Searching for Sea-Legs

Yesterday we had an early start, on the road by 5:30 AM heading out of Auckland and towards Tutukaka and our day of diving Poor Knights Island!

Some of the roads en route were narrow and winding and we made slower progress than expected and just managed to make  it to the boat in time.  All our gear was waiting for us and we just hopped on the boat and off we went.

 

The sea was a bit rolly and I was a little pale and shakey before the first dive, prompting the Divemaster to suggest I just jump in and cool off before getting kitted up and into the water for the first dive. The cool water helped and I managed to do the dive with out incident; underwater I don't need sea-legs.

Our Divemaster was very helpful and he gave us a guided tour on both dives pointing out rays, eels, nudibranchs and other marine wonders.

Apparently, a wonderful buffet lunch was  laid on for us, with cold cuts, cheese, buns, yogurt, chips and more - though I saw none of it.  I just sat back with my eyes closed willing away the nausea until the second dive, which was even nicer than the first.

Later, we reached Paihia; after more narrow winding roads and our stop for two nights. We wandered the town a bit before dinner and I happened upon an acquaintance of mine from Edmonton - she's been down here for months travelling about and the odds of us seeing each other were astronomically small!

This morning we went on a boat trip with the hopes of seeing and swimming with dolphins.  The day dawned misty and I didn't think our chances were very good at finding anything.  But we did! 

Not long after we set off we found a pod of about 20-40 dolphins and followed them about for almost an hour as they frolicked and fed in the bay near Paihia.  Since there were some very young dolphins among the pod we couldn't swim with them.  So we set off on a foggy search for more dolphins. 

The remainder of the four hour trip was a series of stops near some of the many islands in the area (they don't call it Bay of Islands for nothing). Very pretty, kind of wet, but reasonably calm - so my lack of sea legs wasn't as much of an issue today!

After lunch ignoring the fact that the morning mist turned to afternoon drizzle, we went for a couple of walks on the beach.  The first one was along the sandy beach that Paihia's main road parallels. The tide was coming in and was making interesting patterns on the sand with combinations of shells, leaves, seed pods, and seaweed. Almost as if the tide were making little collages on the sand.

Later, we walked along the rocky coastline away from Paihia's town centre looking in tide pools and picking up shells. 

Tomorrow will be a long day of driving - as we are heading in back inland (via Auckland) to Otorohanga (driving time, about 8 hours).  I'm going to be doing some of the driving and personally, it scares me a bit.  I guess it's all part of the adventure!