Finally swimming with dolphins and nearly bit by a seal!

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We left Christchurch early in the morning and headed north to the dolphin and whale capital of New Zealand, which is a small little town by the name of Kaikoura. When we left Christchurch the weather was really cold wet and windy and as we drove up towards Kaikoura I was really undecided whether to try and do the dolphin swim or not, having already unsuccessfully attempted it in the Bay of Islands. It was a lot of money and with the weather being pretty shit I nearly said no but that thought I’d put my name down and see how it goes because all the trips were on hold anyway due to a high swell out in the harbor.

We arrived in Kaikoura earlier than expected so Dusty our driver decided to take us to go and see the seal colony with was really cool as all these seals were just lying around and soaking up the rays. It was awesome being this close to them. You had to be really careful walking through the long grass though cause there must have been at least 10 around us sleeping and you really didn’t want to go stepping on one as you could easily lose a leg and as I’m quite found of my two so decided to take it easy and be a bit cautious. Well on the subject of this I did however nearly get attacked because the seal that’s is in my pics was asleep on the beach, so my mate Dan suggested it would be really funny to get a pic of me asleep next to it, but as soon as I got next to it and started to bend down and he woke up rather pissed off and started making this awful barking howling noises which scared the shit out of me and made me jump about 6 foot back like I was on a pogo stick! Dan found this highly amusing, so did I once my heart had calmed down! (I know Mum, Yes it was very stupid, yes they are very dangerous and yes I should know not to listen to such stupid suggestions!) I can’t believe I found the only pissed of seal, all the rest seemed a lot more relaxed and less angry - maybe he just didn’t like his picture taken!

By now we had the ‘all clear’ that the boats where going to be going out and that we needed to now hurry and book into our hostel and get back to the dolphin swimming office to book in and get our wetsuits etc.

By now the weather had cleared up and was a lot warmer so I decided to hell with it, I’m here I might as well give it another shot and I can’t tell you how happy I was to have made the decision as we had the most awesome trip.

It was only a small boast probably only around 15 of us on board, and as we headed out into the harbor we were told the swell was quite large and to prepare for a rough journey till we got to the area the dolphins were last spotted a few hours ago. Well they weren’t joking either, it was a really rough boat ride with I loved, I was stood inside but right up the front as all the waves crash over the boat and really enjoying the massive up and down motion of the boat, every now and again we came crashing down and everybody suddenly found their feet weren’t on the ground anymore, and occasionally people were being thrown all around the place.

After around 30 mins we reached the point where the dolphins were last spotted and we searched around for ages trying to find them again but to no avail. At last we suddenly saw a couple of very rare Hectus dolphins. These dolphins are tiny only around 1.5 meters long with a very round dorsal fin, apparently there are only spotted in 1 in every 20 trips so we were pretty lucky to see them.

We carried on in search of the Dusky Dolphins for quite a while but due to the rough sea conditions it was really hard to look out for them as there were too many white capped waves to really spot anything. We did however see a couple of seals playing around in the sea then The women leading the trip told us that the conditions were getting too rough and that they have had a good look around but are now going to head back as she thought they had probably disappeared. Everyone was very disappointed epically as were all in our wetsuits ready, but I didn’t give up hope and suddenly around 10 mins later I noticed a dorsal fin, just as I noticed so did the captain and as we moved closer we seen a huge pod!! Wahoo - Dusky dolphins!!

So that was it - swimming time, we put on our flippers and masks etc sat on the edge of the boat while the captain circled around in front of them and then sounded the horn so that we could enter the water. Holy crap the water was freezing!! The first few minutes I was just shouting through my snorkel until suddenly something fast and big swam right under me…..it was dolphin!!! Then another and another and all of a sudden I had totally forgotten about the water being so cold, I was finally doing something I have wanted to do I years - swim with wild dolphins! It was totally incredible there were loads of them and a couple of times they started to circle me and so I span around with them and could look them straight in the eye, it really was the most amazing experience.

It was rather strange because of the sea conditions the visibility wasn’t that brilliant and so the dolphins seemed to appear from no-where and swim around a bit and then disappeared as quick as they came!! I kept getting so excited by seeing them that I instinctively followed their movements with my head which caused me numerous times to swallow loads of sea water as when i turned my head the snorkel went under and I breathed in a huge snorkel full of water but I didn’t care I was swimming with dolphins!!
Every time the dolphins moved away from us we jumped back on the back of the boat and the captain took us back around in front of them again! We did this 4 or 5 times and we got a lot longer in the water than I had expected, we seen so many dolphins and one time I must have had 6-7 pass under me and then one time I had 3 dolphins on top of one another circling me - is was so amazing!!

Finally we were brought back to the boat and we headed back, but on the way the captain suddenly noticed a huge sperm whale. When we all rushed to the side of the boat it was only about 25 meters away and I couldn’t believe how massive it was, it looked like a massive submarine! The women guide said that in all the years she has been doing the dolphin swimming she has never seen a sperm whale this close before, it was a great sight.

Having been very undecided whether to go or not I was so happy to have done it, it turned out to be an incredible trip, we seen those very rare hectus dolphins, a couple of seals, an albatross (a big sea bird), swam with a huge pod of Dusky dolphins and then too top it all off seen a sperm whale. Also added to this the fun of the rough sea and the boat crashing through the waves was just awesome, although a lot of people did get sea sick and by the time we got back I was only one of the few remaining at the front still enjoying the bumpy ride!!

