Paihia
Today I swam with some dolphins, and it was an incredible experience. Not a bad consolation for being too congested with a cold to do any diving. Wow. They were right beside me and underneath me and all around, looking and playing. It was really really cold, though, but sooo worth it. And the dolphins didn't seem to mind sharing the ocean with a landlubbing bear.
On the boat I met a researcher who is studying the dolphins' group associations and other social interactions, so we got to talking about science and conservation and stuff like that. Turns out her supervising professor is doing some interesting work with DNA testing to keep tabs on Japanese and Korean whalers, in an attempt to ensure that they aren't killing animals even they aren't supposed to. At least, I think that is an acceptable layman version of what they are doing- here is more of a technical treatment straight from the actual source.