This beautiful creature is the Hector's dolphin - one of the world's smallest cetaceans and found in only a few places in New Zealand and considered endangered. Fortunately they are plentiful in Akaroa Harbour, and you can go out on boats to meet them and even try and swim with them!
So we set out around Bank's Peninsula, full of wonderful natural beauty:
Above is Akaroa Harbour - originally a French colony for a few years...
The area is known for its cheese-making
And used to be known for its whaling! These are the pots used to boil the blubber...
The town of Akaroa is small and quaint, a popular daytrip/weekend destination for Christchurchers.
So we gamely donned our wetsuits and headed out on our rather over powered boat!
For a while it was a game of 'spot the dolphin':
But some were inquisitive enough to get really close:
This fishing boat seemed to be attracting a few as well!
Once the dolphins were close, we all clambered into the water and tried to encourage the dolphins closer by 'singing' through our snorkels and making tapping sounds:
Unfortunately our 'in water' photos are on our underwater camera and the film's only half done so we'll have to leave those for another day. Those frustrating days of film cameras!
So I'll leave you with another cute pic from today instead:
2 comments:
Hello both, I can see you're having a great time, and the dolphins close up - how amazing was it? I'm looking forward to seeing your underwater pictures. xxx Mum
We're looking forward to seeing the underwater pics too - difficult to photograph speeding dolphins though so they may all be rubbish!
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