Native Wildlife

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marine mammals

The local islands are also lucky enough to have over 500 transient dolphins that often frequent our favourite anchorages. On Almost every cruise we are blessed with the opportunity of seeing large families of wild bottlenose dolphins playing, resting or hunting. We se them in a natural manner, either crossing our path while cruising or whilst on anchor. Our intention is not to harass or interfere with their lives ad we treat their frequent and friendly visits as a great privilege. These dolphins are the largest and friendliest of the dolphin family, the bottlenose dolphin. These graceful mammals grow up to 3.5 metres in length. We see pods or groups of up to 20 dolphins in the Bay of Islands. At certain times of the year we are lucky enough to see newborn dolphins swimming with these pods.

Killer Whale or Orca are seen in the Bay. When we hear of these sightings we can be suer not to see any dolphins as they disappear to safer waters. Orca can grow to nearly 10m in length and have a striking black and white colour. These huge mammals are very curious and often approach boats to investigate while traveling up to 150 kilometers a day.

The New Zealand Fur Seal is seen in Northland waters during Spring. We don’t often see seals inside the islands. But they are often sighted out near Piercy Island (the Hole in the Rock) during this period. This cute, whiskery creature can dive deeper and longer than any other fur seal.

Native Birds

The Bay of Islands is home to a number of native birds. You have the chance to hear kiwi calling out during our night kayaking option. And see signs of their night feeding excursions on some of the islands. Oyster catchers with their distinctive red bills are often seen feeding on the rocks.  During the season we also see the cute little oyster catcher chicks like the one above.

The rare New Zealand Dotterels are nesting on a number of the islands.  Mostly we see them pretending to have a broken wing leading guests away from their nests. Many small blue penguins cause us to slow the Rock for photo opportunities. We have even seen a curious shark checking out a small penguin on one cruise. We always keep our eyes open for gannets diving in as an indication of good fishing groups. And see these big, graceful birds resting all over the waters of the Bay of Islands.

One special bird is our crew’s “pet” black backed seagull, Trumpy. Sometimes at the end of the crew he arrives in time to see guest off and receive a feed of green lipped mussels on the Rock’s back ramp.