La route vers Kaikoura s’avère plus longue que prévue, non que notre la mécanique de notre maison nous trahisse, mais plutôt à cause (ou grâce) à la beauté de cette côte nord qui longe le Pacifique pour nous mener jusqu’à la pointe de Kaikoura. En route, nous nous arrêtons sur des plages de sable noir volcaniques ainsi que pour observer les nombreuses colonies de phoques dispersées le long de la côte. Nous finissons enfin par un arrêt culinaire pour acheter le repas du soir : Saint-Jacques grillées au beurre aillé et Moules de Stewart Island (l’île à l’extrême sud de la Nouvelle-Zélande). Nous sommes toutefois un petit peu déçus. Rien ne remplace dans notre cœur les fruits de mer bretons ! Le programme du lendemain nous impose un réveil une nouvelle fois à une heure indécente, ce qui nous fait faire des compromis sur la qualité du spot de camping sauvage et dormons le long de la plage mais au bord de la route. Il nous en vaudra d’être réveillés en pleine nuit par des passants ivres martelant la carrosserie. The drive to Kaikoura takes longer than expected, as the drive is so scenic we just can’t help and stop to stare at these stunning coastlines. On the way we can admire black-sand volcanic beaches and quite a few
It only takes us 5 minutes to be ready when the clock rings at 5.15am. We’re so excited by what’s awaiting us that there’s almost no pain getting up so early. On our agendas today, we’re due to meet and swim with the Dusky Dolphins. It’s one of the popular activities Kaikura has to offer all year round. The reason for that is that there is a very deep canyon (more than 3000ft deep) less than a mile offshore from Kaikura, which provides abundance of food for many marine mammals such as whales or dolphins, as well as sea birds, such as the albatross. After we’ve put on our wetsuit and been given the usual preliminary briefing, we board the Dophin Encounters ship while it’s still dark outside, heading south to the canyon. We then witness a magnificent sunrise over the Pacific Ocean in Kaikura bay, which makes a great start of the day! Soon enough, the crew locates a few dolphins and by the time we put the rest of our equipment on, there are many of them swimming around the boat. As soon as the signal goes on, we all jump in the water and start swimming surrounded by Dusky dolphins. As we’ve been told by the guides onboard, the objective is to entertain the dolphins - and not the other way round – so that they get curious and come closer to us. Since they communicate a lot using sounds, the easier way to entertain them is to sing or humm in our snorkel. Whilst this might not always be successful dolphin-wise, it guarantees a good laugh for those staid on board who can enjoy a sea musical performance…Even though the visibility could be better, there are still many dolphins coming near us, swimming right towards us and changing their trajectory at the last minute, quite impressive! In the end, we dive 5 different times but only for a few minutes each time since the dolphins swim so fast we can’t keep up with them. Even though we would have thought they would be more interactive with humans, all of us have really enjoyed this wonderful and unique experience. On our way back to the shore, we even stop to be able to take pictures from the boat and are able to appreciate how playful those little creatures can be, repeating up to 10 times the same jump in front of us, as if posing for our cameras…
Nous avions prévu pour le reste de la journée de continuer notre découverte des mammifères marins locaux en allant observer les cachalots qui vivent à l’année aux environs de ce canyon garde-manger. Cependant, les cachalots se sont montrés discrets lors des derniers jours et l’avion de reconnaissance ne parvient pas à les localiser. Nous décidons de rester l’après-midi à Kaikoura pour retenter notre chance le lendemain matin, cependant cette fois-ci c’est la météo qui s’en mêle et toutes les sorties sont annulées en raison des vents forts et de l’état de la mer. Avons-nous déjà été trop gatés avec notre rencontre des dauphins ? L’avenir nous le dira car nous décidons de remodeler notre itinéraire afin de pouvoir revenir à Kaikoura dans une grosse semaine, à la fin de notre voyage en Nouvelle-Zélande.
The rest of the day was meant to give us more opportunities to discover the local marine life with a tour to see sperm whales who live all year round around the Kaikura canyon. However the whales had been very shy for the last few days and no one was able to locate them which means the tours were cancelled. We decide to still spend the afternoon in Kaikura to try our luck again the following day. However this time the issue comes from a bad weather which prevents all boats from sailing due to strong winds…Maybe we were spoilt enough already with our dolphin experience? Time will tell – as we decide to keep driving south but will come back to Kaikura at the end of our trip in NZ to try one more time to see the resident whales …