We went on a whale and dolphin trip this weekend and it was one of the best yet!
We saw swarms of sea birds in a feeding frenzy with many dolphins and several Bryde’s Whales.
Later, we ran across a pod of Bottle Nose Dolphins that were very acrobatic. One gave us a show of several belly flops in front of the boat.
I have to admit, I didn’t take this last photo…I saw the dolphins do the three way jump, three times, but missed the shot. This photo was taken by the photographer on the boat.
We went on a Whale & Dolphin tour right out of Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour and saw Bryde’s Whales and dolphins on a beautiful day. I always love going on this trip as it provides a natural counter-balance to the urban environment of the city. Just a 4-5 hour round trip out into the harbour from downtown into such a different world!
I met up with a friend who I told about my experience of “swimming with the dolphins” in NZ. I had anticipated doing this even before we arrived in NZ, but the experience here wasn’t all mystical communing with nature, but more akin to struggling to keep afloat in cold, choppy water while the crew of the boat alternatively yelled, “swim, swim,” of “dive, dive,” or “come back, come back.” The experience started by being told the water wasn’t that cold, so we didn’t need wetsuits. We then strapped on this strange snorkel gear that I had never worn before. Then we jumped into a big net in the water and the boat took off, plastering my flippers against the net as if I was some strange bug smashed on a windscreen. Then came the yelling and the swimming and the swallowing salt water and trying to figure out how to work the snorkel gear. I never even saw a dolphin while I was in the water, although an English couple I had been talking to earlier, told me that there was a dolphin right by me several times. I joked it probably sensed I was in distress and was trying to figure out if it should rescue me!
So, 6 months or so later, I went to Hawaii. My friend there said that I definintely needed to have a “corrective emotional experience” with the dolphins and said that she routinely swims with dolphins in several bays not far from her home. So, on a bright, sunny day, with smooth clear water, and a chance to figure out how to work the snorkel gear without some yelling, “swim, die, come back,” at me, I did have a corrective emotional experience. Plus, I got to try out my underwater camera that I had bought in the States, anticipating that I would be spending a lot of time underwater.
We went swimming in two different bays and saw dolphins in both of them. The second bay, a dolphin came right up and looked at me, my friend said as if it was posing for a picture. Well, I didn’t quite get the picture (as you’ll see), but the image of the dolphin coming right up to me and looking at me was really something else and tell you what, seeing all the beautiful fish while snorkelling was a bonus! Hope you enjoy the photos….Oh, and I got a new camera with a higher power zoom, so I won’t have to say, “see that thing that looks like a tall rock in the rocks? That is a penguin.” I’ll post those photos soon, once I upload them, but no penguin photos yet, maybe next time we’re out on a cruise in the gulf….
In addition to the major earthquake this week, I have a more minor shake up in my life as I am taking a new job.
The earthquake is still a major challenge in New Zealand. My sister-in-law and a friend were visiting and they were bumped off their flight this weekend because Air New Zealand was flying back 7 injured people to either the States or England. I recently heard that 4300 people have come up to Auckland from Christchurch. There was also an article in the paper about this guy who was lifting these big slabs of concrete off of some trapped people right after the quake. I saw the video and thought, wow, those must be some other material than what they look like, because he just picked up these slabs and moved them aside without seeming to exert much effort. Here is a link to the New Zealand Herald if you are interested:
My new job is at Buchanan Rehabilitation Centre, which is an inpatient/residential centre for 40 clients who live there. The model is a very positive and hope-inducing one that gives intensive support in a holistic framework. There is a gardening program there where clients can learn to grow plants that are then planted and cared for at various sites in the community. It is also very multi-disciplinary in its focus, with a lot of group work and it is aimed at helping people get back on a developmental track in their lives and to be less stigmatized and identified as “mental patients,” and encouraged to move beyond or through their illness experiences. I am really excited about working there. I’ll be starting part-time work there in March, increase my time further in April, and then I’ll be working 4 days a week there in May, one day a week I will be taking off for writing, and I will be ending my work at the community mental health centre.
I have had a really challenging time working at my current job. It has been difficult for me to sort out what are problems at the sub-culture level and what are larger issues with the practice of psychiatry in New Zealand. When I was at my interview in Christchurch as part of my credentialing for the Medical Council, I was told that over 50% of psychiatrists pracitising in New Zealand are internationally trained. That means that the norm is that a psychiatrist in New Zealand is from another country. That makes for a very interesting and diverse work environment, but it could also contribute to a degree of transience in the work force and has a number of challenges for New Zealand in structuring and operating mental health treatment.
At this point, I am really glad to be leaving my current job. I have put in a lot of time and energy and taken on various projects to work toward changing the work environment there. It is really challenging to be working in a system in which the staff are resistant to change, and negative, also, there are various administrative level challenges as well. The more I learn about Buchanan, the more of a sense of relief I feel. My own holistic approach should be very welcomed there and also seems very similar to the therapeutic approach used there. Here is a short article, from an old newsletter, that gives a brief overview of BRC. It is on page 5 of the newsletter.
I know this blog post is a little all over the place, talking about my job and the earthquake, so in honour of that all-over-the-place energy, here are a couple dolphin photos from the boat trip we took a couple weeks ago.
We saw a pod of Orcas, they were possibly eating sting rays in the shallows, the captain said.
The dolphins would “bow ride,” where they would race along under the boat and leap occasionally. They seemed to lose interest if we were going slow. The captain estimated we were seeing about a 1000 dolphins out feeding and he said this was a good sign for the health of the environment.
Being Fully Human 