India Tourism » Travel to Kaikoura

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WILLIE
On a scenic whale watching flight in Kaikoura, New Zealand, one can watch dolphins and whales zoom in and cannon out of the sea

Dawn was a struggle that day. The sun rose against powerful dark weather and we suspected that our whale watching tour in custom-built boats would be cancelled. On our way to Kaikoura, two and a half hours from Christchurch, we shivered like badly tuned diesel engines.
Kaikoura, on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island, is a little coastal village where the mountains meet the sea. On arrival there, we realized that our fears were not unfounded. The boat trip stood cancelled. We could either get a refund or try a spectacular scenic whale watching flight with the reputed Wings over Whales. The cruise had been cancelled because the resident adolescent whales in the Kaikoura area had decided to chase a pod of their brethren heading to the Antarctic, where the boats, with a limited range, could not follow. Our visit was hosted by Pan Pacific Travel Corporation Ltd, Mumbai-based Mosaic Holidays and Air New Zealand.

Alongwith other spirited, tan-crazed tourists, we headed for Kaikoura’s handkerchief-sized airfield, eager to spot some of the 15 species of whales and dolphins as well as winged life like albatross and gammets found in this natural marine-land.

At the pre-flight briefing which took place in a modern log cabin style building, we were told by pilot Alan Bennie that we had a good 50 percent chance of spotting a sperm whale or two and that our chances of locating pods of dusky dolphins were extremely high.

We had dreamt of seeing the shiney, pale-gray and black shapes stepping effortlessly beneath the son-dazzled surface of the water. As Alan continued his briefing we wire mentally already with the dolphins and the whales. Generally, one can see only 10 percent of the whale (the ridge of its back) for 90 percent of it is underwater. While resting and reoxygenating on thesurface, the whale resembles a “smoking log.” It’s not until it raises its massive tail flukes to dive in search of food that its mighty size becomes evident.

A male sperm whale reaches a maximum of 20 m while a female can grow up to 12 m. These behemoths don believe in chewing their food, they swallow it whole except for occasional bits such as squid tentacles which may get bitter off by the 18-25 pairs of large teeth which are only in the lower jaw. “When it’s time to replenish its oxygen supply, the whale emerges from the depths with a big whoosh of air,” according to the book, Whales and Dolphins of Kaikoura, New Zealand by Barbara Todd. “Occasionally, they resurface with a giant leap (or breach) which sometimes totally clears the body from the water. While on the surface, the whale lies quietly for 10-12 minutes, breathing three or four times per minute.” Once he has had his fill, one last big breath, a swish of the tail and he’s back in the clear, cold, deep waters, gorging on the creatures that lie there, eating as much as a ton and a half a day. (A sidelight: twice a year, a lucky few might spot the blue whale, a most impressive mammal, weighing 180 tons, revealed Alan. Its tongue is 3 m thick and its heart is the size of a small car! This behemoth has arteries one could swim through.

As more information followed on our fellow mammals, we found the data hard to digest—whales and dolphins possess highly evolved brains, live in complex societies and have developed languages which include dialects and even songs! Not only do they suckle their young and form strong family bonds, they even have a sense of humor!

Charged with anticipation, we huddled into the nine seater twin engined aircraft, along with a lawyer from Philadelphia, a housewife from Chicago and a novelist from London! Head phones enabled us to listen to the pilot’s commentary as the plane banked and swung out over the’ bluest of blue oceans by the side of which crouched the snow-cuddled 8,500 ft Kaikoura Range. A boat sortie would have enabled us to look deep into the expressive eyes of a dusky dolphin and see a sperm whale, just 50 m way. The flight, on the other hand, would go 25 to 30 mi out to sea and cover a wider area. The pilot promised that if we “hit the jackpot,” we would fly really low.

The iridescent ocean shone like a bolt of silk even as lazy silhouettes of shy fish, flying through the sunlit branches of a kelp forest, were clearly visible. The bigger ones moved with the slow stately grace of a sumo westler. Suddenly, a pod of close to a hundred dolphins appeared, flipper to flipper. They slowed in unison and then like fragile dancers, they began a choreographed ballet almost flying over the water. Some more dolphins came in like submarines and we felt the stirrings of an ancient and powerful urge to be as weightless as these creatures of the deep. They were enjoying the freedom that comes from breaking the rigid bonds of gravity; diving into the light-crazed corners of their underwater world for food, zooming up again to show the world that they were masters of their element. The scene had become like a National Geographic television special!

The powerful grace of the sea creatures was as enchanting as the unspeakable blue of the ocean. Just an arm’s length away were the craggy Kaikoura massifs, brushed, we imagined, by draughts of maritime air coasting along the mountaintops. Below us were a number of nameless creatures a bullet-shaped one, another soft-as- a-toy-fish, and one more looking like it had been crafted out of woven silk and aluminium foil. From way up, we marvelled at the way the light splintered through the ocean to shower broken shards on the dancing, leaping dolphins. “Close up, one can see gentleness, sensitivity, reassurance and even intelligence in a dolphin’s eyes,” said Stephen Cross, our co-passenger who had done a Swim With the Dolphins program. His words made the ocean seem friendlier and our relationship with it all the more complete.

We had a bird’s eye view of fishing settlements, seal and bird colonies that clung to rocky shores and the town of Kaikoura (population under 3,000) which sits on a peninsula protruding from the rugged coastline. Kaikoura in fact has a special place in the heart of the Maoris. Maui, their god, fished up the North Island from this spot, they believe. During the mid nineteenth century, the local tribes were joined by rough and ready European settlers who established a number of whaling stations.

Since that time, man has been drawn to the area because of the rich variety of natural resources. One of the reasons for the abundance of aquatic and birdlife here is the geology of the land form itself. The peninsula is the meeting place for two strong ocean currents which converge in the deep water canyons and plunge to incredible depths, just a few kilometers from the shore. In addition to fish such as the hapuka, blue cod and terakihi, one of the most lip-smacking Kaikoura traditions is the crayfish which is prized by commercial and recreational fishermen alike. (A number of restaurants in the village offer this delicacy.

But it was the creatures that roam free that had drawn us there — the giant sperm whale, migratory humpback whale, orca, the rare hector and dusky dolphin and fur seals. Our visual banquet was not yet over. As a bonus, our pilot swung out briefly over the mountains and desolate, plunging into dark, shadowed chasms and soaring into rearing ramparts. In fact the mountains looked like the ideal place to plot the end of the world! It was as though a giant, with a taste for rousing topography, had created. Kaikoura.