A Dream Come True

When I was in grade 5 one of my best friends (and now my oldest friend) Eden and I read a series of books called dolphin diaries religiously. Basically the books were about this family that lived in Florida that helped rescue wild dolphins. Ever since reading these books I have been in love (and in earlier years obsessed) with dolphins.

I’ve always been so jealous of people that have swum with them and at one point desperately wanted to do so myself. However in recent years, especially since I’ve become vegan and much more aware of animal cruelty, I’ve really questioned how bad the life of those dolphins are that are trapped in a pool and forced to “preform” for tourists.

A few days ago though my 10yr old self’s dream of swimming with dolphins came true!! It was probably the coolest experience I have ever, or will ever experience.

The company is run out of Kaikoura, a little town in the north of the south island that, according to our bus driver, used to be a shithole due to the amount of whale hunting that was happening. However since the department of conservation has put in place laws to protect the sea life in this area it has become a very popular destination not only amongst tourists but for kiwi’s as well. There is only one company that operates the dolphin swimming and they are the original family that started it way back in the day. What makes this dolphin swimming unique is that the dolphins are 100% wild. When you sign up they even let you know that they can’t always guarantee that they will be able to spot the dolphins.

Luckily 35mins away from shore we spotted a pod of over 500 dusky dolphins. Once we spotted them the boat slowed down and we were free to get in the water and swim around with them. The water was the type of cold that just takes your breath away but when you have 10 dolphins swimming around and under you that hardly matters.

Now the only downside was that since we were on a tiny boat in the middle of the sea with minimal movement at some points (when we had stopped to swim with the dolphins) the boat was moving up and down with the waves and I’m not kidding when I say almost every single person on that boat was sea sick. At one point everywhere I looked someone was leaning over, or grabbing for a bucket to puke in. I though I was going to be sick just seeing and hearing everyone else.

I have to admit the amount of movement from the waves was far from pleasant and I myself thought I was going to be sea sick. Luckily I was lucky able to just barely hold on until we were safe on solid ground.

However despite the amount of sea sickness on board nothing could dampen my mood. Seeing that many dolphins in the wild and being so close to them was a magical experience, not to mention a dream come true for my 10yr old self, and an adventure that I will definitely never forget!