Tutakaka

Wow! I should have written this when it was fresh in my mind... let's see what I can remember?
We did spend the night at Kawau but in a more Northern bay ready for a quick getaway the next morning.
Up at the crack of dawn (just like the old days!) and out into the molten lava sea lit by the morning sun. Stunning. The seas grew throughout the morning and before long we were gliding over a 3mtr swell. The kids handled it well and for the first little while hid in their bunks with a DVD of Inspector Gadget! Soon they became more adventurous and ventured out into the cockpit for a look. Seisia was a bit quiet and I was a bit worried. That only made me feel sea sick. It's different sailing with children. There is a lot more responsibility and sometimes it does my head in so I try to put things in perspective and remind myself how safe our boat is, how well prepared we are and even crazy things like if a leaking wooden boat full of refugees can make it to Australia then we have no worries!

Later that morning I think I saw a shark! I was doing a watch all around and when I looked off our starboard beam saw quite a large black fin heading directly towards Catina. It was only a few metres away and travelling pretty quickly. I guess it saw the hull in front of it so it swerved slightly and then dived as we passed each other. I didn't get to see much but it was big and very black? The fin would have easily been 30cm out of the water. (and no I don't think it was an Orca) or a dolphin... this one was not curious or friendly...

We decided to pull into a harbour overnight and not sail on and as we approached Tutakaka (funny name I know... Too-ta-car-ka) it was difficult to make out the entrance to the harbour. Duncan had the bino's and pointed out the way. "what over there where all that white water is breaking?" Holy Cats! I was not too keen on this... surfing into an unknown harbour with precious cargo on board. And to make it even trickier the entrance was only 50mtrs wide. Quick calculation... our beam is over 9m so there was roughly 20m either side.  Cliffs to starboard and breaking waves over rocks to port. Great. Time to put on a brave face for the kids and recall all my sailing knowledge and nerve. With adrenalin pumping we followed the local dive boats and fishing boats in over the bar. Oh. Did I mention it is shallow as well? It's always a tense moment but I guess that's what makes it so satisfying once it's all over. But then once we were in the harbour we realised that our cruising guide may have slightly exagerated the calm tranquil bay description we were hoping for. Instead we found ourselves in a very shallow rolly swell with very little protection from anything. On an up side though, we went ashore and the kids were facinated by the local fishing club displaying their 'catch'. We saw a small shark up close and a marlin. (I still don't see the point in catching  a creature and then letting it die so you can hang it upside down and take your photo with it. But that's just me) We enjoyed exploring anyway and ended up having a yummy pizza before heading back for an early night. Tomorrow we would be in the Bay of Islands!

This picture was taken the next morning on the way back out of Tutakaka. As you can see, the sea has calmed a bit during the night.