Whale watching!

Today was the day - the suns was shining, the ocean was calm (well, as calm as it gets around New Zealand), so I packed up and dashed down to the whale watching centre.

We were briefed and took a bus to the marina on the south side of Kaikoura.

We dashed around to a few spots some 4 nautical miles off the coast where the continental shelf dropped off into as much as 1,600 meters depth. This is where the male sperm whales likes to hunt (the female whales prefer slightly warmer waters closer to the equator).

Three boats and two airplanes coordiented their effort and we spoted our first whale about 45 minutes later.

We then spotted a second one only some 10 minutes later.

It was quite something to watch these kagnificent creatures up close.

This is a clip from when the first whale dives back down into the depths: