Bluetiful Akarao!

Today we were going to swim with dolphins! Marian watched a video on the way down to Sydney called “the Cove.” Its all about this place in Japan that trap dolphins everyday and let some people choose ones for “swimming with dolphins” programs across the world and kill the rest! It was a horrible story, but Marian was relieved to find out that the swimming with dolphins in Akarao is 100% natural – you go out in the Harbour and jump in and hope they come to play! Our guide and group were our favorites of both so far, so that was a good sign. Once we got out on the water, we were told to sing into our snorkels, and make tapping noises with the snorkel gear in order to attract the dolphins. We were swimming with “Hectar’s dolphins,” the world’s rarest and smallest evidently. Here is a picture John took on the boat of one:



He got two great videos from the boat as well. We'll try to post one later

We were the first in our group to enter the water and began singing for the dolphins. Marian sang Elvis, Patsy Cline, Mazzy Star, and it worked! The dolphins all came to investigate! It was so crazy and cool to see them that close in their own environment. They would come within just a few feet. One time, one came up behind Marian and she didn’t know it until she heard its blowhole!

They charged money for the photos so we just got one where we are both in it. Here it is:



On the way back in the boat, we saw a few more dolphins and one decided to do a few simultaneous splashes in the wake of our boat! Our tour guide said they had never seen that before.

Needless to say, it was Marian's favorite tour we have been on so far, alongside of the Milford Sound.

Akarao itself was just an adorable little city (John says it reminds him of good old downtown Gig Harbor), and the water turned a brilliant milky turquoise color when the sun fully came out around 11:00. The main street was adorable with little cafes and shops, and just an overall pleasant/peaceful atmosphere. Marian likey!



We walked out to the end of the main dock where we sat with the Scottish couple that was on the tour with us and talked about how great NZ was. As we were leaving some random guy came up and pointed into the water almost immediately saying, “hey, theres a giant stingray.” Just like that. Like he comes and points them out everyday at that time for his job. Sure enough, we looked down in the water to see stingray that was about three or four feet across. That was pretty neat. If you wanted to, you could probably spend a while in Akaroa just watching for wildlife on the dock.

However, we were on our way back to Christchurch. We stopped off at a Cheese Factory to sample some delicious cheeses and we purchased some. It is delicious.

When we got into town we headed to the arts center because we thought there was a farmers’ market. But we were wrong. So we went shopping instead. John found a great deal on a phone! That was a relief. Marian also got a book for the beach for the next day. Later that night we had a NZ beer a piece, and sat in the Spa at the Holiday Park before turning in.