PAIHIA, BAY OF ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
Today Chris and I took an all-day cruise around the Bay of Islands. This took us past some really stunning coastline on the way out to the open sea, and one of the area's biggest attractions, the "Hole in the Rock," which was...well, you guessed it.
But it's a big hole, in a big rock island jutting out of the sea. On most days, it's safe for boats to pass through the hole, but today the swells were just too high, so we didn't attempt it. Still, the giant waves crashing through the hole were impressive enough, as was the "Grand Cathedral," a cave on the other side of the rock big enough for the boat to (sort of) fit in.
We then cruised back into the bay and moored at Urupukapuka (say that without laughing) Island, where we went ashore to have lunch. This being New Zealand and all, there were sheep everywhere, which were kind of funny to watch, and even more funny to listen to. I never realized it before, but every sheep has a distinct voice--some are high and squeaky, others are low and throaty, nasal, whiny like Brandon, etc. I sat and just listened to them bleating for awhile, which at first amused me greatly. But then I started getting weirded out by how human they sounded, and I started imagining they were all desparately searching for someone named Matt. "Maaaatt!" "Maaaaaaattt!" they all cried. "MAAAAAATT!"
Where was Matt? What had happened to him? I didn't want to think about it. So I climbed some hills and took some photos of the view.
After lunch we boarded the boat again and set out to look for dolphins, as this was billed as a "swim with the dolphins" cruise. But that part's not guaranteed, for obvious reasons. (First you have to find them somewhere in the bay, and then the dolphins have to decide whether you're worth swimming with. And since they're not getting paid, apparently they can be pretty fickle about this.)
Anyway, there are three or four "dolphin encounter" boats operating out of Paihia that work together by reporting dolphin sightings to each other, and dividing the bay into search areas when they can't find them. As it turned out, after an entire day of no sightings by any operator, our boat was the first to spot a large group of about 40 or 50 bottlenose dolphins (several pods together, which is unusual). Unfortunately, there were several mothers with babies in the group, which meant we weren't allowed to get in the water with them (they have strict rules about these things). But it was still pretty incredible, because they swam right alongside the boat, slapped the water with their tails, and a few even jumped out of the water and did flips. From the bow of the boat, I could hear them underwater talking to each other in high-pitched squeaks, which was really cool. I took a bunch of photos, but of course most of them show a big splash or a tail. Still, it was an amazing experience to get that close to dolphins in the wild.
People met today:
Oh, and the Canadians showed up at our hostel tonight--they are definitely following us!
Today Chris and I took an all-day cruise around the Bay of Islands. This took us past some really stunning coastline on the way out to the open sea, and one of the area's biggest attractions, the "Hole in the Rock," which was...well, you guessed it.
But it's a big hole, in a big rock island jutting out of the sea. On most days, it's safe for boats to pass through the hole, but today the swells were just too high, so we didn't attempt it. Still, the giant waves crashing through the hole were impressive enough, as was the "Grand Cathedral," a cave on the other side of the rock big enough for the boat to (sort of) fit in.
We then cruised back into the bay and moored at Urupukapuka (say that without laughing) Island, where we went ashore to have lunch. This being New Zealand and all, there were sheep everywhere, which were kind of funny to watch, and even more funny to listen to. I never realized it before, but every sheep has a distinct voice--some are high and squeaky, others are low and throaty, nasal, whiny like Brandon, etc. I sat and just listened to them bleating for awhile, which at first amused me greatly. But then I started getting weirded out by how human they sounded, and I started imagining they were all desparately searching for someone named Matt. "Maaaatt!" "Maaaaaaattt!" they all cried. "MAAAAAATT!"
Where was Matt? What had happened to him? I didn't want to think about it. So I climbed some hills and took some photos of the view.
After lunch we boarded the boat again and set out to look for dolphins, as this was billed as a "swim with the dolphins" cruise. But that part's not guaranteed, for obvious reasons. (First you have to find them somewhere in the bay, and then the dolphins have to decide whether you're worth swimming with. And since they're not getting paid, apparently they can be pretty fickle about this.)
Anyway, there are three or four "dolphin encounter" boats operating out of Paihia that work together by reporting dolphin sightings to each other, and dividing the bay into search areas when they can't find them. As it turned out, after an entire day of no sightings by any operator, our boat was the first to spot a large group of about 40 or 50 bottlenose dolphins (several pods together, which is unusual). Unfortunately, there were several mothers with babies in the group, which meant we weren't allowed to get in the water with them (they have strict rules about these things). But it was still pretty incredible, because they swam right alongside the boat, slapped the water with their tails, and a few even jumped out of the water and did flips. From the bow of the boat, I could hear them underwater talking to each other in high-pitched squeaks, which was really cool. I took a bunch of photos, but of course most of them show a big splash or a tail. Still, it was an amazing experience to get that close to dolphins in the wild.
People met today:
- Dennis, 27, from Germany, who showed us pictures of his travels in New Zealand, and told us some cool places to see on the South Island.
Oh, and the Canadians showed up at our hostel tonight--they are definitely following us!
posted by John Kuge at 9:32 PM
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