"How are you ever going to do exciting things if you spend all your time just thinking about them?" (quote from the book im reading atm :-))

This week we've been having some good encounters with huge numbers of dusky dolphin. Each day at work, i look around my office (the coastline of Kaikoura, surrounded by incredible oceanic birds, magical mountains and the interesting creatures which dwell in the oceans of this part of the world) and pinch myself. Even when our passengers are dealing with their seasickness and they hand over their bucket, i always look up towards the horizon out to the east and think about where i am...its stunning and i shouldnt take it for granted as it won't last forever...

The last few days have also allowed us to view the common dolphin. For the resident guides this is fairly normal, but since i've been here we've only seen 1 random common dolphin lost amongst a pod of 400 duskies. As im crazy about cetaceans any new species in the area is good and i get excited :-) (iv seen common dolphins before, its just good to see them in comparison to the other species, close up).

The common dolphin is bigger than the duskies, about 2.7m, they have an hourglass shape along their sides which is yellow, this is bordered below by whiter flanks. They have a rounded melon with a distinct beak. They swim very fast, and they are aerially acrobatic. When we observed this species there were about 15 individuals, they were travelling with about 300+ dusky dolphins and above them flew hundreds of birds (which included Bullers shearwater, White chinned petrels, Huttons shearwaters and a very cute juvenile wondering albatross) This is is how they are often seen in amongst feeding frenzie, looking for various species of fish, squid and krill. A few came into the front of the boat to bow ride, i managed to get a picture, its not the best but you can see the hourglass shape. I also managed to get a picture of the birds which flew above them. There was so much action, so much going on, i told  people to remember to at some point put down their cameras and take in the moment.