The town of Kaikoura, as I have just understood, was once a sleepy fishing village before it became a tourist attraction in New Zealand. It is located on the east coast of the country’s South Island and north of Christchurch. Kaikoura became an excellent spot for tourism because of the whale and dolphin watching activities. There are many whales that can be spotted in its waters all year round and itcan be very thrilling to experience seeing these gigantic creatures arrive in the area.
I was looking for a good time and cheap holidays. When I arrived in town, my first choice was to go whale watching with a couple of my friends. We were given a choice of either doing it on a cruise or on a scenic flight to spot them. We decided that taking the nature cruise was much better because we can really see these creatures up close.
At the start of our trip, a staff member of the local tourist firm allowed us to watch a few informational films regarding the whales. It taught me a lot about the whales in the area and also gave a short history of Kaikoura. Our safety talk was also held by the staff member who filled us in about what we are about to see during our trip. The staff informed us beforehand that even if we had a large chance of seeing dolphins and whales, they cannot guarantee 100% because everything is in nature’s hands. They also went us through the refunds that we would be getting in case no whales were sighted or in case an emergency situation arises.
Once that was done, our group headed to the dock where we would be boarding our cruiser for the trip. People who might get sea sick were given tips on how they can combat it. I learned that sitting on the back of the boat and focusing on a fixed point can be a helpful technique. We were also taught that taking off extra clothing to get rid of being overly warm is also one of the tricks for sea sickness.
Heading out to see was one of the exciting parts of the trip as we all listened to the tour staff as they gave us information about the place. They told us how they located the whales in these waters. Eventually we were able to spot a pod of dolphins swimming parallel to our boat. It seemed to me that they were racing us and trying to catch our attention with their magnificent hops outside the water. There were quite a number of them that day which my friends and I friends took pictures of.
As the trip progressed and having seen quite a few sights already, we were all eager to spot our first whale. The location of one of the whales was brought to our attention when one of the tourists shrieked in delight and started pointing afar off. There we saw a sperm whale which the crew of the boat allowed us to observe. The behavior of the whale was explained by the expert staffs and they even gave us an advance notification about when it is going to dive so that photographers can capture them.
It was my first time ever seeing a sperm whale even if we did not really get close enough to it. My friends and I were able to take a picture of that elusive whale as it dove twice. I will never forget this experience especially when the gigantic creature resurfaced again and again. It is difficult to beat Te Anau but I must say my trip to Kaikoura in New Zealand was one of the best trips I ever had in the country!
