flipper and me are like THAT

I guess you could say it was a nice day today. I was a little lazy and Dave who runs TopSpot backpackers rang "Dolphin Encounters" for me, and booked on the 1pm trip. Dave is a top guy and worth staying at Topspot just to see his vinyl collection. The view from the lounge is breathtaking as it takes in the town of Kaikura, the blue water in the bay, and the snowy peaks of the Kaikura range.

I walked down the hill into Kaikura high street, after a bit more kauri bowl polishing, and went into the Dolphin place, got the wetsuit, undersuit, hood, bootees, gloves and fins. Something tells me the sea is a bit cold here. About 25 of us sit in for the briefing, followed shortly by climbing aboard the bus which takes us to the two boats at the wharf.

After about 30 minutes sailing and listening to radio chatter, we pinpoint one group of dolphins. There were two groups of Dusky Dolphins, 500 heading south very quickly, about another 20 minutes away, and 200 fairly close by. Time meant that we went for the smaller closer group and it was thought they might go south anyway, as the dolphins were moving away from a pod (i think) of Orca coming from the north.

We spotted them not long after and tried to catch their attention. Singing, diving and trying to make eye contact does the trick. They swim past you, leap from the water, circle you, play diving games with you, circle you some more, play with you, and you wonder why anyone would want to hunt them or hurt them. Dolphins are cool. They play, eat fish, have sex, swim, jump out of the water, play around, have large families, hang out with their mates, and they are interested in humans as long as the humans dont swallow sea water accidentally and throw up in the sea.

I was sick all the way back to harbour, along with a tough looking but green aussie and a big american. My lunch of Maltesers and saltwater hadnt done the job, but it hadnt spoilt the day or year. Dolphins are great, dolphins are lovely and they are my friends. They just dont find me interesting for long.