Out of Tutakaka and Northward, between the Poor Knights Islands and the rugged coast, we enjoyed a beautiful motor sail the rest of the morning on our way to Cape Brett which marks the Southern end of the Bay of Islands. We passed towering islands, uninhabited, with rocky coastlines teaming with sea life. Birds wheeling and diving with precision to catch their dinner. It is all so beautiful and there is always something to see. The swell was beginning to drop and we rounded the cape late morning with a light NE. Suddenly we were back in captivity! Extreme jet boats, dolphin & whale tours and fishing boats filled the outer corner of the Bay. The main attraction - The Hole In the Rock! which is exactly that. A large rocky outcrop or I guess you would classify it as an Island (and if I had the chart in front of me I could tell you it's name exactly *nb. to update later!) with a cut out that extends below the water line and up maybe 15-20 mtrs. On a quiet day the tour boats actually drive through to give the passengers the "real" experience however today the seas were still up and it wasn't safe to do so with powerful surge that would dump any vessel right onto the rocks.
Towering above on the hillside stood the lighthouse that was once manned. The whole scene was very, very similar to that of Cape Capricorn in QLD except here was a rocky shoreline, not the beautiful sandy bay as at Capricorn. The same system was used to deliver stores and supplies - a tramtrack up the impossible slope! Straight up... I was wondering if there were feral goats like on many of the islands off the QLD coast. It was remarkable, the similarities to the design.
Once we rounded the Cape the swell quickly subsided and it wasn't long before we saw the friendly welcoming party coming to greet us! 5 or 6 beautiful dolphins gracefully skimming through the surface of the sea to "play" in our bow wave. At first we slowed down to watch them but they went off to see a tour boat. Once we were back in gear and underway again, they came back to see us! They actually did want to play and to check us out! They swam off each bow and under the tramps, one even rolling on it's side to look up at us!They are incredibly playful and curious creatures. Soon the moved off our starboard beam and began a spectacular diving show, similar to the SeaWorld dolphins, leaping high into the air and splashing about. It was wonderful to see such wild and happy animals at play.
The rest of our time spent in the Bay of Islands went incredibly fast. We had less than a week and enjoyed crystal clear sandy beaches, anchoring in a peaceful bay where we met a lovely local family with 2 small kids. (Duncan went out that day and learnt how to "collect" green lipped mussels in about 2.5mts of water - easy!)The kids played on beaches and made more "cubby" houses. These were often sticks poked in the sand to form walls, sea shells for the soap dish, seaweed for the fireplace and other bits of flotsam and jetsom for other household items. These were some of my most memorable times seeing their little minds be creative and listening to them chatter amongst themselves. Bliss!
And before long we were tied up alongside Ashby's Boatyard repair dock where our beautiful Catina would have a watermaker fitted while we went back to Australia to tie up all the loose ends while the children completed the first term of school for the year. The next time we are here we will be only a few weeks away from the biggest adventure of our lives...
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