Passage to the Bay of Islands

After waiting for 5 days for a Sou-wester to come in, we have finally they Great Barrier Island and made it up to the Bay of Islands. Our trip was a bit slow due to lack of wind, but it was a glorious day, blue skies, calm seas and warm. Who needs to go to far flung Pacific islands.....in fact we are living on a far flung Pacific island, aren't we. Anyway it was  a beautiful day and night, it took us 20 hrs to do the 100 nautical mile (there about's) passage. We were both pretty tired when we got here, and it will take a few days of retail therapy, hot showers, laundromats, to recover. Whilst we were on passage I was inspired to write the following, it is my attempt to try and share some of the beauty that we have seen. Hope you enjoy it.


By Moonlight at sea.

Writing by moonlight......does it imbue your words with magic? I hope so, as I would like to share the magic of moonlight at sea.

We left Great Barrier Island today knowing that the wind would be light and perhaps from the wrong direction. As the day progressed the wind lightened and eventually died completely at about 8pm. So we have been motor sailing on a flat calm sea. Sunset and full moon rise are a double wonder, fiery red sky on the port beam and a pale ivory orb to starboard. As night descends the sun furl's up its cloak of many colours, leaving a black, grey and silver world. The moon rises over the mercury sea, trailing a shimmering silver wake, as it moves across the heavens. The diamond point stars are dimmed by its brightness tonight. The moon casts everything in its silver glow.

As we approach Cape Brett and Piercy Island, they loom black out of the sea, like holes torn in the fabric of the night. Lacy skirts of silvery swell froth and bubble by their feet, making them look less sinister, more approachable, but beware. Cape Brett light flashes out its comforting signal, just like the other lighthouses along the coast. Even though they are unmanned, they ease the loneliness of a very lonely place.

Rounding the Cape into the Bay of Islands we are alerted by a loud chuff from the sea, dolphins by moonlight, a spectacle to behold. 10 to 15 dolphins flowing with the bow wake, sinuous bodies twining around the waves and each other. The moonlight shows them clearly in the water, they glow against the darkness of the sea. We stand on the bow, acknowledging our welcome back to the Bay of Islands,  awed by the wonder of this world we live in. And I thank what ever Power or God, for bringing me to this man standing beside me, as he has shown me a world that I would never have seen or experienced without him.