Friday 11 February Close encounters of the marvellous kind

Whatupuke Is, Hen & Chickens islands

Flipper's long lost son?

Our super yacht companions departed early leaving us the bay to ourselves. While having breakfast I noticed a small, gliding fin breaking the water surface behind us. Dolphins breathe air and make a lot of noise. Sharks cruise quietly. This was a small shark probably looking for small fish in the rocks. The dolphins came around the headland later, about 40 bottlenoses leaping, playing,hunting and being noisy.

They were still close when we lifted the anchor and, attracted by the sound of the engine, came over and under us to investigate. They are really curious animals and will swim alongside the boat, turn on their side and look up at you watching them. You hear them talking too. Like any teenager they soon got bored and went back to play with their mates.

Because strong winds and rain were forecast for evening we were heading back to a sheltered bay on the mainland, Urquharts inside Bream Head. On the way we saw little Blue penguins out for an afternoon dip. They are small, cute and shy – impossible to photograph.

Coming to visit

Orca under the bow

Unlike the orcas that were playing in Urquharts Bay when we arrived. Our first thoughts on seeing the splashing was dolphins but these were big and had splashes of white on their underbellies. This is the first time we've ever seen killer whales in the wild (and we were glad we weren't diving!). We slowly followed our course and two adults swam to us, so close that we were only 6 feet above them on deck. We could hear them singing, closer to whale song than dolphin clacking, and they are big and beautiful. They scratched their tall dorsal fin under bow and then swam off to join their mates. We were lucky to be able to drift amongst them for an hour before they left. From what we've read they were hunting for stingrays on the sandbank.

A great day to see four wonderful creature although we'd have been happy with just the orcas.