Kaikoura, New Zealand – Swimming with dolphins

When I heard about swimming with dolphins, my first perception was that of the artificial experiences of Florida’s parks, where you pay a huge sum of money to jump in a pool with trained and captive dolphins. Reading on however, I was intrigued to see that the experience on offer in New Zealand was very different, and so took the chance to do this when we passed through the small town of Kaikoura, around an hour’s drive north of Christchurch.

For a start, we didn’t get any guarantee that we would see dolphins at all. The boat took us out into the ocean for around an hour, to a point where the crew were confident they saw regular dolphin sightings. It was already a result for us to get out into the ocean, as pretty much every other water related activity we’d planned in NZ had got called off, due to wind, rain or both.

Sure enough, after a few moments the first dolphins started appearing around us, and within 5 minutes as we were excitedly putting on our snorkel gear and getting ready to jump in there must have been 10 or so dolphins within 100 metres of the boat. It seemed like they had as much of a routine as the boat company did.

Once in the water, we paddled out to our own patch of water, away from each other. Very soon a dolphin made a bee-line for me and started to circle me. It swam in slow wide circles at first, and I kept up with it, spinning around with my head under water watching this playful companion dance. After a while the dolphin accelerated its motion, I was dizzy and unable to match its agility, and with a final dive underneath me it was gone.

We enjoyed several of these encounters, and each was equally mesmerising. Our guides suggested we made dolphin type noises to attract them, and it was only when I stepped out from the water and heard the others from our boat making these random squeals through their snorkels that I realised that these noises were not for the dolphins at all, but for the amusement of the crew.

A highly recommended experience, it’s great to interact with creatures in the wild where they set the agenda for the encounter. I read that many other parts of the world offer this adventure, and next time I might choose somewhere in warmer waters! Although several years on, I don’t remember the cold but I do still think fondly back to the circling dolphins that played with me.