Akaroa Harbor Tour (Sunday, February 22)

Overnight, the ship sailed north to Akaroa ('Ack-a-row-a') Harbor.  Ships are now docking here instead of the bigger city of Christchurch as a result of a series of major earthquakes from  September 2010 to January 2012.  The harbor area is still difficult to navigate for ships as big as the Marina.  Christchurch is about a 75-minute drive from Akaroa.  We elected to not spend the time on a bus, but to do a harbor tour and to spend some time in the small town of Akaroa.

We had a long tender ride from the ship to the pier, about 30 minutes.  Things must have gotten backed up, as we waited at least 30 to 40 minutes past our scheduled departure time to get out of the Marina Lounge and on to a tender. There aren't really windows to look out of the tender, and being a relatively small boat, we had about as much motion as we've experienced out here.   It was another grey day, but since we were in search of wildlife, we hoped that was a good sign. Once again, we heard from the locals "if you'd only been here yesterday!"

Immediately after we got off the tender we boarded a large catamaran for Akaroa Harbor Wildlife tour.  There were seating spaces inside and out, and we elected to go to the back top deck, figuring that there would be easier viewing.  The total seating capacity was probably around 100 passengers.

One poor woman near us really didn't get to see too much of the trip as she was nursing a severe case of sea sickness (with a clear plastic bag, no less).  Thankfully, it didn't affect us too much,

We took off at a pretty good clip, and the breeze combined with the weather gave us about as cold of an experience as we've had to date.  However, it wasn't too unpleasant, and all of that was forgotten as we started to see a fair amount of wildlife.

Most prominent in this bay are the shags.  We know these birds as cormorants. They are sizable birds, probably about 24 to 30 inches tall.  It was easy to see where their gathering and nesting areas were from the boat, as the rocks were white.

We saw a lot of shags on the rocks, but there were several that were flying around and diving into the water for fish.  The people on our section of the boat seemed to all rush to the side of the boat closest to the birds for viewing, and didn't really give up their positions to share with the rest of us.

One of the birds that I didn't expect to see was the blue penguin.  This is the smallest of the penguins, but the captain called out that some were sighted near the boat, and we hightailed it over to where they were.  Alan was lucky enough that the boat came up to them on our side, so he was able to get some reasonable views of them swimming near us.  Their numbers are decreasing in New Zealand, but they are not yet considered endangered.  These birds are probably about 15 inches long, so they still are pretty good sized birds. In the Māori language, they are called kororā.

The captain pointed out several boats near us as we approached the opening of the bay into the ocean.  He told us they were tours looking to provide their passengers with opportunities to swim with some of the dolphins that visited the harbor.

About that same time, we found some of the South Island Hector's dolphins playing with our own boat!  It was about this time that Alan decided to go up to the front deck where there were only a few passengers and no seats.  It gave him an opportunity to watch and take photos and videos of the dolphins and they darted under and around the boat, breaching the surface several times.

The Hector's dolphins are the smallest dolphins, growing to about 4 to 5 feet long, and are natives of New Zealand.  In addition to their size, you can distinguish these dolphins from others because of their rounded dorsal fin.

Of course, as we sailed near the coast and the rock formations, we saw several New Zealand fur seals, known as kekeno to the Māori .  

The average seal weighs about 250-300 pounds.  In spite of their size, they blend in quite well with the rocks that they pull themselves up onto, and it took some practice to pick them out of the rocks as we approached.  

The adults seemed to be content with just laying there, trying to find a little bit of sun for warmth.  The younger ones, though, were playing in some of the tidal pools and fighting with each other.  They were pretty common (not as plentiful as the shags!), but it was a lot of fun to search for them.

Alan stayed up front as we worked our way along the steep walls of the harbor, the rock formations the result of volcanic eruptions.  The steep walls gave our boat the opportunity to get pretty close for observations.


We saw a number of sheep, apparently barely hanging on to the sheer face though looking pretty nonchalant, causing us to wonder if they were part of an organized flock, or if they were "feral" sheep.

As we moved across the harbor to the other side, the boat picked up pretty good speed, and the ride up front became more of a roller coaster ride, which Alan really liked.

As we sailed back toward the dock, we saw more seals and shags.  The captain pointed out a couple of salmon farms and lobster farms in the harbor.  While the trip started late, we still got in about the advertised amount of time on the water, so we were pretty happy with the tour.

We spent the rest of our time on shore with a walk around Akaroa.  It's a relatively small town, with a waterfront that is geared to tourists with souvenir shops and restaurants closest to dock.  We elected to walk around the bay to the older, 'downtown' section of town.

We stopped at a bank to get some New Zealand currency, since this was really our first opportunity to get funds without the exorbitant fees charged on the ship.  The person in front of us seemed kind of confused about the directions on the machine, but we think that the main confusion was that funds were offered in several nationalities, and since it didn't indicate New Zealand Dollars (which we rightly figured was the default, since we were in New Zealand), thought that the machine was broken.   We'll try to remember to be more tolerant of people who don't know our customs and routines when we return home.

We also stopped in an old church along one of the streets that seemed to stretch straight up from the harbor.  It was small, but did seem to be used regularly.  It was nice to stop and reflect on the wonder and beauty that we were experiencing.


This part of town seemed to have some more interesting shopping for us.  We spent quite a while in a little wool apparel shop, with some bargain bins outside, and what turned out to be very reasonable prices inside as well.  After comparison shopping in some of the other places, and remembering the prices we had seen elsewhere on our trip, we decided to get the sweater purchases that we had on our list.

We settled on a blend of Merino wool and possum fur.  Our friend, Lyn, had suggested that possum fur gloves were a smart purchase, and Joyce found some that she liked to add to the stack.  The shop proprietor was willing to also waive the GST, their sales tax that is automatically added into the purchase price, since we had itineraries that showed we weren't staying in New Zealand.  So, by the time we factored in the difference between the New Zealand and US dollars, the discount from the GST being removed, the sticker shock was eased a bit.

After working our way back, with a stop for a snack and an unintended potty break, as well as dodging some showers and a chat with our new friends David and Nirvair, we lined up for the long tender ride back to the ship.

There was some drizzle, but we went up and found a free hot tub, so we ended the afternoon with a quick bubble followed by a quick nap.

We had reservations at Polo's Grill, the steakhouse specialty restaurant on the Marina.  The food was OK, but frankly, our expectations were much higher than what was produced.  Don't get this wrong, it was still pretty darn good.

The show for the evening was another Jean Ann Ryan production, this one called "One More for the Road", which had some lavish costumes and decent music.  We continue to be impressed with Lawrence, the lead male singer, and less than impressed with the lead female singer.  She seems to be out of her element with the style of music that this group performs.