On the way into Kaikoura, you pass a place called the Ohau Waterfall. This is near an area of coast where seals mate and breed; once their babies are born, the mama seals deposit their babies in the waterfall and swim back out to sea to find food. People can go to the waterfall to see all the baby seals, which is TOO COOL. The main season for seeing them is August-October, when there can be up to 200! Alas, by the time we showed up there was just one little guy hanging out. But he was CUTE.
The track also goes through another seal colony, but most of the seals were off in another colony doing their mating thing. We did see one though!
The next day we did what we came to Kaikoura to do, and that is SWIM WITH DOLPHINS.
Kaikoura is the number one place in the world to swim with dolphins, according to many lists. The dolphins they have are Dusky Dolphins, which are known for being particularly playful and acrobatic. The company, Dolphin Encounter Kaikoura, gave us wetsuits (and prescription snorkels!) and some information. The dolphins are completely wild and not enticed to any locations or trained in any way. If you want to play with them, your best bet is to entertain them. They recommended making funny noises and swimming in circles, as the dolphins like to prove that they can go faster then you! The captains know the best places to look for the dolphins, but if you don't see any then you do get a refund.
We saw TONS! They found a smaller pod of dolphins first, and the view as we came up to them was really breathtaking. They were eating so they were pushing fish up close to the surface, and there were albatrosses circling above them waiting for any stray fish. We got to go in the water three times with these guys. The first time I kind of freaked out- we were in open ocean so it was EXTREMELY wavy and very cold, and the wetsuit constricted a bit, so I focused on breathing and didn't see any dolphins. Kara did though! The pods keep moving, so you get back on the boat when they go away and follow them before getting back in. The second and third times I was much more comfortable and got to see a few.
It's a really cool experience when you do- you're floating in the water looking down and you can't see anything at all except greenish water. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, BAM, a dolphins swims right past you. It's completely unbelievable. The more ridiculous noises you make, the more dolphins come by you to check you out. You don't seem them coming until they're about six feet away, so you just kind of swim around tooting into your snorkel. And then BAM, glory!
Our fourth swim is the one that really took the cake though. After we swam with our smaller pod, the captain boated on to find a much bigger pod of about 300 dolphins! We hopped in, and it was just amazing. At one point, I was being circled by six dolphins. Lots of them were swimming together too, so you could be checked out by three or four at once. If you lifted your head up, you could see them jumping right next to you. They swam as close as half a foot! AAAAH.
Kara had even more luck than me! As she says, "It was beyond words. Basically the dolphins will only come pay attention to you if you are being entertaining enough. So I was making a lot of noise into my snorkel. The dolphins came up very close and swam circles with me. We went off of the boat to swim four times, and the last time was with a large pod of dolphins (about 300). At one point a group of them were swimming around, past, and under me to check me out while I was alone some distance from other snorkelers--even mothers with baby calves. There was one dolphin in particular that kept coming back to me and swimming around and around and around with me in tight circles. It was hard to keep up; its circles would be so tight that I was basically spinning around in place. I could recognize the one that kept coming back to me by a unique scar on its head--I tried to make a lot of eye contact and could begin to feel a connection with him/her. Breathtaking, overall."
No underwater pictures, sadly, but we've got some videos of our the 300 dolphin pod. Look at this glory.
P.S. Please note that the one thing we did NOT do in Kaikoura is the most glorious thing of all. They have a literal LLAMA TOUR. You go to a llama farm, meet a llama, and then spend the day walking your llama around the town. Kara wouldn't let me. Life is pain.
P.P.S. DOLPHINS!
P.P.P.S. From Kara: I told Lizzy that she was more than welcome to walk around with a llama. She is a fully grown woman who can make her own decisions. And so am I, and I decided NOT to pay $100 to walk around with a llama.