On safari

We used a day of our copious annual leave to play hooky on Wednesday.  We dropped the kids off at daycare (oh. yeah.  School, I mean school, PRE-SCHOOL) and then we got on a boat for a safari.  The catamaran was staffed by marine biologists, and our fees went toward paying for the education of future marine biologists who are doing their training while crewing the boat.  We got a little safety demonstration and then off we motored.  We went through Waitemata Harbor, north past Rangitoto, and admired the green water and the view of the city.

Then east across the Hauraki Gulf, north of Waiheke Island to within view of the Coromandel, and then north to near Great Barrier Island.  We could see the Little Barrier Island, a bird sanctuary.

The tropical current from the open north Pacific pours into this region.  This means warm blue water.  Which means plankton.  Which means fish.  Which means birds.

And which also means dolphins!  We came into a pod of about 100 of them.  The captain slowed the boat down and they surrounded us.

They would surface every few seconds and seemed to actually enjoy looking up at us and pacing the boat.

Eventually, 10 or 12 of them ended up chasing along behind the boat, playing in the chop.  I was within six feet of wild dolphins!


It got late, and cold (remember, it's late fall here!), and it was time to turn around.  We saw more birds, like the shearwater and the Australasian gannet, and a few smaller pods of dolphin who dashed past us.  And then way off in the distance, at approximately here, we spotted a whale.  He made a big plume of spray every time he took a breath.

What a really incredible day.