January 2

Kaikoura: Dolphin swimming, whale watching

I got up early, before anyone else. While I was fixing breakfast, the manager came in and told me Southern Shuttles had called, and they had a space. They would pick me up at 8:45. I called Trusty Rentals at 8 AM, but they weren't open yet. I called their other number and told the man I had to return a car quickly. He said he would be in at 8:20, and would give me a ride back to the hostel, which was nearby. Returning the car was quick. The man said I could have had the shuttle pick me up at the rental car office, but I didn't know that.

I was the first to be picked up by the shuttle. We made numerous other stops around Christchurch before heading up to Kaikoura. It was a sunny day, and hot in the van. Most people got off various places in Kaikoura before I was dropped off at the YHA hostel at 11:45. The hostel was just across the road from the bay, a fair distance from the center of town. Large windows in the common room gave a beautiful view. It was a nice hostel. The manager was very friendly also. She told me where I would stay, and said the office would open at 5 PM.

I had a standby reservation for the 12:30 dolphin swim at Dolphin Encounter, so I called them and they said I would probably get on, and that a van would pick me up at 12:15. I also had a definite reservation with another company for the next day, but it would be easier to schedule a whale watch if I did the dolphin swim now. I ate a quick lunch, and the van came and took me to the office downtown.

After a short wait, I got on, along with several other standby people. They said it would be good to bring a jacket for the boat ride, but I hadn't thought of that since it was a warm day. We were given thick wetsuits to put on. Mine had an attached hood. Some had separate hoods. We also got flippers, a face mask, and a snorkel. I got a prescription facemask (-5 diopters), so I could see without glasses.

We boarded busses to the boats, and were given instructions on how to interact with the dolphins. They are wild dolphins, and are not fed, so they would stay around only if they were interested in us. Singing to them through the snorkel was supposed to make them interested, as was diving, or imitating dolphin-style swimming. We were told not to wave our arms too much or try to touch them, since this scares the dolphins.

There were two jet boats. I sat in back for the smoothest ride. Several spectators were on the boats too. They would just be taking pictures. When we found a small group of dolphins, we stopped and slid into the cold water. The dolphins weren't interested in us and swam off. One came close to me on the way past. The second group we found swam off even faster. We were told to get in the water as quickly as possible next time, but without too much splashing, so we would have a chance to see the dolphins even if they swam off quickly.

The third group of dolphins we found was much friendlier, and stayed a long time. There were many dolphins, swimming by at close range. Singing through the snorkel worked well to attract their attention. I used an underwater disposable camera to take pictures, but the dolphins were so close, I thought I would get pictures mostly of random dolphin parts.

The dolphins here are dusky dolphins, a southern hemisphere species, which are rather small, under six feet, with black and white markings. They jump out of the water a lot, and seem much more interested in the boat than in people, who swim much too slow for them. If you try to swim with them, they go in circles and swim faster until you can't keep up, which doesn't take long.

Next we went out to the large main pod of dolphins, but it was moving fast out to deep water, probably to feed. All the boat could do was get ahead of them and let us off as the dolphins whizzed by. The first time we tried, we were too slow and the dolphins were gone before we were in the water. The second time was better. A few stopped briefly to swim around us.

After the last stop, we followed the dolphins in the boat a while, as hot chocolate and cookies were served. There was also a hot shower on board. Some girls were shivering, but I was warm in the wetsuit. I kept it on, since I hadn't brought a jacket. Although it was a hot day, there was a strong wind on the boat.

We got back to the office around 4:30, and could shower and change. We all got information packets about dusky dolphins. My sandals had gotten soaked on the boat, so I carried them a while until they dried off. I walked up the street to see what was in town (not much, actually), and stopped at an information center to see about canceling my other dolphin reservation, and they told me I could do it at the Whaleway Station, where I would have to go anyway to check on the availability of whale watching tours.

The Whaleway Station was an old railroad station near the bay. I found that I was the only person they had booked on the small boat (an inflatable with a capacity of 12), and it was unlikely to go, so I would probably be on a waiting list for a larger boat. However, it turned out that since it was a nice day, they put on an extra boat at 6:00 PM today, and it still had a few spaces.

