Dolphin watching

I was up early to get to the dolphin encounter place at 8.30 to check in. The weather had changed to moody grey skies and the sea was a bit choppy.

I ordered a hazelnut hot coconut milk whilst I was waiting to go on the trip. I video timed Tony. I do miss him but it is a good job he is monitoring what is happening at home whilst I am away as we are having major problems with various tradesmen or parts we have bought. The latest being a sink which, when unwrapped, was missing parts.

At 9.50 am I watched a funny safety video about dolphin watching.  There was about 30 people in the group and we were divided into two groups.  We then went on a bus to the Dock where our boat was waiting.  I went with very low expectations as everytime I had tried to see dolphins in the UK, I had seen nothing.  It was a 20 minutes journey and whilst we were travelling I got talking to a Dutch lady who thought I had voted yes to leaving the EU. I managed to steer the conversation away as I did not want to spoil my holiday talking about politics. 

When we stopped I first saw a few dolphins but as I went onto the deck there were at least 400 dolphins, some were swimming at the bow of the boat, others were jumping and somersaulting out of the water.  A few smacked the water with their tails.  It was amazing! 

There were Common and dusky dolphins.  The dusky dolphins were doing more acrobatic tricks. 

We went to 2 different spots as the dolphins moved away. I was thankful that I had not chosen to swim with dolphins as the water was colder than yesterday and my neck was hurting from looking up when I was swimming with the seals.  Eventually the boat headed back at 11.40.  A worthwhile trip seeing such beautiful animals.

I walked into Kaikoura to a cafe called Hislops which I found on trip advisor that sold good quality food and had lots of gluten free options.  As I arrived, a coach load of tourists came, thankfully they were ushered to the back for a buffet.  I ordered seafood chowder a drink called Feijoa which is an autumn fruit grown here in New Zealand. The staff bought me a small taster so I could try the Feijoa which tasted delicious.

I decided to treat myself and ordered a kiwi and ginger cake with a hazelnut infused hot almond milk.

I walked back and then chilled in my room until about 6 and had dinner at the whaler

This was a huge amount of food that I found overwhelming and sad that it was wasted. I was offered a doggy bag but I would not eat that later. Its an autism thing.