Swimming with Dolphins!

Hi all,

This morning I was up at 5:00am and off to swim with the dolphins! What an amazing experience. Kaikoura is home to pods of up to 13000 dusky dolphins! I was in a pod of close to 500 on the open ocean, snorkelling!

They are such a lesson in joy and love. Really good examples of being happy and living in the moment. They would come up and if I maintained eye contact, they'd circle, and liked it if I tried to keep up (fat chance... they're amazingly fast!). Also liked it if I dove down (a feat with a 5mm wetsuit on... too buoyant!) and came to investigate.

At first I had mixed feelings about partaking in an eco-tourism operation that could have potential harm to the animals, but they seemed to really enjoy it! Quite entertained by all the swimmers I think. New Zealand has a few things to work on, but generally I've been really impressed with the level of care taken with regards to conservation and education in eco-tourism.

An experience I won't forget, that's for sure! I hope I have a chance to swim with them again, in a non-organized tour setting. Dolphins are found all around New Zealand, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Tomorrow it's off to Nelson to look for wwoofing work, then in mid-march I'm going to spend at least a week living simply and off the power grid at Anahata yoga retreat centre in Golden Bay... can't wait!

Hope you are all well and happy! Blessings from the dolphins to you!

Love,
Kristi