A Dip in the Pacific

Now lets see... what would be a good thing to keep me occupied on a Thursday afternoon in New Zealand? I know! How about swimming with the smallest, rarest dolphins in the world? That should do.

I have already posted the photos on Facebook for those interested. Turns out that doing uploads in little bits is much less arduous than large lumps of data. Also, New Zealand's extensive wireless internet network is most convenient.

Anyway, back to dolphins- I randomly signed up for this tour yesterday after stopping at the info center to ask about good hikes. It was only $125 which is pretty decent and well within my limited budget. I showed up at the wharf, not sure what to expect- the brochure said that you had to pay extra for a wetsuit, but since it was getting mighty late in the season, we got them for free (thank god). After a quick ecology lesson, we pushed off into Akaroa harbour. For a while it looked like we weren't going to see anything but all of a sudden someone spotted a fin. The skipper cut the engine and once it was determined that they weren't going to take off on us, we all piled out of the boat into the middle of the ocean. At least that is what it seemed like- we were probably only about a kilometer out to sea, but for a landlubber like myself, that may as well be 50km. The wetsuit helped my swimming skills considerably so I was able to ignore the fact that I had no idea how many fathoms of water flowed below me. The temperature distracted me anyway and I treaded water with gusto just to keep warm until the water in the wetsuit warmed up to body temperature.

The guide gave me to small rocks to use in the water. I thought it was going to be a calming technique or something because I had mentioned that I wasn't the strongest swimmer, but he said that the dolphins liked the sound it made when you hit them together underwater. Everyone else had fancy waterproof cameras so that was probably why I got the job. It ended up being the best job ever because the dolphins, whenever they swam by all hung around me. We would go several minutes, trying not to swallow the freezing ocean water that splashed by in the swells and then all of a sudden a few dolphins would swoop by, usually right past me. One tried a collision course and then dived below me at the last minute. The spot we stopped at wasn't really busy and everyone was getting tired so the guide called us all in. As we headed back, a bunch more were spotted- only half of us got back in, but this spot ended up being twice as awesome, with the dolphins leaping out of the water and swerving in between the 5 of us who chose to go back in. The BEST $125 I have ever spent, even considering I was probably borderline hypothermic by the time we got back to shore. Praise the lord for hot showers and cappuccino.