Day 24 – February 7, 2011 – Bay of Islands, New Zealand

We have reached New Zealand at last.  Woke up to a beautiful clear sunny day with temperatures in the low 80’s.  We took the Cruise to the Hole in the Rock at Cape Brett.  It was quite a large catamaran and we probably had 200 people aboard but is was not crowded.  We sailed through the islands, stopping here and there at important places, like where Captain Cook stopped (although he was Lieutenant Cook) at the time.  There are beautiful homes scattered throughout all of the small islands in the Bay of Islands, some of them accessible only by boat or helicopter.

One highlight of the tour was a large group of bottlenose dolphins that were quite active in one of the small bays between islands.  The group had several baby dolphins with them and were jumping and splashing all over the bay.  They also played around the boat surfing the bow waves, darting around the pontoons, and generally having a good time while providing us with quite a dolphin show.

We reached the end of the Cape Brett Peninsula where a large rock or small island marks the end.  A hole has eroded in the rock that is large enough for even our large catamaran could go through.  The swells coming in from the Pacific were not large so we did go through.  We also sailed around the east side to see a rock formation that looks like a woman looking out to sea towards Hawaii.  The Maori says she is a guardian of the Bay.

The tour ended back at the dock and we took the tender back to the ship.  Unfortunately, Jan had a manicure appointment at 2:15pm so she couldn’t go to Russell as we were sailing at 5:00pm.  However, that was fine with Fred because today is Super Bowl day, even though it is Monday here in New Zealand.

The ship put on a tail gate party in the theatre with hot dogs, pizza, sliders of beef, fish or chicken, popcorn, etc.  When we arrived back at the ship, it was late in the first quarter or so we were told.  The internet/satellite provider was having problems and had to take down the entire ship’s connection in order to fix it.  So everyone had a bite of lunch and waited.   Finally, at the start of the 2^nd quarter the got it working and everyone in the theatre was happy.  They had balloons in the colors of both teams and there were fans cheering for both sides.

Jan went off to get her manicure and read a bit while Fred stayed and watched the game.  Everyone enjoyed the afternoon in there on way.

The ship is quiet tonight as those getting off in Auckland are packing.