Te Kaihōpara woke up to nature’s symphony in full swing as Adele Island, a.k.a Motuareronui, was alive with the chirping songs of thousands of Tui, Bellbirds and Robins. One of the classic ‘you-had-to-be-there’ situations. As the bird’s orchestra went towards its crescendo, a sea plane was sighted circling around Adele Island. Like a hot knife through butter, the skilled pilot landed the plane in the small strip of water between Adele Island and the mainland. Slowly but surely, the seaplane made its way past us and came to a stop at the beach closest to us, on Adele Island. Its pilot was our skipper’s son, Jacob! She’d felt bad about us missing out on Hot cross buns at easter and had tasked her son to deliver us some. Looks like Silver Fern and Salt Lines’s Skippers have some ‘cool-factor’ catching up do to now.

Our next stop was Kaiteriteri. I decided to join the crew ashore as I hadn’t felt Tera Firma in a while now. We stopped for lunch at a seaside cafe and I tried to eavesdrop on the adjacent table’s, ladies afternoon gossip. Unfortunately, my Mandarin is still quite pathetic and therefore I understood nothing. We restocked on some chocolate bars from the nearby store and got Te Kaihōpara moving towards Split Apple Rock. As we approached it, I must say I was rather impressed with its smooth curves. David spotted some nearby swimming spots in the caves, but I reckon I might try them out in the summer season.

We decided to spend the night near Adele Island again, as who could resist waking up to a symphony of birds singing in the morning. David shared some of has favourite cheat codes w.r.t cooking using the oven. Shazz carried on with her knitting games and Lynda finally understood who incredible my ‘Guide to Fungi’ book really was. Hoping for some wind and sailing tomorrow!

- Arjun Thimmaya, Chief Mate, Te Kaihōpara