It’s Moko Time Again

I thought after my last encounter that it would be enough to satisfy my desire to meet and swim with Moko but I was wrong, I’m definitely hooked on Moko, he’s got under my skin and I'm a Moko groupie! I’ve continued to check his blog, watch the YouTube clips that regularly appear, scan the many photos and read as people post about their varied experiences of meeting and swimming with Moko.

When I indicated to a girlfriend that I was thinking of heading over to Whakatane again she was quick to say she’d love to come and meet Moko too so we arranged to travel across there last Friday, March 19th. I had still been receiving tweets as to where Moko was each day and after checking the weather forecast we left Tauranga at 8am confident that it was going to be a good day. There was quite a bit of cloud cover and a slight autumnal chill in the air, the sea temperature had also taken a dive over the last few days dropping 2-3 degrees as a southerly rushed up the country. No problems though, we were secure in the knowledge that we had our wetsuits with us. As we headed down the coast we could see a definite band where the dark cloud gave way to brilliant blue sky, we were in luck.

We stopped for coffee and a muffin at the Whitehouse Café and Gallery just outside Whakatane right beside the SH2 intersection with Thorndon Road. Great service, very friendly staff and tasty muffins straight out of the oven, this was a good start to the day.

I had been expecting to have a tweet on my mobile by now letting me know where Moko was but so far not a word. Of all the days this was the one that I needed some info, and fast! As back up to the tweet I had access to some local “inside knowledge”, a mobile phone number I could text, I sent one off and we headed into Whakatane.

Moko had been at Otarawairere Bay the previous two days but I thought we’d head down to the river first before committing ourselves to the steep walk into the bay. Still no texts had arrived so we popped into the iSite (information centre) which is very strategically placed high up on the river bank with glorious views up and down the river. A very helpful guy told us that Moko was at The Heads about ½ an hour ago. Back in the car I received a text from my inside source to say that Moko had moved on and at this stage no one knew where he’d gone. Drat. Oh well. Let the waiting game begin.

Have you seen Moko?

How about you?

I don't suppose you've seen Moko?

We parked up further down towards The Heads and watched the world go by for another half hour or so, we saw Kirsty and the Moko Mobile (small inflatable) heading down the river and then back up again, obviously checking on his whereabouts too.

Whakatane River

We then moved right to the end of the road and watched a few fishermen on the breakwater and a couple of boats come in across the notorious Whakatane River bar.

The tide had just turned and there was quite a swell running and some large breakers, perhaps Moko wasn’t keen to ride them into the river again. It’s thought that the river bar is one of the reasons Moko is still calling Whakatane home, there are no large fishing trawlers located here, it’s too difficult for them to cross the bar. Most of the boats are local and if Moko follows them out to sea for the day he also follows them home again. Unlike the trawlers that move from port to port in their quest for fish.

Looking towards the Heads and the Whakatane River bar

“Whakatane (to act as a man) - This story springs from the 12th Century Great Migration. The women of the Mataaua Canoe, left to themselves when the men went ashore for the first time, found a waka(canoe) drifting out to sea again.

The paddles were tapu(forbidden) to women, but a high spirited teenager, Wairaka, who was the daughter of Chief Toroa, boldly seized one of the paddles and paddled the waka back to shore. As she did this, she shouted, Ka Whakatane au i ahau:, and her actions saved the women but also coined the name of the town.

A bronze statue of Wairaka stands on a rock at the Whakatane Heads to commemorate this act.” 

 

After an hour or so I was starting to wonder if maybe we had picked the wrong day after all. I spoke to Kirsty and she had located Moko out at sea, he’d started to follow her back to the river but as she’d crossed the bar he headed back out again. She collected a fellow Moko friend from the boat ramp and was heading around to Otarawairere. We made the decision to head over there too. He was either going to be there or perhaps at West End Beach in Ohope.

We parked in the tiny Otarawairere village at the top of the walk, I was pleased to see a new DOC sign that hadn’t been there the last time I came indicating all the dos and don’ts of swimming with Moko. This is good as there are so many more people seeking Moko out, some have never swum in the sea let alone with a wild animal. Once again I wonder whether Moko’s fame will eventually be his downfall. I sincerely hope not.

