Around The World In 80 Waves

After leaving Christchurch I drove north until I got to the small town of Kaikoura, which is on the east coast of the south island of New Zealand.

The town actually developed as a whaling port, but now actually supports itself largely by taking tourists to view the whales that regularly come close to the shore, instead of harpooning them as they used to!

The unique bathymetry off the coast at Kaikoura results in the sea bed falling from sixty metres in depth to more than a thousand when it drops into the Kaikoura canyon.

This results in a environment rich in nutrients and huge amount of marine life interacting at the undersea wall, and of course larger animals then coming there in search of an easy meal.

Giant Sperm Whales, Sperm Whales, Humpback Whales, Blue Whales, Minke Whale, Pygmy Sperm Whales, Southern Right Whale, Beaked Whales, several varieties of dolphins and not forgetting Orcas or Killer Whales (i.e. The ones with the biggest teeth!) are all knocking about under the water here. There are probably angry fish too, but I will choose to ignore them whilst here because any of the others would most likely scare them off. I will quite happily pass on seeing any of them whilst on my surfboard though.

My whale watching experience in Mexico was so special I can’t imagine anything on offer here being as good or allowing me to get as close to the animals for health and safety reasons, so I think I will pass on the mammals this time and focus on my own fun in the water.