Bay of Islands, New Zealand

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It is a rainy Sunday here. It is hard to complain though because they've been desperate for rain. This is their first rain of the year 2019. First since Christmas Day. I feel bad for people making their first visit though because with the low visibility it is hard to see how spectacular the views are. We were last here in 2006 and had a fantastic day. It must have been about this time of year as I remember they were rehearsing for Treaty Day at Waitangi. This year Waitangi Treaty Day is this Weds.

As with our previous visit here, there a lot of dolphins very near the ship in the morning. I remembered that and then looking at tourist info before arrival the number of dolphin watching providers made us look for them. I watch on the starboard side but the windows were so rain spotted it was hard to see. Clay pointed  out that the port side windows were cleaner for some reason, so I moved over there. Palm Court was very empty and quiet this morning. Soon I noticed excessive white caps near two small boats before I saw a black body come out of the water followed by a white splash. I went and fetched Clay. Over the next half hour, they traveled across the bay until the reached Serenity. Some of the dozen or so went around and the rest went under. We rushed down to our starboard balcony. They played directly under us for about 10 minutes or so! I don't remember from last visit, but this time we could see the mother and child pairs. Another thing we hadn't seen/heard dolphins do was tail slap the water. One or more of the biggest dolphins would surface and slap the surface of the water either once or double slap. Is it some kind of dolphin communication? It was an amazing morning. Given the rain, we didn't leave the ship until the dolphins did around 10am.

There were tourist info people on deck 5 in the atrium and I got a detailed map and directions to everything of interest. The tender drops us at a pier at Waitangi, a five minute walk to the Treaty Grounds. Or at the end of the pier ashore, there would be a shuttle bus to Paihia, Treaty Grouds, tender pier. You could book everything from a bike to a ferry to a helicopter within yards of where the complimentary shuttle bus dropped us in the little town of Paihia.

Our first stop ashore was an ATM. Second stop was Hokey Pokey ice cream cones. With some of his change, Clay got his 1st pressed penny of the trip with dolphins on it. We strolled the little downtown and browsed the shops. We found a Dollar Shop (where everything was at least $3!). I bought some elastic there to keep my dinner pants with the sprung elastic up. We had picked Charlotte's Kitchen out on the Paihia Wharf for our lunch spot. They had oysters on the half shell. Clay ordered a half dozen and was warned they were small. They gave him 9 and they were small and salty. I ordered a carne wood-fired pizza. It was good and spicy. Infinitely more pizza tasting than the pale, flavorless pizza served onboard. We shared. It was $55 NZD, about $42 USD. We got back onboard Serenity about 2pm. It rained or misted for all but about an hour we were ashore. Bad for us, good for them.

Clay read the menu for tonight and found it unappetizing again. He made us a reservation for Silk tonight. Tomorrow is the last day of this segment in Auckland. Our second day in Auckland is the first day of the new segment. It doesn't mean much to us except that we had to turn in our library books today and can't get new ones until day 2 in Auckland. It also means a short break from formal nights until the new segment starts.

Tomorrow we have arranged to tour on Segways in Devonport across the bay from Auckland. We have no plans for day 2 right now. Auckland seems a lot like Raleigh. A great place to live, but only OK for visitors. Since we are there overnight, Crystal put on some overland tours. Since we've spent weeks in NZ, we're winging it.

Our return shuttle bus driver, a man named Bubble, asked the bus before we left Paihia, Who had a Hokey Pokey ice cream? Clay & I raised our hands. He was surprised. No one else on the bus had and those around us had never heard of it after Bubble described it. I assured Bubble, Ya gotta love the Hokey Pokey and he agreed. When I exited the shuttle at the tender and thanked him, he said See ya later. Once upon a time I would have corrected him. But now, who knows, anything is possible. Clay pointed out it had been 13 years since our last visit here. He asked me if I thought that seemed possible. I said no, it felt like over 20 years. He said it felt like a lifetime ago.

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