We were up and going faster today than we have been in a long time. Why? Well, we only had a certain amount of time to get to Cathedral Caves, so that lit a bit more of a fire under our butts.
I’ve actually been dragging a lot more lately, instead of being the first one up, it’s a toss up now who’s gonna be up first.
Anyway, we got to Cathedral Caves pretty quickly, part of the first wave, so before the big rush of tourists (super touristy place).
Thanks to our little book that the lovely couple gave us way back in our first days in New Zealand, we knew that most tourists stand around snapping pictures at the boomerang-shaped first cave. But if you are willing to go around the corner, braving perhaps knee-deep water (at low tide), you’ll find several more sea caves, including one that goes quite a ways further back. So far back, in fact, that you run into Indiana Jones-type stuff. Weird bugs that look almost like some kind of land shrimp, and they are everywhere.
Oh, and so many cobwebs it might as well be a Halloween haunted house. 🙂
Fun right? 🙃
After the caves, we headed over to Curio Bay, where I was hopeful to see I believe the rarest penguin on the world? As well as possibly have another chance at swimming with dolphins.
🤞
Oh, and they also had a petrified forest on the rocky side of the bay as well. 🙂
I didn’t know where to go, so i grabbed my fins, boogie board, and snorkel stuff and headed out toward the signs pointing me to the penguins and petrified forest.
Well, there definitely weren’t any dolphins there. Nor penguins. But there certainly were the remnants of the forest. Stumps, fallen logs, etc. Makes you wonder what… happened?
Petrification is such an interesting thing.
It’s crazy how much knowledge there is to be had in the world. Way more than a person could learn in a million life times.
At least until we make Matrix tech a reality. 🙃
Which… might not be that far away. 😶
Crazy times.
Hope we don’t blow ourselves up first. 😬
Aaaanyway… where was I? Oh yeah. So I headed over back up the stairs, along the path back to where Chase was napping on the car.
I realized the dolphins were actually in Porpoise Bay.
Imagine that. 🙃
So I walked along the gravel road (in my bare feet 😬) through a huge campground and down to Porpoise Bay.
Dolphins!!! 🥰🐬🥰🐬🥰🐬🥰
Yay!!! It wasn’t a minute before I spotted some more Hector’s dolphins super close to shore! 🙂
I remember reading something about not approaching them directly, so I went out on one side instead of right at them. Then over their way.
And it wasn’t long before, boom, there they were, swimming around me, checking me out! 🥰
They were all around, they’d swim around me and then turn and look at me. It was so cool. 🙂 This time, with my snorkel mask, I could see them under water!!! So close!! Within just a few feet of me. 🥰😁🥰
It was so awesome!!!
They’d come by, and then they’d leave for a bit and then come back. They were literally just playing on the waves mostly, catching them like a surfer would.
So fun to watch them just play. 😊
One thing, though, the water was frigid 🥶 (granted, this is the southern coast of Me Zealand’s South Island, so, the next major land mass is Antarctica. 😶
And, man, it was windy! 💨 That made the cold water so much colder 🥶🥶🥶. I lasted probably 35-40 minutes before i was just shaking cold in my shorty wetsuit.
I went back to the car, and we drove back to the parking area for Porpoise Bay. That as nice because my feet were pretty bruised on the bottom from so much barefoot gravel walking lately.
I stayed in the car trying to get warm and starting to try and take a nap myself.
I’ve been so tired lately.
Chase went outside for a while. Other than the frigid wind, it really as a super beautiful day..🌞😊🌞
I never really slept. I almost did a bit, but I think maybe I just didn’t want to miss an incredible day? So it was just that doze that’s so light you might actually sleep for 20 seconds or something and wake up again.
Oh, and I also lost my snorkel. Even though it was attached to my mask, I wasn’t in calm waters, and it wasn’t meant for rougher seas, I guess?
Funny that they don’t make them buoyant. 🤔
Anyway, someone will likely find it some day. Just won’t be me.
I suppose a dolphin could have yanked it.
Still can’t seem to get my mask to keep water out and not fog up. Done my best but it’s just… not doing it. I figured $90 would be a good mask and snorkel set but maybe not?
🤷
Anyway, I stayed in the car until I warmed up a… bit. 🙃 Though, as soon as I could, I went back out, this time using Chase’s snorkel… and his Go Pro as well.
I was so hoping to get some video of the dolphins there with me. 🤞
I swam back out there, and as I was going out, I noticed how much my little boogie board would squeak if I rubbed it hard with my thumb. And i had an idea. It kind of sounded like maybe a sound that I want to say I’ve heard some sea creatures make on nature shows?
