Dolphins!

We woke up early again this morning to get to Kaikoura in time to swim with the dolphins. Helen, our airbnb hostess, also got up early to help us get ready and get breakfast for us. She was so helpful! She let us use her washing machine and then she hung our clothes on the line for us while we were at the grocery store. Then she helped us bring it in at night and hang it in the house since it still wasn't quite dry. Then she packed it all up for us this morning as we were getting ready! She just kept being one step ahead of us.

So we got on the road shortly before 6am and headed to Kaikoura. Kaikoura had a lot of the damage from the recent earthquake here and we could really see the destruction in the roads and tunnels on our way there. A lot of road construction going on. It was a pretty drive though as it was right along the ocean for a bit.

We made it to Kaikoura Encounters with plenty of time for our 8:30 appointment. We filled out our paperwork and suited up in full wet suits. We were told the waves were moderate with a high sea sickness warning. But luckily we all pre-emptively took a Dramamine so we were fine. We got on the boat with our fins and snorkels ready to find some dolphins. And wow, did we find them! The first place we stopped the water was pretty clear and there were lots of friendly dolphins. They had told us before that it's really more about us keeping the dolphins entertained and interested in us, rather than the other way around, and gave us a few tricks for doing that. The first is to make noises. Apparently there are a few methods for doing that; I decided to sing a song and that's how I ended up singing 'We wish you a merry Christmas!" 500 times this morning to dolphins. That was the first song that popped in my head and I went with it, instantly knowing my mom would get a kick out of it. Matt had a different approach; when I finally found him he was making whale noises like Dory in Finding Nemo. I asked him if he was trying to attract whales instead of dolphins. Jack apparently didn't make any noise at all but instead relied on everyone else around him to act like a fool. But anyway, once you get the dolphins to take notice of you then there are a couple of things to hold their interest. One is that you can dive down with them. The other is to swim in a fast circle as they swim circles around you. The key is to keep up with them. 

It was so crazy! They would just swim right up to you and circle you really fast like they were wanting to play. And there were so many of them! And they are completely wild. They aren't caged in or fed or in any other way artificially persuaded to hang out with us. They do it just because they are playful and curious. We were told this is one of the only places in the world where they can consistently have these dolphin encounters since the dolphins hang around the same few areas full time. This is because there are some deep ocean canyons right off the coast with abundant life.

After we left the first spot we found another area where the water was a little cloudy but there were hundreds of dolphins. So we were able to get back in and play with them for a bit, too. When we first got in it seemed like the dolphins were so excited to see us; there were times when there were about 5 dolphins swimming right at me and then swimming right past me on all sides and below. And this happened several times! And a few times I would get one to play with me and we would swim in circles for almost a full minute. It was incredible. Here is one of the many videos I took. It seems like the video doesn't work well on some devices/browsers. I'm not sure what the deal is, but the full video is over a minute long. If you're seeing only a couple of seconds you might try switching browsers to Chrome.

After we got out of the water they drove us around for a bit just to watch all the dolphins playing together. Sometimes they would do flips and somersaults in the air. It was all-around a great experience and I'd highly recommend it. And none of us got sick! 

We finished up there shortly before noon so we hit the road to cross to the other side of the island. It's about a 5 hour drive normally through mountains, but it was a little longer due to all the road closures and road construction. It was a beautiful drive though and we stopped for a picnic lunch along the way.

We arrived in Greymouth without a place to stay, so we found a cool hostel with a good rate and decided to stay here. It's called Noah's Ark and each room is themed after a specific animal. We have the cow room. Moo. Then we went to the grocery store to pick something up for dinner so we can use the grill and kitchen at the hostel. We decided to grill veggies and lamb and make a pasta side. 

Well good morning everyone, I'm going to bed!