Ginger Without Borders

The morning we were to watch the giant sperm whale dawned with a beautiful blue but windy sky. Our first hint shoud have been when Clive, the hotel owner/chief, mentioned that it might be too rough for the catamarans. As we were loading up the car, he came out to tell us that the 7:45am departure had been cancelled. Always hopeful, we went to the Whale Watch center to check in.

The desk lady told us our 10:30am sailing had been cancelled due to rough conditions but there was still a 3:00pm that might go. As a precaution, we also asked to be listed on the 11:00am sailing the next morning. With some time on our hands, we drove out to the point where the map indicated there was a seal colony. We hoped to see a couple of fur seals. We had seen a few on the rocks just south of our hotel when we were driving in from Christchurch. I am not sure what I expected, but when we got to the carpark, the point was this vast shelf of white rock, extending out from the cliffs.

Dawn was still nursing her cold and didn’t want to risk the wind, so she stayed in the car to take a nap. At the rocks on the end of that shelf were two fur seals, just feet away from a group of tourists (including me). They were not just lying in the sun, but moved around and occasionally barked at each other.

It appeared to me that there were more seals further down the cliff and my binoculars confirmed that, so I followed a path at the foot of the cliffs to another set of white rocks. The area was only marked by a couple of signs asking folks to stay out of the gull nesting areas. There were no rangers anywhere (unlike the seal colony in Kangaroo Island).

There were three or four gull nesting sites as big as the one in the picture along the front of the rocks. Behind the gulls, there must have been over a hundred fur seals on the rocks. Unlike the other seals we have seen so far on this adventure, these were very active. There were juvenile seals fighting each other in the water and on the rocks, there were seals playing in the quiet bays among the rocks and there were quite a few doing what most seals do durings the day – sunning themselves on the rocks. But these would get up and move around to get a better spot.

So I took some pictures and headed back to the car to get Dawn. We went back around the cliff and spent at least an hour just watching all the seal antics. When we returned to the Whale Watch center, all sailings had been cancelled due to the stormy waters out where the whales live. The winds on shore had calmed quite a bit and the sun was still as bright as in the morning.

The next morning was calm and Colin assured us at breakfast that the Whale Watch would sail that day. So we were back at the Center for the 11:00am sailing. The desk confirmed that the catamarans were sailing but with strong seasickness warnings. Dawn never gets sick but I have been seasick many times. So I went to the car to get the pressure bands for my wrists. Dawn and I both also took seasickness prevention pills. Reece had a bad reaction to the ear patch on our one cruise, so I have stopped using those. While we waited for the safety briefing to begin, we sat outside and watched a school of dusky dolpins jump around the bay.

Whale Watch Kaikoura is owned by the indenous Maori of Kaikoura. They started with an idea to promote the local giant sperm whales and an inflatable boat in 1987. They now have four specially designed ecofriendly catamarans and have built their own port. They have won multiple awards for their nature-based tourism and turned Kaikoura into a major NZ tourist spot. And the Maori supplied food to the community when the eartquake cut the town off from the rest of NZ.

About twenty minutes out, we passed a huge school of dusky dophlins. They are small and stocky and acrobatic. The ones closer to the shore had been occasionally jumping out of the water. This whole school was being acrobatic – one turned a complete flip out of the water. It is mating season, so the boat was not permitted to stop and view the dolphins under NZ rules. Then the captain headed out to deep sea on the shelf of the Kakouri Canyon at full speed. The swells were 2-3 feet and Dawn and I believe we caught air over several of those swells. The spray was drenching the sides of the catamaran. The passengers were all instruted to stay in our seats. Then when our view looked like the picture in the briefiing room, the captain cut the engine stopped and got out a listening device. While the catamaran rolled in the swells (and several folks got quite seasick), she would listen and move the boat for a few minutes and then repeat. After about 45 minutes, she stopped hearing the whale’s clicks, which indicated he (the whales here are all male – the females stay at the equator) woud surface. The crew spotted him and we caght a quick sighting of his long body on the surface. Almost immediately (I did not even have time to get out the camera), his dorsal fin came up and he disappeared into the sea.

The crew and captain apologized but it would be another 45 minutes or more before he would return to the surface. It is unusual for a giant to immediately dive after surfacing, but the crew speculated that yesterday was so rough that it had been a bad day for eating. When the whales are hungry, they do not rest on the surface. We were given an 80% refund because we did not get the promised encounter with the whale. The Maori run a very professional operation.

I will not try again however. I saw the giant tail even if I didn’t get a picture, so my lust to see the giant sperm whale has been satisfied. Dawn will probably make the effort again, but she doesn’t get seasick. I barely made it back to land in time for my stomach to settle before we began our three and a half hour drive to Nelson.

PS., Lena, I will not be spending any more of your inheritance searching for a whale. Your Mom may. Mom is feeling better and taking a lot of good pictures as we speed to Nelson before the sun sets. I should be good for one more night.