Whangaroa is magical.
We left BoI at about 9:00 this morning. Weather forecast was iffy but we wanted to get north. Weather was fine though, sea was slight, wind was on the nose. Was overcast but no rain once we’d cleared the Ninepins.
Got a really good hook up on our lure as we were approaching the Cavelli’s, Rob faught something really big for about 15 mins and got it to side of boat. Where it spat the lure, said “April fool” and disappeared.
Next hook up was mine – but the seaweed did not fight so no excitement.
We slowed right down when we got to the Cavelli’s – for the first time we used the passage between the Cavalli’s & Matauri Bay which has some shallow parts. We watched our depth sounder creep from 75m to 6.5m and then start rising again as we left the shallows.
Once we were clear of the Cavelli’s we rounded Flat island and were on approach for Whangaroa entrance. Once through the entrance we turned left and dropped the pick in Pekepeka Bay. I wasted no time in getting bait down and had my first snapper in minutes which I threw back as he was just legal. Next one was a keeper. Once we’d used up the bait we moved further up the bay to anchor for the night. We are surrounded by rocky hills and there was a light drizzle as the sun set and the pinkish light was just amazing with the dark green water.
So with fresh fish on board – what do you think we had for tea? Chicken. Because I had defrosted it yesterday and then we’d gone galivanting so I had to cook it. And I did the whole works. Made a stuffing with bread, fried and chopped onion, garlic & bacon, mixed herbs, pistacios & my secret stuffing ingredient. Now don’t tell anyone or I’ll have to kill you – but rolled oats adds texture & a nutty flavour. Roasted the chicken. Steamed carrots and sauted potatoes & mushrooms and tea was ready. Very good it was.
Tomorrow we are half-way through out trip (in time, not distance) and we will do boat work. Which is just like house work except on a boat.