Dolphins, penguins and much more

'Definitely go to Curio Bay! You can swim with dolphins there,' we heard too often in the past few days. Everyone urged us to go there.
After we drove from Milford Sound to Invercargill, where we got an oil change and bought a cheap underwater camera, we drove to Curio Bay. Despite the cloudy, slightly windy weather, we put on our swimwear, packed the newly purchased camera, and went to the beach. We were amazed when we saw the huge, hairy sea lion relaxing on the beach, which we initially thought was a rock. 

We found a spot on the beach and kept an eye out for the promised dolphins. After about an hour, we suddenly saw the first fins sticking out of the water. I immediately pulled Niklas into the - unfortunately very cold - water. However, we forgot about it due to the excitement.

At first, the Hector's dolphins stayed far out, but over time they came closer to the bay. Unfortunately, they didn't come very close to us. When the dolphins were swimming further in the other direction and we had given up hope that they would come closer again, a pretty big dolphin suddenly swam in the next wave. Niklas quickly realized that it wasn't a dolphin, but a sea lion mom. At first, she swam around a bit and we thought she was curious, but then she stuck her head out of the water and started growling. Suddenly, she swam quickly towards me. That's when I realized that she didn't want to play but was defending her territory. I tried to move away from her as quickly as possible, and eventually she turned in the other direction...towards the next woman. After a few seconds, the woman also noticed that the sea lion wanted to drive her away .

If you click on the link here, you can watch the video:

In retrospect, we read that you should always be at least 20m away from sea lions and that they are not afraid of humans. Good to know! 

We went to another section of the beach around 7:30 PM.
Because at dusk, there is a chance to see the rare yellow-eyed penguins that are only found in New Zealand. The Yellow-Eyed Penguin is one of the rarest penguin species and highly endangered, along with the Galápagos Penguin.
The penguins took some time to show up, but we were lucky to see orcas swimming very close to the bay. 

But the wait was definitely worth it when a yellow-eyed penguin waddled over just before sunset. 

As it got dark, we made our way to a free campsite where we met Nick, Jana, Nona, and two guys from Saxony (Niklas and Lucas). 

The next day, we drove back to Curio Bay with them. Although the weather was supposed to be bad according to the forecast, it was much more pleasant than yesterday. The water was still incredibly cold, but the sun came out around noon and warmed us up.

We saw dolphins again, and this time even more than yesterday. They were more playful, and we were lucky that they swam just a few meters away from us. It was an incredible experience!

You can watch the dolphin video here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbax4troawh7cl4/20190212_170545A.mp4?dl=0

While I was lying on my towel to dry, I suddenly saw everyone running out of the water. I quickly saw why...the sea lion from yesterday was back and chasing people out of the water.

The sea lion went back into the water after a few minutes and came a bit further away to take a sand bath on land.

...and then made its way back into the water. But not without giving the camera a cute look.

As a highlight of this sea lion day, we saw another sea lion come out of the water in the late afternoon with her young. She was totally relaxed and didn't mind the crowds of people around her.

We went back to the same free campsite, and the next day we returned to the beach at Curio Bay. Unfortunately, we didn't see any dolphins on the last day, but it was wonderfully warm and I could finally sunbathe again. We left at 3 PM to continue up the east coast.