Sealion and seal spotting off Cannibal Bay

Cannibal Bay is another long and pretty stretch of beach in Catlins area. You can walk to cannibal Bay from Surat Bay, involving a mere 1hr one way. You will definitely not regret walking it thru, as this is perhaps one of the best beach area we saw on the way. Fortunately for us, since it is still winter, we get to own the whole beach.

Another highlight other than the pretty long beach is the high chance presence of sea creatures, or otherwise known as New Zealand sea lions and New Zealand fur seals. In bid of testing our luck, we got to see both the female version of sea lion + the fur seal. It is always so exciting to catch a wild sea creature lazing itself on the beach, when you least expected it. A friendly note though, they are easier to be spotted lazing in the beach when it is low tide, and make sure you observe under the shades created by the bushes off the sand! Clever creature eh.

A must do even if you have no time, as walking on the beach with the bay cures even if you only have 10 mins to do so!

Seal spotting at Shag Point

Shag Point, just south of Moeraki and north of Dunedin, seems to give a rather good chance to spot a wild New Zealand fur seal, with some small chance to see yellow-eyed penguins and confirmed chance to see some sea bird called shag (thus the name Shag Point).

Beware though, I heard seals can rip a human apart from their horrendous teeths and snack on you for a few days before they finish you up.

Just joking. Make sure you keep your distance of about 10m from them as they are protected by law as endangered animals.