This has to be two of the most amazing days we have had in New Zealand! We rocked up to Kaikoura - which means to eat crayfish in Maori - and had lunch in a small cafe overlooking the ocean sparkling in the sunlight! Beautiful! This cafe turned out to be the encounter cafe for swimming with dolphins so after lunch we booked a swimming with dolphins encounter for the morning, not really too sure what it was all about! Straight after we headed to the whale watch site to hopefully make a whale watching session in the afternoon, luck was with us as we just made it to the half one and final session of the day! Before we knew it and a short safety brief later we were on the boat being given several lectures on the marine species and layout of the waters. The marine life is so diverse in Kaikoura because there is a canyon system below going up to 2100 meters below sea level! We were told we could see any species of whale today from the rare blue whale to sperm whale to orca which is actually a dolphin and just eats whales or just about anything else! We were also told about the birds in the area including two species of albatross which we saw quite frequently, the wandering and royal albatross and the vultures of the sea the giant petrel! I knew we were whale watching but did I believe we would find a whale.. An hour or so after leaving port and stopping and starting to track this whale with a sonar, he appeared to take a breath and WOW! A sperm whale just sat about 20m from the boat blowing water up into the air whilst catching his breath - he has to breath because whales are mammals! After a few minutes the guide announced he was about to dive and we got the fantastic sight of his tail going up into the air before leaving us to go back into the depths of the ocean! What a magnificent creature :) It was then time to head back and we bumped into some albatrosses chilling out in the ocean!

When we got back the guide told us about a seal colony in the area so we followed the signs and found a mum and two pups on the rocks and walked down to get some shots. It was fun watching the mischievous pups sneaking off whilst the mum slept. As we left the rocks a few people started calling us and to our surprise we were about to stand on three seals sat by the car park camouflaged with the rocks! We jumped back and took a wide berth round them! When we got to the Top 10 we headed to the hot tub in the spa to heat up after a memorable day!

We woke first thing to go on our dolphin encounter donning swim suits and sun tan lotion we headed to the departure point. Here we were kitted in wet suits, wet jackets, wet socks, snorkels, masks, flippers and wet hats! After kitting up a short brief on safety and not to be disappointed if the dolphins didn't want to play or interact! The best ways to get their attention was to sing / make noise, turn round with them or dive! We were also told they are wild dolphins and it being an open ocean experience, still we didn't know what to expect - perhaps three or four dolphins we would be swimming near. On the boat it took 20minutes to get to the dolphins as there was a research group with them! The dusky dolphins are dark on top and white below and swim in the pods as a social activity! We were also told to my horror we were in even if orcas were present! Ahhhh! And we would know as the dolphins would be swimming fast, changing direction and acting uneasy! We got to the dolphins and sat at the back of the boat ready to snorkel and WOW WOW WOW!!! We were told there were about 300 dolphins plus! The sea was alive with fins!!! Before we had time to take it in we were in the water and two dolphins had already swam underneath me! My heart went it was amazing! Before I could see where Martin was two flippers appeared and he was already going for their attention! I swam off making noises literally surrounded by dolphins until one wanted to play and we swam round and round till I couldn't keep up and he swam off!!!! We had our dives in all each just as amazing and I even managed to spin and dive with one - Martin the same. To put it into context we may have ones attention but there are still the other 300 swimming around you at the same time! After warming up and a hot chocolate we had a chance to take some photos! We have millions and got one jumping finally - our camera is slow! A Japanese guy by me had ten photos before ours took one! On the way back more albatross on the water and we got some good photos! What an amazing morning and day in Kaikoura! Something we will never forget!