The Hole In The Rock

After lunch at the Café Over The Bay, we headed down to Paihia Wharf. We’d booked tickets for the afternoon to go on a tour to the Hole In The Rock. The ship was called The Dolphin Seeker, and, er, that’s what we did.

Leaving Paihia behind

We started off heading to Russell, to pick up additional passengers, then headed out to the open area of the Bay Of Islands, where bottlenose dolphins are to be found on a daily basis. Also sometimes present are (the slightly rarer :-/) common dolphins, and also orcas. Today, we only saw bottlenoses. We came across a largish pod of about 15 dolphins, including some juveniles and some very young ones with their mothers. As you can see below, there’s an art to dolphin photography, much like my sports photography!

That was one - right there!

Fortunately there was a professional photographer on board, sanctioned by the tour operator, who had taken pictures of us as we boarded with the express intention of selling these to us as part of the day’s package. Also included in this package was a good picture of a dolphin having fun, and as soon as I figure out how to download it, it will be featured here:

Having spent some time watching the dolphins, at times through a shower of rain that blew across us, we then headed out to the north-eastern tip of the Bay Of Islands, Motu Kokako, otherwise known as the Hole In The Rock. This is, as the name suggests, an arch in Piercy Island off the main promontory, Cape Brett. As we sailed out there the swell got noticeably choppier, as we were now moving out of the  relatively calm and protected waters of the bay and out into the Pacific Ocean. The weather again turned squally, and by the time we reached the hole it was too rough for the captain to attempt to take us through. So we contented ourselves with circling around both entrances to the hole without actually going through it, then headed back into calmer seas.

On the way back we stopped of at Otehei Bay on Urupukapuka, the largest island in the Bay. We spent an hour there, climbing up to the lookout point and taking pictures all around the bay, before heading back down to have a quick refreshment and getting back on board for the remainder of the trip home.

View from the lookout

That was our first full day in the Bay Of Islands. Tomorrow is Christmas, so we shall spend it going for a swim in the sea in the morning, followed by Christmas lunch in one of the restaurants on the main drag in Paihia, Marsden Road. The rest of the day we shall spend lollygagging.