Traveler’s illness and dolphins

Didn’t feel right when I woke up. Karel —my hero— rearranged our plans for the day to give me a few hours to sort it out. I’ve delved into our first aid kit and we’ll see how it goes.

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Just a little traveler’s illness. I think I’ve slept or dozed for 30 hours and haven’t eaten much of anything in all that time, but I managed to get on the tour boat yesterday afternoon and nap between scenic highlights. It was worth going, in spite of my condition. I roused myself when dolphins were spotted. It was a group of about 10 bottlenose dolphins, including a five-day-old baby. We caught them in a playful mood; they swam alongside us and played games for quite a while. The baby was so cute! When our catamaran finally pulled away, they treated us to an aerial display, with two of the dolphins jumping completely out of the water together, three times.

Next we went to a feature called Hole in the Rock, and the captain pulled off the daring feat of driving the catamaran through the natural arch. There were cormorants, and big schools of fish.

As we were about to leave, a young girl on a nearby fishing charter hooked something big. With her father’s help, she wrestled the fish in, but it was an epic struggle that took nearly ten minutes. She finally landed a king fish that was nearly as big as her. I’m sure her muscles must have been jelly. Of course we all clapped and cheered. As soon as she was unhooked from the harness, she threw herself in her father’s arms. What a great moment — I’ll never forget it.

The tour continued, but Karel and I got permission to hop over to a different boat that was heading back to port. That way, we could make it back to Auckland during daylight. I was still too dizzy to drive, so Karel —my hero— had to do all the driving.