We then went across the street to buy a breakfast. We got mountain tops, which are like little pot pies topped with a mound of twice baked mashed potatoes. They were really tasty. As we checked out of the Sunrise Lodge, the owner told us about the other half of a the seal colony (consisting of the females and pups) which is just about 20 min north of Kaikoura, and that just past it, there is a 5 min walk to a waterfall that sometimes has baby seals playing around at the base. He said it is kind of a kindergarten that the mothers bring the pups to in order to keep them safe while the moms go out and hunt for food. We decide to check it out on our way towards Picton tomorrow.
On our way down to start the peninsula walk, Katie says "stop the car, I think that's a penguin". I pull over and we get out and walk to the shoreline and standing on top of a rocky outcropping is a little penguin. We thought it could be one of the impostors at first, but after zooming in with our cameras it was obviously a penguin. EDIT: upon further examination, the bird in question was the "almost-a-penguin" or "not-a-penguin" that we had seen plenty of (the one that nests in trees). Katie was very disappointed.
WE continue down to the seal colony and do the peninsula walk, which is a 3 hour loop that goes along the rocky coastline, and then up along the cliff tops pack to the parking area. Since the coastline part of it can only be done on the 2 hours on either side of low tide, we decide to do the cliff top first to give the tide time to go out. The clifftop walk is very scenic walking along grassy pastures and along the cliff edge which drops to the sea.
Then the trail drops down to the coast line near south bay on the other side of the peninsula, where there is a little wharf and comes back along the shoreline. The first part of the shoreline is a very large flat base of rock, which turns out to be very slippery. The rock is pretty smooth and rounded and formed into parallel channels filled with water.
There are seaweed (I think) that are shaped just like little balls on a rope, tied into a bunch. When you walk on top of them they pop like bubble wrap.
After about 10 min of walking we come to a large collection of male fur seals. They are all sprawled out on top of the rock. As we get closer we see more and more, about 20 or 30 in all, and they are spread from the terminal face of the cliff to the shoreline. at first it doesn't seem like there will be a safe way to thread between them all without getting uncomfortably close, but I find a path that hugs the cliff face, and keeps us from getting closer than about 10 feet from one. So we ease along this path, taking photos every now and then until we get through most of the seals.
The trail continued on along the rocky coastline, with the occasional indifferent Fur Seal here and there. We continued to pick our way through along the coastline. It was taking a little longer than we expected, and given that we wanted to try to make it back to see the dolphins, we picked up the pace a bit until we got back to the car. As we rounded the last corner to where the parking lot was, we saw a Japanese lady almost step on a sleeping Fur Seal. Another lady was trying to warn her that she was about to walk into one, but I guess she didn't understand her. Good thing the seal saw her first and barked loudly. She understood that pretty well, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw this thing about a 3 feet from her.
We were back at the car just before noon, and with the tour leaving in 30 min, we took off down the road to the Dolphin Encounter place. When we arrived, folks were checking in, and when we got to the front of the line, the receptionist said that there were 2 spot left to spectate, we were pretty excited. Then she after checking she said that there was 1 opening for swimming! Katie was really excited. I insisted that she be the one swimming, so I could take photos. Katie dashed off to put on her swimsuit, and while she was gone, the receptionist checked with her supervisor, and there was 1 additional spot, so I could swim too. We were both pretty excited about the whole thing, based on what we had seen the day before on the whale boat, it looked like a really amazing thing.
We got fitted for our wetsuits, saw the briefing video, and to a bus over to south bay, the same place the whale-watch boat left from. We get on the boat which is a little smaller, and motor out along the coastline. As we are cruising out to find the pod of Dolphin, we are looking out at the front of the boat and see a tall black fin rise out of the water and disappear. I thought I knew what it was, and a few seconds later the captain confirmed that I did a few seconds later. It was a Killer Whale, or Orca! The captain tried to bring the boat up to it, but we didn't see that one again. It was moving away from us, and probably dove down to feed. A couple of minutes later, we passed through a large pod of dolphin swimming very fast. There were several hundred of them, and they seemed to be moving extremely fast.
The captain says for the first group of swimmers to get ready, but before they can get into the water, we found out why the dolphin were swimming so quickly. There was a pod of 6 Orca behind them, heading their way. The captain of the boat said that the Orca can hunt and eat these dolphin, but they usually prefer to hunt stingrays. The crew on the boat were very excited, because they said it is actually pretty rare for them to see the Orca here: they only see them about once every 2 or 3 months. We turn around and parallel the Orca about 60 feet off to their left side, and watch as they surface to breathe. There is a couple of males, 3 females, and 1 pup swimming along with them.
After following the Orca for about 35 min. we turn back and head towards the cove where the pod of dolphin should be. When we find them, they are really agitated, and the pod is small. Their natural defense is to break into much smaller groups when the Orca come through. The captain of the boat circles around for about 15 min, and is able to determine that the dolphin were too agitated by the orca to play around with people so he canceled the swimming, and told us that we would be provided with refunds. I was ok with that, and pretty impressed with the captain's decision, because he could have just as easily plopped us in the water, and then pulled us out, saying that's just the way it goes.
After we returned and changed out of out wet suits, we headed up the road to the Kaikoura Vineyard, where we had a glass of wine on their porch looking out at the mountains and the ocean. After relaxing for an hour or so there, we go back down into town and to the Adelphi Lodge for dinner, which was excellent. Just down the road, we stopped at the Craypot for a gigantic slice of Chocolate Mud Cake. We then make our way to the youth hostel we were staying at for the night, the Maui YHA. It is located on the road facing the beach, and the kitchen area has great views of the ocean and mountains across the way. We talk a little bit to the ladies at the front desk, who ask what we've been up to. We mention that we saw an Orca pod, and they were really excited, as neither of them had ever seen them up close. It was kind of cool that they were excited about it, and it validated our boat captain's comments on how special it was to come across the Orca.
After we move some of our stuff into the room, we go back outside to try to catch some good sunset photos. We stop where we saw what we thought was a penguin for a little bit, and then went back down to the Seal Colony. Tonight is a full moon, so I was hoping to get some good moon rise shots with seals in the shot. I got one descent shot. They wouldn't stay still long enough.
Katie is getting eaten alive by the kelp flies, so she retreats to the shelter of the car, and I walk out along the rocks and play around taking long exposure shots by myself. Capturing one of my favorite shots of the entire trip:
Bigger version here
It's very difficult to weed out emotional attachment to an image and to be objective about it's merits when the experience of taking the image is so close. Maybe it won't be my favorite from this trip forever, but who knows.
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