Home to vast underwater canyons, Kaikoura is a sea animal lovers paradise. The deep canyons provide nutrient rich water that attracts the smallest and largest of sea life.
Rich and I headed to Kaikoura in anticipation of swimming with wild dusky dolphins and we were not disappointed. We arrived at Dusky Lodge Backpackers early in the morning and spent the afternoon exploring. We watched the seals sunbathing on the rocks along the Kaikoura Peninsula and headed up to the lookout where we could see the mountains to the north and the whale and dolphin filled waters to the east.
As evening arrived we prepared well for our excursion out on a boat by drinking the magnum of beer that we bought from the MOA brewery with our dinner!
Thankfully there were no sore heads in the morning and we set off to the harbour and got sea ready. We boarded the boat with our wetsuits on, flippers, snorkel and mask in hand and were soon trailing the coastline, around a mile off shore, in search of the dusky dolphins. On our travels we saw lots of sea birds, including the albatross.
It didn’t take more than half an hour before we were told to get ready to snorkel as we were approaching a pod of dolphins, the time had arrived!
The pace at which we got ready meant there was no time for me to contemplate every small thing that could happen when jumping into the open water, thank goodness. Like everyone else I got suited and booted and sat along the back of the boat ready to jump in when the captain sounded the horn.
Like a starting gun firing and athletes bursting out of their blocks, when the boats horn sounded we threw ourselves into the water, each person wanting to be the first one to spot and swim with the dolphins. There was no need to worry though, in our group of twelve snorkelers there was more than enough dolphins for everyone. The only difficulty was keeping up with them!
“It wasn’t that the dolphin was scary at all, it just made me jump.”
Although wild dolphins, they enjoy laughing at humans swimming around in circles and making stupid noises through their snorkels. So this is what we each did, trying to capture the interest of a dolphin so that they too would swim around in circles, instead of flying past us at a million miles an hour.
My phobia of touching certain animals meant that I swam with my hands pressed firmly on the outside of my thighs. There was no chance I was going to have my arms flailing around in the water for an animal to accidentally swim by and touch me. No way. So there was no swimming around in circles for me (try doing that quickly without using your arms).
If I’m honest, I didn’t want to make any snorkel noises to attract the dolphins either but the first one that swam below me gave me such a fright that I screamed through my snorkel! It wasn’t that the dolphin was scary at all, it just made me jump.
In fact the dolphins were amazing in the water. Swimming all around us with such pace, it didn’t matter where we swam or how fast we went, the dolphins kept coming back for more. It turned out that the dolphins were getting entertainment out of us too!
“It turned out that swimming with a dolphin was rather tiring!”
There were around fifteen dolphins in the first pod we swam with and when they got bored of us and headed onward with their journey, the captain sounded the horn and signalled us all to return to the boat.
Filled with the excitement of having swam with wild dolphins we returned to the boat to go in search of more! When we located the next pod, the now familiar routine commenced and within minutes we were snorkelling above a pod of thirty or so dolphins swimming beneath us.
I’m sure I’ll never see such an amazing sight in all of my life without it being on a TV program. Seeing a huge pod of dolphins swimming beneath us, not bothered by our presence but happy to let us watch them was surreal. Whilst some charged on without interest in us, there were some in a playful mood that swam up to the surface to take a look at us humans.
Splashing around in the water, Rich caught the attention of one dolphin and as he swam around in circles as quickly as he could, the dolphin easily circled him at speed. Trying to keep his attention Rich tried diving down in to the water but with a buoyant wetsuit on that was easier said than done!
Rich and the dolphin played together in the water for twenty seconds or so but at the time it felt much longer. It was probably best for Rich that it was no longer though as once the dolphin swam off he raised his head, removed his snorkel and breathed in the largest breaths he could. It turned out that swimming with a dolphin was rather tiring!
When the horn sounded on the boat everyone boarded with huge smiles on their faces. A group of three snorkelers (Rich included) stayed out playing with two dolphins that returned as everyone was getting onto the boat. With only a few people in the water Rich enjoyed swimming around with the dolphins one last time before getting back onto the boat to warm up with some hot chocolate and ginger nut biscuits.
After two extremely successful swims with the dusky dolphins, we were told that we had a very special surprise to look forward to. Orcas (killer whales) had been spotted a couple of miles away and although we weren’t on a whale watching boat, given that they are actually dolphins (who knew?!) we were able to go and watch them.
Orcas can be spotted in the water of Kaikoura every couple of months and so it was truly a blessing that we were able to see them on our trip. Swimming with them was definitely not going to be experienced though!
“It was a very rare sight that we saw, we know that.”
As we approached the area where the whale watching boats were situated, everyone was on the front deck of the boat, cameras ready and eyes peeled. Then we saw them, fins rising up out of the water that were so big we knew they weren’t sharks. We had found the Orcas!
A mother and calf surfaced a few hundred metres from our boat, not too far away but far enough for us to only catch a glimpse of their white markings that they are so famously identified by.
Fifteen minutes passed with numerous sightings of Orcas, then the biggest one of all arrived right by our boat. Only five metres away, we watched in awe as the seemingly gentle giant swam along by our boat, breaching the surface of the water to take a breath a few times before taking one final breath and diving back down to the dark depths of the ocean.
It was a very rare sight that we saw, we know that. And whilst they certainly seemed like slow moving gentle giants, we all knew that they could quickly demonstrate why they are called killer whales.
We couldn’t have imagined having a better experience that day. Swimming with the dusky dolphins alone was fantastic but combined with watching the Orcas as well, this was a day that we would truly never forget.
Lambs on the loose 