Farewell from dolphins
Călin / 27 June 2026
Before our time in Aotearoa came to an end, we had an astonishing experience. As I’ve written in the past, we picked up kayaking as both recreation and sport. It took us a while to get confident, however, over the past two months we managed a couple of amazing trips. We did our longest paddle around Rangitoto Island, and we paddled through fog and then looked back on it from Tamaki River. Thanks to our friends in the Auckland Canoe Club, and in particular Terry, Linda, Andrea, Lynne, and Peter, we were able to enjoy the water around Auckland Harbour.
Photography while kayaking is somewhat challenging, but I do carry my camera from time to time, and take photos mostly when we land. The beauty of kayaking is that you can get to places that are otherwise inaccessible.
Motukorea is a favorite destination — about 18km that take about 4h of easy paddling, enough for a good workout and a break to hike up the crater for 360 views of the harbour.
Our longest paddle was around Rangitoto Island — a whole day, slightly less than 32km. That was the outing where we learned what it means to be experienced. All our fellow paddlers were using the currents, the waves, and the wind in ways we couldn’t imagine. We worked hard in the double kayak, where we are typically quite fast, but these guys left us “in the dust”, and had to slow down or wait. This trip was beautiful experience, even though we were dead tired at the end. I got only a handful of photos, as most of the time we had to paddle hard!
On Saturday — the day after we packed most of our house to be shipped to Switzerland — we decided to take a much-needed break from cleaning and head out for one last paddle. We started at 10:00, which is quite late by paddlers’ standards, and Anca was initially hesitant to go too far. However, once we hit the water, her hesitation evaporated, and we decided to aim for a longer paddle to Motukorea. The weather was great: moderate winds of about 10 knots and an outgoing tide until 11:15, which promised to help us both ways.
Heading out, we noticed a lot more gannets (tākapu) than usual. We’ve mostly seen them on the West Coast before, like the beautiful colony at Muriwai Beach. Shortly after, we saw random splashes in the distance. Some of our paddling group had mentioned seeing dolphins the previous week, so we wondered if these might be dolphins coming up for air. As we closed in on Motukorea, we spotted fins, and suddenly they were popping up all around us. They were feeding, just like the birds. Anca quickly pulled out her phone to record it. Some came incredibly close to the boat, gliding just beneath the surface. One passed directly under our kayak, and I realized just how large they were—almost the size of our double kayak! Because taking photos from a moving kayak is no easy feat, we landed on a beach on the north side of the island. Right then, the dolphins disappeared. We could only see a few blows far in the distance, and we resigned ourselves to the fact that the magic moment was over. But as we got back in the boat and turned for home, we suddenly found ourselves right in the middle of the pod — over 30 dolphins, including both adults and calves. It was an unbelievable experience!
When we shared the video with friends, they told us it was Aotearoa’s way of saying goodbye. Looking back at that moment, and the stunning winter sunsets we’ve had this week, I think they might be right.
And now, we’re on our way to Switzerland and new adventures. “So long, and thanks for all the fish!”.