Kaikoura Whale Watching!

(FYI- This picture is actually from Kaikoura, NZ! :D)

For any of you that know me well and had to put up with me through Independent Study in 7th Grade or JEEP in Yr 9, you will know that I am mildly obsessed with sperm whales (yeah... I know.). When we went to the the South Island for a trip, we landed in Queenstown and then drove up the coast, and across the South Island. One of our stops on the way was Kaikoura, which is famous for its whale watching. Apparently, my mom and brother were not too keen on throwing up for however long we were on the water, so they got this seasickness pill called the Kaikoura Kracker, which everyone said worked brilliantly, but just ended up making them sick and dizzy... However, they managed to recover, and we found our tour. We lucked out, because previous tours had been canceled. First, because the whales were out of their range, and second, because it was really rough. Lucky for us, it calmed down just enough for them to allow our tour to go out. When we finally got out to the whales, my brother was already feeling a little... Erm... Under the weather... And so, while my dad were out on the upper deck watching the whales, my brother was making... Chum. A lot of chum. I felt bad, because he was so sick and I wasn't sick at all and enjoying the whales. And wow, it was amazing! If your favorite animal is a sperm whale, you don't get to see your favorite animal too often, and I had never seen a whale in the wild before. It was an incredible experience! The guides would get a signal from the other boat telling us that they had found a whale, and we would speed over there, and everyone would gather on the railing, and... There it was. Magnificent, majestic. A lump of gray in the water, with a slight darkness where the rest of its body was under the water. The guides told us the whales' names, according to patterns on their flukes. And of course, the whales had Maori warrior names. I don't remember them, but they were COOL! The coolest part was probably when the whales decided they'd had enough of all this staring, and dived. It's EXACTLY like in all the movies, and I was just totally awestruck. This massive, blubbery creature doesn't seem like it would be possible for it to perform something so beautiful, but when it dives, it's like everything just suddenly synchronizes and everything about the dive just WORKS. The flukes gracefull breach the surface, and gently arc toward the water, and then, just like that, they've slipped into the deep, cool blue, and you're left open-mouthed, silently screaming for this beautiful, graceful, gentle behemoth to come back.

And then you go back into the cabin. And every single person in the cabin is puking in a paper bag. It really ruins the moment a bit.