We make our way down the track and my girlfriend notes “that it is rather steep isn’t it?” Of course she is imagining what it will be like on the long haul back up afterwards! I tell her at least with this track it’s only one down and one up, unlike the track that comes over from Ohope where first you have to go up, then down and the reverse on the way home. We do think those DOC(Department of Conservation) workers have long legs though (or perhaps it’s the PD workers getting their own back) you need climbing axes on some of the steps, they’re three times the height of regular steps!

 

Is this up or down................it's actually looking down.

There's is some beautiful native bush down this track and today the tui are calling all over the place, a few fantails are flitting along beside us as we make our way down and silvereyes and other tiny birds are twittering away close at hand.

 

Down on the beach we search out Moko’s buoy over the far side of the bay and sure enough we can make out half a dozen heads and just as many noodles and boogie boards. Moko must be in residence!

The tide is on the way out leaving just enough clearance across the rocks that protect his little beach. We pass two or three groups of people picking their way around the rocks, a couple with bare feet are having a slow and difficult time. It pays to come prepared, footwear is a no brainer.

We locate a dry spot up behind the tide line and settle our gear onto a large piece of driftwood. I dab my feet in the water and find that it’s still surprisingly warm, this I was not expecting. I decide I won’t need to fight my way into my wetsuit after all. 

While we were changing and getting things organized a lady came up to us and asked if we knew “so and so”. It turned out that “so and so” was the girlfriend right there beside me. My girlfriend had known this lady from Switzerland was visiting NZ and in fact the lady was going to be staying with her for a couple of nights.

My friend had sent my first blog post to the lady and she’d made the decision to add Whakatane to her itinerary hoping she’d have the chance of meeting Moko. It was pure coincidence that she was there on the same day as us! She had recognised me from the blog, little knowing that the person with me was her New Zealand contact. It is indeed a small world. In the three hours that we were there, I talked to a couple from France, a guy from Israel, an English couple and I heard another couple of different accents plus of course the lady from Switzerland. A real multi-national bunch of people.

Moko was having a lot of fun with the 10 or so people in the water, chasing boards, noodles and seaweed. He was full of beans zipping here, there and everywhere saying a quick hello to anybody new that entered the water. It was great that every now and then Moko would interact exclusively with one or two people, this gave them the chance to touch him and say hello. Some people were a little apprehensive and when he was darting in and out they stood back a bit just observing.

Others stuck to him like glue!

How many toys does one dolphin need? Lots! (actually not too many as he becomes distracted and possessive)

Of course there were other people that couldn’t just let go of him, not as in holding on to him, just sticking beside him to the exclusion of some of the more timid swimmers. I did think it was unfair of a couple of swimmers who when they couldn’t hold Moko’s attention in amongst the people, decided to swim off into the deep and away from the group drawing Moko away with their splashing. If they had just stopped where they were and waited, Moko would have found his way to them. They were trying to get a friend to take photos of them and Moko. As it was, I bet all their photos show is two little black heads and one tiny fin they were so far out (I even wonder if they got the fin).

Kirsty and her mate Moko with his favourite toy

It wasn’t too long before the first of three launches, full of people, pulled into the bay and anchored beside Moko’s buoy.

As soon as Moko heard the motors as the boat came around the reef he was off, heading straight for his buoy and the boat, he loves playing with the anchor chain. Most of the shore swimmers had to sit it out on beach until the boat left although as the tide dropped it got easier to swim out there with him.

Patiently waiting for Moko's return

I had my fins and snorkel and went out to him at the boat. The water was quite murky so you couldn’t see too much but some of the boat swimmers were diving down the anchor chain and Moko would follow suit right beside them. When he got to the seabed Moko would lay on his back looking up.

I wonder what he finds so fascinating with the chain and why he lays on his back; although I believe the chain noise has something to do with it. I think he feels that all these people having fun beside him are his pod and he’s just doing what his pod is doing; squawking, leaping and diving! It was good to see Moko having so much fun in the deep and doing what dolphins do; diving and leaping about.

