Slowish start today, but nice to chill and not rush. The sun came out of a beautiful blue sky, and the Dux came to visit - have they developed a Pavlovian sensitivity to the clink of cutlery on crockery? Anyway, they came round the moment we started eating! Sun was nice though…
So we walked across the road to the Paua Factory outlet and checked out their goods - some nice stuff there, and pretty cheap apparently in comparison with other locations. We spent a long time there! Then we walked up into town to the information centre, and booked to swim with dolphins tomorrow at 5.30 am! Lots of discussion about Jen being up for open ocean swimming… but you get a wetsuit, mask and flippers, so as long as she takes it easy and doesn't go too far she should be ok. Just don't think about the 400m of water below you… We were going to go on Monday and had spent a lot of time discussing how to structure the week around that, but as usual, events intervened! No time like the nearly-present… Then we walked back towards the van, and along the beach for a bit - quite a bit, until Jen started to complain about getting bitten - argh! Tonight reveals the usual large inflamed swellings from sandfly bites. Urgh.
We had lunch here at the campsite, most people and all campers were out or gone. We then walked south of town, past the dolphin swimming place fortunately, which was a lot further away than we'd thought, so we'll drive tomorrow. Possibly park up and have breakfast after (about 9 am). Unfortunately, when we got back into town to the 4 Square shop, I found I'd dropped my normal vision glasses somewhere on the way out or back :-(. I ran off and looked for them immediately, not found though, and at that potion we had to go for the Whale Watch.. Yay!! High and lows eh…
It's pretty organised, a waiting room where you see safety and whale info videos, boarding passes, the whole show! Drive out to South Bay where the boats are parked, and it's a very solid-looking catamaran jet boat. Some more instructions, sit down when at speed, free to go outside when loitering around wildlife. Very organised!
We tank off at 25+ mph I think, and head off the continental shelf, to the point where the hot and cold streams meet. Since the whale (Tiaki apparently!) has just dived, it'll be 45 minutes before he reappears, so we head for the dolphin pod. This is an incredible sight, with dolphins swimming with the boat, doing loops and spins in their jumps.
Then the whale is detected moving upwards, and we head off to the expected spot, slowing to a crawl when we get there. Suddenly, I spot the whale at about 1 o'clock - it's huge and blowing! It's amazing to be about 50m from this huge animal, as it gets its breath back and warms up. Another Whale Watch boat appears. Jen borrows one of my tops to save going to the cabin, and that's a good move. The commentator announces that Taiki is going to dive, and he does, swinging his head down, his hips up and finally that huge tail, which stand vertical for what seems like ages before it slides into the water. Got some great pictures! Wonderful sight, and a great experience in every way - the monster powerboat, smashing through swell, the not being seasick despite some rolling and pitching, dolphins enjoying life and finally Taiki, doing what whales do. And sunny to boot!
Too bad we didn't find my specs on the second search of the day - never mind, up at 4 tomorrow for dolphins!
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