BAY OF ISLANDS

The most spectacular place.

We decided early on to explore the Bay of Islands the best way possible, even it meant both Jenna and myself dosing up on motion sickness medication: by boat. We booked a cruise for the following day and it was lovely. It was chilling out on the water but not unbearable and Jenna and I got front row seats to the most beautiful show. We cruised around the tiny islands dotted all over the bay (thus the name), spotting seals and even delivering mail to one island. We sailed through the famous hole in the rock, which, in the photo above and in real life, does not look big enough to allow a cruise ship through. But it did. Then there was a call from a rival cruise company, they had discovered two humpback whales. They kindly gave us the coordinates and the captain sailed away. We waited for what seemed like the longest time. Just as we were turning around, giving up hope, a stunning humpback whale breached right next to the ship. It was unbelievable, the captain even said it was highly unusual. Turns out it was a mother whale and for the next few minutes we watched her play with her baby, jumping up out of the water and putting on a show. It is one of my favourite memories from the ship and, unbelievably I filmed it! I'm working (very slowly) on a video of our trip so keep your eyes peeled for that.