The Kaikaura Canyon

Sunday 21st & Monday 22nd January

The reason why we were so anxious to stopover for two nights in Kaikoura is so that we could then spend a whole day in this very special seaside township, as Kaikoura is renowned as one of the world’s leading destinations to view marine mammals and seabirds in their natural environment.

The ecological richness of Kaikoura has to do with its peculiar underwater topography. Just offshore, the continental shelf drops rapidly into the Kaikoura Canyon, a 60 km-long U-shaped trench that begins within 500 m of the gravel beach near Goose Bay and quickly drops to a 1600 metre-deep abyss. This is a Fiordland kind of landscape, only underwater, and over it two oceanic rivers meet: a warm current from the East Cape and a colder one from Southland. The resultant mixing of the waters is associated with an upwelling of deep-ocean nutrients that supports a cornucopia of marine life, ranging from plankton and krill to dolphins and whales. In fact, the whole area is just teaming with marine life.

So we set our alarm clocks for a 5:00am and are on our way, before daybreak, to the Whale Watch Centre just around the corner from our digs by six o’clock in the morning, where ...

... we board the ‘Tohora’

Very soon we’re 2 km offshore and catch the first rays of this Sunday morning’s sunshine.

After a half an hour or so we spot our first – but not the only (see the afternoon’s account) – whale of the day; a male Giant Sperm Whale basking on the surface waiting to dive …

... which it does after around another 15 minutes wait ...

… and we'e privileged to see the ‘classic’ tail fluke rise and slowly it sinks to the depths.

Fortunately I captured the whole event on my camcorder. I’ll try and work the footage into another short video movie at some future time. This might not be until my return to the UK in mid-April.

Towards lunchtime we’re back on dry land; make some Skype telecons in a high street internet café

Then grab an ‘All Day’ brekkie, before we embark upon the afternoon’s main event, which is another trip offshore to go “Swimming with Dolphins”.

It’s mid-afternoon and we’re heading south down the coast in search of our first pod of dolphins.

Then a family of Orca (Killer Whales) approach and follow the boat for a couple of nautical miles.

Glad I’m not entering the water today! …

… unlike some others, one of whom I know – quite well!

Could be a beached whale, trying to get back to its natural environment.. :o)

Our sister vessel, the ‘Delphinidae’, spots a pod of around 200 Dusky Dolphins inshore from our position and alerts our skipper of the fact. Within a couple of minutes we speed to the same location and all the swimmers, from both boats, enter the water on hearing the signal of a sharp blast of a claxon

'Dusky' Dolphins abound



It’s been another fascinating day – and unique in many ways

Monday 22nd January

Another early morning start (for us :o), and we’re on the road by 08:00am and head up the coast to Picton to in order catch our return ferry to Wellington, North Island, which departs from the Ferry Port at 1:15pm.

We deliberately left ‘The Garden Shed’ an hour or so earlier than necessary so that I could capture some more ‘on-board’ video footage of the coastal scenery between Kaikoura and Blenheim Township, which I recall from last year, is particularly impressive … and .. It’s a Beautiful Day

I soon have more the enough footage to make another short movie. At least I’ll have something to keep me occupied for a few days after Ellen’s return flight has taken off from Auckland Int’nl Airport – before I hit the road again for a couple of months, this time entirely on my own.

We arrive in Picton at 11:20am – 55 minutes before we need to check-in at the Interisland ferry terminal. Just in time, in fact, to grab some more ‘decent grub’ … but I’m simply too embarrassed to take another picture of the said healthy fry-ups!

We look out from our café table just as the ferry backs-in and docks at the terminal.

Good timing

We are on our way back to North Island.

See you again South Island … very soon ;o)

The crossing was windy – from the west – and therefore rough; in fact, the port side open decks were closed to the public as a result.

We dock in Wellington 15 minutes late and head straight for our pre-arranged accommodation … guess where?

… go see Sunday's - Jan 7th 2007 - entry for a clue .. ;o)