Moby Dick

I figured I’d later regret coming to New Zealand without seeing the Sperm Whales that take up residence in the deep trench off Kaikoura. So today I paid 3 times what one would pay for a whale watch in California to go out and see the whale made famous by Herman Melville. Similar to the bird trips, they herded us like sheep (something people here should be very good at) onto a bus to South Harbor, and similar yet again was that pungent smell of European musk. The ride out to the trip was very theatrical, and catered to the ignorant tourist. The naturalist used all of the lines I once used on boats in Monterey:

“If you see you’re crew floating away on a life raft you know something’s wrong”

“Make sure you vomit downwind from you fellow passengers”

“If you feel like you life is over, whatever you do DO NOT go into the bathroom”

“ Baleen is made from the same material as your hair and fingernails”

“ We don’t use any special equipment to find them, we only use our eyes”

The only difference was the billion dollar custom built catamaran with stunning graphics of the canyon system, overlaid with our updated GPS fix, speed, heading, and depth of water. The major downside was we had to sit inside while underway. Searching for the blows and other marine life is what makes whale watching fun; not actually looking at the whales (admittedly that gets boring after 15 min). Passengers want to feel like they’re playing an active role in the hunt; although there are those that would rather have the whales handed to them (they’re the ones that usually ask what time they start jumping). On the upside though it was amusing watching people slowly turn pale and drop their faces into their spew bags. One guy stuck his face into a used one that had been put back in the seat…boy was he not happy about that one.

We eventually caught up with a Sperm Whale that has been recorded regularly off Kaikoura for the last 20 years, named Tiaki (which means the guardian in Maori I think). He (I’m assuming since it mostly males they see here) had just come up from a foraging dive no doubt, and spent a good 20 minutes replenishing his oxygen stores at the surface. Once the myoglobin in his tissues were maxed out he kicked his fluke up for a strong power stroke, stuck his left facing single blow hole out for one last breath, arched his back and raised his massive flukes on a vertical dive back down into darkness. He would probably then spend the next hour at 5000+ foot depth using his sonar to seek out sharks, lantern fish, squid of various species, and other deep dwelling delicacies.

And that was it for the whales, we spent the remainder of the short 3 hour tour watching thousands of horny Dusky Dolphins chasing females and leaping under the bow. Monterey may not have the bounty of exotic seabirds found here but it does offer much more in the realm of Cetaceans. I was surprised to hear the guide actually mention Monterey when he saw me photographing a Buller’s Shearwater, announcing to the group that these birds fly all the way to America near Monterey Bay to feed in the winter (Northern Hemi Summer), little did he know he was preaching to the choir.

Spending the rest of the day hanging around the hostel. Still no internet connection here, I plan to search for a café with free wireless tomorrow. Luckily domestic flights from Christchurch started running this morning, so I shouldn’t have any major problems with my flight to Hobart on Saturday.