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Swimming with Dolphins
December 18, 2005
Christchurch, New Zealand
From Renwick we went stopped by Hanmer Springs which are natural hot springs up in the mountains. It was nice to be able to go swimming in the hot sun at 6 pm in the middle of December! Our next stop was Kaikoura on the East coast where we went on the "dolphin encounter" tour. This exceeded all of my expectations and turned out to be my favorite thing that we did in all of New Zealand.
After gearing up with thick wetsuits (including hoods) and some snorkels, we took a boat out into the bay until we spotted the dolphins. The dolphins are in the area year-round living in the wild, not in captivity. The tours go out everyday and find where the dolphins are playing and let you swim with them in the open ocean. Dusky dolphins are very playful and curious and they like to do acrobatic jumps out of the water. As soon as we came across our first pod of dolphins, we all slipped into the water, and the dolphins immediately came right up to us. One was just a foot or two away as it swam in circles around me and I tried to keep up. We all had lots of interaction with the dolphins as they would keep swimming right up to you and veering away at the last second. They especially liked it when you dove down underwater and/or made noises through your snorkel.
Besides the dolphins, we also saw some interesting birds. We saw a couple types of Albatross, which have the longest wingspan of any bird in the world. It is hilarious to watch them take-off because their wings are so heavy that they need to run along the water to gather up enough speed to get into the air. We also saw a penguin! As we were swimming with the dolphins, I saw a yellow-eyed penguin swim by and I followed him for a good 5 minutes. Penguins aren't usually found there, but this one got off course and has been living in the bay for awhile.
After we were done swimming we got to watch the dolphins from the deck of the boat. They liked to come right up next to the hull of the boat and ride the pressure wave. The water was really clear and you could see them just below the surface of the water. We even got to see a couple do some jumps.
All in all a great day and a perfect ending to a great trip. All that's left now is a couple days in Christchurch before we fly home.
Posted by tim at December 18, 2005 07:36 PM
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