Nai-publish: 03.02.2024
The alarm goes off at 6 a.m. and surprisingly, despite the excitement, I slept quite well. We quickly get ready and grab a coffee on the way. When we arrive at the center we first have to wait before we can check in. My excitement and nervousness increases. The website warned you that you should prepare well for the waves and if you are prone to seasickness. So I've already had two Zofran before we even get on the boat. I can't finish my coffee, so I leave it to Maren. The check-in opens and we have to queue like all the normal citizens. Maren is also a little jumpy and plays around with stuffed animals in front of my face all the time (similar to the two children in line in front of us) and drives me crazy. At the counter we are warned again about the swell and we are told that we will be picked up straight away in a white van. All other passengers on a large bus. We and 10 others are something special, because we paid 60 NZD more and are therefore considered absolute VIP guests. Extra transport, extra deck, really bad seats, breakfast and drinks. We drove less than 5 minutes and saw a small group of dolphins. One of 9 species that you don't see very often here. When we sit down again, I take a Vomex. It's rocking really hard. After a few minutes we stop again. The captain heard whale noises here and it should soon surface for 15 minutes. He does that and it was very impressive. You don't see much. The sperm whale swims around for a bit and blows to itself, then raises its tail fin and dives down. Spectacle over. It's getting more and more wavy and now Maren is also taking Zofran. One of our fellow VIP passengers is already lying in his chair with his jacket over his head. We drive to a second sperm whale, which we only see briefly before it dives down again. Then we are even lucky enough to see Hector dolphins. They are very well known for doing a lot of somersaults. On the way back I get very tired and can barely keep myself awake. I'm very happy when we get back on the bus and take a long nap. We only finish it because it got incredibly hot in the bus. After a little stroll that ends with a coffee, we continue on to Blenheim. As soon as we drove into the city, the traffic and the city were a little too much for us and we drove back out into nature to a free camper site for the night.