Our visit today was to the beautiful coastal village of Kaikoura. This community is recovering from a massive earthquake back in 2016 but boasts a bay full of wildlife treasures from sperm whales, dolphins, several albatross species, and so many more seabirds.
Guests were shuttled to shore in the morning and joined either a cruise on a small boat to see the many species of albatross and seabirds, or on a larger catamaran to explore the bay looking for marine mammals, including the elusive sperm whale and dolphins.
Both excursions were a huge success. The albatross experience was perfect with albatross and several species of seabird so close to the guests. We all enjoyed watching their behaviour as they interacted with each other within and between species.
The whale experience was also a success with three sperm whales spotted in addition to a small pod of common bottlenose dolphins.
Back on board in the afternoon we attended a wonderful presentation by Alex Hillary about his family’s legacy. All in all, a very exciting day in this lovely part of New Zealand’s South Island.
