Close encounters with dolphins
The Bay of Plenty’s stunning sealife
It’s enough to make even David Attenborough salivate: leopard seals, sunfish, leatherback turtles, whale sharks, manta rays, albatross, and even beaked whales. To see anything like this, many assume you’d need to head to far-flung corners of the planet on a National Geographic expedition. However, this is a small selection of what skipper Brandon Stone has seen. His office is the Bay of Plenty, one of New Zealand’s most underrated wildlife destinations. It is the Kaiko¯ ura of the North Island.
Stone has one of the best jobs in the country. At 9am each day, as long as the weather isn’t too rough, he gathers an excited group of tourists together on the top deck of his boat, the Bay Explorer, and tells them to keep a ‘‘lazy eye’’ on the water.
More than 30 of us are on the boat today, which means 60 eyeballs for spotting wildlife.
You and I might simply see a big blue expanse, but Stone and his crew have an almost X-ray like ability to spot the slightest thing that’s unusual.
We’re told to look for any ripples on the water and to report it straight away, no matter what you think it is. Don’t worry, you don’t need to have an Attenborough-esque knowledge.
A few years ago one passenger came into the wheelhouse exclaiming they’d seen a crocodile. The boat was turned around, and it was true – sort of.
There was something in the water: a blue shark. As they sun themselves, sharks swim near the surface, and their side-to-side motion can resemble a crocodile.
The moral of the story is this that it doesn’t matter what you think you’ve seen, tell the crew.
Not long after leaving the harbour, a spotter sees a large pod of dolphins. It turns out they were aware of us well before we saw them, and are already making a beeline towards the boat at a remarkable pace.
These dolphins want to interact with us. We all excitedly take turns on the viewing platforms, many of us experiencing a touching moment as dolphins rotate on to their sides to look us in the eye.
Four large adults are shepherding a baby dolphin. They appear to be teaching it the unwritten rules of bow riding. That’s when a dolphin goes to the front of the boat and gets pushed along by the wave that’s created as the bow cuts through the water. The force of water means if a dolphin positions itself just right, it can glide with very little tale movement, giving the impression it’s almost flying underwater.
The adults’ tails come within centimetres of the bow, in a ballet of effortless motion, and the baby edges closer as if trying to replicate its teachers.
Without any warning, the dolphins scatter – jumping in one direction at speed, skimming the surface like rocks bouncing on the water. They do
The dolphins continue riding the bow until people stop watching. As soon as we leave, they do. It’s as if they’re there for the company.
We pass enormous ‘‘boil ups’’ of fish at the surface – where huge schools of larger species feed on smaller fish in a splashing frenzy. Then, as Stone predicted, the water turns a deep tropical blue.
All eyes on deck are darting around for ripples but, once again, they see us first. Another pod of dolphins races towards the boat, and we begin our second 30-minute encounter.
Nobody is looking at their watches but we’re running late, so the boat is turned back towards Tauranga. On the way, Stone’s voice excitedly comes over the speaker: ‘‘a sunfish!’’
If you haven’t seen one, it looks like a giant fish head swimming around or, as National Geographic elegantly puts it: ‘‘a large floating blob’’. It is also the heaviest bony fish on the planet.
Stone turns the boat off, so the fish has a chance to glide around us. It is magnificent, like a manta ray flipped vertically. It does two loops around the boat before it heads away to find another place to float on the surface to enjoy the sun – hence its name.
We arrive back in Tauranga five hours after our departure, and even the locals who travelled with us can’t quite believe the aquatic delights in their backyard. I’m confident we all left with a much greater love and appreciation of the ocean.
We didn’t see rare whales, seals, sharks, or enormous turtles – this isn’t an aquarium where sightings are guaranteed. But Stone will be back on the water the next day, waiting to see what nature has to offer.
Back on land The container village
You will want to do more than a wildlife cruise when visiting Tauranga. Besides the obvious visit to Mt Maunganui, the central city’s Our Place container village is a maze of eateries and boutiques that is
A night overwater
well worth a visit. It’s also home to local institution, Johney’s Dumplings. If you have a soft spot for carbohydrates, this is a must-stop.
Pick your own flowers
Forget florists, there’s an increasing trend overseas for flower yards to open their doors to allow you to pick your own at a much-reduced rate, and it’s catching on here.
Miss Mandy’s Flower Emporium charges $35 to pick whatever you like in a provided bucket. Just bring secateurs and a container to take them home.
The new flower yard is still developing, and the flowers have been hit hard by the heat this summer – so it’s only open at weekends at the moment.
Owner Amanda Gilbertson is looking at expanding next summer, with more varieties that will cope with the weather.
While a night at an overwater resort in Fiji or Tahiti is off the cards for now, few realise we have overwater alternatives – of sorts – in New Zealand.
Trinity Wharf Tauranga is one of the city’s top hotels, and juts out on stilts into the city’s harbour, and the infinity pool feels like you could be on a cruise ship.
Brook Sabin and Radha Engling travelled the length of New Zealand on a Stuff Travel nationwide road trip in a new Hyundai Kona Electric. The vehicle has 449km of real-world range on a single charge. For more information, visit hyundai.co.nz/kona-electric. This story was produced as a part of an editorial partnership with Tourism New Zealand.