New Crew Arrive, Bay of Islands

Today marks the start of an 11 day cruise of the Bay of Islands and Hauraki Gulf. There is so much to see in this area and we are going to struggle to do it justice. Mick, the skipper, has lots of ideas, possibly to head north before we head south or maybe south first so we can go past Auckland and then cruise back or maybe more time at Great Barrier or the poor Knights or maybe the Cavalli Islands. So many options, we will just have to see what works best with the ever changeable weather and remain flexible. Weather is not looking the best for the coming weekend so we are going to have to work around that to start with and also see what the new crew would like to do, what’s on their wish list, if anything beyond just having an amazing time.
Juliet was the first to arrive. She should have been in the same flight to Kerikeri as Ross but unfortunately his flight from Brisi was cancelled so he will join us in the morning. Pearl bussed up from Auckland and arrived at Paihia in time for the last ferry to Russell so we slipped lines and left Opua in our wake before anchoring just off Russell. A walk ashore to the famous Flagstaff Hill where we got to enjoy amazing views of the bay with Sharky Rock on the horizon gave us a good appetite for dinner. Helle cooked up a delicious risotto and with washing up complete we headed for the Duke of Marlborough for a quick pint before meeting Pearl and then it was back to Te Kaihōpara. An “almost” full moon lit up the way and once on board we had a quick safety briefing before finding our cabins and getting a good night’s sleep.