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Key Media Contact
Image Gallery
All about Whale Watch®
Who is Paikea the Whale Rider?
An Emotional Experience (200 words)
Whale Watch® in 250 words
Whale Watch® in 50 words

Key media contact

Philippa Gill

t ++ 64 3 319 7725 f ++ 64 3 319 5160
PO Box 89 Kaikoura South Island New Zealand

All about Whale Watch®

Who are Whale Watch®?

Whale Watch is New Zealand's only marine-based whale watching company offering visitors an exciting up-close encounter with the Giant Sperm Whale at all times of the year. Whale Watch scheduled tours operate daily. Our 95% success rate means we guarantee an 80% refund if your tour does not see a whale. Whale Watch tours are extremely popular so we advise to book early.

Where is Whale Watch®?

Whale Watch is located in the town of Kaikoura - a scenic two and a half-hour drive north from Christchurch in New Zealand's South Island. Kaikoura is a special place of lush pastures and towering, snow covered peaks that fall to the sea. This rare magic continues just offshore where a deep undersea canyon combines with unusual sea currents to attract an extraordinary abundance of marine life, the most famous being the Sperm Whale.

Giant sperm whales

Kaikoura's resident Sperm Whales are the biggest of the toothed whales and the worlds' largest carnivore. They are equivalent in size to four elephants. Each of their teeth can weigh more than a kilogram and grow to 20cm long. Sperm Whales dive 2km into the dark abyss of the Kaikoura Canyon to hunt prey such as the Giant Squid. Many of Kaikoura's Sperm Whales wear battle scars from close encounters with this monster of the deep.

The Whale Watch® tour experience

Every Whale Watch tour is a unique experience and the sightings vary. Giant Sperm Whales are the stars of the show and year-round residents. A typical Whale Watch tour may encounter New Zealand Fur Seals, pods of Dusky Dolphins and the endangered Wandering Albatross. Depending on the season you may also see migrating Humpback Whales, Pilot Whales, Blue Whales and Southern Right Whales. Kaikoura often hosts the world's largest dolphin - the Orca - and is home to the world's smallest and rarest - the Hector's. Kaikoura also attracts the largest concentration and variety of seabirds on mainland New Zealand including 13 species of Albatross, 14 varieties of Petrels and 7 types of Shearwater. If your Whale Watch Kaikoura tour does not see a whale we will refund 80% of your fare.

Whale Watch® tour vessels

Designed for whale watching, our modern catamarans are equipped with engines that minimise underwater noise and toilets that never pollute the sea. The main passenger cabin is enclosed and large outside decks offer great viewing and photo opportunities. Spacious air-conditioned interiors are fitted with comfortable seating while large plasma screens display our award-winning marine wildlife animations. Passenger numbers for each tour are kept well below our vessel carrying capacity to ensure your tour experience remains a personal one.

Whale Watch® crew

Whale Watch vessels are crewed by a friendly team of Skippers and Guides very experienced in interacting with the local Sperm Whales. They have expert knowledge of Kaikoura's sea conditions and are fully trained in all aspects of safety. Whale Watch staff constantly monitor the weather and respond professionally to any changes. This may mean a tour is cancelled or safety restrictions placed on children or passengers with medical problems. Passenger comfort and safety are always our priority.

Whale Watch® animation

Our on-board plasma screens display a virtual animated whale watching tour while the tour is actually taking place! You will experience your own tour through the eye of the albatross in real-time. As your vessel approaches the Kaikoura Canyon the ocean will be 'removed' to show the sheer scale of the abyss that plunges kilometres beneath you.

Whale Watch have also created a unique, award-winning series of animation sequences designed to reveal Kaikoura's hidden wildlife wonders. Discover how a Sperm Whale survives in the dark and freezing depths of the Kaikoura Canyon or why the green-eyed Plunket Shark is easy prey for a Giant Squid.

About Whale Watch® the company

Whale Watch is a multiple award winning nature tourism company owned and operated by the indigenous Kati Kuri people of Kaikoura, a Maori sub-tribe of the South Island's larger Ngai Tahu Tribe.

Whale Watch was formed in 1987 at a time when Maori were casualties of Kaikoura's declining economy. At this time of difficulty, Kati Kuri leaders like Bill Solomon believed the local Sperm Whales held the answer to the unemployment problems of the Maori community. They knew their ancestor Paikea had journeyed to a new life in New Zealand on the back of the whale Tohora. It seemed appropriate for Paikea's descendants to again ride on the back of the whale to a new life.

And so it proved to be.

The Kati Kuri founders of Whale Watch mortgaged their houses to secure a loan to start the business. In the early days passengers travelled aboard a small inflatable vessel. In time, the inflatable was replaced by a larger boat with an upper viewing deck - the Uruao - until today the Whale Watch fleet numbers four modern catamarans each specially designed for whale watching. The expansion of the Whale Watch fleet required the building of an entire marina in South Bay. It is from here that all whale watching tours now depart.

