Kaikoura swimming with dusky dolphins

Decided to get around New Zealand using the kiwi experience, more of a group organised tour than I've done so far so thought it might be interesting to see what it was like.
First stop after leaving Christchurch was Kaikoura a few hours drive north. This is a popular location for whale watching and swimming with dolphins and seals. Decided to go for the swimming with dusky doplphins in the end after hearing what other people have said about it. Glad I did as it was quality. Didn't know how many to expect but when we set off in the boat under 10minutes later we has sighted what seemed like hundreds of dolphins in a pod. Saw the little hector dolphins in Akoroa which were in a small group of half a dozen or so but this was something else. The guides worked out which way the pod was heading then overtook them in the boat before slowing down to let us jump in the sea. All of a sudden the pod reaches you and dozens of dolphins swim past and under you. At the induction we were told to sing or make noises through the snorkels and swim funny so everyone swam off making wierd noises. The first few times the dolphins slowed and swam around a bit looking at us but then swam off. Then one time after we had got the idea of what to do the dolphins started paying more interest. If you looked one in the eye as it stopped to look at you and then span around as fast as you could they would swim around you getting faster and faster. One time one went around me loads getting more excited then viered away from me before turning suddenly around and swimming full pelt striaght at me. I absolutley bricked it thinking I'd annoyed it and it was going to ram me but then last second, a metre away, it viered off. Turned out it was just playing but gave me a fright!! If you dived underwater too a few dolphins would suddenly appear and swim down with you. The whole experience was pretty amazing.