Anyway, so I stuck the corner of my board under the water and made the squeaking noise.
😁😁😁
It wasn’t long before a whole bunch of dolphins were curiously swimming around me. It was so cool!!! 🥰🥰🥰
I’m pretty sure I got some good shots of them on the go pro right there with me. I hope. 🤞
I was fighting with the mask and the snorkel and the waves. Tide was coming in, and the dolphins were playing in the big waves, so I kept getting water from the waves down the snorkel as they rolled over me. And water in the mask. And fog.
It was so cool and so frustrating at the same time. 🙃 To be right there with this amazing experience all around me but have the equipment giving me so much grief. At that point, I just wished I had really good swim goggles. Then I’d just hold my breath.
But… It was still incredible. 🥰
After freezing my little butt off. The dolphins coming and going, I bid them a reluctant goodbye.
I would love to just go out with them every day, make friends, find ways to communicate, recognize them individually, even find games to play together. It would be so fun. 🥰
(wishful sigh)
I realized at like 6:40 that I was missing the penguin watch!!! 🐧👀
It was a very lucky person who was able to see one of the rare little guys. Supposedly, they would come in after a day of hunting to feed their chick(s). But I guess the ranger said it wasn’t likely to see one, as there were only four total making their homes in that area.
I headed down to the watch area. Chase stayed in the car doing his thing.
Shortly after I got there, I realized that there was a penguin! It was far away though. Probably at least 100 meters away, right on the edge of the nesting shrubbery. I saw it for just a brief bit before it hopped into the bush.
I realized that there was a lookout that was a lot closer than where everyone was, so I headed all the back near the car and over to the little lookout. There were a few others there, and we all watched and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
The others left. Then a German guy came, and we watched and waited some more, just chatting it up while we watched and hoped.
We heard them making their calls from the bush. Then someone came up and said that 3 out of the 4 had already come in. Somehow we’d missed them? Or maybe they came in a lot earlier.
After maybe 2 hours? Chase came over to where we were, and a couple others, too. And we heard the calls again, and this time it was Chase who leaned out by the cliff to see if they were visible, and what would you know, there were two right there! They’d come to the edge of the bush, completely visible. They were there long enough to get a good look, though they were maybe 30-40 meters away?
Definitely a lot better than being on the other side where I was before.
After a little bit they went back into the bush.
Oh! The German gentleman’s girlfriend had come out at well, so it was Chase and I, the two Germans, and two others.
After the penguins went back into the bush, the other two left, leaving just the Germans and us.We kept on waiting, patiently.
And then it happened.
No, we didn’t see the 4th penguin pop out of the ocean and waddle/hop the 100+ meters across the rock to the bush. Nope. Believe it or not, at like 8:30? 9? 9:30? I don’t remember. The pair of penguins in the bush didn’t just waddle back to the edge of the bush: They came out again, made some calls, and waddled/hopped all the way back to the Ocean!! 😊
It was almost like they were playing? They’d go a bit, lol around, go a bit more, look around, and when they got to the water, they didn’t just swim away right away. They swam all around the shallows as the waves rolled over the rock shelf.
They swam around for probably several minutes, a few times getting slammed by waves and knocked back a good ways before finally going out to see and disappearing into the great blue/green ocean.
😊😊😊
So cool!!!
Oh, did I mention these were yellow-eyed penguins, the rarest penguin on the world? Yup. Sadly, on the endangered species list. 😞
And the dolphins, more Hector’s Dolphins, also over of the rarest in the world. Just little guys compared to the bottlenose that most people are familiar with from movies and whatnot.
Anyway, such a cool experience. Such a cool day.
Emotionally, still struggling quite a bit, personal insecurities hammering away at me, but no doubt this was a highlight day to remember for the rest of my life. 😊
From there, we headed back to Lumsden, where we’d stayed a couple days before. We were super low on gas, though, and our credit cards don’t work at the self service places, requiring some pin that we don’t have on our cards. And with most stations closing early, we didn’t know if we could find a place to get gas to get on the road like we hoped.
I started calling has stations in nearby cities, and after a handful of tries, we lucked out, finding a BP where the store itself was open 24 hours.
So we headed there, got our gas, headed to Lumsden, staging point for going to Fiordland and Milford Sound, and we crashed for the night.
What a day! 😊
Hope you had a beautiful day yourself, and MWLEPAEPBTWFT.
Love and hugs. 😊
Lift the World
~ stephen
Lift the World 