Whale Watching is one of the major drawcards of a trip to Kaikoura. The area is famed for its huge canyon that is less than 1km off shore, which attracts both sperm and humpback whales - as well as dusky dolphins and the less commonly seen orcas and blue whales.

The trickiest part is deciding which whale watching experience is going to be best for you. In Kaikoura there are three options: a three hour boat trip, a helicopter ride or a fixed wing aircraft. I chose to do a trip with Whales Over Wings - a 30 minute fixed wing flight, and suffice to say it was truly memorable!

Just incase you’re wondering I paid full price for the trip, and Wings Over Whales didn’t know about this website or the review.

Wings Over Whales in Kaikoura

The wildlife

The thing I was most excited about was the chance to see the resident sperm whales. The population in Kaikoura can be seen year round because of the abundance of squid and other marine life in the canyon.

They are bigger than humpback whales - which are also present (most commonly June-August), but not as common as sperm whales.

As I alluded to before, orcas are seen in Kaikoura, but they tend to travel far and arrive randomly, so you never know if they will be in the area. They are more common in the summer months, but you would still be very lucky to see one! Blue whales are sometimes seen in Kaikoura, but they are famous for how long they can go underwater for and it’s not common to see them here.

You can also see the famous dusky dolphins, known for their acrobatic behaviour (which looks incredible from the air). They often gather in huge pods and it’s not unusual to see hundreds at a time which makes it extra special. Dolphins are seen almost daily so you would be very unlucky not to spot them.

Why I picked Wings over Whales

After a lot of research and phone calls, I chose the fixed wing flight for a few reasons. My biggest conundrum was knowing that sperm whales can dive for 45 minutes and only surface for about 10 minutes to breathe.

This means speed is pretty paramount, as you don’t have much time to get near a whale before it potentially disappears for a long time and reappears somewhere completely different. Humpbacks are different, as they don’t dive for so long, and you can generally follow them for a time.

Fixed wing aircraft - Review of Wings over whales

This, and the famous rocky swells of Kaikoura put me off the boat trip.

I was already planning to take the dolphin boat trip so a double helping of three hours in the Kaikoura swells wasn’t an enticing thought!

The helicopter trip charged the same amount for a 12 minute trip as the fixed wing plane did for 30. That meant the fixed wing plane offered more than double the time to find the whales.

As I was going to be flying alone (Cat had already done the helicopter trip), it was a lot more likely that I could get on a fixed wing trip as more people tend to book the planes than the helicopter rides.

The flight also added the bonus that I’d never spotted whales from the air before. Having done numerous whale watching trips in Sydney and Vancouver Island, I’d experienced the ground view of whales many times before and fancied doing something unique.

Picking the perfect conditions for your trip

The best conditions for whale watching from a plane are calm swells.

This way you can avoid white caps on the sea which distract you from the spray or disturbances in the water that are the sign of a whale coming to the surface.

Whilst a clear sunny day may seem ideal, it can bring a lot of glare and reflections on the water - which for me wanting to take photos would be less than ideal.

I got lucky with a calm swell, and enough cloud to create even light.

What to expect from the flight

The first thing to note is that in order to spot whales, the plane needs to make quite a few sharp turns. This isn’t great if you suffer from motion sickness as the plane banks a lot! I don’t tend to get motion sick, but after 30 minutes I was beginning to feel the effects.

You may want to take some sea sickness tablets before your departure as I’m sure this will help mitigate it.

Otherwise, the plane was comfortable, cool and the views were incredible. It is definitely one of the best things to do in Kaikoura.

Even if you don’t spot many whales, you have the benefit of seeing Kaikoura’s stunning mountain range and coastline from the air - something you’d normally pay for in and of itself.

The staff are really good at Wings Over Whales, as you get a brief talk about the wildlife you can see and why Kaikoura is a special place, which is a great intro to the area. The pilots have excellent knowledge of whales and how to spot them.

What I saw on my flight

My flight was reasonably successful as we saw two sperm whales and a huge pod of dolphins (it looked like over 100). Some other flights had seen more whales than we did, but I was very happy with our sightings.

It took us only five minutes to see our first one, and the last one was five minutes from the end, so we definitely benefitted from that longer flight time.

In-between whale and dolphin spotting you got to enjoy the mountains and coastline, so there was no feeling of dead time.

Is it worth it?

Overall, I’d definitely say yes! Wings Over Whales has a good track record of spotting whales and it’s a unique way to go whale watching. You can also get some incredible photos from the air which really show the size of the whales.

However, it’s worth bearing in mind that those who suffer from motion sickness won’t find the flight much better than a boat. The continuous sharp turns can be pretty stomach churning! However, it’s worth it to spot these incredible creatures.

It’s worth checking BookMe, New Zealand’s discount site which often runs deals on Wings Over Whales. You can check out if they are running a deal by clicking on the button below. Alternatively, GetYourGuide also sell tickets for Wings Over Whales.

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