Bay Of Islands
After visiting the Treaty Grounds up in Waitangi, I came back to Paihia for a day-cruise through the Bay of Islands, an archipelago of 144 small islands off the northeastern coast of the North Island ... it was a very nice way to spend my last full day in New Zealand, if you ask me
December 19, 2004

01-PaihiaWharf After visiting the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in the morning of Sunday, December 19, 2004, I came back to Paihia to take a cruise out on the Bay of Islands 02-DolphinDiscoveriesBoat Dolphin Discoveries tour boat, the one I went out on 03-PaihiaHarbour Paihia Harbour 04-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 05-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 06-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 07-Russell Russell, on an island across the harbour from Paihia ... Russell was the first town in New Zealand, and for a time was a major seaport and simultaneously known as the 08-Russell Russell 09-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 10-TwoSailboats Two sailboats out on the Bay of Islands 11-TwoSailboats Sailboats 12-BayOfIslands The Bay of Islands are a group of 144 islands just off the northeastern coast of the North Island, all near the town of Paihia 13-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 14-LookingBack Looking back 15-FlatTop A flat-topped island 16-Island One of the 144 islands 17-RobertonIsland Roberton Island 18-CookCove Cook Cove, named by Captain James Cook 19-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 20-CookCove-RobertonIsland Cook Cove at Roberton Island 21-TwiddleLagoons Twiddle Lagoons 22-TwiddleLagoons Twiddle Lagoons 23-TwiddleLagoons Twiddle Lagoons 24-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 25-PiercyIsland Piercy Island 26-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 27-Moturua Moturua 28-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 29-PipiBay Pipi Bay 30-UrupukapukaIsland Urupukapuka Island on the left 31-UrupukapukaIsland Urupukapuka Island 32-Island Another island 33-Island Island 34-Island Island with a cleft rock 35-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 36-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 37-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 38-PiercyIsland Piercy Island 39-PiercyIsland Piercy Island 40-Island Another island ... there were too many to keep track of, even if I could've kept them all straight 41-Lighthouse A small lighthouse 42-GroundedCruiseShip The day before our cruise, another cruise company's ship was grounded on these rocks ... it had been stormy, with some large waves, and their engine gave out, meaning the wind had free reign to blow them into shore and batter the ship against the rocks ... helicopters had to be flown in to airlift the 59 passengers, none of whom were injured, back to the mainland ... the estimated damage to the boat was in excess of 2 million dollars, wow 43-CapeBrett Grounded cruise ship at Cape Brett 44-Grounded Grounded! 45-PiercyIsland Piercy Island 46-HoleInTheRock Hole in the Rock 47-Jared-HoleInTheRock Me, by the Hole in the Rock 48-HoleInTheRock Hole in the Rock 49-HoleInTheRock Hole in the Rock 50-HoleInTheRock Going through the Hole in the Rock 51-SchoolOfFish It's a little hard to see, but a large school of fish is visible in the water 52-AnotherBoat Another boat going through the Hole in the Rock 53-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 54-HoleInTheRock Hole in the Rock 55-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 56-Fish Fish going nuts 57-Fish So many fish 58-PiercyIsland Piercy Island 59-PiercyIsland Piercy Island 60-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 61-PiercyIsland Piercy Island 62-PiercyIsland Piercy Island 63-Gulls Flocks of seagulls 64-Dolphins Dolphins! 65-Dolphins Dolphins 66-Gulls Gulls 67-BayOfIslands Bay of Islands 68-Dolphins Dolphins ... I managed to snag a 45-second video of the dolphins swimming around, since photos hardly do justice to them 69-Dolphins This was the first time I'd ever been close to anywhere near this many dolphins in the wild 70-Dolphins Dolphins frolicking 71-BottleNosedDolphins Bottle-nosed dolphins 72-Dolphins Dolphins mere feet from our boat! 73-Shearwaters-Gannetts Shearwaters and gannetts 74-Gulls Gulls 75-WhangamumaIsland Whangamuma Island 76-WhangamumaIsland Whangamuma Island 77-WhangamumaHarbour Whangamuma Harbour, where we spend some time anchored just enjoying the beautiful day 78-Sailboat Sailboat 79-Paihia Back to Paihia 80-PaihiaHarbour Paihia Harbour 81-PaihiaHarbour Paihia Harbour

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