Who owns whale watch kaikoura

Add to Log in to add this video to a playlist. Business News Tourism Whale. Related stories. Most popular stories. Kaikoura was isolated and impoverished. The Maori were particularly hard hit and they tried river rafting and bush walking businesses. These failed. The whale was of huge significance locally but as was explained to me last August? In four Maori families mortgaged their houses to raise the capital to try whale watching, under the chairmanship of Bill Solomon..

In , their first year of operation, they operated an eight-seater Naiad, working for a year without wages they carried 3, people to watch the whales offering? It seemed appropriate for Paikea's descendants to again ride on the back of the whale to a new life and prosperity. In the early days passengers travelled aboard a 6. In the first year of operation 3, passengers were carried. In time, the inflatable was replaced by a larger vessel with an upper viewing deck until today the Whale Watch fleet numbers four modern catamarans specially designed for whale watching, each holding 48 passengers.

Now up to , passengers can be carried each year. The expansion of the Whale Watch fleet required the building of an entire marina in South Bay. It is from here that all whale watching tours now depart.