The Dolphins Like Me!

We had to wake up early again the next morning, but not TOO early so we were almost relishing it because of every other morning, but it didn’t matter either way as it was time for our dolphin swim with the Hector’s Dolphins – the smallest and most rare species of dolphin. They only live here in NZ, and they are as endangered as the Giant Panda. To even get a spot in the dolphin swim with this one company is difficult as they have very strict regulations on the time, and how many swimmers there are in the water to even have the opportunity.

It was still rainy and messy, but we were about to get wet anyway (and the dolphins don’t care), so we weren’t worried about that, just that we’d get a great encounter with them.

When we got to the pier everyone changed into their wetsuits (two boats, 8 people per boat), and they were 5 mm suits, which gives a clue as to how cold the water is (this is a THICK wetsuit)! We quickly got onto the boats and headed out of the harbor, everyone looking for the dolphins (they can be anywhere, in any kind of pod size from 2 to 10+). We didn’t see them in the harbor so we kept going towards the ocean, but the skipper DID point out two separate blue penguins that were just swimming along at the surface!

I was so excited – these penguins are small and so sweet looking (much the same size as Napoleon, one of my stuffed penguins when I was younger as these have long been a favorite animal of mine), and I’d never seen a penguin in the wild before!

Then we got out to the mouth of the harbor – waves were bigger and choppier, it was raining crazy, cliffs on both sides with waves crashing against the shore (don’t worry, it’s a big harbor so no danger for us here), and we spotted two mothers and their calves (melt your heart so adorable – the calves were 2-inches-away-shadows and tiny replicas of their mothers).

We can’t swim with them, so we kept looking around, and finally about 5 minutes later, a small pod of 3 was spotted, so the skipper set the boat to idle. Now, even when dolphins are seen as prospective swimming partners, they don’t send us into the water unless those dolphins act curious about the boat, and they approach US. I guess they’ve learned after much experience that it’s pointless to unload everyone if the dolphins aren’t in the right mood, so after we (the boat) were able to hold their attention for another 5 minutes, we all quickly jumped into the water (VERY excited).

And thank goodness I was excited, because although I was prepared for cold water, I wasn’t quite prepared for JUST how cold it would be… even in the wetsuit it was utterly take-your-breath-away cold, the kind that makes you make a “ooh-ooh” sound every time you exhale as you’re fiercely doggy-paddling to pretend like there is something you can do to get warm, LOL! And don’t forget – it’s the dead of summer in NZ, so imagine how cold winter would be!

As I was jumping in (the 2^nd in – you KNOW I was up front), the girl handed me two rocks to make noise with under water. We were encouraged in the briefing to sing, squeal, chatter, etc. and basically do anything we could think of to make ourselves interesting to the dolphins. We were also told not to be within a few yards of each other, as the dolphins work off of sonar and would assume a group of 2-3 people a few feet apart was some big sea monster with lots of legs (that made me laugh – makes sense, though?), so there were quite a few guidelines to think of in order to make sure we could maximize our experience (and you know me, I was just HOPING that everyone paid attention so I didn’t have to carry the group on all of this important stuff, haha).

So I’m convinced I’m going to freeze to death, but all of a sudden it doesn’t matter because as I’m swimming out, they’re swimming around us! It was beyond amazing! You can see the gray under water when they’re getting close, and of course they breach out to breathe and check us out, and I started hammering the rocks together in a Morse code type pattern (meaning, a non-pattern at all). I clicked fast, went slow, and as everyone was getting in the water the spotters were telling us where they were, because MORE WERE COMING!

Pretty soon we had around 10 dolphins swimming all around our very big circle, in between us, and through the circle. Turns out they loved me… not just because I had the rocks (though I’m aware that obviously had something to do with it), but I think also because I was making high pitch squeal noises and rolling r’s under water. Yes – this would have been hilarious to catch on film, because although we had masks and snorkels, it’s not clear enough to really see underwater and the waves were so high anyway, so it was easier to make the noise, snarf some salt water (where you accidentally suck it in), get the water out, and start noise-making all over again.

