If you’ve read my guide to swimming with the dolphins in Kaikoura, you’ll know this was one of my favourite activities in all of New Zealand. It was high on my bucketlist and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.
Swimming with the dolphins is one of the most popular activities in Kaikoura and it attracts thousands of people every year. If you’re one of the many people hoping to swim with these special animals, here are 10 things you need to know about swimming with the dolphins in Kaikoura.
For other activities in Kaikoura, be sure to check out the top 5 best things to do in Kaikoura. This includes going whale watching to see the resident sperm whales.
You’re in the open ocean
It goes without saying that to swim with wild dolphins, you’ll need to be in their environment. This involves going out into the open ocean. Unlike other places where you can swim with the dolphins in New Zealand, the ocean is fully exposed here with no shelter or protection. This means the seas can get ROUGH with huge swells.
The crew won’t let you swim if it isn’t safe, but even when they do let you swim, you’ll need to be confident. Two people from our group were only in the water for a few seconds because they completely freaked out. The crew do offer flotation devices if you need one.
The main advice they give you is to relax as much as you can. You’re wearing a wetsuit which will help you to float so you don’t have to work hard and can just float with little effort.
It can be very rough
Most people on my trip suffered from seasicknesses. It was mainly the people who were spectating or got out of the water early. I assumed they suffered more as they were on a stationary boat floating around in the rough ocean for 40 minutes.
There’s not much you can do about this and if you’re planning to swim with the dolphins, I wouldn’t worry too much. Once you’re in the ocean, you’ll feel so much better. If you suffer from severe seasickness though, I’d consider if the tour is worthwhile, especially if you’re just spectating. The seas around Kaikoura are notoriously rough.
It can get very cold
The ocean in Kaikoura is generally quite cold. If you go in the winter (like me), it can drop to around 8 degrees. Dolphin Encounter Kaikoura will give you a thick wetsuit, a hood, gloves and boots to help keep you warm in the water, but it’s cold nonetheless. I stayed in the water for 40 minutes and by the end, was absolutely freezing. I couldn’t feel my feet when I got out of the water.
The boat has a hot shower on board so you can rinse yourself with warm water. Make sure to have dry clothes with you to change into. There are also showers back at the main office so you can have a hot shower when you’re back on land.
You’re not guaranteed to see or swim with the dolphins
The dolphins in Kaikoura are completely wild so there’s no guarantee you’ll see them. The company rightly don’t feed or do anything to attract the dolphins. Thankfully, the dolphins live in Kaikoura all year round and Dolphin Encounter Kaikoura work with boats and planes in the area to track them.
If the dolphins have young babies with them or there are other animals in the area such as whales, you won’t be able to swim. This is for your protection as well as the animals. If this happens, you’ll be offered a partial refund.
My guide told us that people often take this out on the staff. The crew have the dolphin’s best interest at heart as well as your safety. Go into the experience knowing that they’re completely wild animals, and you’re not entitled to swim with them, or even see them.
Take or hire an underwater camera
Dolphin Encounter Kaikoura don’t provide any photos or videos of the experience. If you want to capture the moment, you’ll need to do this yourself. If you don’t have your underwater camera, you can hire one for $59 (July 23) which includes a memory card.
It’s worth capturing the moment as I’m sure it’s not something you’ll do regularly. However, remember to enjoy the moment too. Controlling an underwater camera while being thrown around in the ocean surrounded by dolphins can be tough and it’s easy to get distracted. After about ten minutes, I handed my GoPro back to the guide so I could fully enjoy the experience.
Interact with the dolphins
The dolphins are generally quite curious, but there are things you can do to encourage them to interact with you. These include:
- Making noises: the dolphins love strange noises. We were told to make high-pitched sounds in the water. It definitely works. The dolphins were so much more curious when we did this.
- Blow bubbles: blowing bubbles under the water also attracts the dolphins. I did this a few times and there were two occasions when the dolphins blew bubbles back at me.
- Swim down (or circle them): the dolphins were much more interactive with the swimmers who swam down under the water. This can be a challenge in a wet suit but even swimming in circles around them is something they enjoy. I swam around one dolphin on my side and it followed me around for about thirty seconds. It was a special moment.
You might get to go in the ocean more than once
Depending on the day, the dolphins, the weather and several other factors, you may get to go in the water more than once. Our crew told us this mainly happens when the first pod of dolphins aren’t too interactive. They’ll get everyone back on board and go off to find some others.
We were lucky in that the dolphins we found were so curious and stayed the entire time we were in the water. This meant we only got in once. We were in for a total of 40 minutes and if I’m honest, I don’t think I could have stayed in any longer (or got back in a second time). I was so cold by the end.
Your safety is the crew’s priority
Safety is the crew’s number one priority. This sometimes means they must make tough decisions such as not allowing swimming or pulling people from the water.
At the end of the day, the activity is in the open ocean with wild animals, there are several things that could go wrong, especially in rough weather. Go in knowing that it might not play out the way you want. If you don’t get to swim with the dolphins, you will get a partial refund.
Did you know you can also swim with dolphins in Western Australia?
Prepare for bad weather cancellations
My trip to swim with the dolphins was cancelled four times during various periods before it went ahead. This was due to rough weather. This is more common in the winter/spring, and summer tours generally go ahead, but it’s still never guaranteed.
If this activity is high on your bucketlist, I’d plan an extra day or two in Kaikoura if you can. This way, if it’s cancelled one day, you have another day to fall back on.
You can spectate instead
If swimming in the ocean isn’t for you, there is the option to spectate instead. Most of the swimmers in my group got out of the water after about 15 minutes and then spectated. You’ll get great views of the dolphins and they come right up to the boat. Even if you’re a keen swimmer, I’d still recommend spending some time on the deck watching the dolphins from above too.
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