When I got back I did accidentally piss off my roommate cause I was so happy with what we had done and I had mentioned about seeing the whale and he had said that he was booked onto a whale watching trip but it got cancelled - bummer, he should have come with us he could have swam with Dolphins too!

Back on the bus again and heading North to Picton, this was the place that I have caught the boat across the Cook Straight to Wellington but having been on the boat twice now it has slightly lost its appeal especially as it takes 3 hours!! Dusty the bus driver had mentioned that it was possible to fly across instead and it was only going to cost 12 dollars more and only take 25 mins - how could I turn that down! It’s going to be quicker and I would get a chance to fly, so I put my name down and was really surprised to find I was the only one from the bus that did!

So as the bus got to Picton around lunch time it dropped everyone at the boat to board for their journey where I was then able to have a walk around Picton sit in the park between to massive palm trees and look out over the Marlborough sounds as it was such an incredible day, then went and had a lovely fresh salmon lunch before making my way to the small little runway for the flight a few hours later.
It was an awesome flight with amazing views, I managed to get right up the front behind the pilot which gave me at awesome view of the Marlborough Sounds as we flew out of Picton. We crossed the Cook Straight and I looked down to the very rough sea and could see the ferry with all my friends on it still only half way across and they were dropped off 2 hours ago!! So I gave a little wave as I flew past ha ha!
We then flew right over the city of Wellington which was another great view over the whole area before coming into land at the international airport. It was an awesome experience and so quick, I can’t believe that it was only 12 dollars more to do that, why did no one else do this!!

I got in around 3 in the afternoon so went and met some friends I knew in Wellington for some more food, this was great because they had a free meal on their boss so we were able to order anything we wanted and it didn’t cost a thing, so of course I stuffed myself stupid with not one but 2 main courses!! Later on I met back up with Dan later who didn’t get in till gone 6pm. He said how the crossing had taken him 4 hours due to the rough conditions and that everyone was being sick and feel really ill etc, they even closed the top deck because the ferry was rolling so badly, I just couldn’t help laughing and then rubbing in the fact that I had a chance to take in the scenery at Picton and stop for a nice meal before I left and the popped to the pub for a few beers and more food while I waited for him to come in, I think he wished he had done the flight too, as he told me I’m an asshole and to stop rubbing it in!!! Ha ha that’s what’s friends are for.

That evening a few of us headed out to check out a few bars hoping for a good night but the last two times I have tried going out in Welly it’s also fallen flat on its face and we have ended up just going home, so I was hoping 3rd time lucky but as me and Dan were sat in the bar having a laugh we were met with another bloke from the Magic bus called Andy. Now with travelling most of the people you met are really cool, down to earth and really easy to get on with but every now and again you meet someone like in this case, Andy, who really just doesn’t fit in, he was a very tall and very thin with glass and filled the profile perfectly for a computer geek in both physical appearance and social skills. Both Dan and I tried to have a decent conversation but it was like pulling teeth as he didn’t listen to modern music, didn’t watch TV and didn’t watch many films etc. so to find some common ground was very difficult. But all the same it was very entertaining because he was so strange and had such funny characteristic’s, now I know it’s not right to take the mickey out of people but we couldn’t help it with some of the things he said and did.

With most mens conversations down the pub, sooner or later that subject turns to women and who their top 3 or 5 are and after 20 minutes of waiting we found his ideal girl to be Mel C from the spice girls yes sporty spice!! (of all the women in the world, he chose her) but one of the funniest things was every time he wanted to talk to everyone he would put his hand up to speak before actually speaking, Once we noticed this we couldn’t look at each other or we were gonna piss ourselves laughing, it was like he was at school talking in front of the teacher.

Also after a few beers we had got on to the subject of funny sexual experience etc and after everyone laughing at everyone else’s funny and embarrassing stories it came to Andy’s turn and he dropped the line ‘well I once broke this girls nose in 3 places and then kissed her afterwards!!’ all the girls at the table looked shocked and I found it so incredible hard to keep control of myself, off all the stories we had told one another none were quite like that. And this is come from a bloke who is 34 years old!!!
I’m sorry for being unkind to him as I do believe you shouldn’t be mean to people but everyone who met him just kept saying how strange and odd he was and Dan and I got stuck with him for a couple of nights and after that time we had to make a run from him as he kept following us all the time and started to really get on our tits! Dan and I have come to the conclusion we don’t think he has ever had a girl friend, well not a real life one anyway. I say this because he was chatting to my friend Alison the other day and mentioned to her whether she wanted to chat to his cyber friends. Cause apparently he doesn’t go out but has loads of friends he has never met in cyberspace - Jesus we have concluded with numerous other people that he needs to get out meet real people and then get laid!!!

Unfortunately as it was Monday night as much as we tried to make it a good night it just wasn’t too be as all the pubs were empty but I did manage to catch up with a Dutch mate of mine I met when I was last here 6 months ago and we still managed to stay out till 3am somehow, even though I think when I walked back I was the only person walking around at this time of night in the city center!
I always hate the following morning when you got to wake up early to catch a bus with a bad hang over and only a couple of hours sleep, one day a will get wise and stop doing this - hopefully sooner rather than latter!

So now I am back in the North Island I continued my travels North to lovely coastal town of Napier on the east coast, but that will have to wait to my next blog as I have already gone on and on enough.

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Photos

Where i sat a waited and watched the world go by
This is for you Guy, this is where i was sat chatting to you - nice hey

I'm watching you
I didn't realise till i seen this picture that he had his other eye open!

Beautiful Picton
Not a bad place to waste a few hours

Out for dinner at Kaikoura
Andy's the tall one!