Recent Sightings - what have you seen?

Thursday 17th May 2012

It has been such a beautiful day in Kaikoura with a stunning sunrise to start the day (todays picture), calm seas, stunning snow capped mountains in the background and excellent sightings of Toki & MatiMati - two resident sperm whales feeding close inshore! We have also had hectors dolphins feeding out from the office throughout the day which has entertained customers in between tours. Tomorrows forecast is for some strong wind from the south so it maybe time to get the winter woolies out again!

Wednesday 16th May 2012

We have had a mixed bag of weather over the last 24 hours with sunshine, thunder, lightening, rain, wind and snow - must be the beginning of winter... With the strong wind overnight it has made for rough seas conditions today so all our tours have been cancelled. Tomorrow there is still wind on the forecast but I guess we will see what the new day brings! Todays photo was taken last night by a Kaikoura local - incredible!

Tuesday 15th May 2012

Sometimes you just cannot trust the weather forecast - the last two days have had strong wind forecasted but thankfully both days have been calm with great sea conditions. Today Cpt Rex & Cpt Chevy were able to locate around 4-5 sperm whales feeding close inshore which made for some excellant sightings. Also sighted on our tours today when possible were dusky dolphins with a pod of around 100 individuals off an area called the Airfield. There were plenty of seals resting up on the rocks (todays picture) along with marine birds sitting on the surface (with not much wind it makes it hard for the larger birds to fly around). Hoping for much the same tomorrow!

Friday 11th May 2012

Its been a mixed bag weather wise this week with some stunning days and some wet and wild ones also, we had a successful day today with 3 Sperm Whales located in total along with Dusky Dolphins and plenty of Seabirds which included loads of Albatross, sea conditions were rather rolly as a result of the rough weather experienced the day before (which is ideal flying conditions for the Albatross) but hopefully things will settle down abit more overnight ready for when we get back out there on Saturday. Have a great weekend all.

Sunday 6th May 2012

May, June and July is a great part of the year to view Sperm Whales here in Kaikoura due to one of the whales primary prey which is the "Groper" coming in close to the edge of the continental shelf to spawn, obviously this natural event attracts the Sperm Whales closer to shore so close in fact that at times they are in water sometimes only a few hundred meters deep. It is the food that attracts the Sperm Whales to Kaikoura and which is why we are able to view Sperm Whales all year round (Where they can be found is always determined by the location of prey) and it is this abundance of food which also attracts the Dolphins, NZ Fur Seals, other marine mammals and the diverse range of pelagic seabirds we are so fortunate to be able to encounter off our coastline.