After watching The Cove, I was torn over whether I should join the swimming with dolphins session in Kaikoura, but as these were wild dolphins that have never been captured or preyed on, I decided to go for it. The experience was amazing beyond my wildest dreams.
We put on some 10mm wetsuits and headed out to sea around 10:30am. The 5am tour had sighted some dolphins about 30 minutes from the harbor, so we were in good shape. The sun shined brilliantly over the deep blue ocean and the mountain ranges hovered over the horizon under a few lonely clouds. We were still enjoying the scenery when the boat stopped, and as we turned to the other side of the boat, this was what we saw:
Countless dolphins surrounded the boat, playing in the water waves the boat created on its way here. We heard a horn sound and as instructed, slipped into the water with our snorkels.
The water was cold even with the thick wetsuit, but we soon forgot that as we saw dolphins swimming up towards us, some circling a bit, curious as to who or what we are.
I attempted to take pictures at first, then realized that it was taking away from the experience of actually playing with the dolphins. As our guide said, these are wild dolphins, so we are the ones expected to entertain and keep them interested. We made funny noises, sang songs, tried to follow them in circles, and dived when we could.
We soon heard another horn and headed back to the boat. The dolphins are much faster swimmers and passed us already, so we would follow them on boat for a bit, then go for another dip. Yes, we are stalking the dolphins! But we are only allowed to swim 5 times during the tour, and only a few tours are allowed during the day as not to disturb the dolphins too much.
I left my camera on the second swim, and really tried to play with the dolphins. We were so close to them it was hard not to reach out our hands and try to touch them, but they are actually quite aware of the distance between us and I didn’t succeed (probably a good thing). At one point I think twenty or so dolphins passed me heading the other direction. It was like playing a game of chicken with dolphins, and it was glorious!
The five swims went by quickly, we changed out of our wetsuits, ate some cookies and hot chocolate, and went on board to just enjoy watching these creatures. It was their nap time, but since they are conscious breathers, they only shut off half of their brains at a time to sleep. Some of them were definitely quite awake, as they leaped into the air with some amazing acrobatic skills. Scientists haven’t figured why they do this, but I’m going with the theory that they are animals that just know how to have fun 🙂
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