On Tuesday, 13 of the whales were confirmed dead, but rescuers said the remaining 24 were in “relatively good condition” and they hoped to successfully refloat them at noon.
But although the whales were brought together and refloated, they didn’t head out to sea at high tide.
“Despite the whales having water deep enough for them to swim in for a number of hours, they have restranded and are spread along the beach,” Project Jonah said in its latest update this afternoon.
The group of 37 pilot whales that beached on Tasman's Farewell Spit have restranded despite best efforts of volunteers, DoC and Project Jonah staff. Photo / Project Jonah
“Volunteers are continuing to care for the whales but conditions are more challenging with a strong southerly winds.
“If you have a wetsuit and can arrive self-sufficient ie own water, food etc we will be on the beach until sunset and welcome your help.”
A livestream from Project Jonah earlier today showed people walking back and forth pouring buckets of seawater on the stranded whales as they prepared for the tide to come in at Farewell Spit.
The buckets were to make the whales feel cool and comfortable before the tide reached them, Louisa Hawkes from Project Jonah said.
“These whales hopefully will start to get excited to have water around them soon.”
Dead whales could be seen marked with a bright green X, while others had numbers written on them.
Project Jonah said there was no power, food or water at the Golden Bay site and advised volunteers to bring their own supplies.
