South Island - Akaroa

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Hello again!

I'm not sure when I'll have internet access again, so I thought I'd send a quick update on today's activities.

Today Bishop and I left Christchurch and headed about 1 1/2 hour south to Akaroa. We were planning to swim with Hector's dolphins, ones only found in New Zealand. It was a beautiful, warm day, so we were very excited.

Well, our expectations were far exceeded. We donned our wetsuits and joined the small group on our boat (there were 8 of us in all) and headed out into the bay. After only a few minutes, the captain of the boat found some dolphins and we all slid into the water. The dolphins were very curious and swam all around us. There were about 5 of them, which is the typical size for a pod. Hector's dolphins are smaller than your average bottlenose dolphin and are on NZ's endangered list. While swimming with them, we just wait for them to approach us, so my worries about stressing them were put to rest. We found several pods during our time out in the water, but the highlight was our final stop. There were probably at least 20 dolphins at once swimming around our small group. They came sometimes within feet of us and enjoyed circling around us if we would turn around in a circle also. It was a magical experience. I don't know how today could be topped.

Tomorrow we're off to the west coast. I have loads more pictures, but it takes a while to download, so hopefully more later.

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Comments

[Sharon]

WOW!
Hi Cari....I'm so glad to hear you are having such a great time! The pictures are beautiful. We miss you at work! Have fun - I look forward to reading more about your adventures. xo - SAAG

[robin]

Just wanted to tell you that it sounds wonderful and everything is fine here on the homefront

[Cassandra & Liz]

Hi Cari
We miss you, but glad you are having a good time. Please remember to come back. : )