 |
| Leaving Ranfurly Bay behind us. |
We left the protected and prehistoric surroundings of Ranfurly Bay (Whangaroa Harbour) after a good breakfast and started the short passage of only 11nm to the Cavalli Islands. We steamed out of the heads in flat water but were soon greeted by some bigger waves rolling on in. We decided to make a short stop at Flat Island and see if we could find a protected anchorage as the reef between the island and the mainland was supposed to be good diving, but with rolling waves magically wrapping themselves around the island we were having no such luck.
We headed around the northern tip of Flat Island and steamed SW to Waiiti Bay, as we rounded the reefy tip we were welcomed with a beautiful bay which already had several boat anchored so we dropped the hook on the NW side of the bay in relatively shallow water and I couldn't get into my wetsuit quick enough to go explore the surrounding reef and get a look at what the area had to offer. The weather was still overcast and we were praying for some nice weather, it had been a little gloomy for a lot of the trip so far. But it didn't take long and the sun was getting into full swing.
 |
| Beautiful afternoon in Papatara Bay |
Since the bay was pretty full and there was a bit of swell rolling around the corner we decided to move to the next bay (Papatara Bay) where we originally had it to ourselves before a few boats dropped in. We were desperate for a dive so decided to dinghy all our gear ashore and do a dive off the beach and along the small reef. The dive was ok, lots of surge pulling us back and forth through the breaks in the reef, unfortunately not a lot of fish life but the temperature was pretty good and visibility was lot nicer than we are used to back home.
 |
| Nothing for over a thousand miles through the gap of Hamaruru Is. |
The plan was to stay the night before heading to the northern part of the islands and try go for a dive on the Rainbow Warrior, we pulled anchor the following morning and motored north with some rather annoying chop which made Emma feel rather green, compounded even more when we dropped anchor and looked at the dive buoy a hundred metres or so swim away...not going to happen! so we quickly pulled up anchor and moved to a beautiful little spot off Hamaruru Island where we both went for a swim through what felt like porridge (the water was thick with fish eggs), then it was like jelly as all the jellyfish got washed ashore. I quickly got out of there, grabbed my speargun and went for a freedive to try get some lunch. Half an hour or so later with little seen other than porcupine fish and Parore I nabbed what looked like a good size one and turns out to be a little smaller than originally estimated. However I got picked up by Emma, back to the boat and filleted it up for a decent lunch snack. We soaked in some sun before the wind came up and soon left to motor around the exposed and rugged eastern side of the island back to our original anchorage.
 |
The bow of the Rainbow Warrior. Taken from 25m below the
surface looking back up. |
The following day we headed back north ready for a dive on the Rainbow, the sea was a little calmer but still rolling all over the show but this time we pulled up the dive mooring and kitted up. The local dive operator soon pulled up and looked a bit gutted we beat him to the ball but he had an easier time anchoring that we did. We dropped right down to the beautiful sandy bottom at 25m and could see the bow of the ship staring at us. We swam part way along the starboard side looking at the large eel at home on the keel before heading back around the bow and along the port side. We ascended to the deck and into the boat before coming back out onto the forward deck. The dive seemed to fly by, maybe it was all the excitement of our first wreck dive. We ascended to the surface, clambered back onto Dulcinea and before long we were heading back to our mooring for our last night on the Cavalli's. It was a stunning sunset for our last night, its certainly a beautiful spot and one could spend a week or two here just relaxing, walking the islands and diving the amazing spots around here but unfortunately we only have 6 weeks for the whole trip and need to keep moving.
Read about the next leg of our journey
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon