Shark, sea perch and seals

And today the 2 great fishermen/women got up early and headed to the South Beach marina where our captain rodfather Steve (Rodfather.co.nz) was expecting us.

A nice day with a bit of bumps as the boat was heading east.

Then with the rods set up by Steve we started at a depth of around 100 m. Before long Argiris had a heavy bite and, with a style seen only in films, started bringing it up. Really heavy but when it came out was a shark about 4kg according to Steve. Promptly unhooked and back in the water. Our Chinese friend who has lived the last 10 years in Christchurch brought the first perch, followed by few more including 3 caught by Ann, caught as elegantly as fishing allows. Then Argiris brought up a barracuda that escaped as Steve was bringing it overboard. Finally Argiris brought a perch to save his day. 3-1 to Ann in keepers but with a bit of rule bending 3-3. We saw seals, got some crayfish and we had a wonderful day with Steve who had seen it all change over the last 40 years. A really nice guy took his time with us and did not seem to bother about dragging the 2 h booked to 3h.

If you are in Kaikoura certainly worth a try. Smaller but very safe boat, personal experience.

This albatross was not happy about not getting a free fish.

We carried our little bag of perch fillets back to our apartment, looking forward to Argiris cooking them on our camping stove.

Stopped at this little bbq crayfish shack for lunch, once we had our land legs back.

Delicious.

The stunning Kaikōura coastline is home to many spectacular birds

and some sun tanning visitors

We are so sorry to be leaving tomorrow.