Two years ago to this day I had one of the most memorable experiences of my life.
Whilst travelling to New Zealand to do my dissertation research I also had some time to do some fun activities too! Not that my dissertation wasn't fun....
One of the days we decided to do something exciting in the small town of Kaikoura where we were staying. There was numerous things to do, but Kaikoura is well known for its Sealife, with Whale Watching, Diving and Dolphin swimming. There waters are abundant with wildlife, with many different species of Whale from Humpback to Orca. We decided on a Dolphin Swim.
So we got all suited up and ready to go and headed down the coast, to locations known for dolphins. We were told that the earlier group had come across very few dolphins and that therefore the likelihood of seeing many on this was slim. So we still headed out and were then told that there had been a whale spotted in the area so we went off to have a look. We went to the location where the whale was to have been, but saw nothing. Other boats in the area were also searching.
Whilst we were floating and searching the seas, our guide managed to pick out something in the water, just yards from the boat. The chances of seeing the object, so close to the boat at that exact point in time was crazy! The fish themselves aren't huge and are poorly seen from the surface.
This fish, around 2m long could be seen flapping around slowly. Its huge eye could be seen on its side. It was a Sun Fish!
Sun fish in this area aren't rare, but that chances of seeing them are slim. At this time of year, also they begin going into the depths for the winter months so they are very uncommon at this time of year. The guides were very shocked to see one. These strange fish are the heaviest in the world, its a very flat fish, flattened laterally, with their two main fins above and below the body.
We moved off and looked for larger sea creatures. Then after a few more minutes, finally, one of the tourists spotted a large black fin on the horizon.
This large fin was from a Killer Whale! We got closer and they came right up to the boat. They were such magnificent creatures and its crazy to think that this huge whale, wild in the ocean was metres from the boat.
After a few more minutes, the whale seemed to have disappeared and we moved close to where a flock of Albatross were flying around. These Albatross birds themselves are magnificent, they are massive, one of the largest flying birds. As we came closer we noticed that there was a large dead tuna fish floating in the water, trying to be nibbled at by the Albatross. Tuna fish themselves can grow to large sizes and this one was almost a metre and that was just the head and top half! The rest must have already been eaten!
As we watched closely the Albatross got closer to the tuna, then suddenly here comes Mr Killer Whale! And the albatross patters off along the surface and the whale chomps on his mammoth afternoon lunch!
After this spectacular scene, we thought it couldn't get any better. Then we managed to find a huge pod of dolphins and they rallied us infront of the oncoming dolphins and dropped is in the water. Wetsuits and snorkles on we were in this deep blue ocean nothing to be seen around but blue, then the dolphins arrived! Despite these being wild dolphins too they were extremely playful and came swimming around and getting close to touch almost! They would swim around you and you had to make these awful dolphin like sounds with your snorkles so they would be entertained.
We had an underwater camera to take pictures, but they shot past so fast it was better to video them, we got some amazing shots, though the sound of us doing the dolphin sound is pretty cringe worthy.
When they'd swam by, you'd get in the boat and jump back in infront of the pod. This happened numerous times! Then when our session was ending we rode the waves back towards Kaikoura and the dolphins were swimming along with the boats. Jumping at the bow.
There were so many of them, its amazing to think that within this small space of ocean we came across so many huge creatures and many different types! It was scary to think that just a few miles if that from where we were swimming with dolphins a large Killer Whale was munching on his Tuna and a sunfish, flapping at the surface!
It was an unforgettable experience, one of the best days of my life! To see them in their natural habitat and to get so close!
When we got back to the research centre where we were staying. There was a man we who was studying Whales in the area and we told him about what we had seen. He couldn't believe that we were lucky enough to see a Killer Whale feeding!
It was awesome, and I cant believe it was 2 years ago to the day! I would so love to be back there right now in that amazing country!
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