He kept disappearing, the ocean was flat calm and everybody would be twisting & turning scanning & trying to locate him. Then suddenly he’d appear again right beside someone surprising the hell out of the person, on one occasion he came up right underneath my friend who was floating about on her noodle. She got the fright of her life as she was nearly upended!

Moko what are you doing?

The Moko Mobile waiting on shore, swimmers out at the boat

Once the boat left Moko followed everybody back into the shallows but it wasn’t long before another boat arrived and he was away again. 

Kirsty tried unsuccessfully to distract Moko from swimming over to the boat, you can see his dorsal fin is pointing in the wrong direction- 

 

I wonder whether the skippers of these boats know that they’re not actually giving their swimmers the best opportunity of interacting with Moko. Most had people on board that got into the water, if these swimmers had been dropped closer or swum in closer to the shore they would be able to stand, touch him for longer than the quick swim past he does in the deep and also see him a lot better as the water is clearer closer in.

It didn’t worry me, I’ve seen him in various situations now but I feel for the older or less than confident swimmers that walk into the Bay and then don’t get the chance to swim with him. I know he’s a wild animal and he’ll go where he chooses but no matter how we look at it, humans are more or less dictating where he plays and who he plays with when he's in a playful mood. This is much more obvious than the last time I visited. I also notice that Moko has many more marks on his dorsal fin and along both sides of his body than the last time I saw him too. Another negative caused by his success. 

Moko made some very loud grunting noises under water when he met this gentleman as he dug under his feet-  

The last boat left and Moko came into play once again. This time he was very pleased with the large lump of seaweed someone had found for him. He chased it about and was very proficient at keeping it over his head and beak while dashing about.

Very soon he seemed to tire of all the play and made a beeline back out to his buoy where he popped his beak up on the rope and took a break. Unfortunately a few swimmers couldn’t or wouldn’t read Moko’s signs that he was tired. They swam out after him.
 

The Moko Mobile had left by this time but luckily another frequent Moko swimmer was there and paddled out after them to let them know what was happening. Moko was ready for a sleep.

We packed up our belongings and made our way slowing back around the shoreline reluctant to call it a day.

 

"So you found Moko then?"

We passed three more foreign couples making their way down the track, I offered them information on Moko about him sleeping and that he wouldn’t be doing it for too long if they waited patiently for him to come into the shallows and also the tide times so they didn't get caught out on the rocks.

Here is a YouTube clip from some of the afternoon. You'll have to excuse the speed wobbles occasionally, I usually use my digital camera to take videos but unfortunately that was away overseas so I used the HandyCam video instead which does give a clearer picture but it didn't help that I stepped into a hole on a couple of occasions and zoomed in rather quick on others. I am also learning the tricks of uploading the files from the DVD disk to the computer which is rather complicated too so I haven't done any editing but all in all it's a pretty good for a first attempt-

 

Swimming with Moko

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP9o-m_kQV0

Things to watch for-

0.30sec- Watch the guy shadow Moko with his camera, he's stuck to him like glue! :)

1.10min- Moko bats away the noodle with quite a force

2.00min- Moko tries to toss a swimmer off their boogie board

3.25min- The guy in the red shorts gets the message from Moko, "Get out of my face"

3.30min- Watch a guy take a self portrait of him and Moko

3.50min- Moko hunts out his own seaweed clump to play with

4.20min- Listen for the "dreadlocks" comment :)

I had another incredible day with Moko although I’d have to say the first weekend with him was extra special, nothing beats that one on one experience. With his popularity has come more people and more problems. It would seem everyone wants a piece of Moko  and once again I worry what the outcome will be. There are many people looking out for Moko and I can only hope he stays safe, sound and happy. I also wonder how he will cope over the coming winter months, I know those that care about Moko won’t abandon him but there will be less and less people for him to play with. I wonder where that will lead him. Maybe I’m attaching human emotions to a dolphin but I think he’ll be bewildered and lost at the sudden lack of friends.

Lucky I have a winter weight wetsuit……

Until next time, stay safe Moko.