We did our swim with the dolphins today. This is what Barb and I decided to give each other for Christmas. We had a great time. We drove an hour and a half out to Banks peninsula to the town of Akaroa. This little town on the shore of Akaroa harbor is surrounded by hills. It’s very picturesque. We boarded a boat and headed out into the harbor to swim with the Hector’s dolphins. These are the smallest and most endangered dolphins in the world. They are between 3 and 5 feet in length and are found only in New Zealand waters. For a while it looked like we were going to get skunked as the dolphins we were finding did not seem particularly interested in playing. Our crew was about to give up and we were heading back to port when they spotted another pod. They stopped the boat and we all jumped in.  It was very interesting, the dolphins would swim away from us, regroup and come in for another “fly by” encounter with “those humans”. They did this numerous times and would come within several feet of us. The whole swim lasted about 15 minutes.  It was just amazing.  I didn’t take the GoPro, it’s a long story, but it’s just as well as I would not have been able to get any good shots anyway. But the crew were taking pictures and got a really good one of me and 3 dolphins.

Banks peninsula.

This is the photo of me taken by the tour crew.

I got this image from the web.  It’s of course a Hector’s dolphin.

Akaroa Harbor

Unfortunately, the day ended on a sad note. We had finished our swim and were eating fish and chips out at the end of the pier when an ambulance drove out onto the pier. A speed boat came roaring in from the bay heading for where the ambulance had stopped. There was an EMT in the back of the boat clearly giving CPR to someone on the floor of the boat. They got him out of the boat onto the dock and worked on him for about 15 minutes then gave up. He clearly did not make it. We were told that he was out on one of the harbor tour boats and I’m guessing had a heart attack. Not the best way to end what had been a very fun day.