Flirtatious Fins

Kaikoura’s Dolphin Encounter marketing manager Jo Thompson says the acrobatic and sociable dusky dolphin is the “big tart of the dolphin world” and “unique for travelling in pods of up to 1000.” The Sydney Morning Herald’s Louise  Southerden dons a wetsuit and snorkel and climbs aboard the tour boat at South Bay. “It takes us 45 minutes to find the nearest pod but it’s a sparkling day and there’s plenty to see en route: wandering albatross, mountain views, cape petrels, New Zealand fur seals. Then we see it: a pod of about 300 dolphins, moving south. One blast of the air-horn and we’re leaping like lemmings into the open sea. There are dolphins everywhere: fins breaking the surface all around us, shiny grey bodies launching like mammal missiles beside us.”