We didn't book well in advance. We make the call after we set ourselves up at the DOC site to see if there are any last minute openings. The kind and organized folks at Dolphin Encounters tell us that we can probably get on the 5:30 boat Friday morning. That's A.M. folks!
We sign up for that one, but ask them to notify us if there are any cancellations for earlier boats — earlier as in on Wednesday or Thursday, not as in morning launch time... 5:30 a.m. is early enough as we figure it!
So yes, they call us Wednesday morning to say that we can now go on the Thursday 5:30 a.m ride. We say, "Great!".
They call back at 10:30 a.m. to ask if we can make it to Kaikoura by 12:30 today because 2 spots just opened up. Yay! We KNEW it would work out!
Quickly as we can, we get a move on. We arrive at the shop at 12:15 p.m. Cutting it close we think, but the experts at Dolphin Encounters are a well oiled team and have us kitted out in wetsuits, wet jackets, headgear, and flippers/snorkels/masks in no time. We go through a briefing that repeats several times that the dolphins that we will hopefully be seeing are wild and not lured or baited to come close to the boat. They prep us to not be disappointed if we can't swim with them because of weather or water conditions or lack of dolphins— after all, this is the wide open ocean we'll be swimming in!
There is quite a chop out on the water. We are asked several times if we tend to get seasick. Would we like seasickness pills? Have we ever gotten seasick? We actually start to second guess ourselves... might we get seasick? Should we take a pill, just in case? In the end we decide that we'll risk it - hey, they have buckets on board if the need be.
Dolphin Encounters are the only group permitted by the NZ Department of Conservation to swim with the dolphins. They have three boats in their fleet (only two are going out for the 12:30 departure) and only 13 swimmers are allowed on each boat. This means that the experience with the dolphins is a highly intimate one.
It takes about 20 minutes (minimum) to get out to the dolphins which are spotted by eye only (no sonar equipment or anything to disturb them). Along the way, we see albatross in the water and taking flight. They are giant birds with truly massive wing spans!
The dolphins are predominantly dusky dolphins (although Hector's dolphins and common dolphins mingle amongst them too). About 20% of NZ's population hang out here in Kaikoura. We're talking 2000 dolphins that travel in groups from 200 - 600 strong. Why Kaikoura? Just offshore there is a massive canyon that is part of the deep Hikurangi Trough which is at the boundary of two of the world's crustal plates. It drops straight down 1000 metres at one point. The trough funnels together cold and warm water making it an ideal spot, rich in all the right foods. So, whales (blue, sperm, and others), dolphins (including orca) and seals all come here to feed in the nutrient rich waters.
"Get ready swimmers!" yells Jay our guide (she's from Vancouver!) and before I can freak myself out, the horn sounds and I have slipped into the water off the back of the boat into the 1 1/2 meter swells and into the first pod of dolphins. Ahead of time, we are coached on things to do and not do in the water to attract the attention of the dolphins. So, once in the water, I begin to "act dolphin like" (really this looks like me flailing around trying to duck dive in my buoyant wetsuit) and sing through my snorkel (really this amounts to me squeaking out the only song I can think of at the time.... the Canadian national anthem). Yet, there they are, dolphins swimming up to me — looking at me in the eye, floating suspended alongside me, circling me. I loose my breath in my excitement and am soon sucking in mouthfuls of sea water. Sputtering, I pop my head up only to hear the horn blast from the boat signaling to all 13 swimmers to head back to the boat.
I scramble back aboard, pull up my mask and find Keir. Our eyes are wide and we can only look at each other in amazement "Can you believe this?!!" is what we are not saying out loud.
We are allowed five "drops" into the dolphins. Each drop find us amongst the pod. Keir is very good at diving down despite his buoyant suit and so the dolphins love to swim around him. He is also good at doing his squeaky "R2D2 speak" as he calls it. They seem to really like that as well. I try to swim nearby to him, but it is remarkable how quickly the ocean swells separate us. We both pop our heads up often enough to check that we are not too far from the boat.
After the third drop people are slowing down. Many are clutching buckets and getting sea sick in the swells and so stay aboard. There are Keir and I though, front and centre, every time the guide asks "Anyone want to go again?" In total we swim for about 1 hour, but it flies by.
After the last swim, we (those who are not sea sick - which amounts to about 5 people only at this point) head out to the front of the boat where we get to watch the dolphins from above. Their acrobatics are incredible! Continuous summersaults in the air, jumps, flips... they are truly the most adept and agile swimmers I've ever seen. It is nearly impossible to capture it in a photo as it happens so rapidly.
Both of us are struck by their sense of pure joy — free to frolic amongst the waves (and us) in the vast open ocean. Playing, socializing and eating — that seems to be the sole focus. People have described swimming with the dolphins as a spiritual experience and surely it is this intimacy with their infectious joy that is at the heart of it.
Jay stays out front with us, filling us up with facts about the dusky's (I'll spare you the science lesson, but do look them up if curious!). We even spot a few common dolphins playing amongst the pod.
Back inside the boat, we are given blankets to wrap around ourselves, ginger cookies and hot chocolate to warm up with. It is a feat in itself to watch our guide pour hot chocolate into a cup as the boat rocks side to side and up and down in the swells. She laughs when we point that out.
"No, the treat for me is now watching you all try to DRINK it!!!"
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