We were fortunate to have the company of Loree and Kevin, good friends from Minnesota days who have made the shift to Aorearoa as we have.
After getting a feel for the boat on open water, we headed to Motuarohia Island for a swim in Cook Inlet and lunch. This was the first of many encounters with the super-yacht Evviva, equipped with its own helicopter, and which we had spotted in Wellington Harbour a few weeks earlier.
After another quick sail, we found a secluded little bay on Urupukapuka Island, which is free of pests. It is full of bird life, including rare hihi and tieke, the latter of which we could hear from the boat. A dip in the clear, warm water was followed by a walk on the island, including a visit to a cliff top pa site. That night, we watched in awe as the Milky Way filled the cloudless sky above, then fell asleep serenaded by morepork.
The next morning, we visited a little sail-in restaurant on the opposite end of the island, where we stopped for a snack and fed the snapper leftovers from the dock.
We spent the next two nights in Okie bay, where little blue penguins and gannets fished the waters around us. In between, we headed out to the iconic hole in the rock, a rollicking blue water sail in a 20 knot Southerly, which continued to howl through the night. After a bit of rain and a few squalls, the weather settled into a fine Fall pattern for the remainder of the trip. The gentler Southeasterly breeze allowed us to sail the entire length of Rawhiti Inlet under the jib on a single reach. Rounding back into Opuia, we passed the historic Waitangi Treaty grounds.
