Swimming with Dolphins!

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After joining the Kiwi Experience bus at 7am we set off for Kaikoura, a small, beautiful coastal town where most people go for whale and dolphin watching. Swimming with dolphins was something I had only ever dreamt of, and given the opportunity to swim with totally wild dolphins was something I just had to do. So as soon as I arrived there we were put into wetsuits and boarded a boat. After half an hour the skipper spotted a pod of dolphins. The size of the dolphin pod can be between 200 and 600, and for every dolphin you can see on the surface there are another 4 underneath. Just seeing so many dolphins was an experience I would have been more than happy with, it was so amazing.

The skipper sounded a horn and we all launched ourselves into the water, which was freezing. We were told before hand that the dolphins come to people who entertain them and that we had to sing into our snorkels and spin in circles to attract them. So there we all were snorkelling and singing and spinning as much as we could. We must've looked pretty stupid to the people watching us from the boat. Anyway, it worked, one suddenly appeared, they swim so fast that I thought it was going to go straight into me, but they change direction so quickly and avoid you. They circle you, and the idea is to get eye contact with them to keep them swimming around you. I managed this with a few dolphins and one swam around me about 6 times. It was great, although I got a bit dizzy from spinning round whilst keeping eye contact with him. Soon enough they all disappear and we all get back on the boat and move on another few minutes before we are again surrounded by hundreds of dolphins. And again we're back in the water swimming with the dolphins. I can't really explain the feeling, I think it's something you have to do to appreciate it fully. It's certainly something I'll never forget.

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