Catch up

Been a while since my last blog post, sorry. Had a few days in a row where I didn't get out on the boat because of weather or scheduling. Also tried and failed to get on a Whale Watch trip on the 13th, they were fully booked in the morning then the wind picked up in the afternoon and they cancelled some trips. These are the days of cetacean research that can get quite frustrating and require some patience.

Had a good trip out on the boat on the 14th. We tracked the easily recognisable Tiaki (has a very prominent dorsal fin) for a few dives and observed some very loud surface clikcing with easily audible echoes from the canyon walls. 15th no boat again, rained all day, but back out on the 16th and a good trip on the 17th which included a few dusky dolphins and a very fleeting glimpse of one or two beaked whales. They are incredibly shy animals so impossible to get any where near them with the boat.

On the 18th, after a quick job 'interview' at a local bakery, I managed to get a seat on Wawahia, on of the Whale Watch boats and spotted Tiaki, becoming a regular sighting at the moment. Afterwards at the volunteer house I databased the backlog of data collected on the Whale Watch trips over the past few weeks.

Since the 19th we have had beautiful sunshine, getting pretty hot at times. On the 20th, after being offered a weekend job at the bakery I went out on the boat. We had to go quite far offshore to find them and they seemed to be shallow diving as most submerged without showing their tail flukes. In the evening Dusky Lodge was fully booked so there was little point in me sitting on reception. I was allowed the evening off and went to the small local cinema to see The Lovely Bones, which I really enjoyed.

The beach at meatworks

Had an early morning on the boat on the 21st, which was unfortunately cut a little short when a big fog bank started rolling in. In the afternoon Elena, one of the volunteers who left on the 22nd, organised a bit of a picnic/BBQ on the beach at a local surf spot and I enjoyed the sunshine and took some pictures.

Surfers at meatworks

Yesterday we had more great weather so I went out to the end of the peninsula with a few people. We wanted to snorkel with the seals but the swell was up a bit and apparently the viz wasn't too good so we just walked out onto the rocks, explored the rock pools and collected a few paua shells.