New Zealand
From Stephen’s travel diary
New Zealand is a great place to see many different types of dolphins.
On the Northern island the best place to go is the Bay of Islands. When you arrive you will notice how this town revolves around its dolphins. We decided to use the main company here “Fullers” and we are looking for bottle nose dolphins.
We are out for six hours with no luck, although we can came again tomorrow for free because we didn’t see dolphins today, but we decide to head to the South Island which is better known for seeing dolphins.
From Wellington we drive onto a car ferry to go to the South island, then we drove over to the Eastern side of the island to a place called Kaikoura – well known for its dolphin and whale watching.
We have decided to go with a company called “Dolphin Encounter Kaikoura N.Z." because they focus on the "duski" dolphin a small, agile dolphin and not the “Hector” dolphin a small and endangered dolphin. This company was also one of the first dolphin swim companies in New Zealand.
Our tour left early morning and headed away from the coast. On the way we were briefed on what to expect and a talk on the sustainability of the dolphins in this area.
About one hour out we came across a very large pod of duski dolphins 100-120 strong moving along side us. The dolphins were leaping as if to get a better look at us.
Once in the water you find the dolphins will keep their distance. This encounter in the water was only brief but the view from the vessel was excellent.
Back on land we head to “Milford Sounds” another dolphin swim and wilderness area. On the way South the roads become very icy because of a high over the South Island for 10 days, so instead of going all the way to Milford Sounds it was decided to play in the snow around Queenstown instead. A bonus if you wish to visit in winter but drive very carefully.
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