There be Whales Here

We set out on our boat and head off to the Bay in Kaikoura. The thing that makes this place so good for seeing whales and marine life is that this is the place where a warmer current from the north and a cooler one from the south meet and there is a shelf in the bay where there are a lot of nutrients. The captain of the boat tracks a couple of whales using a hydrophone and then we see our first sperm whale sitting on the surface. They can dive for 1-2 hours so once they dive down then you won't see them for a while. The water is pretty deep here as well - it quickly drops off to 1800 metres. We see the whale on the surface for a couple of minutes and then get treated to the whale diving down with the classic view of the tail just before it goes under. The whale was about 15 metres long.

Here is some info about Sperm Whales - They are the largest toothed mammal on the planet!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_Whale