Whales were on the menu today! Not really the menu as in eating (we're not in Japan), but on the program for today's activities. The whale excursion was originally booked for yesterday, but it was canceled due to bad weather. We learned today that all of yesterday's excursions were canceled, so it was a good decision to book for today and go off explore, instead of waiting around for maybe the next or the next. Today's status on the screen was only 'sea sickness warning' instead of 'canceled' so we decided to go right ahead and board the boat.
The whales you can see in the upper pictures are sperm whales, or in Dutch 'Potvissen'. We learned today that calling 'there she blows' would actually be nonsense in the area around Kaikoura where we were sailing: the water is too cold for females there, so all the whales we spotted are males (this has to do with 'blubber thickness' and other such technicalities).
On the last picture you can see a seal peaking out at the sperm whale, it was swimming around it quite frantically. Also at the second sperm whale we sighted a seal. We have no idea why these guys are out there, sperm whales normally eat giant squid, which they swallow whole, but probably the seals are there to try to eat any leftovers.
Around Kaikoura these whales are actually semi-resident, which has to do with the local ocean conditions. There is a very large and deep canyon (1-5km deep) where cold and warm ocean currents collide right next to the coast. This is a very large source of food for krill, fish, and creatures which again feed on the large fish: sperm whales. We learned a lot more about these giants, but I won't bore you with that, just a small story about how we managed to find them.
The experience of 'hunting' for these whales was quite fun: there were three other boats out, and in the end also a plane and a helicopter. All of these vessels are in radio contact and let each other know when and where whales are sighted. The sperm whales stay on the surface for about 3-5 minutes to replenish their oxygen supply before diving for an average of 42 minutes to 1 km depth to hunt for food. The name of the game is to be near to the place where the whale dove 42 minutes beforehand, and then spot it as fast as possible once it is surfaced, to get nearby before it dives again (remember the 3-5 minute window?).
We weren't allowed on deck during travel, so the typical drill was: take pictures outside while stationary. Get an intercom call to go inside to move to another spot: cruise at around 80% throttle. Wait with engines off while the captain listens on hydrophone if and where the whales are (their sonar signals are different while hunting and while traveling up to the surface, and they don't emit sonar while on the surface). Either go outside to help spot the blow, or stay put while we move to another spot. Once a whale was spotted we had to run inside, engine would go to 100% throttle to race nearby, throttle down to position ourselves well away and behind the whales, and run outside again to take in the view and snap pictures. Repeat this process for 4-5 times while people are vomiting all around and the hostess is explaining you all about whales with a multimedia show and you get the general picture :-D.
Some more pictures of marine life we encountered on the trip.
There were lots of albatrosses out at sea. Also attracted by the abundance of food. We saw lots of other seabirds, but you'll have to ask my parents for more detail.
Three of us swallowed some sea sickness prevention pills beforehand, Petra didn't. While out at sea about 3 in 10 people were using vomit bag after vomit bag. Petra however, g-force lover that she is, was having a great time, and actually wanted more and higher waves for more fun. Luckily enough none of us got sea sick and we got to enjoy the sea life in all its glory.
The whales you can see in the upper pictures are sperm whales, or in Dutch 'Potvissen'. We learned today that calling 'there she blows' would actually be nonsense in the area around Kaikoura where we were sailing: the water is too cold for females there, so all the whales we spotted are males (this has to do with 'blubber thickness' and other such technicalities).
On the last picture you can see a seal peaking out at the sperm whale, it was swimming around it quite frantically. Also at the second sperm whale we sighted a seal. We have no idea why these guys are out there, sperm whales normally eat giant squid, which they swallow whole, but probably the seals are there to try to eat any leftovers.
Around Kaikoura these whales are actually semi-resident, which has to do with the local ocean conditions. There is a very large and deep canyon (1-5km deep) where cold and warm ocean currents collide right next to the coast. This is a very large source of food for krill, fish, and creatures which again feed on the large fish: sperm whales. We learned a lot more about these giants, but I won't bore you with that, just a small story about how we managed to find them.
The experience of 'hunting' for these whales was quite fun: there were three other boats out, and in the end also a plane and a helicopter. All of these vessels are in radio contact and let each other know when and where whales are sighted. The sperm whales stay on the surface for about 3-5 minutes to replenish their oxygen supply before diving for an average of 42 minutes to 1 km depth to hunt for food. The name of the game is to be near to the place where the whale dove 42 minutes beforehand, and then spot it as fast as possible once it is surfaced, to get nearby before it dives again (remember the 3-5 minute window?).
We weren't allowed on deck during travel, so the typical drill was: take pictures outside while stationary. Get an intercom call to go inside to move to another spot: cruise at around 80% throttle. Wait with engines off while the captain listens on hydrophone if and where the whales are (their sonar signals are different while hunting and while traveling up to the surface, and they don't emit sonar while on the surface). Either go outside to help spot the blow, or stay put while we move to another spot. Once a whale was spotted we had to run inside, engine would go to 100% throttle to race nearby, throttle down to position ourselves well away and behind the whales, and run outside again to take in the view and snap pictures. Repeat this process for 4-5 times while people are vomiting all around and the hostess is explaining you all about whales with a multimedia show and you get the general picture :-D.
Some more pictures of marine life we encountered on the trip.
There were lots of albatrosses out at sea. Also attracted by the abundance of food. We saw lots of other seabirds, but you'll have to ask my parents for more detail.
We encountered two pods of Dusky Dolphins on the way back to the harbor. They enjoyed the boat a lot and were playing with the bow wave and jumping about a lot. A really amazing sight. All in all this was, once again, an unforgettable experience.
The rest of the day was spent on the road to get to Mapua, near Nelson and Tasman National Park on the northern tip of South Island. People were quite sleepy and why became clear once we read the 'bijsluiter' of the seasickness-prevention pills.
Our arrival at our accommodation was a bit of a downer. The brochure promised 'sea view' and outside jacuzzi, so expectations were high after our great experience at 'The Rees' in Queenstown. This is what our jacuzzi looks like and the sea view during low tide is a bay full of mud.
I'll spare you the rest of the details (bugs,shabby furniture, etc.), but we have asked our operator for another accommodation as we were planned to stay here for three nights. Let's hope they get us a good alternative, the ladies are most definitely not happy right now. To forget about our 'first world problems' we went out for dinner in town. The food was excellent and we had a great time. As I am finishing this blog post the first beers are on our table and I need to get ready for another round of cards. Here goes!
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