 people jumping into the water! It also gave a those who were not strong swimmers the chance to expeience the dolphins close up with complete safety, great idea guys!.</p> 2007-04-21T14:37:35-07:00 970981384 2007-04-06T17:00:00-07:00 0 -9223372036854775790 169603 4347598 359328 0 0.117193188579628 2007-04-05T17:00:00-07:00 Published 50.0 2007-04-21T14:37:52-07:00 87407 0