Day 340: A Memorable Boat Day Out in Abel Tasman National Park with Skipper Emma
This was one of those days that just begs for a 25-picture blog post. We took a full-day boat cruise in the Able Tasman National Park. The scenery was spectacular.
But first, we woke up in the lux surroundings of Edenhouse Luxury Lodge. Margaret gave the overview in yesterday’s post but holy crap, this place is amazing.
Fortune Mag agrees! https://fortune.com/longform/new-zealand-travel-tips-tasman-bay/
However Edenhouse isn’t a great place for exercise — there is no gym or pool, and the nearby roads aren’t great for running because of sharp corners and no shoulder. So I did some body weight exercises and stretching on the patio before breakfast.
Oh man, breakfast. A perfect little buffet featuring massive bowls of fresh raspberries and blueberries, platters of mango, kiwi, grapes, melons; several different types of yogurt (including my favorite, coconut) and homemade granola.
The kids couldn’t contain themselves — piling raspberries and blueberries into their bowls and then loading them with yogurt and fresh honey.
Once we started on our yogurt we were asked if we wanted anything cooked. When asked what was available the server implied that they don’t have menus because they make anything we want —- pancakes, French toast, eggs, etc.
After breakfast we drove about 30 minutes to Stephens Bay to meet Emma, our skipper for our full day exploration of Able Tasman National Park.. We booked a shared experience but were the only ones to signup today so we had the boat to ourselves. It was yet another catamaran-style cruiser, but much smaller than the tour boats we’ve been on for Whale Watching and other experiences. Emma managed everything with ease — she captained the boat, tutored us on history and nature, served lunch / drinks and entertained the kids! After a year of dude-skippers it was nice to have a super capable woman captain. I can actually see Willa doing something like this in 20 years.
As described in the Fortune article linked above, Abel Tasman is “the smallest of New Zealand’s 13 national parks at just over 90 square miles, it’s also its most visited, thanks in large part to its golden, bush-fringed beaches, calm turquoise seas, and the easily manageable walking track that hugs its 30 miles of unspoiled coastline.”
Split Apple rock is supposedly the second most photographed rock in the Southern Hemisphere. More impressive: it’s 135 million years old! The granite got some water inside and it happened to split at some point — but there were rocks on either side so it didn’t splash into the water.
The Abel Tasman charters cruise checked all boxes of a perfect experience:
- Beautiful weather, calm seas (the calmest waters of the season according to Emma)
- Amazing scenery
- Comfortable boat
- Fresh, healthy, tasty lunch
- Super cool, knowledgeable guide / skipper
- Good balance of relaxing, learning (history and nature) and active stuff (hiking, kayaking)
We cruised up the coast, stopped at predator-free Adele Island to listen to the birdsong. Then we then swung by a seal colony island and stopped at a nearby beach.
The kids played in the sand and Margaret took a walk while Jim and I did some kayaking. The scenery was amazing — there were fur seals swimming about 30 feet from my kayak. Emma prepped lunch — a spread of ciabatta bread, veggies, cheese, chicken, fish and ham — and then came to pick us up after an hour or so.
The final stop was Te Pukatea beach — apparently a “top 10 beach in the world” according to Lonely Planet. Emma anchored and brought us ashore again on the zodiac. She went back to the boat as we did a 45 min round trip hike up to Pitt Head lookout. There we got one of my favorite pics of the year.
And several other great shots along the way.
Back on the boat, it was time for a dip. Emma recommended jumping off the top instead of slowing trying to acclimate to the cold water — apparently about 18 degrees Celsius.
It was high enough for an adrenaline rush and cold enough for whatever that rush is called when you jump into cold water. Just makes you want to yell, which I did. Such a great feeling.
It was 3:30 by this point and time to head back. Willa and James took their spots inside next to Emma and read the whole way home while Margaret and Jim caught a brief snooze.
Back at Edenhouse we had some time to relax for a bit and then headed to our garden spot for 6:30 cocktails and bites before a 7pm dinner of tomato, avo and mozzarella salad followed by John Dory with veggies.
Couldn’t ask for a better day!
MISC:
As we get further into this year we see that doing this trip with a 5 year old rather than a 4 year old makes a big difference. When we arrived James needed a stroller for long-ish walks, needed to be entertained every minute, would lose his gd mind at dinner after 7pm — and then eat only cheese pizza. Now he’s doing 45 minute hikes, reading for hours on his own and crushing chicken, fish, veggies… even silk worms!
James also made up another joke today:
Q: What fruit makes you crazy?
A: A banana. Get it? [Wacky voice]: Bananas!
