Dusky dolphin day

A cancellation for the swimming with dolphins trip came up so this morning saw me donning a snorkel and the thickest, cosiest wetsuit I have ever come across and off we set into the big blue. Wasn’t long before I realised that there was a good chance the cancellation had come up due to someone looking at the weather forecast, there was a lot of sick people that’s for sure. Compared to the Stewart Island crossing and the journey to Ko Tao it seemed quite mild to me
It wasn’t long of watching albatross and giant petrels performing their dance above the waves before we caught up with a large group of these amazing acrobats of the sea, the dusky dolphins. Just watching them doing their jumps and somersaults would have been joy enough but it was soon time to get into the sea with them. And then, there they were just right beside you and under you and playing going round in circles with you. It was completely brilliant but they were quite hard to keep up with and they soon got bored with our lack of acrobatic skills and swam off. So back on the boat (more people being sick) and off to find a different gang to play with. We had four magic moments in the sea with these remarkably playful creatures and then it was time for their rest and no boats are allowed out in the bay.
Interesting fact for some maybe or common knowledge for others....because they have to breathe while asleep they only rest half their brain at a time.
Just as we were about to leave a pod of five or so Hector dolphins arrived; the smallest dolphin, the rarest dolphin and most definitely the cutest dolphin. They really do have the sweetest faces and wee rounded dark dorsal fins. They stayed with the boat for about five minutes so yeh a very cool day indeed and definitely one to remember.