Day 77: Dolphin watching round 2

So yesterday we saw zilch "sea mammals" so we re booked with our free tickets, and this time we went on the boat where you have the chance to swim with the dolphins. Only problem was we had to wake up much earlier to do this trip, Clemmie was not happy with me when I woke her up this morning. Anyway we made it on time and got onto the boat and soon were out going around the Bay of Islands again. It took about an hour and half of searching but we soon found a huge pod of dolphins with a little 2 week old baby with them, which was so amazing to see, but meant we weren't allowed to swim with them. To be honest I wasn't tooooo upset as the weather wasn't amazing and the sea looked seriously cold. We spent around half and hour cruising next to the pod whilst the swam along and played around in the water next to us. Animal conservation laws state you are only allowed to spend a certain time with a pod of dolphins before you must leave so we moved on in search of a pod we could swim with. We were travelling for another good hour before coming across some more fins diving through the water, but by this time it was almost 12, and another conservation law lets the dolphins have a "lunch break" from 12 until 1.30 where no boats are allowed to be around the dolphins. So sadly (or not so sadly as the sea was freezing) we didn't get to swim with the dolphins but we got to see them finally!!

this morning's sunrise!