I long to be under the sea, in an Octopus’ garden ... verse 2!

The great day dawned; beautifully sunny and warm with just a slight breeze – Ron even had 3 birthday cards – one from me, obviously(!), one from Mum and Dad and one from my sister – all of whom are far too organised for their own good! They gave me the cards to bring with me – how organised is that! They were really appreciated.
We boarded Gemini, a beautiful 50’ yacht, with about 20 others, to be greeted by “Butler” the owner of the business –who was obviously cultivating a “seadog” look, and three helpful lady crew members. Wet suits were issued, the galley and drinks supplies shown and then off we sailed looking for dolphin! It took about 3 hours to find them – during which time we saw blue penguins, jelly fish, sun fish and an enormous shoal of fish that were having a battle with storm petrels and sheerwaters who saw them as an easy lunch!
Then we saw the first tail flukes and splashes of the dolphin! The excitement was almost tangible as the crew brought the boat right up among the pod..they like to ride the bow wave of the boat – almost like they’re playing a game! There aren’t really words to describe what it feels like seeing first one or two, then 8,9,10 and more wild dolphin swimming two feet away from your feet! They were twisting and turning in the water, leaping upwards occasionally to breathe and obviously quite happy with these strange humans invading their world.
We all had a chance to get into the water behind the boat and, with the aid of snorkel and mask, see them really close up. While Ron and I were in the water one swam right underneath us, and groups of 2-3 swam alongside – awesome might be a trendy youngsters word, but it’s the only one I can really think of that goes anywhere near describing the experience.
When we stopped off an island for lunch and further snorkelling a large grey black octopus and a stingray were sighted. Not wishing to end up like Steve Erwin a hasty retreat was made by all!
Finally, the sight of a flying fish skimming the waves over a distance of at least 50 metres was icing on my metaphorical cake. We got plenty of good photos of the day and when we finally arrived back at the quay 8 hours later we both needed pinching just to make sure we weren’t dreaming. We then had a 83 km drive south to Whakatane to find our motel and a birthday supper. Much of Whakatane was closed as it was a Monday evening, but the owners of the motel suggested we try “Skippers” – a restaurant within Whakatane fishing club. We did and it was great! The biggest problem we had was deciding which of the many photos to include in the blog..here are just a few – lot’s more to bore you all with later!