Dolphin Encounter Update May 2010
18/06/10
Welcome to the Dolphin Encounter® update for May 2010.
The month of May saw a continuation of the glorious autumn weather we had been experiencing for the past couple of months, however it did not last through the entire month. The brilliant sunny weather came to a sudden halt around the 25th May when we were battered by two consecutive storms. Massive southerlies battered the Kaikoura coastline with huge seas whilst rain deposited large amounts into our rivers and snow was dropped onto the Seaward Kaikoura Mountains. As a result of this bad weather we had to cancel 8 operational days and 5 individual trips for the month.
At the beginning of the month, the dolphins were located in areas ranging from the just off South Bay, Goose Bay and Black Rock, with shortened travel times up to 30 minutes. Pod sizes have ranged from 50-400 individuals. We’ve seen some amazing interactions between swimmers and the duskies, no doubt due to the fact that the dolphins have been located further offshore this month and in clearer water. Clearer water certainly appears to be the duskies preferred habitat as once the storms hit later in the month the muddy water from the rivers saw our clear water disappear, the dolphins moved out also.
The water temperature is slowly dropping now ranging from 13-14°C, but with warm wetsuits, hot showers and delicious hot chocolate, there’s not too much to complain about.
As well as some interesting interactions with the duskies, we’ve also had a few swims with a difference due to interest being shown by the New Zealand white-capped albatross on several occasions. These birds are one of the smaller of the albatross species and have been keen enough to land right in amongst the swimmers during our swims, certainly giving them a bird’s eye view of these magnificent birds.
Sightings of other marine mammals this month have been of our beautiful orca. It’s unusual at this time of year to sight orca, as they seem to disappear for our winter months before resurfacing around November again. So we were exceptionally lucky not only to swim with the duskies, but to have an incredible view of 2 male orca that surfaced as we were heading for home. As with all our orca sightings, we take photos of the dorsal fin for identification and send it off to our researchers. One of the males had a very distinctive dorsal fin that leans over to one side whilst the other had a scar across the centre of his fin, so we’re hoping to receive some information on them shortly.
So, we are obviously hoping for this weather to pass and the poor visibility in our waters to clear up so we can continue interacting with our wonderful duskies.
Till next time...........
Translation in Japanese