Sea legs required.

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Before we left on our world tour the only thing that we had planned to definetly do in New Zealand was to swim with dolphins, so once we had settled into Christchurch we booked ourselves onto a boat trip with the dolphin encounter people at Kaikoura, we knew it would be good as other people we know had done it. It was nice to have something to look forward to after our week of job and house hunting, when we booked it it seemed ages away but like most things it crept up on us pretty quickly. We left last Sunday and took the 2 1/2 hour bus journey to Kaikoura, we arrived at about 5pm, dumped our stuff at the back packers and set off in search of the seals. There are seals at Kaikoura too!


The seal colony is at the far end of the beach in Kaikoura at Point Kean, it took us a good hour to get there on foot, fortunately being summer we were blessed with a nice long day and it remained light until gone nine. We had read that the seals were many and that they often come in as far as the car park but when we got there there seemed to be none at all apart from a token bull who was sat upon a rock posing for photo's. We decided to put our explorer hats on and set off further along the beach. We wandered for a short while before we met another couple who assured us that if we continued we would see more seals. Moments after, we spotted the slumped black spots of the seals in the distance. To get to them wasn´t easy though. First we had to navigate the rock pools where we inevitably got wet and then we were attacked by some pretty excited red beaked gulls who after a brief look round were clearly nesting and weren´t happy by our presence. We quickly found another route. For all the hazards, though it was worth it. The seals seemed a little startled at first but quickly returned to their sun bathing and relaxed demeanors, that is for all but one who I assume was a juvenile and like most youngsters was keen to show off. Moments after our arrival he slumped into the water and entertained us by swimming in and out of rock pools diving, splashing and spinning and turning. It was some spectacle and made even more impressive knowing that it was all natural and not some gimmick that he had been trained to do in a zoo. We hung around watching the seals for a while and would have stayed longer had it not been for the diminishing light and encroaching tide, besides, we had a 4.30am start in the morning so we needed to get some rest.



We arrived at the dolphin encounter office at 530 and were told that the sea condition was good but there was a moderate sea sickness warning. That sounded ok but once we got onto the sea I began to question the evalation. Moderate! I would like to see what the next level is like. As soon as we left the jetty we were on bucket alert. Maybe our lack of experience on the open sea and the fact it was rediculously early didn´t help but at least we were´nt the first to succumb. We actually managed alright for about the first hour once we had settled into all the to-ing and fro-wing.


It took us about 20 minutes or so before we spotted our first dolphins but we were enterained along the way by our informative guide and a petral bird that seemed to be hitching a ride along what I assume is called the jet stream caused from the boat engines. It was amazing to watch the bird glide so effortlessley from side to side along the waves and was also a good way to take our minds off the queesiness in our bellies. When the dolphins were spotted, no time was wasted and we quickly plunged into the freezing water from the back of the boat. Catching my first glimpse of a swimming dolphin underwater was breath taking but was also very brief as the pod had decided to change direction and we were called back aboard. Sadly for Helen the enormity of what she was doing had hit her and when she got into the water she suffered a panick attack and didn´t get to see the dolphins, for Helen swimming in open water was quite a challenge and in many ways was like facing a fear. The next time we went in the water we waited for everyone else to get in first and then took it slowly. This time, together we saw several dolphins, one of which circled us 3 or 4 times before swimming off. I can´t put into words how spectacular it was to watch such graceful and impressive creatures, time seemed to stand still for a few moments and for Helen all her fears subsided. I am reluctant to use the word awesome because I have heard it thrown around so much in our time down under but thats exactly what it was - bloody awesome!!


After that experience we thought our queesiness had been won over but once we returned to the boat so did it and within minutes Helen had joined two others staring down into the depths of the conveniently stowed buckets. I managed to keep everything down but for Helen the trip was over which was a huge blow for her. We knew that it was a potential hazzard that we might have to face. Fortunately the guide was superb and well adept to caring for those who had succumed to the sea, so good in fact that Helen was compelled to write praise for her once we were back on land. She deserved it with all the swilling of buckets and tissue-runs she was doing. As for the rest of us we were in the hands of the captain who made sure we got our monies worth.


The dolphin encounter team are fully licensed to organise the dolphin swims and are the only company to do it in Kaikoura. They really seemed to know what they were doing and where to find the dolphins. The dolphins that we encountered on the day were dusky dolphins and are the most common in the area, the captain estimated that there were about 260 in the water with us. I thought that was amazing, I didn´t expect that many at all and aparently there can often be even more. Each time they were spotted the skipper watched them trying to gage their swimming pattern and after trying to anticipate their next movements would bring the boat in around the front of the pod and instruct us to launch off the back. We got to go in the water six times in all and were out at sea for over two hours. Each time was as good as the last, although for me there were two particularly memorable moments.


The dolphins were intrigued by our prescence but were much more interactive when they found us more familiar. Our guide said that the best way to get the dolphins attention was to act like them, swim like them and speak like them by ´singing´or ´squeaking´. Strange it may sound but it seemed to work. Swimming like them was very difficult especially in a bouyant wet suit though I managed to dive down a couple of times and well ´squeaking´and making silly noises just comes naturally. The first time I really tried to be a ´dolphin´ I managed to attract several of them, one of which caught my eye and we ended up having a spin off where it circled me and I tried to keep up. I managed about 6 or 7 turns before the amount of water I was taking in got the better of me and I had to take breath. My last encounter was also quite special when, after being left trailing by the rest of the group (problem with my snorkle) the pod they were watching turned about in my direction. I dove down and swam along with them looking down the whole time, there must have been 30 or 40 that swam underneath and around me including some calves. When I surfaced I looked up and nearly collided with one but as you would imagine it was swift enough to avoid me.


After we returned to the boat the sea finally got to me and though I didn´t vomit I felt ready too. Me and Helen spent the remaining time on the boat still, with bowed heads. Once we reached land we were fine (sort off)and spent the rest of the day sat along the beach before we took the bus back to Christ church.

Apart from the obvious it was a great two days spent in Kaikoura.

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