Marc & Nora ROUND THE WORLD 2005/2006 - Join us!

here we are...again...lets try again to see some whales.
we arrived early in the morning WITHOUT reservation (how stupid!)

1st question: are the boats running?
1st reply: Sea conditions are perfect!
--> Relief!

2nd question: do you have some spare seats?
2nd reply: we ll put you on standby for the 10am boat.
--> Praying
9:45am: Marc Leadstone and Nora Leskinen? You are on the boat!
--> Relief!

3rd question: are we going to see some whales?
well no one can answer this question but half an hour later we had the answer ourselves!
yes!!! we saw 4 sperm whales and hundreds of dolphins
--> Yippie!

As mentioned before we saw 4 sperm whales - very close up. QUIZ QUESTION: Why is the sperm whale called like that?
--> answers into guestbook please!!!

It is pretty impressive to see the whale exhaling
and then dive under...
the sperm whale is the 4th biggest whale and reaches a length of 19m.

we also saw hundreds of dusky dolphins.
Their upper sides are predominantly dark or blue-black, but there are white or pale-grey blazes along their sides - hence their name dusky dolphin.

Dusky dolphins are one of the most acrobatic of all the dolphins; they are well-known for their amazingly high jumps and twists. When one dolphin starts leaping, the rest of the group often start leaping too, putting on quite a display! Dusky dolphins are highly inquisitive and usually easy to approach. thats why you can also swim with them in Kaikoura - however we decided to give another animal the unique chance to swim with us...

After having seen 4 sperm whales and hundreds of dusky dolphins we also had the unique chance to pass a rock with dozens of sunbathing seals - some baby seals were there as well...cute!

and because we found seals much more fun than dolphins we decided to swim with them in order to examine them under water...

- they are like torpedos when they come out of the water! and even though all of the seals we swam with were young ones (the adults are not so playful and more aggressive) they are pretty huge once you see them on the surface or jumping around next to you.

On land, they are often grumpy and bark at you - but this is only due to the fact that they feel threatened.
they feel threatened as they are pretty clumsy and slow on land and also because we as humans are taller than them when standing upright.

seals that fight with each other (especially male ones that compete with each other) try to put themselves as upright as possible to become taller and therefore superior than the oponent. As we humans walk in an upright position and are much taller than the seals they feel inferior and threatened!

in the water we are floating so we dont appear taller. also seals are extremely quick in the water - they are 100% in their element and find us humans rather amusing - thats why they come so close and are so playful...

...so remember: whenever you see a big seal on land, try to approach it in a crouched position so you dont appear taller than them!