The other people saw that I was getting a lot of close encounter attention, so pretty soon everyone was making the same noises I was making, but the dolphins weren’t fooled… the spotter girl saw the same thing so she told me to come out to the middle of the circle so the dolphins would have to swim by others on their way to and from me. It really was the coolest thing ever… some would zoom past so quickly, and a few others swam around me. One even started to spin around me (a very playful maneuver that we were told to imitate), so I started to spin madly with it in efforts to keep it there with me.

I could have reached out and touched them countless times, (of course that’s a no-no), and was loving the experience. I was helping spot for Curt too since he had the camera, and we were laughing and having such a great time. All in all we got about 40 minutes of playing and swimming with the dolphins, which the guides said was a fantastic encounter. We had about 5-10 dolphins with us the entire time, and we’re only allowed to be in the water with them for a max of 45 minutes, so by their terms, it was a perfect encounter (in both numbers and the time they stayed with us it’s unusual, so I felt SO LUCKY)!

There was one time about halfway into our swim, where it hit me (like a cold wave, oh wait, that was real), that there could very well be great white sharks in these waters... it was cold enough, south enough, and we were making a BUNCH of noise that would be bound to attract curious predators.... my blood ran cold (oh wait, it already was, but you know), and I started to edge my way closer to the group and boat... after pep talking myself, I figured there was no way on earth the dolphins would be hanging out with us if there was one of them around, so I felt safe as long as they continued playing with us. Oh geez... praise God, we made it! :-)

Curt didn’t get a single picture, but it was ok… his lense was having trouble focusing because of the water clarity and how fast the dolphins were, but we tried! Talk about fun, though, man… it didn’t matter that after we came in off the boat, that I felt like I’d never be warm again! LOL – they had hot chocolate waiting for us, which helped immensely, but 30 minutes later (and still warmer even if it didn’t feel like it), when we showered at the pier (they’re provided when you take off your wetsuits, etc.), my hands were in immense pain from the contrast!

We got cleaned up, kept reliving the morning, caught some lunch, and got on the road to Lake Tekapo, which was a 3-hour drive. The drive was interesting, and beautiful despite the rain… lots of farms, and into the mountains. It looks like Colorado or Wyoming here – and smells like it, too. We even happened upon a roadside restaurant that had real road signs that said “Driver Reviver 300 km, FREE” with a picture of a coffee mug. Since we needed to use the restroom anyway, we stopped to see what this was all about, and it’s true – the driver gets a free cup of coffee! It was really cool, actually… I think it’s a great idea, and a win-win for everyone as we bought a snack and a chai latte for me, and it probably helps keep people safe along this busy stretch of road!

When we arrived at the Lake around 5ish, we were spellbound with its beauty. The lake is enormous (you’d forget it wasn’t the ocean), and a bright blue as it’s a glacier lake (full of glacial silt that gives it its color). The Church of the Good Shepherd is right there on the edge – an old church that is tiny and is a confirmation of what I felt when we first got here… this is a place where your soul can heal.

We were excited when we checked into our cottage – EVERY place here had been booked, and out of desperation (2 days before we left to come on this trip), Curt called the nicest place here asking for advice and just double-checking they hadn’t had a cancellation. Turns out the lady said her friend had just opened her cottage and she could book it through their place since it wasn’t online, so we ended up at Roz’s cottage. Literally a 2-minute walk to the lake and the Church – SCORE! We also have this whole working house to ourselves…

After roaming and taking pics of the area (we saw a hedgehog out and about – it was awesome!), we ate dinner at a local pizza joint (this time we were warned when checking in of the early dinner rule) which was delicious, and came home to start a nice fire in the stove (it’s chilly here!) and settled in to watch a movie while I caught up on blog posts…

Bliss!