New Zealand, Day 8

DOLPHIN SWIMMING!! Ahhh, what an experience this was! Extremely cold encounter with dolphins, but absolutely phenomenal it was! Karen and I got to sleep in a bit today so we woke up feeling completely rejuvenated. Once again, the weather we woke up to wasn't what we had pictured in mind for a day out on the boat, but we figured we'd be in the water anyway so it didn't particularly matter too much. After we ate at a little cafe with a very rude lady that took our order, we were on our way to Dolphin Encounter. We got all suited up in our wet suits, booties, flippers, mask, etc! Anything we could get our hands on honestly to withstand that 60 degree water temperature. Which, really, doesn't sound to bad... but it was awfully cold. A lot colder than I had anticipated! My first jump off the boat I was hyperventilating. I had to lay on my back to catch my breath! Anyway, once we got out onto the boat our guide said it would only be about ten minutes to get to where the dolphins were. Within minutes, we could see hundreds of dolphins swimming everywhere. We were all so excited! We lined up on the end of the boat so we could slide off when they sounded the horn indicating us that it was okay to go in. We jumped in... I've never swam in colder water before in my life. The excitement numbed it for a little bit, but I could barely breath. Quite scary actually. We could see our breath, that's how cold it was. My fingers were turning purple. The cold water seeped through my mask/hood and trickled all the way down my body. We hopped off & on the boat 4 times. We can't keep up with the dolphins so they continuously would keep dropping us where ever they were swimming. The dolphins we were swimming with were completely wild, they're called dusky dolphins. So pretty! They're about 5-6 feet in length. The dolphins were literally inches away from our faces, all around! It seemed as if they were going to swim into us, but they don't touch humans. They'll play with ya though! We were told you have to make a high pitch sound to attract them towards you. Quite entertaining for the viewers on board I imagine, haha. All these swimmers going around squealing for the dolphins attention must've been entertaining.  I called one close to me and started swimming in circles with it. The dolphin made eye contact with me and followed me all around. It was awesome to have an actual interaction with them. We did this a handful of times, on and off the boat. I got off the boat and poured hot water down my wetsuit. That was it for me, I skipped out on the fourth dive. I was so warm by now, there was no way I was about to get back in! Although it was seriously awesome, I was done with that water! I got changed and started taking pictures and videos of the dolphins on the boat. I've never seen so many before in my life! What a wonderful experience this was, once in a lifetime! I really had a great day at sea. Off for a run, Thai for dinner & laundry, finally! Living out of a bag for weeks is a bit aggravating.

Picture doesn't do much justice, but their are literally hundreds.