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July was a great month here in Kaikoura, with fantastic sightings and some lovely weather too. Those of you what were in the area on the 27th of July would have been lucky enough to enjoy the snow which settled around the Kaikoura Township, a spectacular and rare occasion for us.

Winter is most definitely in full force this end. The mountains are looking so spectacular due to a big polar blast that came through at the end of the month which meant the local ski field was able to open first weekend of July.

 
It has been another great month here at Whale Watch Kaikoura. Hard to believe we are already half way through the year. We are definitely heading into winter with the cold frosts covering the fields in the mornings. Strangely enough though, we have had some lovely sunny days for almost two weeks. Climate agency NIWA (the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) has confirmed it has been the warmest May on record in New Zealand. NIWA says this month was two and a half degrees warmer than usual.

Autumn has to be my favourite season, all the amazing colours around, the beautiful sunsets, sure enough the days are getting shorter but there is something about autumn that is just so breathtaking. The first snow falls have come and left a white layer on the Kaikoura ranges which makes for such a stunning backdrop when we are out there on our tours.

This year is certainly flying by hard to believe we are in the 4th month already.

We had a successful month sightings wise with many different species of marine life being viewed. There were 3 residents that we have identification names for, in the canyon during March Tiaki, Manu and Manukau. Tiaki has been here for a few months now, as we move toward winter we would expect Tiaki to move further a field hopefully to return next again next summer.

February was a great month here in Kaikoura with plenty of action happening out on our tours and great sightings of both whales and dolphins. Not only did we have summer residents Tiaki and Manu in the area we also had a transient pod in the area for most of February. At the beginning of the month they were quite some distance offshore but as the month went by they moved in closer with them feeding around 4-7 miles offshore.

EARTHQUAKE UPDATE: Kaikoura is fortunate to have received no damage as a result of the Christchurch Earthquake and continues to welcome both international and domestic visitors.

Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to all those effected by the earthquake and especially to those families that have lost loved ones. Whale Watch Kaikoura continues to operate as normal as is all of Kaikoura, we continue to give a warm welcome to all visitors and all infrastructure is intact.

Welcome to the first update for 2011. We have had a busy start to the year with many people coming to visit not only us but also our beautiful town. It has been an action packed month with many successful trips, very windy days, national highs temperature wise, even had a thunder & lightening storm near the end of the month.

We had three of our semi-resident sperm whales feeding in the canyon this month with Tiaki, Tutu & Manu making our passengers very happy with their beautiful high tails.