Dolphin Encounter Update April 2010
28/05/10
Welcome to the Dolphin Encounter® update for April 2010.
The weather this month has been absolutely fantastic with lots of sunny autumn days and only the odd southerly storm bringing snow to the Seaward Kaikoura Mountains; all of which adds to the scenic backdrop.
The dolphins have been located close to South Bay harbour this month with shortened travel times ranging between 5-25 minutes. They’ve been located in areas such as the Kahutara, Punchbowl and Barney’s rock. Pod numbers have also varied from 100-500 individuals.
Once again the dolphins have been good to us, close to shore, an their abundance has been prolific. All this adds up to some wonderful interaction with many of our tours only having to do one long drop (swim) with the duslies.
This month we had the occasional sighting of our black dusky dolphin that has been seen performing some great acrobatics as well as interacting with swimmers. We have also had a pod of 20-30 common dolphins with the duskies who generally race around chasing one another, rather than being interested in our swimmers. We’ve also been lucky enough to see Hector's dolphins and sometimes have been able to see all 3 types of dolphin during the same tour. The Hector's can be very shy, but on occasion have stopped to play with people, following in the duskies footsteps.
We had a phenomenal viewing of duskies feeding during one tour. The duskies foraging strategy in Kaikoura is very different to the rest of the country due to the Kaikoura Canyon. Here, the duskies have learnt that by becoming a nocturnal hunter, they can access their favourite food at much shallower depths compared to during the day. This is due to their food migrating towards the surface of the ocean throughout the night. For this reason, it is rare to view any daytime feeding.
Our initial sighting of dolphins turned into a huge wildlife extravaganza and a rare insight into dusky feeding strategies. On arriving at the dolphin’s location, we were met with much activity, dolphins, albatross and other seabirds were busy feeding on a tight bait ball of fish. The type of fish looked to be red cod and were clearly of the highly desired variety as we observed the dolphins co-operatively feeding, working together to scare the fish into a tight ball and pick off individual fish at their leisure. As the dolphins kept the bait ball together, the albatross took advantage of gorging themselves on the fish frightened towards the surface. We watched astonished as a white-capped albatross frantically caught and ate 14 fish before no doubt becoming over-full!
Our swimmers were mesmerized not only by these inquisitive dolphins, but also by the games the dolphins played. One swimmer commented on the fact that they’d seen a dolphin catch a fish then start to dive deeper being chased by other dolphins. They wondered why these dolphins bothered chasing the dusky when there was such an abundance of food for them nearby….maybe it was all a game to them at that stage?!
Towards the end of the month as the boats were searching for the duskies they came across an incidental sighting of 2 majestic blue whales. This was the first time that blue whales had been sighted in Kaikoura this season. These rare and elusive creatures are the largest mammals in the world and can grow up to 30m in length, clearly much bigger than our boats.
We had some excitement over Easter with Peter Jackson and his family visiting Kaikoura and opting to swim with the dolphins. I’m sure the duskies enjoyed his worldwide fame and maybe one day we’ll see the duskies at the movies!!!!
The water temperature has been variable this month ranging from 14-16°C and swimmers are definitely enjoying the hot water showers at the end of their swims.
With the conclusion of daylight savings, our tour times were able to revert back to normal check-in times. Towards the end of the month however as our busy summer season came to an end, our 5.30am tours ceased. We are now operating just 2 tours a day at 8.30am and 12.30pm. So, we hope for a continuation of our late “Indian summer” and are looking forward to updating you with all our news next month.
Till next time...........
Translation in Japanese