Whale Watching
Our second day trip from Christchurch was to drive up the coast to the little whaling town on Kaikora. Instead of killing whales, ecotourism has taken over and now there are boats to spot the whales that pass through this part of the world.
The most common whale to be seen is the Sperm Whale, but there are also other species that come through occasionally, including the massive Blue Whale.
Needless to say my lovely wife and I was pretty excited. And there was no disappointment. We got taken out a few miles into the fairly rough seas of the shore. There the crew listened on the hydrophones, searching for the sperm whales as the fed in the depths off the continental shelf. After about 20 minutes of searching we came across a sperm whale breathing on the surface. It was magnificent. What an amazing creature. So large, and so graceful. What a privilege it was to be so close.
After a few minutes, this first whale dived, and we were back to searching. Soon we came across a second whale, and after that had dived with an amazing tail show, we came across another…. It was an amazing experience. Truly amazing.
