Whakatane rocks

When Alice and I were living in Taiwan we experienced the occasional earthquake in our apartment which was on the 5th floor. The building itself had 11 floors. Obviously I am not too sensitive to these sorts of vibrations as on several occasions Alice said to me `Can you feel the earthquake?´ First I thought that she was kidding me. But when I noticed the circles on the surface of the water in Alices drinking glass I believed her. A couple of times I also woke up during the night when there was a bigger earthquake; the bed rocked and the closet swang impressively. For somebody who is not experienced in earthquakes it is not a very comforting feeling to sit in the middle of an apartment block when the walls suddenly start to swing back and forth  - especially not for one who lived most of her live in an area where natural disasters of any kind are almost unknown (Praise the Oldenburger Country...)


When we later moved to New Zealand I was prepared to expect earthquakes there as well. And it wasn't long after we moved into our new house that the walls were swinging and the floor vibrating. And so I said to Alice, `Oops, that must have been an earthquake´. But Alice, who was used to earthquakes for her entire life, explained `Na, that was no earthquake, that was just a truck passing by on Domain Rd´.   And we had this sort of dialogue more than just once in a while...it seems that Domain Rd is build on sand dunes, which wobble rather a lot.

Two days ago there were about 13 earthquakes within less than 24 hours in this area, which is a lot even for a country that is used to earthquakes. Two of them were so intensive that they woke me up in the middle of the night. Lying in bed in such a situation I suddenly knew how the Gauls felt - refering to Uderzo & Coscinny - when they feard that the sky would fall onto their heads - whereas I would have contented myself with the ceiling and the roof. However I still wasn't sure whether it was an earthquake or passing trucks on Domain Rd.  And I asked myself how many passing trucks and how many earthquakes I would have to experience to be able to tell as accurately as Alice, `Ah, that was just a truck passing..´

Tour with Whale & Dolphin WatchNZ Ltd

After my previous dissappointment in dolphin watching Alice treated me to a dolphin watching tour with Whale & Dolphin Watch NZ Ltd for my birthday.(2011 update:  sadly, Putauaki trust have stopped this business, but the service has been taken over by Diveworks.  I've written a 2011 update at the end of this entry)

Here is one of their boats, the Taniwha ("water spirit"), which is used for the Whale Island tour

The Blue Sky is used for Whale and Dolphin Watching tours

We chose this company because this tour comes with a guarantee that if you don`t see dolphins they will give you a voucher to go on another tour later . Whale & Dolphin Watch NZ Ltd is owned by Putauaki Trust which is a Maori land trust formed from descendants of Pahipoto Hapu of Te Teko. It is a great thing that Maori People now have the chance to profit from tourism at an ownership level as opposed to the more traditional patterns of exploitation where operations were typically owned by Pakeha, and Maori resources were used as the attraction. Hence Maori seldom saw the profits from early tourism.

The day we went out was in March, near the end of New Zealand´s summer, and also approaching the end of the dolphin watching season. The sky was clear and the oceans were calm. We shared the boat with a couple from the Netherlands and a young working visa traveller from Germany.

Our tour guide`s name was Elise and she was very charming and hospitable. She had a lot of local knowledge about the area that surprised even Alice despite the fact that she had grown up here. Several times, as the guide divulged intimate knowledge of burial grounds and marks on rocks, Alice was heard to mutter, `Why didnt`t they teach us this in school?´

Elise also gave Alice lessons on how to overcome sea sickness by focussing on the horizon. Soon Alices head was bobbing up and down like a wobble dog, and she was very happy for the entire journey.

We sailed around for quite a while looking for dolphins. This was done partly by listening to radio reports by other boaties and by following Gannets who were fishing. At one point we found the dolphins. We could see them so clearly swimming around the boat in the clear blue water. However, by the time we got into the water the main pod had arrived and swam straight through us, obviously on some urgent mission. I had the misfortune to be looking in the wrong direction and missed them completely. My German compatriate on the other hand found herself in the position of `chicken on the highway´ as dolphins zoomed past her left, right, up and down. After they had gone we got back on the boat and headed off in search of more congenial company. Our 2nd attempt was something of a fizzer, and once again I was noted for swimming in the wrong direction entirely. The dolphins weren`t particularly sociable but they were very beautiful. Unlike Moko who is a large bottlenose dolphin, these ones are common dolphins and have small light grey bodies with dark coloured backs and yellow stripes inbetween.

 These dolphins also wandered away and while a less determined skipper may then have given up and told us that we had swum with dolphins, however briefly, the `Blue Sky´ boldly took course to find yet another pod of dolphins. Finally on the third try I actually got to be in the water with some dolphins that I could ssee. I even got to play around with my camera and tried filming them. It is amazing how clear the water is once you get away from the beach.

Elise really impressed me with her free diving skills. She was swimming so deeply and quickly and got such obvious joy from being with the dolphins. At one point Alice heard Elise whooping through her snorkel. It sounded very comical. After that we went to Whale Island and while we did not have the permit to embark, we did rest in the shade of a beautiful cove and ate snacks and drank hot chocolate - which was really nice and warming after being in the water three times. While we were chewing and sipping, Elise told us some more stories about the area and we watched for seals which did not materialise. There might have been the chance to swim with them, but we were too tired anyway.
Without a doubt we returned to shore a tired and happy bunch of tourists. We were invited back to the shop for showers, but at that point Alice and I said good bye and went home for a shower as we live in the neighbourhood anyway. I was really happy that  I went on the tour because now I have had the pleassure to meet both Moko and Whakatane`s wilder dolphins. I also learned a lot more than I thought I would and feel inspired by Whale & Dolphin Watch`s passionate service.


Wet suits, diving mask, snorkel, snacks and hot chocolate were provided.

If you want to book a tour you can either go on their website or directly to the Blue Shop in 96 The Strand

This is the Blue Shop:

Here is a map:


Größere Kartenansicht

Prices (2011):


Swimming with the dolphins                adults                       $160

                                                          kids                          $130



Watching                                            adults                        $130

                                                           kids                          $100


Whale Island                                       adults                       $90
                                                           kids                          $70


2011 update:  Sadly, Putauaki Trust have moved out of the shop and sold their lovely boats to Diveworks, the other Whale and Dolphin tour operator.  I suppose that this means that the market has been too small to support two businesses, and it's really a shame in several ways.  Firstly, it's a shame that we can't  choose to support a business that supports tribal development (Diveworks and Putauaki trust have both contributed to ecological protection, so it's not all bad!).  Secondly, Putauaki's beatiful boats are currently without a skipper, so only the diveworks boat is in use - not Alice's favorite boat as she got seasick on it.  And we miss Elise, the bubbly tour guide!  Another sad thing is that only drinks and candy are served after diving. Also, Putauaki had guaranteed a dolphin experience.  If they were unable to get you swimming with the dolphins, they issued a voucher so you could try again another day.  Diveworks does their best to find dolphins for you, but if you don't find any, that's just too bad.   Lastly, and perhaps saddest of all,  Putauaki had obtained a license to bring passengers onto Whale Island, and we were looking forward to taking this tour.  Now, nobody is able to offer this tour, and we can only look at Whale Island (protected by the department of conservation) from sea.
Luckily, the dolphins are still out there, and there there is at least one tour that offers the swim with the dolphins experience.