On Saturday we went on the Diveworks eco tour around whale island. Everyone was really excited about it as the day before, Moko the infamous dolphin had been to visit. He had followed the Diveworks boat for miles, swum with the passengers, and stolen Phil’s son’s swimming noodle off him.
The staff were really confident that the oceans were TEEMING with dolphins. However, tours that offer the chance to see wild animals are never 100% guaranteed, .......
and this week we really learned what it feels like to buy a ticket and not see much. The purpose of the trip was to take photos for the blog, but the weather was a little bit overcast, so that was a bit of a disappointment from a photographer’s perspective. But even sadder was the absence of dolphins and seals.
One guy on the tour was fishing with diveworks yesterday when Moko came to visit, and they had such a great time that this time he brought his wife and kids out. But, like I said, we didn’t see any dolphins, and when we went around whale island (which was very pretty) we only saw about 4 seals. In total we saw 2 blue penguins, a gannet (which was really impressive), some terns, some other seabirds, and that was it, really. M got a little bit seasick and became grumpy. The children started competing for pride of place at the prow of the boat and stomping on each other’s toes. And the assistant skipper told endless stories about all the awesome things that happened yesterday.
Phil drove the boat around and around in utter disbelief. There’s no question that he wasn’t doing his job. He certainly gave us a nice boat ride, gave an informed commentary (but no coffee) and had a safe, well-maintained boat.
But at the end of the ride, we got off the boat, and enthusiastic locals wanted to know if we’d seen any dolphins and we had to say, “no, not a sausage”.
I guess fishing and boating have always been a gamble. You pay in advance for a booking and the weather turns out to be crappy, but not crappy enough for a cancellation. You don’t make a booking and try showing up when conditions seem perfect and the boat is booked out. You go out in perfect conditions and see nothing, or you go out on a crappy day and are inundated with teeming wildlife.
Personally, I feel that if the chances of seeing dolphins are 90%, then the operator should be able to afford to give the 10% who saw nothing another chance. But there could be any number of reasons why they don’t. Maybe their profit margins aren’t high enough, maybe they’re struggling. Or maybe if they offer free rain-checks, then people might start asking for cash refunds. In the end, the deal is “we take you for a boat ride, we do our best to show you around and you pay us for the service whether or not you find what you’re looking for”, and I guess that’s fair enough.
But it sure sucks when you don’t see anything.
As a final note, I noticed that the boat wasn’t full, so if you didn’t make a booking, it’s still worth a try to call in at the wharf and see if you can get on a boat. That is, of course, if you don’t mind taking a gamble.
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