Sperm whale diving to get some food
Sperm whale getting ready to dive
Sperm whale
Albatross flying by the boat
Mary still in search of the Penguins...........where are they?
In the morning, Mary and I left to go whale watching at 7am. Hal, Andy, Sara, and Gareth decided to go hiking (or tramping according to the Kiwi's). The hikers saw a huge seal colony, however, there will not be any pictures since Jone and Mary took both cameras.......(whoops, Sorry Mates). The whale watching boat took us out several miles to where the 1000km deep ocean shelf was located. Kaikoura has an interesting under water topography that allows a safe spot for the sperm whales to live and eat squid. These whales have large heads full of oil. When they need to go to the bottom of the shelf to eat squid, they turn the oil hard and it helps them dive to the bottom. When they get to the bottom, they drop their heart rate to 1 beat per minute so they can preserve the oxygen in their system. When they need to come to the surface for air, they bring their heart rate up, turn the substance in their head back to oil and swim to the surface. These whales look like a log on the surface. While we were out on the water, we saw 4 whales, a bunch of sea gulls, some dolphins, seals, and a few Albatross birds. After the ride was over, we went into town to shop a bit, and ran into the rest of the group who were finished hiking. We ate some lunch and headed t0 the town of Nelson.
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