New Zealand: So I threw up on a dolphin…

Ok so the title of this post definitely needs an explanation and don’t worry we won’t leave you hanging!

Our dolphin watch tour in Kaikoura turned out to be a little bit of a double edged sword. On the one edge you have dolphins; lots and lots of dolphins. The tour took us out into the Pacific Ocean and found an enormous group of Dusky Dolphins (the crew estimated there were 4 – 500 there that day) who swam along with the boat in large groups and entertained everyone with much leaping from the water. This part of the tour was absolutely incredible and was an utterly unforgettable experience, which even included a brief glance at a sperm whale as well.

The other edge of the dolphin watch sword involved a particularly aggressive bout of sea sickness striking Ben who spent the majority of the 3 hours at sea emptying the contents of his stomach into a bucket and yes… onto a passing dolphin! We were however able to laugh about the situation (though only afterwards) and were reassured that the dolphins are quite used to it! We also managed to take some photos despite the sea’s best efforts to throw us both and our camera overboard.

Swimmers with the dolphins.

A Dusky Dolphin living up to its reputation as the most acrobatic of dolphin species.

We were privileged to see this rare type of Dusky Dolphin which is entirely black without the silver underbelly.

More showing off…

One last flip for the cameras.

 

So that was our experience with the Dusky Dolphins and next time we’ll continue our Kaikoura highlights with our up close and personal interaction with over 200 seal pups!

 

Ben and Jess 🙂