Penguins, Dolphins and Seals oh my!

I just got back from a morning-long snorkeling experience! I have never been snorkeling before and now feel as though I must learn to dive. I must! I will! Tara and I went along the Sea Dragon, a small motor boat, with Dave and Jaime of Tawaki Dive. We buzzed into the fiord, stopping at two separate dive spots. The other 4 aboard were repeat divers, so got to go down to 18 meters in the less-than-warm fiord water. Tara and I remained buoyantly on top, spying on sea urchins as big as my head, fish of varying sizes and colors, 11 legged giant star fish and several sea cucumbers as large as my arm. We saw over 15 dolphins as we were loading the boat in, and later a few more played by our boat. We got to play near waterfalls, spotted my FIRST out of water penguins (the tawaki, or fiordland crested penguin, one of the rarest species in the world) and several seals sunbathing.

Our second time in we got to wear weight belts so could duck dive a few feet deeper.
Life is good.