What a whaley good time!

What a day! Probably the 100th blog I've started with that phrase but really today was sensational. Whale watching is definitely the most exciting and incredible thing to watch. It's also so very bizarre to see a small part of a whale above the water and realise there is 100 times more of the animal to see below the water. It felt so good this morning being able to leave the van behind us and walk to the whale watching centre without having to even consider where to park. We got there early and collected our tickets which would give us 80% of our money back if we didn't see a whale. I knew if we didn't see one we would be booking on tomorrow's tour that's for sure. After spending time looking around the gift shop and watching a video the crew put on for us we made our way by bus to the boat we'd be sailing on today. The company had a long time of not oppertating because of Kairkoura basically being inaccessible after the earthquake but luckily just like the seals the whales and tourists have returned to the area. The stretch of sea is home to many male sperm whales because just off the shore is a huge deep canyon which is a haven from marine life and a great bay for sperm whales to deep sea dive in to feed. Within minutes of being on the water our crew spotted humpback whales. It's the migrating season and although none of the humpbacks chose to breech for us we still got to ride alongside them as they came up for air which was pretty awesome. Out on the ocean as well we had a wonderful view over the Kairkoura peninsula with the mountains behind, it gave us some great scenery to look at as we travelled around looking for whales. Sperm whales tend to dive for 45-50 minutes but can be down for up to 3 hours. This meant because the crew knew where one dived an hour ago we could race over to the coorindates where the whale was likely to come back up for air shortly. Sure enough we soon found him sat on the surface having a breather. After 10 minutes the crew told us to get our cameras ready because he was going to dive again. With that he took one last big breath before lunging forward and brining up his magnificent tail into the air before diving down to the depths of the sea. The power and size of that tail alone was huge so you can only imagine the sheer size of the animal that's hidden underneath the surface. How incredible would it be to swim and dive with these gentle giants. Our captain also used a sonar device in the water to listen for whale calls and it wasn't long before they located a second sperm whale for us to watch dive, this time right in front of that beautiful mountain range. You don't really get a better photo than that! We were lucky enough to see so many birds out on the ocean including huge albatross. After seeing some more humpback whales cruising along we also managed to capture our first sperm whale coming back to the surface before diving down again. I found the whole experience so exciting and instantly felt like I could do this everyday, what an amazing job that would be! It also made me wish we were rich enough to pay for a private boat to take us out for the whole day to just get lost amongst the wildlife out here. It genuinely was one of the greatest experiences of my life which is saying something after almost 17 months of exploring the world. There's certain experiences from our trip that stick with you and this will definitely be one of them. Unfortunately it had to come to an end and back on dry land we treated ourselves to a rather nice lunch in the cafe at the whale watch centre before having a wonder around the shops of Kaikoura. We bought many sounvenirs and gifts for people and spent almost an hour talking to a French lady in her gift shop which ended with her giving us her number and inviting us out on her own boat with her and her partner in summer. What an experience that would be! Knowing us I know we won't ever take her up on the offer but it is so tempting. Sometimes you wish you didn't have fear or scepticism of everyone's intentions so you could instantly say yes to the things people offer you. Who knows maybe we will feel brave enough to head back there and see her again in summer. If it meant doing another whale watch even without her private boat I'd be more than up for revisiting Kairkoura because even after a day we've fallen in love with this little town.Read more