Ah, back to a few days between blogs, thats more like us. We are now in Kaikoura, a small touristy town on the East coast, a little north of the infamous Christchurch. But first, to catch you up on the rest of our adventures.
Our last day in Abel Tasman we did a tour up the coast (yet again) this time up to the marine reserve of Tonga Island which is home to a fur seal colony. And yes we went swimming with the seals. Very cool. First we checked out what the locals call "the daycare centre" it is a lagoon along the main shorline of the coast, across a stretch of open ocean from the colony on Tonga Island. This area is a sheltered shallow area with a mix of fresh and salt water and the mothers will swim here with their pups and leave them in the lagoon for the day while they go hunting. Supposedly the pups play around on the rocks and logs and generally make a day of it, playing until mom comes back. We headed here first to do a practise swim and see if there were any pups. All we saw was a stingray, but we learned some tricks to lure the seals into the water with us. Such as giving a "cheeky wave" with our flipper (and trying to keep our heads above water in the process) or diving under and doing rolls and summer saults. Our ineptitude in the water apparently amuses them until they have to come check us out. In theory anyway. We are basically entertainment for the seals.
From the daycare we jumped back into our boat and headed to Tonga island. Here we swam into "the nursery" a small sheltered bay where a lot of the females go to have their pups. The water in here is shallow, Bri could stand if she wanted. There were a fair few females and pups on the rocks surrounding the water, so we tried the cheeky wave, summer saults etc. and a few babies looked curious but were still to young to venture out. A couple of females decided we were worth investigating. They loved to swim out into the water and hang upside down with their bodies at the surface and their noses pointed down watching our antics. I'm not sure who was more amused, the humans or the seals. One female got quite close to Miles, probably within about a foot and just stared at him with her huge eyes before turning and swimming off. We got some really great photos. What is surprising is how HARD they can be to see. The water was clear, but if the seal wasn't in bright light and within about 10 ft she was invisible. You could look across the surface and see a flipper poking up, then duck back under with your snorkel and not see her at all. Close encounters were the only way to do it. These animals despite being hard to see, are incredible to photograph. it doesn't matter what part you catch, they look graceful and elegant as they glide through the water. They are cheeky and curious but so fast and sleek. They have the curiosity and friendliness of dogs and the grace and fluidity of a cat. well... some cats.... Puss not included here. As we left the nursery to swim along the shoreline, Miles spotted an octopus!!! which caught him by surprise. Luckily not around the face. (see picton). He saw something gliding quickly along the rocks and when it caught sight of him it suddenly flared its tenticles to look big and aggressive, then fled and hid among the rocks, changing color and making itself harder to see. When Miles first saw her she was red, and by the time he had told us he saw an octopus, she was a deep grey-blue to match the lighter rocks along the bottom, and as she found a crevice she turned almost purple to blend into the shadows. Very cool to watch. our guide Tank, once again, said that this wasthe first time he had ever seen an octopus in the area. Probably for good reason, as they are quite the delicacy for the local seals! After all the octopus excitement, we almost didn't notice the baby seal headed over to check us out. Almost. He glided around us in wide arcs at first then swam right in front of me wide eyes fixated and curious. He continued to circle us occasionally mimicing his elders by hanging upside down to get a different view of these awkwardly flailing humans. He was the first pup of the season to get into the water during a swim, so that was pretty cool. Aparently within a month, they will be ridiculously curious, hopping up on swimmer backs and nibbling flippers and snorkels. Too bad we don't have time to go back!!!! our experience was pretty cool though.
We hopped back in the boat shortly after, and headed to Onetehui (i think we'll have to check that one) beach for lunch. We all chatted about the seals, the octopus and the many fish and the jelly fish that we had all seen. Miles was the only one to see the jelly fish but didn't mention it in the water to avoid panic. it was tiny and it swam away and no one was hurt.
For the rest of the day we drove to Kaiteriteri and hung out on the beach, sunning and lazing the georgeous day away. With a few cold refreshments and a large bottle of sunblock, it was a great way to end out Abel Tasman National Park trip.
February 8- We drove back to Picton and caught a bus to Kaikoura on the 9th. Today we are waiting for the weather to clear up a bit. Naturally, we got here yesterday and it was beautiful, we planned to go fishing today and the wind is up , the seas are rough and our trip has been postponed to later today. Hopefully it clears and the trip is a go. So we wait, we blog and lament the fact that we forgot to grab the memory cards to upload photos. Maybe later!!!! Tomorrow, we swim with dolphins! Fingers crossed we get to swim this time. Its pretty incredible swimming with animals in their natural environment when all contact is up to them. they can choose to swim up to you and check you out, or they can hitail it in the opposite direction. It makes the encounters that much more real and significant when they are given a choice. In the case of the seals, the majority of them chose to stay napping on the rocks with the occasional one eyed peep at us before yawning and going back to their naps.
For now we are headed to check out some shops, kill some time before fishing and maybe get another memory card for the camera. Hope everyone is well at home.
Check ya later
Bri and Miles
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