My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Akaroa is a cute little touristy town with a tiny grocery store that always made me feel blessed to be out on an adventure.
Day 1
Akaroa was a water shuttle port. That meant I could either leave really early before the guests were all ready to go at the same time after they had their “brekky” or wait until after the rush. Today I had an afternoon excursion swimming with dolphins so I was able to sleep in. This apparently wasn’t a huge seller because the water was cold. I didn’t care! It sounded amazing! We sailed in through the fiords of green hills and dropped anchor. The ride to land was beautiful and peaceful. We met on the dock, were given wetsuits and water shoes and I was asked seriously, how strong of a swimmer I am in open water. I didn’t really know. I thought I was a pretty strong swimmer. I’d always managed to survive on a beach, but I hadn’t done much swimming in open open water. I said ‘strong swimmer’ and crossed my fingers. We broke up into groups of ten and climbed into a small boat. We rode past the ship (above) and out toward the open water. The thing I really loved about this tour was that we were swimming with dolphins in their natural habitat. I’d done the thing where the dolphins worked with the trainers and posed for the cameras, but these dolphins were untrained. They warned us that we might not see anything. The Captain saw some fins and we stopped to see if the dolphins would take interest in us. They didn’t. We continued out a little further. Stopped again. And again. Then they said we might want to try getting in the water. There was a kid that had no interest in being called well behaved on the tour. His mom had been warned that sometimes kids freaked out about open water, and if he did, she was responsible for him– she would have to stay with him on the boat if he freaked out. She reassured them that he could swim before he could walk, and she was fine hanging back if necessary. He got in the water and immediately freaked out. They pulled him back in. I got out in the water. It was cloudy and I couldn’t see the bottom, but the salt water made me so buoyant that I didn’t think I could drown if I tried. They told us to try not to swim– just stay still and float. It was hard to figure out if that was better face up or face down. Then we saw fins. Then the dolphins started shooting past us, under us, all around us. Sometimes it looked like they were coming straight toward us. It was magical. We climbed back in the boat and found two more spots. Both were successful. My instinct was to pull away when they came near, even though it would have been really cool to touch them as they swam past. They ended up letting the mom out at every stop, even though the kid stayed on board. The water was so cold, but the experience was so worth it. On the way back we stopped for some watery hot chocolate and cookies while everyone pointed out the animals hanging out on the shore. This was the kind of thing I came to New Zealand for.
Day 2
So while I was out swimming with dolphins, my friends had found a winery on top of a hill. That is what I wanted to do next time. I wrote down the directions and headed out. I found Emily, the Captain’s Circle Host on the water shuttle with her boyfriend. We chatted a bit and then went our separate ways on land. I found the road and huffed and puffed as it went straight up. I got to the top and found Emily already seated with wine and snacks at the winery. She had walked too– I was just apparently much more out of shape, in spite of my sea day zumba.
The view was gorgeous, and the wine tasty and the snacks expensive. As I sipped my wine more and more crew that were just outside of my circle of friends began showing up. All I really wanted to do was to use my SIM card to call my mom and catch up on internet stuff. The tables were close enough together that I didn’t really have that kind of privacy, so I skipped down the hill (the way down was much easier) and found a pizza I couldn’t refuse right by the water.
I hung out there on the sidewalk cafe, deliciously alone for hours before I headed back to the ship.
Day 3
This time I had made plans with Mel, the paramedic, to go for a morning hike. Mel had worked with my friend, Randi, on a previous ship and Randi was so excited that Mel was coming. When I met her I could see why. She was so friendly and nice and fun that I instantly felt like we hadn’t been friends long enough. Randi and Lauren were both IPM that day, so they stayed on the ship. Mel had signed up for a morning speed boat tour, but that would only take an hour. I caught a water shuttle before the rush and found a place to have breakfast while I waited for Mel. I had a latte with avocado on toast (this was the thing to have down under). Then we headed up the Mountain.
We ran into some cows
We took a little rest where we could see the ship
When we felt like we’d climbed high enough we headed back down, but then decided to take a route across, where we found ourselves in a forest.
We had to ford a stream,
but we made it!
Everywhere was beautiful, and Mel was such great company. I treasure the chance to get to know her. Back down on the ground, we met up with Nurse Lauren, and Erich from the Art Department, who later became one of my really good friends. We bounced around getting drinks, fish and chips and ice cream before heading back to the ship. Once again I marveled at having such a wonderful day.
Our last Day in Akaroa, I reminisced on these three great days while we waited for the Corona Virus tests to come back, looking out over the water at the town that was just out of reach.