Playing with sharks in Kaikoura

By LEE BAKER

No pipsqueak little settlement on the edge of the ocean at the bottom of the world should be this much fun. For this is Kaikoura, the aquatic adventure capital of New Zealand where you can swim with the ocean's friendliest playmates in the morning, then come face to face with its most ferocious predators in the afternoon.There are seals about, too. Oh, and whale-watching.

At Whalewatch Kaikoura you'll be herded into what looks like a mammoth speedboat sitting on top of a giant trailer which is gently delivered to the sea via a ramp.

The pampering could almost distract you from the fact that you are about to be tossed about by heaving seas. The day I went whale-watching it was announced we were going out under "a general sea-sickness warning."

If you want whales in their natural habitat you don't just pay for it with your credit card, you pay for it with your breakfast.

But before the voyeurism there's the eavesdropping. A hydrophone is used to detect whale song. It's not long before we discover a male sperm whale and within minutes every imaginable photographic and video recording instrument is pointing its way.

At about 100m you can only see a gnarled hump and part of the whale's epic backbone. Airborne voyeurs pay about $200 for the advantage of seeing almost all of the whale from a plane.

Suddenly the show's over. Despite global positioning satellite technology, no more whales can be found. How much whale you get for your buck has a lot to do with luck, but for $95 you're guaranteed a lot of whale facts.

Same day, different boat. We are minutes away from our dolphin encounter and a pod of dusky dolphins awaits just beyond the white-caps. Even before we get into the water, sleek grey shapes are dancing in our wake. The pod is estimated to number 400 and we are about to gatecrash the party by diving right into it.

In the water I'm immediately aware of shapes shooting past me. From behind and beneath me they come, quicksilver in the water, circling within centimetres. As I dive down I inspire a frenzy. Other snorkellers do the same thing and I see dolphins spinning with excitement, hysterical high-pitched clicks spilling from them.

It is an enchantingly odd experience to have scores of wild creatures receive you in their immediate environment with such palpable enthusiasm. The interaction and play goes on and on. I've been in the water 40 minutes by the time the boat's horn sounds to summon us back.

Back on shore, showered and warmed, I'm still numb. But I haven't yet exhausted every option for genuine escapism in Kaikoura.

It's hard to believe we live in a world where you can pay to be put within centimetres of the most ferocious killers on the planet. Admittedly, Shark Dive Kaikoura does appear to stretch the "New Zealand as adventurers' playground" concept.

However, I found the idea of getting orthodontal with large sharks so appealing I was willing to pay almost any price. In the event, $130 seemed like a steal.

When you pull up outside Shark Dive Kaikoura's converted garage reception and see two guys in shorts, just kind of waiting, you know this is going to be a raw experience.

There are no crowds, no safety videos, no comforting words, no comfy seats or slick patter. Simply, these people are about to put you face to face with the sea's most dangerous, unpredictable creatures sea.

They'll sell you a stupid hat if you want, but you get the impression they'd rather go look at sharks, too.

We jump onto the roof of our modest steel fishing boat and head once more into the rolling waters off Kaikoura, pausing only to trawl. Freshly caught barracuda is added to a witch's brew of decapitated fish heads, bits of bone and blood. Once we drop anchor, mottled fish remains are dangled overboard on a hook attached to a high-tensile cable.

The homemade cage, all that will separate us from the sharks, is lowered into the sea by hydraulic pulley. It has a slot for viewing at head-height and bar on the inside to grip, but essentially it just looks like a fence. A fence versus the most powerful jaws in the ocean. A tuna head the size of a small child is strategically placed in front of the cage and soon blue sharks are circling.

In a provided wetsuit, I enter shark-infested waters attached to the boat by nothing but the tube connecting my regulator to onboard air tanks. The cage suddenly seems to have become so important in my life. I admire its workmanship, its excellent joinery.

The shark approaching me clearly has little interest in joinery. It sidles up, as sharks will, and clamps onto the bait, ripping at it with a few powerful turns of its head. Muffled expletives spill out of my regulator.

"Makos!" announces the instructor, popping up out of the cage. Makos are what we really want to see. They are bigger, faster and generally come from the wrong side of the tracks in shark terms.

When I return to the cage I arrive in time to see the blue sharks scared off by a nimble mako. This new arrival changes the dynamic of things somewhat. This shark is bigger. It doesn't just give me a fright, it gives me context, like admiring a scale model of a truck and then having a real truck pull up behind it.

I am later told it had to be at least four metres long, but what that doesn't tell you is that it was fat. It was an obese shark. I should know, it passed within centimetres of the cage and my face. At this range I can see tendrils of parasitic plant-life trailing from its gaping gills, a legacy of years at sea. My thoughts turn again to joinery.

After a reconnaissance of two passes the mako attacks, laying siege to the bait in a terrifying display. Only this time the bait bites back. Someone on board is tugging the line to try to pull the mako closer to the surface and give those on board a piece of the action. This angers the shark, which jerks and pulls and twists. The monster ends up with me and the cage between it and the bait and its response is typically proactive. The broadside it unleashes on the cage sends a shudder reverberating through the vessel. I hang on, understandingly.

Eventually the star of the show simply swims off, leaving nothing but bits of dead fish floating in its wake. And on the way back to base all the talk is about what's just happened and the tall tales that will be told for years.

Casenotes:


More info: Shark Dive Kaikoura, ph (03)319 5712. It operates from December until the end of May.

Dolphin Encounter, ph 0800 733 365.

Whale Watch Kaikoura, ph (03) 319 6767.

Kaikoura Information and Tourism, ph (03) 319 5641.

Contact: Visit Kaikoura or email Kaikoura.