Woke up at 7:15AM and went to the front desk to book my Dolphin Encounter trip. I have always wanted to swim with dolphins and I thought this would be an amazing way to do so---hundreds of wild dolphins swimming along-side me. I was very nervous, but something I really wanted to do. I had to get all my stuff out of the hostel room while not waking the other three. Colin kindly drove me down the block to the Encounter place. When I got there, I signed in and got a wetsuit---this is a full, very buoyant wetsuit, socks, flippers, snorkel and mask, and wet suit hood. From head to toe, I was officially covered. After getting on the attire, I was taking into a briefing--where we were warned these are wild dolphins and they could either swim away or play with us. We were told not to reach out for them because that would scare them and to make noises with our snorkels to get them to play with us. I was getting a little more nervous seeing how close they dolphins were going to be and that there could be anywhere from 200-700 dolphins!
After watching the video, it was time to load the bus with my group (11 others). The bus brought us to the boat at South Bay. The boat was small-medium size---one skipper and one guide. We were all instructed of emergency procedures and then we were out to find these Dusky dolphins. After about 10 minutes of jetting out into the Pacific, we came up upon a pod of dolphins. The skipper got the boat surrounded by dolphins and told us to get all our gear on. He turned off the motor, blew the horn and we all slipped into the water. I think my body went into shock---it was beyond cold--- I stuck my head down and immediately there were dolphins darting past me. They would swim right along-side me. The group and I started making the funny noises (I felt like such a weirdo, but it made the dolphins feel at home). These dolphins were not very playful and the pod swam off within 5-10 minutes so the horn blew again and we all swam toward the boat, reboarded, and were off to follow them.
Now it was cold and windy and my fingers were going numb---not a great feeling. It was only about a 5 minute drive to catch up with the dolphins and where we found more. There were hundreds--200-300 dolphins all around the boat. The horn blew again and we slipped back into the water. I couldn't get away from the dolphins now----there were 3-4 around me the entire time. These were way more playful, they were jumping out of the water, darting super close to my face and body, gracing my sides, I even got to play with one in particular. We were told to make eye contact and swim in circles and act as much like dolphins as possible----so I did just that--I put my arms behind my back, made eye contact, and got a dolphin to follow me. It was such an amazing feeling---he/she was following me round and round and round. It was a game to them. To be honest the dolphins made me a little uncomfortable because they were darting so quickly and right by my side.
My hands were completely numb by now and the waves were getting fairly large. I kept getting water in my snorkel which was making my stomach hurt. Salt water just doesn't make me feel good and I think it was combination of rocking in the water too. I was fairly far from the boat so the waves were taller than the boat and that made me nervous.We stayed out here for about 25 minutes and even though the horn didn't blow, I had to get back to the boat--which was a swim since I was pushed out by waves. When I got back to the boat, I started to feel seasick. I knew I was done being in the water and had to get my wetsuit off and get some dry clothing on to feel better.
I was shaking uncontrollably because it was so cold. I couldn't use my own fingers and that made it really hard to get my flippers off. The guide helped me a lot by pulling everything off for me as I stood there and shivered. I couldn't help my teeth chatter and body convulsions-I was the coldest I have ever been I think. Everyone else was feeling the same and we were all struggling and freezing together. Once the wetsuit was off, I got my towel and put on as much dry clothing as possible. Normally I am pretty good about changing quickly, but my body was moving in slow motion and I couldn't do anything about it---It took me longer than usual to get clothing on, and part of it was because I was being rocked around the boat. I couldn't even tie my own shoes because my fingers were so numb.
There was a couple times I thought I was going to get sick and was about to get a barf bucket, but I kept myself calm and focused on getting dressed. The guide also gave us a tube of hot water which everyone took turns with as we were changing. This was extremely warm, but being so numb I couldn't really tell--it just felt refreshing. Once I was dressed, I moved to the front of the boat to take videos/pics, get some ginger cookies (help to settle the stomach) and some hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was steaming but I was gulping it down by the cup to get warm. I was still shaking and couldn't help it.
One woman wanted to go in one more time so we waited for her to get some more pictures and then we were back to the dock. I waited at the front of the boat--eating ginger cookies to keep from getting sick.
It never felt so good to be on land. From the boat, we went back to the bus and back to the shop. I felt like I was still rocking when we got back. I jumped right into the hot shower, warming all my extremities. I still couldn't feel my toes or fingers, but just being in the hot water felt amazing. After getting dressed again, I found Jenn, Colin, and Abby (traveling with this van now because we were climbing the glacier together) waiting for me in the cafe. I guess I still looked cold and was shaking, they said. They each tried to warm me up, gave me their blankets. About a half hour into the drive, I could feel me toes and fingers again. It felt so good to be warm. Jenn luckily drove first and I got to lay down for a little. I felt a little sick in the car though----I sat in the middle row of the van. Laying down made me feel more nausea so I sat up and watched the beautiful scenery passing. This is the only day trip we would have and it was beautiful to see how massive and gorgeous the mountains are.
A few hours in, Jenn and I had to go to the bathroom and there was nothing for miles and miles and miles. There were no rest-stops so I would have to face my fear. Danielle would have to learn to squat in the wild. I was not a huge fan of this and very scared to do so. But Jenn found me a spot and coached me through----its definitely a weird feeling to go to the bathroom in public and hope we didn't have to stop again. We took only three highways the whole way to Fox Glacier. From 70--to 7--to 6. Jen drove for about 4-4.5 hours. These roads were really windy---not helping me with my motion sickness already. From the sea to the van, my stomach hurt really bad. The scenery distracted me thought---such beauty. We also came across lots and lots of sheep, cows, alpacas, and llamas. Jenn did a great job driving and even came upon some huge cliffs which she carefully drive around.
At about 7:30PM, we made a gas stop, and then I took over driving. I only drive for the last 2 hours---lots of curves and crossed 8 one-lane bridges. These were a little nerve-racking and I had to approach very cautiously. There were not many other cars on the road, but the bridges were narrow and I just wanted to be extra careful. There were a few sharp turns, but we made it to Fox Glacier within 2 hours. The town was very very tiny---one street, 3-4 cafes (only things open when we got there), gas station, and small general store. Everyone was pretty hungry so we went to one of the cafes--we walked into one and we were all looked at pretty funny---I guess we looked very tired and like we had been driving in a car for sometime--go figure! We felt uncomfortable so we went to another one where we sat, had some hot chips and talked. That night we decided to sleep in the van and cuddle each other. Colin, Jenn, and I spooned in the back and Abby had the front. We bundled each other under many blankets, but still it got very cold during the night. Abby turned the heat on twice during the night to keep us warm, and I slept with the blankets over my head. Buurrrrrrr
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