Whales

Trip Start Apr 24, 2007
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Trip End Jul 17, 2007


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Flag of New Zealand  ,
Sunday, May 20, 2007

Today we caught the Tranzcoastal train from Christchurch to Kaikoura , which takes about 3 hours. The coastal views were quite spectacular, you could see Fur Seals on one side and mountains on the other.

We checked in at 'The Whale Weigh Station' for our 11.00 boat trip to hunt for whales. About 10 minutes out from shore I saw a large white fin which I'm told was a Minke whale (could have been an upside-down surfboard for all I know!).

We then spent over an hour with the boat stopping infrequently so that they could stick a listening device (a sonar dish on a broom) into the water to track for whale activity. Whilst it looked a bit weird, it obviously worked. We arrived at a spot in the middle of the ocean just as a large male Sperm Whale surfaced for air 01 View of coast from whale watching boat
01 View of coast from whale watching boat
 . Thankfully this particular species stays on the surface for about 10 minutes or so which meant that we got plenty of viewing time before watching him bring up his enormous tail and head back underwater.

Later we manged to catch about 5 minutes of another Sperm Whale before he dived.

On the way back we found a large pod of the local Dusky Dolphins who proceeded to have a whale of a time (no pun intended) jumping and playing around our boat.

All too soon we had to return to shore.

We then caught the train back to Christchurch to end a long day that started with an alarm at 5 am (who said this was a holiday).
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