Day 56 - Whale Watch (Mon 3rd Jan)

Chaggie were woken up this morning by the three Americans also staying in their room on their way out for a hike. We managed to hold out till about 10:00 this morning till getting up was next on our list of things to do.

This morning Chino confirmed bookings for the activities tomorrow including Dolphin and Seal encounters. He also had a chat with Russ (Daddy Chino), desperately needing more cash now that his card won't work. Not good! Not to worry though, this is what Dad's are for right?

Chaggie soon made their way to the Whaleway Station just in town where Chaggie had previously booked to go Whale Watching! Our check in time was 12:45 so once Staggie had swallowed up some sea-sickness tablets, we headed over to the Briefing room. We sat through all the safety stuff before catching a bus to the peninsula where we jumped onto the Whale Watch boat.

They say that on the Whale Watch tours, on average they will see up to 2 Whales, anything over this is a bonus! Well Chaggie picked a good day for it with clear skies managing to spot 3 Sperm Whales just! Staggie was making sure plenty of photos were taken whilst Chino held the camera up on record. The Sperm Whale is the largest toothed animal which can grow up to 20.5 metres long. The head of the whale can take up to one-third of the animals head, it is the top of the head that you can see when they come up to the surface.


The Sperm Whale are one of the deepest diving mammals believed to reach up to 3km in depth and can remain submerged for 90 minutes before coming up to the surface. Typical dives though will last about 35 minutes, they will surface to breathe for about eight minutes before diving again. Chaggie were lucky to spot 3 Whales at the surface, watching them dive back down after their last breath has been taken. Along the way back, Chaggie spotted Albatross too, more well known inhabitants of Kaikoura.

This afternoon Chaggie went to check out the Seal Colony at 16:00. A breeding colony can be found on the peninsula of Kaikoura, all lazing about on the rocks and offshore. Pretty cool to see them in their natural environment, Chino got up pretty close to one of them.

This evening we chilled out in Kaikoura and at the Dolphin Lodge, we bought a pizza for dinner, another healthy meal. We didn't stay up too late this evening due to our earliest start of the whole trip tomorrow morning.

Chaggie x