Editor Pick
Whale watching with Whale Watch Kaikoura
- January 3, 2001
- Rated 4 of 5 by
Quan from Seattle, Washington
To start out your whalewatching experience, you are shown a 10 minutes video about the Kaikoura peninsula, the ecosystem, and the sperm whale, which we were most likely to encounter. We were given wrist bands, which used acupressure to control seasickness. When that was over, we were fidgeting around when it was announced that the 1:30pm was on. We were driven from the center of town a couple of miles to the vessel dock. I can remember that our vessel's name was Uruao.
Words cannot describe the whale watching experience for me. Though we were warned that some tours did not uncover whales, we were very optimistic. Barely five minutes after taking off, we saw a couple of other boats, along with a helicopter, rushing to the same point a bit away, and we saw ours making a beeline towards the same point. Apparently, each of Whale Watch Kaikoura's boat is equipped with underwater microphones. When one picks up the sound of whales beneath the water surface, it signals to other Whale Watch boats in the area. Although we converge at the same point, we stay fairly far away from each other. In the beginning, all I can make out is what seems like a lumpy log of brown matter that is the sperm whale at rest. Then suddenly, a jet of water spouts off the sperm whale, and it starts to dive. I finally understood why everyone describes the whale as majestic.
We saw five whales in the span of two hours, along with several schools of dolphins dancing around our boat. We also encountered a whale that followed our boat for a while, as well as sea lions. It was a great adventure.
From journal Kaikoura, New Zealand - gorgeous whale watching ce