It was now 4:45, and I had only an hour to get back to the hostel at the other end of town (a half hour walk), put on warm clothes, and return. I walked back quickly, changed, and stopped at the office to give them my receipt to show I had paid. (You pay when you make the booking.) The manager said I did not have to rush, because a shuttle would arrive at 5:30. She called to tell them to expect another passenger. I also told her that I would be going going up to the Abel Tasman track next, since I would have done everything I came to Kaikoura to do. She said Nelson would make a good base for this, and she would make travel arrangements and call the YHA there.

Three of the YHA people were going in all. The others were a Swiss man and an elderly lady. While waiting for the shuttle to arrive, I met Kay, the young lady from Virginia, who I had last seen at Aspiring Hut. She had made it across Cascade Saddle, but said the river crossing was hard, at chest level. She told me that she had taken a walk up the coast to see a seal colony, and that this was a very nice walk. I would have to do it tomorrow. She had also done a dolphin swim yesterday, and enjoyed it.

The ride to the Whaleway Station cost $2. The whale watching trip was expensive, $95 NZ for two hours. We boarded a bus at the station, and went to the same dock where the dolphin swimming trip started. We were issued life jackets, and boarded the boat, a 12 meter rigid inflatable with three outboard motors. People with motion sickness or back problems were advised to sit in back. I sat in the last row of the front section, which was partially enclosed.

The whales would be farther out than the dolphins, off the continental shelf, which is fairly close to land here. We had gone just beyond the continental shelf at the farthest point of the dolphin swimming trip. The big attraction here is the sperm whale, a deep-water whale which can be found unusually close to shore off Kaikoura.

We went out to a spot where whales were seen earlier. A hydrophone was used to listen for their sonar clicks, but none were heard. We went further out, stopping to observe some dusky dolphins. A group of people was allowed up on the observation deck on the roof.

We continued out further. Eventually, a spout was seen, and we headed for it, finding a sperm whale. I was in the group allowed on the observation deck this time (they work from front to back, eight at a time). Sperm whales can stay underwater an hour or so. When they come up, they breathe for a few minutes before arching their backs and diving again, with the tail in the air. We waited until the whale dived.

We went to another spot and listened for whales, but had no luck. Then, a group of killer whales was spotted in the distance, and we headed toward it. The killer whales swim fast, coming above the surface often, like dolphins. Technically, they are not whales, but a kind of dolphin, and they eat anything they can catch, including dusky dolphins and small sperm whales. The driver of our dolphin-swimming boat had said he had seen dolphins being eaten by killer whales.

After following the killer whales a while, we headed back toward land, still searching for sperm whales. One was heard nearby, and we waited until it stopped using sonar, a sign that it was about to surface. This whale surfaced like the other one, and anyone who wanted was allowed upstairs for to view. I went up and watched until it dived.

We headed back toward the coast, seeing one more sperm whale dive in the distance on the way. The whales often surface sequentially in groups. It is rare to see so many whales on one trip, especially killer whales. There is no way to know whether any whales will be found. We stopped once more to look at a seal colony near Kaikoura before landing, just before sunset. I took a picture as the sky turned orange. A bus returned us to Kaikoura at 8:45.

I didn't see anyplace too interesting to eat, so I stopped in a dairy for some supplies, and got fish and kumara chips from a take-away for dinner. After I walked back to the hostel in the dusk, the manager said we had been lucky to see so much on the whale watch. She had booked my bus to Nelson, but I could not stay at the YHA there, because it was full. She would try to get me into Tasman Towers, a nearby backpacker's she said was very nice.

I ate my fish and chips, and went to bed soon afterward, since it was already late. I had had a full day. I never would have expected that I would fit both a dolphin swim and a whale watching tour in the same day I arrived from Christchurch. I thought I would need at least two nights here, maybe three.

Some people in my dorm room were planning to get up early to catch the first whale watching trip of the morning, at 5:30 AM. They say this is a good option if you don't have advance reservations. If you get on standby for this tour, there is a good chance of going, since a lot of people never make it out of bed.

Copyright Scott A. Yost, 1996. All rights reserved.