The morning presented calm waters as National Geographic Orion made her way into the waters outside of the town of Kaikoura. Soon our guests set off for a variety of wildlife expeditions, including an excursion with albatrosses and a stunning encounter with a sperm whale. The dive team descended in a local, marine-protected area and found many of the southern rock lobsters Kaikoura is named after. The truest highlights were the dolphin encounters that included three different species – common bottlenose, dusky, and the smallest of all, the endemic Hector’s dolphin.