Day 312: Sailing with Dave in Beautiful Bay of Islands
We went sailing today. I booked this experience a couple months ago after hearing that the Bay of Islands is best seen from the water. The recommended private options from our travel advisors were super expensive so we found a highly-reviewed small group excursion with Captain Dave on his boat, “She’s a Lady.”
We were actually supposed to go on Thursday, but the weather looks bad so Dave squeezed us in on today’s sail.
The day was a total success. We sailed for a couple hours, anchored near an island with a gorgeous beach where we explored, hiked, kayaked and had lunch — delish sandwiches prepared by Captain Dave!
Then we had a thriller of a sail back to the wharf in 20+ knot winds.
Captain Dave made this one of my favorite excursions of the year. Dude was awesome. He spent the first 17 years of his life sailing around the world with his parents and 6 siblings! My dad is a lifelong sailor, so I know one when I see one — and Dave was impressively capable around a boat. He was also engaging, funny and informative — he had his shtick down. He also wore a nose guard because he believes “sunblock is poison.”
That said, I was a little nervous before we left for a few reasons:
First, even in sunny weather it is still springtime chilly here on the North Island. I was afraid we would all be freezing out in a boat all day. It was very windy and a little cold but not miserable — and you could always go below deck to warm up.
Second, I booked this before knowing Lobsy would be joining us here in NZ. She’s comfortable on boats — but is very safety conscious, especially with her grandchildren and nervous without my dad at the helm. Thankfully Captain Dave made us feel comfortable from minute one.
Third, Willa and James can be painful on long boat trips. There wasn’t a shorter choice so we went for the 10am – 4pm option but I didn’t know how they would handle it. They are always better around a group of strangers than they are with just me and Margaret and today was no different. They ended up not being super into the sailing, instead spending most of their time below deck, Willa reading Harry Potter to James. But they had a blast at the beach and were very well behaved the whole day.
After getting off the boat around 4pm we ferried back to Russell, grabbed some dinner provisions at the 4 Square grocery and then drove home to start our evening routine here at Paroa Bay: golf cart ride around the property with Willa and James steering followed by kid swim rotating between the jacuzzi and the pool until we drag them out. Meanwhile, grownups are drinking wine, reading, writing, enjoying the sunset. Have we mentioned we love this place?
Dinner was sausages from the grill, baked beans and salad with the last of the special chocolates from the little shop in Russell for dessert.
MISC:
Margaret and I had a (possibly wine fueled) debate with Lobsy about whether or not it’s outrageous that some Australians we met were surprised to learn recently there was a Washington State in addition to Washington, DC. Our take: “We’re on the other side of the planet, nobody really cares about the US.” Her take: “We’re a super power! They should care!”
James has been referring to the bathroom as “the toilet” which is common for most of the countries we’ve been to recently. Shows how new language and terminology can quickly seep into the mind of a five year old.
