Swimming with Seals & Dolphins in Coffs Harbour 11/08/16

I got into Coffs Harbour at around 4am. I had no sleep on the night bus so I was exhausted. I got a taxi straight from the bus stop to the hostel which was the Coffs Harbour YHA. Reception was closed but I had arranged for them to leave a key out for me. My room was upstairs so I had to carry my suitcase up, which was difficult in the dark and when I was trying to be quiet. As soon as I got into my room I went to sleep.

I had to be up a few hours later as I had booked to swim with seals at Dolphin Marine Magic park. I had some breakfast and got chatting to an Australian girl called Sohpie who was also going to the marine park that day. Before I went there, I had to go to the Jetty Dive Centre to pick up my wetsuit for the dive.

From the dive center, it was only a 15 minute walk to the marine park. I ended up getting there really early so I checked in as soon as the center opened. My dive wasn’t until 11.15am, so I got to spend some time looking at the animals.

I first went to see the Little Blue Penguins, and then the Australian Sea Lions. They were really playful and kept diving in and out of the water.

I then went to the dolphin interaction area, where you could stroke and play ball games with the dolphins in the tank. 

They came right up to the edge to give you the ball and stayed there looking at you until you threw it for them to get. I met Sophie there and her friend Jacinda.

There was a Marine Discovery Presentation at 10am which I wanted to watch. As part of that, you got a seal and dolphin ‘kiss’, which was super cute.

The Marine Presentation was amazing. There were two dolphins and a seal called Adelaide that were really well trained and did loads of actions. 

We got taught all about seals and dolphins and each got to feed the seal a squid.

 A really funny moment was when the seal was balancing a fish on its nose and a sea gull swooped down and took it.

The show lasted for around 40 minutes and then it was time for my swim. I was given the option to pay a bit extra and get a short dolphin swim too. I decided to do it as I hadn’t swum with dolphins since I was around 10 when I was in Florida.

I got changed into my wetsuit and then got to swim with ‘Jet’, one of the dolphins in the show. The water was absolutely freezing!

I then swam with my first seal, which was a male called Ozzie. He was absolutely huge! I got to do loads like stroke and hug him, play fetch with a ring and see him swim. I was surprised by how fast they were. It was really cute that he stuck his tongue out for some photos.

The second seal was a female called Ellie who was Ozzie’s mum. She was a lot smaller but similarly playful and kept blowing bubbles in the water. I got to play a few ball games with her where I could throw the ball to her and she would hit it back with her head. She kept swimming up for cuddles and ‘kisses’ which was super cute.

I got the whole swim filmed which I’m so glad I choose to do. It was an amazing experience! After my swim was over I got changed, picked up my photos and returned my wet suit. I went back to the hostel and decided to have a chilled afternoon. I was so tired from getting so little sleep the night before and I didn’t want to do too much as I knew it would be non-stop in New Zealand.

I went to IGA to pick up some lunch and then went to the post office to send my opal ring back to Coober Pedy for repair. I ended up spending the rest of the day at the hostel catching up on wifi and blogging. I spoke to Grahame for a bit and then had to pack up my suitcase ready to fly. I only had a 23kg allowance, so I decided to leave the wine I bought and a few other things I wasn’t allowed on the plane in storage at the hostel. I booked my taxi for 6.45am and then went to bed at around 10ish.