One of the many picturesque views from Kaikoura
I unzipped the tent doors and peeped outside. It was almost as if I had forgot where we were. The funny thing about camping in a tent is that you always sleep in the same 'room' but each day it's in a different location. Today I was looking at snow capped mountains in the distance. Ali and I quickly showered before setting off on a short drive to our destination. En route we passed a sign directing us to a possum wool clothing store. I suddenly remembered what our friend Delphi had to say about her marvelous possum wool socks in Siberia. Thinking it would be worth a look inside I told Ali to pull over and stop the car. I was tempted to buy a pair of socks but decided not to in the end. Ali on the other hand just couldn't resist purchasing a pair of possum wool nipple warmers. The next time we stopped the car is was to visit a few of the locals. Seals actually. It was nice to see them in the wild for a change as supposed to in a zoo. I was however slightly uncomfortable watching them move. They seem to exhaust themselves very quickly by moving only a short distance with what I can only describe as the worst limbs for manouvering on land. They eventually give up after managing to haul themselves all of about 1 meter. We took a few pictures then continued onwards to our final destination.
An exhausted seal lying on the rocks
"Ok ladies and gentlemen" the girl with the microphone announced as she held a finger to her ear, "A giant sperm whale has just been sighted a mile away and has been on the surface for 5 minutes. If we're lucky, we'll catch him before he dives back under". At that point our boat sped off into even deeper territories of the Pacific Ocean leaving everyone onboard full of suspense and excitement. Or being sick. It would be an understatement to say that the sea was rough. It was extremely hard going even for the tough ones who apparently never get sea sick. The girl with the microphone proceeded to tell us exactly how deep the water was below us and directed our attention to the screen above her head. It showed a cross section of the ocean we were traveling on and illustrated current water depth by indicating how much of the empire state building you could (hypothetically, obviously) fit between us and the sea bed. Within seconds we jumped from the 7th storey to 4 and a half full empire state's stacked on top of each other. Evidently we had just traveled over a very large underwater cliff. The perfect depth to catch a glimpse of a giant sperm whale.
The tail of a giant sperm whale
These whales were as big as our boat and could dive to great depths (several empire state buildings if necessary) looking for food. It's when they finally surface for air that we can see them, albeit only a very small part. Microphone-girl advised us that the best way to spot a whale from a distance is to look out for the blow of water from it's head. She also begged us not to shout "there she blows" which for her, is obviously an extremely tired joke. "Ok everone, he's on the left side of the boat. Please make your way safely..." the entire group hurried, scrambled and almost fell out of the exit to ensure a good view. It was exciting stuff to say the least and we did get to see one of the biggest mammals on earth. So big in fact that an average heart of a sperm whale weighs 277 pounds (that's about the weight of two adult humans).
A rush of energy engulfed the entire boat every time there was a "sighting" and you could see other passengers diligently monitoring the ocean. Our boat was one of three vessels in the vicinity and a helicopter constantly flew around above us to sight whales and communicate their findings to the ships below. Special underwater sound devices where also used to detect the sound of whales approaching. Apparently different whales make different sounds. Some could easily deafen you or worse as the Microphone-girl described. She told us about a story of a man who went scuba diving. He was unfortunate enough to hear the sound of a whale even over mile away! It wasn't until he visited the hospital when he discovered what damage had been done to his internal organs. The intense 180 decibel waves of sound successfully managed to burst his eardrums and make many of his internal organs bleed within. He of course died soon after his examination. That's how whales stunn their prey apparently.
Dolphins was next on the menu. So friendly and playful. They followed our boat with so much enthusuasm and energy that we were all quite taken by it. Pairs of them jumped out the water time and time again. There was lots of them. I didn't know where to look, where to focus, wondering which one was going to do something next. Unfortunately they were so bloody quick that I couldn't even get a very good picture of them. It's the memory that counts though. Several Wandering Albatross also occasionally drifted by to say hi. The largest of the albatrosses boasts a wingspan measuring almost 3.5 m. Hard to believe but true! Today in fact was all about unbelievable sights and I doubt I'll forget them anytime soon.