Due to the phenomenal success of Whale Watch, Kaikoura is now one of New Zealand's leading tourism experiences offering a diverse range of exciting marine wildlife encounters. The company has stimulated investment in new accommodation, restaurants and an impressive array of cafes and galleries filled with the work of local artists.

Paikea and Tohora still form the symbolic centre of Whale Watch. They represent the spiritual bond between the human world and the natural world and speak of the possibilities that reveal themselves when the world of nature is revered rather than exploited.

The Whale Watch® philosophy

Whale Watch is committed to providing a quality whale watching experience while carefully managing the use of a rare natural resource. We are visitors to the world of the whales and respect it as such at all times. As a Maori-owned company, Whale Watch cherishes the twin values of hospitality to visitors and reverence for the natural world. It is a philosophy that embraces people, the land, the sea and all living things as one.

Who is Paikea the Whale Rider?

According to legend, Paikea came to New Zealand from the Pacific Islands on the back of a whale many centuries ago. His descendants include the Kati Kuri people of Kaikoura.

Paikea was the youngest and favourite son of the chief Uenuku from the island of Mangaia in the present day Cook Islands. This favouritism made Paikea's elder brothers extremely jealous. They conspired to kill Paikea while fishing offshore and tell Uenuku he drowned. But the night before the trip Paikea feigned sleep and overheard his brothers plotting. When far out to sea Paikea foiled their plan by deliberately sinking the canoe and drowning his brothers.

Now adrift in a great ocean, Paikea clung to a canoe plank and awaited his own death. It was then that Tohora the whale appeared and lifted Paikea onto his great back. Tohora took Paikea south to New Zealand and the settlement of Whangara just north of present day Gisborne. Here, Paikea began a new and prosperous life.

Many years later one of Paikea's sons, Tahupotiki, travelled further south and became the founder of the great South Island tribe of Ngai Tahu. It is from Tahupotiki and Paikea that the Ngai Tahu and Kati Kuri of Kaikoura claim descent.

An emotional experience (200 words)

SUNRISE WITH SEAMONSTERS. Rising two kilometres from the freezing depths of the Kaikoura Canyon, a Giant Sperm Whale expels a pungent spume of oily mist three metres into the dawn sky above the Whale Watch vessel Wheketere. Submerged for two hours or more while preying on Giant Squid, the Earth's largest carnivore now sucks in air and drifts nearer our boat, its glossy black head scarred white by the flailing tentacles and rasping beak of its quarry.

Then slowly that enormous head goes down, the great tail flukes lift...and lift...then disappear leaving nothing but an agitated patch of sea and the faint and fishy smell of whale breath.

It is a powerful and elemental display. A manifestation of pure natural energy. The emotions of my fellow whale watchers spill over. Many are in tears. It is the culmination of all we had seen, heard and felt on this tour. A dramatic sensory overload of clear crisp air, towering snow-capped peaks and leaping dolphins.

On reflection, this emotional journey began when I first stepped aboard Wheketere, where a warm greeting and the soft-chanted prayer of our Maori guide first rends the heart and opens the mind to another world of experience.

Whale Watch® in 250 words

Whale Watch is New Zealand's only marine-based whale watching company operating year round. We offer visitors an exciting up-close encounter with the Giant Sperm Whale. Our 95% success rate means we guarantee an 80% refund if your tour does not see a whale.

Whale Watch is located in the town of Kaikoura, a scenic 2.5 hours drive north of Christchurch in New Zealand's South Island. Towering snow-covered peaks fall to the ocean here, while just offshore a deep undersea canyon attracts an extraordinary abundance of marine life, the most famous being the Sperm Whale.

Kaikoura's resident Sperm Whales are the largest living carnivore - equivalent in size to four elephants.

They share their unique world with a host of other whale and dolphin species, seals and albatross - all regular sightings aboard Whale Watch tours.

Designed specially for whale watching, our modern catamarans are equipped with engines that minimise underwater noise and toilets that never pollute the sea. The main passenger cabin is enclosed and outside decks offer great viewing and photo opportunities. Spacious air-conditioned interiors are fitted with comfortable seating while large plasma screens display our award-winning marine wildlife animations.

Whale Watch is committed to providing a quality whale watching experience while carefully managing the use of a rare natural resource. As a Maori-owned company, Whale Watch cherishes the twin values of hospitality to visitors and reverence for the natural world. It is a philosophy that embraces people, the land, the sea and all living things as one.

Whale Watch® in 50 words

Whale Watch is New Zealand's only marine-based whale watching company offering visitors exciting close encounters with Giant Sperm Whales at all times of the year. We guarantee an 80% refund if your tour does not see a whale. Whale Watch is located in Kaikoura Township 2.5 hours north of Christchurch.