I'll sleep when I'm dead!

Eurgh. A 5:30am start.
That's exactly how I felt when we booked ourselves on the early doors trip with Dolphin Encounter. When we got to their base, it was still dark and I found myself wondering if a. We were going to see anything at all and b. If we were going to freeze to death in the cold water. Little did we know!!
You're all kitted out with snorkels, wetsuits and wet jackets, and hoods if you want. Ciaran was the only badass in the group, to refuse a hood. So badass. I was the only one in the group to take a buoyancy aid, even more badass (I didn't realise how buoyant I would be in the wetsuit!)
They then show the group a video which tells you what to do if dolphins approach, e.g. make LOUD NOISES, dive down, try and swim in a circle with them and try and make eye contact. But no touching! They are also very careful to warn you that there is no guarantee that the dolphins will take any interest in you.
The first bonus of being up so early is seeing the sunrise. Sounds simple but it's the first time we've seen one on the whole trip and as I was told by Engine and Anders, the best colours for photography are found in the sunrise. Not that we got any photos as the boat was bumpy but still, it was really nice to see.
When we got unto the water (which was actually quite warm) I did exactly what they said not to and just looked around on the surface of the water, until I saw the people on the boat shouting "look down!!". The water was quite murky so it was a bit of a shock when you first saw one come zooming past. And they are REALLY fast! Unless they're mating as then they slow down a little- yep, we saw that too. They are horny little buggers, apparently one of the few species who don't mate for reproductive purposes only!
We had four swims and it was just so cool each time but my favourite was the third swim. I was out on the edge of the group and I managed to swim in a circle with three dolphins, we went round and round until I was too tired to do it anymore - it's quite tiring trying to keep up with dolphins! I made eye contact with one and when you do it's cool, but also quite weird. It really held my eye and it was like I could see that it was thinking!
After that swim I was so excited, as it felt amazing, swimming round with them like that. Dolphins are amazing and that was amazing- the new highlight of the trip, easily! Such a rush of adrenaline. I know people go swimming with dolphins all the time, but here there are no gimmicks, the tour organisers just know where to go to find them and then it's down to luck. If you ever get the chance to do it (and I'll be advising anyone going near Kaikoura to do it, and probably showing them the video I took), it's all about hanging out on the edge of the group. The dolphins will be all over you!!