Day 3 - Tour of The Bay of Islands

The Bay of Islands tour with King's was great! The boat leaves from Paihia, but makes a stop in Russell, where we boarded. The captain provided a narrative as we cruised around viewing Moturoa Island and the Black Rocks, Wairoa and Oihi Bays, and Ninepin Island. Then we went searching for dolphins by following groups of Australasian Gannetts, which often accompany dolphin pods. After heading out into open water, we found a pod of dolphins and they played with the boat's bow wave for about a half an hour. Then we headed out to Hole-in-the-Rock (Motukokako Island) and Cape Brett. The captain steers the boat right through the hole in the rock and there is not a lot of room to spare. Then we came back around and cruised into Deepwater Cove for a good look a the Cape Brett Light. There is a small house below the light that can be reserved for accommodation. But there is no road to the house, so you would have to hike in! From here we continued back towards Paihia through a grouping of small islands - Okahu, Waewaetorea and Urupukapuka, where we stopped for some shore time. At this point some of the passengers donned wetsuits and went bow netting. We, instead, decided to do some beach-combing and wade in the tide pools of Urupukapuka Island. The sun was warm, but the water was a bit chilly at 15 C (59 F). So we waded the tide pools and walked the beach before  hiking up the hill to the top of the island for the great views. These islands reminded me very much of the  Bahamas. We spent about 2 hours on this island paradise before being beckoned back aboard for the remainder of our tour. We cruised past Motukiekie Island which is privately owned but leased from the owners as a recreational reserve. And Moturua Island which is a wildlife preserve, home to some of New Zealand's rarest and endangered birds including the Saddleback, the North Island Robin and the Spotted Kiwi. And then on to Roberton (Motuarohia)  Island where James Cook landed in 1769. Our tour dropped us off at the Russell ferry dock.

We returned to the B&B to rest a while and shower off the salt spray. Then we headed back into town for dinner. We stopped by the Gables Restaurant to make reservations for tomorrow night's Wine and Food Festival and then we headed up the waterfront to the Duke of Marlborough Hotel. The bar and restaurant here were the first in New Zealand. We got a drink and sat on the patio to watch the sun set across the bay. Our dinner was very romantic with an old world style. The food was excellent - a mussel-linguini dish for my wife and a steak filet with mushroom sauce for me - accompanied with fresh vegetables and warm bread.

After dinner we returned to our B&B on the hill and couldn't help but notice how bright the stars were. There is very little light pollution to block out the New Zealand night sky and it is an incredible sight. But being so far south, I couldn't recognize even one constellation (must find a southern sky star chart!).