Just prior to sunrise on February 17th our ship passed cape Wiwiki and Cape Brett as we entered the bay on the northern coast of New Zealand. This area on the North Island is known as the Bay of Islands. It is the place where in 1840 the British made a pact with Maori chieftains known as the Treaty of Waitangi. Our passage into the bay was beautiful with low clouds and fog hanging over the hills on both sides of the ship. We got a wonderful view of the small town of Russell in this early predawn light. We were extremely surprised by the number of dolphins who greeted our ship and stayed with us until we were anchored.
Once we were anchored in the bay, we went ashore using the ship’s tenders. The ride ashore took about 20 minutes. The local community of Paihia provided very nice buses to take us from the pier at the yacht club were the tenders docked to the downtown area. We spent some of our time there walking the Paihia wharf and downtown shops and restaurants. The local community had a craft fair arranged for us on the green in front of the library. Of course Cindy couldn’t resist looking at some of the handmade ancient Kauri wood bowls and platters. Most of this wood has been dug up and reclaimed after being buried for thousands of years by previous tsunamis.
After a beautiful sunny day, the weather did begin to change a little for the worse. The ship waited for about an hour for some thunderstorms to clear before we departed the bay at around 6:00pm. We caught a good view of some flying fish as we departed.
Our next stop tomorrow, February 18th is Auckland, New Zealand.
