Sailing the Bay of Islands

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When my Dad and stepmother suggested that we hire a yacht and go sailing the Bay of Islands, I jumped at the chance. Then the doubt crept in. Seven people together in a small space for five days and three of them are little with real needs to run around. What if it rained the entire time? What if they fell off the boat?

My concerns couldn’t have been more wrong. Yachting is one big adventure for young and old and this holiday will no doubt be ingrained into the memories books for life. The name of the boat, “The Good Life”, says it all.

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The Bay of Islands, if you haven’t heard of them, is a collection of some one hundred and forty four islands situated in Northland, New Zealand. The area is quite sheltered which makes for a sailing paradise. There’s also a lot of sun and an abundance of marine life there. Dolphins are almost guaranteed, whales are common during the migration season, fairy penguins and fish galore. We even saw a shark pass our anchored boat at dusk one night. Must remember to never go swimming at dusk! Little Noam was so pleased with himself to catch his first fish ever although we threw it back in because it was a puffer fish – I’ll leave that specialty to the top Japanese chefs thank you very much.

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We hired our yacht, a three cabin, two bathroom Beneteau 393 from Fairwind Charters. While it wasn’t huge, I was surprised at how spacious it was and extremely functional for seven people. It had everything that we needed including a barbecue.

The days were very simple. Slow breakfasts, sailing to the next destination to anchor in a beautiful cove that took our fancy. The afternoons usually entailed exploring an island, an aperitif on the deck at dusk, dinner and then early to bed, completely satisfied.

The sun, excitement and rocking did something to the kids and not a day went by that they didn’t have a sleep and a big one! I managed to squeeze a couple of them in too, along with a lot reading.

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sailing the bay of islands .

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We anchored the last night in Russell, a seaside village, rich in history and that was New Zealand’s first capital city. Christ Church, the country’s oldest church also stands here. I wanted to show my parents, even though I visited the village earlier in the year. You can read about that getaway here, along with another post on the Pompallier Mission. I also took advantage of the yacht club to have a proper shower and wash my hair, I felt like a million dollars after that. Yes, it’s the small pleasures in life! We followed with dinner at the Duke of Marlborough and then took the dingy back to the yacht for our final night.

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If you’re after a holiday with a difference, this is it! Of course if you’d like to go it alone like us, you’d need some experience. Luckily my dad and stepmother are avid sailers. If that’s not you, you can still do it. I looked on the Fairwind Charters site and they do have the option to have someone skipper it for you or even give you lessons prior.

Mel xx