Full of awe

Bean and I were right on the edge as we walked by the Waianakarua River mouth this afternoon.

Thunderstorms and hail roiled around inland. Out to sea the sky was blue and the sun shone. We remained dry.

The stranded log looks so much like a monster. The stranded dog is anything but.

Later we walked round Kakanui Point, where first I saw a couple of Hector’s dolphins cutting through the waves. And as I continued to scan the ocean for them, up came a simply enormous sharp dorsal fin. Followed by a slightly smaller one. Two orca, very close to shore. They appeared again a second or two later before heading out to sea at top speed, to surface twice more and then disappear from view.

I was bubbling with excitement. I’ve once seen a southern right whale there, and Hectors dolphins several times, but never an orca. It was awesome, in the proper sense of the word.