Kayaking in Kaikoura

NZ fur seal relaxing on the rocks in Kaikoura

Monday, Feb. 21: If you're into marine wildlife viewing, Kaikoura is the place to be.  And to boot, it has dramatic surf and coastlines and mountain landscapes surrounding it.  Some of your choices for adventure in Kaikoura include: whale watching, dolphin watching/swimming; albatross watching; seal swimming and sea kayaking; and hiking.

This was a second location I could have gone swimming with dolphins, but alas, it was not meant to be. On Sunday afternoon when we enquired with Dolphin Encounters, they were fully booked for Monday except for 5:30am, and those that know me, know that would be impossible.  So, we did some more research, put ourselves on a waitlist for whale watching Monday morning, and by Monday morning, we decided whale watching was overpriced for seeing a couple whales ($145 NZD). There was also a good chance the boat could be rocky, not so great for Barry and potential seasickness. So...we went with sea kayaking to see some seals up close and personal with Kaikoura Kayaks.

Kaikoura Kayaks are a small and friendly operation, with a few young guys running the show. We showed up for our 12:30pm kayak tour (there were 5 of us including a girl from Nunavut and another couple from Switzerland) and thankfully most of us were beginners.  Simon was our guide, and he took the time to explain the basics of paddling, and how to use the rudder if you're in the back seat of these double kayaks.  It seems a little easier than canoeing, as the steering is controlled by foot pedals and pull-strings to pull the rudder up or down.
We eventually pushed off from the South Bay, where Simon felt it would be more protected from the forecasted northerly winds in the afternoon. It was a dazzling sunny day, and very warm, around 28 degrees.  That meant alot of sunscreen to slap on!  The sea was nice and calm, and we paddled our way out, and quickly saw some little blue penguins swimming by and diving, fairly close (these are the smallest penguins, similar to Australia's fairy penguins). We were lucky because apparently they're usually quite shy.  We ended up in a sheltered rocky reef, where lots of New Zealand fur seals hang out on the rocks. A couple of males were cooling themselves off in the water, rolling over and over again. One was quite playful, diving down and popping up again right beside our kayaks.   Also saw some fishing gannets , cormorants, seagulls, and mollymawks.  The gannets plunge dive for their food, at such speeds that Simon told us they eventually can go blind because of the damage to their eyes hitting the water.

After leaving the reef, we had to paddle through some scary big swells, 2-3 metres high.  This is where Barry started to feel seasick, and I was just plain nervous being in these big waves in a little kayak!  My arms were burning just trying to get the heck out of there and into the next bay.  Simon didn't seem too concerned, but us prairie folk aren't that used to ocean swells!  Unfortunately, Barry was feeling pretty bad here, but he held it together the whole way back to the start.  He didn't feed the fishes, so yay!!  Pretty tiring paddle, around 2 hours - wow I do not have the right muscles for this!  All in all, still a really cool experience.