Stop 10: Kaikoura

This was by far one of my favorite stops. I got in at night and my first mission was to find a supermarket. I went to the one I thought was the closest, but was not at all. I was on a really dark deserted road, but I got my groceries and all was well. It wasn't until I woke up in the morning and stepped outside that I realized how beautiful of a place I was in. I was really regretting that the walk I had done the previous night had been dark.

view from my room

I went to figure out my plans and booked swimming with the dolphins for that afternoon. That had to be one of the coolest things I've ever done. I'm pretty indifferent towards dolphins, so I wasn't sure how it would be. We got in our wetsuits and got in water so cold they wouldn't tell us the temperature of it (10C), but it actually wasn't that bad. There were hundreds of dolphins around and they would swim inches from your face. Every once in awhile you would have to swim to find some and then out of nowhere one would come right at your face. It was incredible. At one point I almost panicked because there were so many of them surrounding me so close to me. There was also a sea lion swimming around with them that passed right in front of my face too. Then we relocated closer to where the herd had moved. Since I was by myself I was able to isolate myself from the group. I made friends with three dolphins (they taught us how to entertain the dolphins) and they swam in circles around me for a good ten minutes (though time was hard to tell). I can't describe how awesome it was. Then we got back in the boat, changed into dry clothes and drove the boat with the herd. They LOVED to swim under the boat at the bow and they were especially playful. It was really hard to take pictures so I realized I could do video. Here's what I have....

Again, I look ridiculous.

so many dolphins

The main road in town

The next day I went whale watching, which was kinda cool, but you spend like an hour on a boat to see a whale for 5 minutes. The thing was MASSIVE though. And we got to see the dolphins again too (that would never get old). Then later I hiked out to a seal colony (though I only saw two seals and one was laying across the path) and another walk around the peninsula that was absolutely beautiful.

Sperm Whale

I wish I had gotten a better picture of this

Seal chilling on the pathway. It scared me when I turned the corner to find this.

The colors here were just incredible. Look at the colors in the water as well.

Kaikoura is a great place for wildlife because you have two tides merging and there is also a really deep canyon so there is a plethora of wildlife for feeding.