A relaxed start to the day and the weather looked very good with only a few clouds in the sky. We then revisited the Seal colony at the end of town and took a few photos of them snoozing the day away and watching the humans.
As the trip was scheduled for a 1145 departure and only returning at three pm we decided to jump into the local ‘Subway’ and have a quick bite to eat thus avoiding the need to eat on board whatever boat it was.
We duly arrived at the check in and noticed that the departure board was saying ‘awaiting confirmation’ which sounded a bit like Terminal Five flights departures last year. However it would appear that the weather had made the sea quite rough and they weren’t sure if they would be sailing today. All yesterdays boats were cancelled it would appear.
So after a short wait and dire warnings about sea sickness and no pregnant women etc with women and children first we go on the bus to the place where they keep the boats. All seemed calm until we got outside of the small harbour and when they turned up the power on the twin hulled craft the boat was up and down and all over the place and many people were suddenly reaching for the little bags in the seat in front. Even Jennifer had a ‘Procul Harem’ period.
After about thirty minutes we were over the deep open sea where the depth was over one thousand metres, they provided a commentary on the eating characteristics of a typical sperm whale. It sounded a bit like our kids when they were young, and they would gobble up anything on the buffet table they could.
After waiting around for about ten minutes outside on the deck they asked us to go inside again as they wished to move to where a sperm whale had been spotted.
Great views of this and also another sperm whale and on the way back to port we came across a family of Orca’s which were gambling in the sea, blackjack I think. So Noel loosed off a total of about one hundred and fifty shots which will keep him busy sorting them out later.When we got back to the Whale Watch Terminal we discovered that the rest of the days sailings have been cancelled due to bad weather so we were really luck to go out, even if it was very rough
We left Kaikoura and headed for Blenheim and en-route we stopped at a place (recommended by the Studio apartment boss) selling large crayfish (lobsters to us) called Nin’s Bins where we purchased two quite large animals for dinner tonight. They were quite expensive but what the hell! if we don’t spend it Gordon Bloody Brown will.
Arriving in Blenheim we stopped at the New World Supermarket for some goodies to go with our lobster and also some food for tomorrow.
The lobster was very good indeed and most enjoyable along with a very cheap bottle of Chardonnay.
Tomorrow morning we have to be up early to connect with the ferry which leaves Picton, which is thirty minutes away from where we are in Blenheim, and be at the dockside at 0700 hrs, whatever time that is but what we do know is it’s to damn early for us old ones.
