Can you believe that was Easter? That means we're a quarter of the way through the year already. Feels like a blur of travel, cities, beaches and photography, which is just what I like, but it's also nice to cool the jets and just hang out for a few days with nothing but the tide and wind to worry about. That's exactly what we did for Easter at one of the coolest beaches in the country nestled into a sheltered bay in Southland.
Porpoise Bay is at the southern end of the Catlins and is known for its amazing surf. In the right conditions you can literally start at one end of the arcing bay and surf 1-2 foot waves or head further north and surf 5-6 foot throwing pits. There are a few locals here though: Sammy the resident sea lion, a colony of yellow-eyed penguins, a handful of seals or the resident pod of Hector's dolphins (Cephalorhynchus hectori).
It was the latter that entertained us for all of Easter Saturday. They arrived early in the morning and darted in and out between groups of swimmers, surfers and paddleboarders, brushing as close as 30cm past us at times. The pod was broken into micro pods of 5-8 and they cruised out the back before shooting in for some entertainment from those of us with feet instead of flippers.
By the afternoon it was the waves they were more attracted to as they took turns in threes and fours at harnessing the energy before leaping out the back with grins as wide as you could imagine. My mate Darren even shared a longboard wave with four of them racing across the face within touching range of him all the way to the shallows.
We had some children with us and they had some calves with them, so it kind of felt like the two species meeting in a playground of waves.
Hector's dolphins are New Zealand's only endemic cetacean, one of the smallest marine species of dolphin in the world and one of the world's rarest with an estimated population of just 7400 – that includes the subspecies: the Maui dolphin, which is also known as the North Island Hector's dolphin with a population of fewer than 50.
The Hector’s dolphin was given "threatened species" status by the Department of Conservation in December 1999. If we continue our current fishing practises on the West Coast of the North Island then it is expected that the Maui dolphin will be extinct by 2031. You can help their plight here. The Hector's won't be too far behind.
Back in Dunedin this weekend the South Island Surfing Championships rolled out with Maz Quinn winning the Open Men's and Jessica Terrill the Open Women's in clean waves at St Clair Beach. Some superb performances including 15-year-old Shani Ayson who took third in the Women's Open as well as winning the Under 20 Women's.
Daylight savings may have kicked in, but no one has told Huey that: check out this forecast.
See you at the beach ... Derek
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