Here is the latest in news and events from Black Cat Cruises. It’s been a great few months out on the water with lots of dolphins along with an incredible sighting of a rare Blue Whale. In our 25 years of cruises, that was a first! We also had Miss Italy swimming with dolphins, thousands of Easter eggs given away, a successful walk for hectors dolphins fundraiser and our April 1st prank – all making local or national news. Check out some of the great blogs and feedback we have received recently, it’s what Black Cat is all about – world class experiences. Thanks for reading.
Cheers Paul
Whales galore
We’ve been cruising for nearly 25 years and over the last 12 months have seen more varieties of whales than ever before, including last weeks Blue Whale (pictured) and also Fin, Orca, Curviars beaked, Humpback, Pilot and Southern Right Whales, as well as the world's smallest whale - the resident Hector's dolphin. The blue whale is the largest animal that has ever lived on earth and is found in all major oceans of the world. Its population has been severely depleted to commercial whaling. Today estimates have their population at between 500 and 2000 in Southern Hemisphere waters.
Walk for Hector’s a huge success
Early in March 15 year old Ashley Hawkins supported by the WWF and Black Cat walked from
2000 Easter eggs found on 
Our big Easter Egg hunt was a sell out and we managed to give away about 2000 eggs over the 4 days of the promotion. As it was so successful we will be repeating it again next year if you missed out.
Lyttelton to Akaroa cruise on mothers day
How about a treat for this mothers day? On Sunday 9th May the Black Cat will be cruising from Lyttelton around the peninsula to Akaroa. During the trip you will view the rarely seen rugged outer bays, along with Hector’s dolphin, penguins and other marine wildlife. Once in Akaroa you’ll be free to explore the town and have lunch in one of the cafes or restaurants, then coach back to Lyttelton. Or there is an optional extra to go to the
Swim with dolphins without getting wet
Dry suits are back for dolphin swimmers from the 1st of May. Customers just wear normal clothes underneath the suit and remain 100% dry. It’s a great piece of kit designed to keep you warm over the coming months.
April 1st prank
Were you one of the ones that got taken in by our April fools day prank? There were plenty who did! If you missed it we announced that we were building a floating hotel and 18 hole golf course on
http://www.infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?l=1&t=0&id=50308
New Manager of Akaroa
A special welcome back to Pip Journeaux who is once again the manager of our Akaroa operations. Pip was in the role 4 ½ years ago before she left to go on maternity leave. Previous manager, Liz Ditmer recently departed for a role at ATTTO.
Akaroa and bays win at Ellerslie Flower show
For the second year running, Akaroa had success at the Ellerslie International Flower show with an exhibit featuring the Akaroa lighthouse. It won the Gold Award for National Flower bed plants. There were thousands on hand to admire the display manned by Black Cat sales manager Alison Fleming. In addition images of the lighthouse (pictured) featured in countless publications.
Miss 
Former All Black Scott Roberston and Miss Italy Tania Zamparo are currently filming a documentary that will help promote the Rugby World Cup 2011 to Italians. This is the first of many positive spin offs of this huge event which is sure to help profile
Blogging favourites
I have been really pleased to hear back from lots of our customers about their experiences with us. Our customer survey results look outstanding and once they are fully collated I will be sharing those with you. In the meantime, check out this awesome blog about a swimming trip and esp the video with a great ending...what an outstanding experience!
http://trackingteddy.blogspot.com/2010/03/swimming-with-dolphins.html
Great Feedback
Hello Lorna, About a month ago we received a very welcome surprise in our mail in the form of a letter telling us that we had been drawn to receive a harbour cruise. We took the opportunity to use this prize and along with the purchase of a second ticket cruised the harbour and the open sea on Sunday march 14th. This is just to say thank you for making these cruises available as prizes. The day was perfect and the vessel was about full. We had not realised the size of the harbour and of course we were interested to learn some more history of the region. Once again many thanks for your kind gesture.
Regards Martin and Jenny Nordqvist, Methven.
Just to say how much we enjoyed one of your harbour cruises last month. We didn't get the name of the pilot, but he was great and very informative. Please let him know how much we enjoyed the cruise. We also picked up one of the Whale and Dolphin Trust's cards and sent it off, not really expecting to receive a response. However, we are pleased to say that yesterday we received a letter from your Minister of Conservation outlining measures that have already been taken to help the Hector's and Maui’s Dolphins. Here's hoping that these and any further measures taken to help these creatures ensures their safe future. Once again, thanks for the cruise - and to everyone at Black Cat; they were all so pleasant and helpful. We're back in
Wendy and David Pearce
Did you know?
Blue whale can weigh up to 136,400 kg (300,000 lb) and grow as long as 34 metres in length. The blue whale is the largest creature that has ever existed on earth. It is bigger than 25 elephants; bigger than a Brontosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus rex combined. A blue whale calf is about 7 m (23') long at birth.
Did you also know?
We also operate corporate events and recently held the launch of a new bourbon. Pictured here are the Bourbon Girls on the Canterbury Cat and here is the feedback from the organiser. “thanks so much for setting it up so that everything was super easy last night. The crew that were on went above and beyond to help us out and were a real pleasure to work with. Many Thanks Sarah.
