12/02: Oh What a Beautiful Day
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
What a nice change --- the sun is shining and it's warm out. You'd think it was summer. Oh, it's summer in New Zealand.
This morning we were off on a whale watching tour. The owner of the company stands behind his promise to find Sperm whales ---- no whales and you get 80% of your ticket price refunded. Sperm whales are found in all the world's oceans usually in submarine canyons of water deeper than 400 feet. The Kaikoura Canyon meets that criteria and it is only a few miles off the coast of Kaikoura. Sperm whales are interesting whales, when they dive then can stay under water for 40 to 60 minutes. When they come back to the surface they hang out for 8 to 10 minutes replenishing their oxygen. The boats use underwater microphones to listen for the whales then determine the amount of time the whale was been under water. It also really helps that there are helicopter tours --- when they spot a whale and begin hovering the boats know where to go.
Today we had a really good viewing of 1 sperm whale and just got to a second one a minute or so before he dove.
Humpback whales use to have a feeding ground in this area but disappeared years ago. Just recently a humpback whale is has found the feeding grounds and we were able to see him. Humpbacks whales are easier to watch as they only stay under the water for a few minutes at a time.
A pod of dolphins were swimming with the Humpback Whale. I think they were Dusky Dolphins.
The water was so clear you could see the dolphins clearly when they swam near the boat --- they like playing around the boats (the boats have jet engines so the dolphins can't get hurt).
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An albatross flew by the boat.
It really was a beautiful day to be on the water.
This afternoon we decided to walk the “town hike”. Leaving our motel we walked to South Bay then walked the Peninsula Trail to the seal colony then back to town following the shore line.
Proof it really was "summer".
One of the beautiful bays we walked by. The yellowy area is flat rocks.
The layered rock pushing to the sky is an indicator of earthquakes. It also makes for a interesting shoreline.
The seal colony wasn't in the area indicated on the map but rather spread along half the peninsula.
When you were walking on the rocks you had to really watch when you came to the top of a rock --- there could be a seal on the other side.
This morning we were off on a whale watching tour. The owner of the company stands behind his promise to find Sperm whales ---- no whales and you get 80% of your ticket price refunded. Sperm whales are found in all the world's oceans usually in submarine canyons of water deeper than 400 feet. The Kaikoura Canyon meets that criteria and it is only a few miles off the coast of Kaikoura. Sperm whales are interesting whales, when they dive then can stay under water for 40 to 60 minutes. When they come back to the surface they hang out for 8 to 10 minutes replenishing their oxygen. The boats use underwater microphones to listen for the whales then determine the amount of time the whale was been under water. It also really helps that there are helicopter tours --- when they spot a whale and begin hovering the boats know where to go.
Today we had a really good viewing of 1 sperm whale and just got to a second one a minute or so before he dove.
Humpback whales use to have a feeding ground in this area but disappeared years ago. Just recently a humpback whale is has found the feeding grounds and we were able to see him. Humpbacks whales are easier to watch as they only stay under the water for a few minutes at a time.
A pod of dolphins were swimming with the Humpback Whale. I think they were Dusky Dolphins.
The water was so clear you could see the dolphins clearly when they swam near the boat --- they like playing around the boats (the boats have jet engines so the dolphins can't get hurt).
An albatross flew by the boat.
It really was a beautiful day to be on the water.
This afternoon we decided to walk the “town hike”. Leaving our motel we walked to South Bay then walked the Peninsula Trail to the seal colony then back to town following the shore line.
Proof it really was "summer".
One of the beautiful bays we walked by. The yellowy area is flat rocks.
The layered rock pushing to the sky is an indicator of earthquakes. It also makes for a interesting shoreline.
The seal colony wasn't in the area indicated on the map but rather spread along half the peninsula.
When you were walking on the rocks you had to really watch when you came to the top of a rock --- there could be a seal on the other side.