One of the last things on Lou’s list of things to do before she left the country (and certainly on my list, but I had a little more time to check it off) was going to Kaikoura to participate in the infamous dolphin swim. After we’d had enough climbing on our last day, we returned the hired bouldering mat and headed for Kaikoura. We caught a glimpse of a gorgeous sunset on the drive in to town and stopped at a car park in town to cook and eat our dinner. We found a nice spot to sleep in the car again that night (since it was going to be quite a short night!) and wound up having a stunning view of the moon shining over the ocean, hanging so bright and low in the sky it almost looked like a hazy sunset.
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| Louise and I, ready to go! |
A pre-5am wake-up is not ideal for anyone (especially for the second time in a week) but what we experienced that morning was well worth the effort of getting out of our cozy car! We got ourselves together and headed to Dolphin Encounters for our scheduled 5:30 dolphin swim. We were outfitted with wetsuits, jackets, hoods, flippers, snorkels, and masks, and then escorted to a small auditorium to watch the safety briefing video.
The video explained what we would encounter out in the water, and mentioned a few ways to get the dolphins’ attention. We would be swimming with Dusky Dolphins – some of the world’s smallest – out in the wild. We were informed the dolphins were not trained and that the boat took us into an area where the dolphins pass through on their daily migration.
