We awoke to a beautiful morning, and set about packing up our gear before a leisurely kayak following the route we took on our first day. We explored the outer edge of a small island off our camp site then around the edge of our island for a bit. We returned quite quickly with the wind behind us and decided we had time to practise capsizes in a sheltered part of our bay. As the sun was out and the water warm this was no chore. We practised how to tip out of our kayaks and get back in with the help of a paddle float. This intriguing little device turns your kayak into an outrigger. You blow air into one bit and seal it off then insert the paddle into a pocket. Very cool! Once you have righted your kayak you use the paddle, now buoyant, to stabilise the kayak as you insert yourself back into the cockpit.
Ginni then demonstrated how to roll her kayak and pop up again without getting out. She did this several times with great enjoyment, relishing in her dexterity. Lara and I being not so dexterous gave this a miss and and paddled back to shore to have a quick lunch before dismantling our tents.
We sat and discussed how to get us, our kayaks and our equipment on to the yacht. Henrick had used the morning to clean the bottom of the yacht and as we ate we watched him in a wet suit and snorkel repeatedly dive under the boat as he cleaned. We also watched a couple of motor boats towing kids around and around on special rubber tubes. Great fun for them but not so much fun for Henrick. Round and round the yacht they went, creating a wash that made Henrick bounce about, increasing the difficulty of his task as he got thrown into the side of the boat repeatedly.
It was decided we would load the yacht's dinghy with our gear which would be towed out by Ginni, then I would paddle out and help load the gear on the yacht. This involved coming alongside the dinghy, tying up, transferring to the dinghy and from there on to the yacht. A bit of scrambling but I made it, then stowed our equipment as Ginni handed it up to me. We then hauled up the kayaks and secured them on deck. In reasonable time we were all aboard and sailed off towards Paihia. I chose a spot out of the way of swinging booms and busy sailors and settled back to enjoy the ride. The Bay of Islands was busy with boats and charter vessels, fishermen and pleasure seekers. We watched a school of dolphins also being watched by a tourist boat. There were plenty of seabirds - gannets, seagulls, petrels bobbing about on the ocean, not too interested in fishing it seemed.
When Paihia Beach came into sight we had to reverse the order. First Henrick went off in the dinghy as he had an appointment, with Ginni accompanying him in her kayak. She then towed the dinghy back and we loaded it up to the gunnels as she did not want to do more than one trip as it was hard work in the wind back to the yacht. We lowered our kayaks then lowered ourselves carefully into the dinghy and then into the kayaks.
There was quite a swell onto the beach. I decided to attack full tilt and sailed in without mishap. Quickly we hauled up our kayaks and got ready to help Ginni ashore with the dinghy. All hands make light work and soon all our gear was installed in the waiting van which whisked us back to our accomodation.
What a fun trip! We had barged, kayaked, swam, snorkeled and yachted. We had camped on a beautiful beach and not been swept away by tsunamis We had eaten well, made new friends and learned about each other's past adventures. I thoroughly recommend giving kayaking a go!
I booked this trip through Bushwise Women: www.bushwise.co.nz
Ginni has her own kayak business in Baja, Mexico: www.seakayakbajamexico.com. She also has a blog: www.kayaktravel.blogspot.com.
Henrick can be found on www.onvoyage.net
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