Watch: Whales and dolphins enjoying life in lockdown. Video / Jacob Blaikie / Charles Sheen
As New Zealand enters level 3 lockdown, our waters have played hosts to amazing displays whales and dolphins enjoying the relative peace and quiet.
Amazing footage has emerged from Wellington this morning, showing a juvenile humpback whale exploring the waters around the Interislander ferry as it prepared to leave for Picton.
The video, shot by Interislander crew member Jacob Blaikie, shows the whale moving gracefully around the ship as excited crew watch.
Blaikie told the Herald it was his first time seeing a whale in his three years onboard the ferries, describing it as "pretty amazing".
He said the whale was spotted at 7.30 this morning and spent around 10 minutes exploring the ship, with crew following it up to the bow, where the video was filmed.
The juvenile humpback was sighted in Wellington Harbour. Photo / Jacob Blaikie
Blaikie posted the video to Facebook, where it quickly racked up thousands of likes.
He said he was a "real neat experience" and a great way to start the day: "First day of level 3 and we see this".
Marine biologist Dr Ingrid Visser told the Herald that this was the first time she had heard of a humpback whale being sighted at the ferry dock in Wellington but they had been seen in the harbour before.
The pod delighted beachgoers at Auckland's Narrowneck beach. Photo / Charles Sheen
On Auckland's North Shore, a man out for a walk with his son and daughter was treated to a spectacular display from a passing pod of bottlenose dolphins.
Charles Sheen was walking with his family on Narrowneck Beach when he saw the dolphins flipping through the air.
The Narrowneck local said it was the first time he had seen the animals from the shore and said his children had been talking about their experience non-stop.
"They were so excited, shouting and running around."
The video shows the dolphins, including at least one calf, bursting from the sea before splashing back down in a seemingly choreographed routine.
Sheen said that numbers of onlookers on the beach swelled after the dolphins were sighted heading south towards Auckland city yesterday afternoon.
Visser said that any increase in sightings was probably due to the increase in people taking walks close to the shore but said that cetaceans (the collective term for whales, dolphins, porpoises) were coming in closer and spending more time close to shore due the reduction in noise from boats.
"Naturally, the reduced numbers of vessels on the water will be creating a 'quiet time' for cetaceans, which I am sure that they will appreciate," she said.
