North Island Lapped

Well, that's all folks. Our cruising adventure is over for this summer, but we aren't done with sailing and there is talk of more potential journeys in the future - watch this space!

To try and sum up our whole trip in a single post, we each answered a few questions:

Favourite location
N - Cavalli Islands
V - Cavalli Islands & Coromandel Peninsula (Pauanui to Great Mercury)

Unexpected gem
N - Whangaroa harbour
V - Tasman Sea

Biggest let down
N - Abel Tasman
V - Wellington

Place we were saddest to miss out on
N - Poor Knights
V - Great Barrier Island

Best hike
N - Ketu Bay
V - Dukes Nose

Best snorkeling
N - Cavalli Islands
V - Peachgrove Bay

Tastiest fish species
N - Blue Cod
V - Crayfish

Fish species we wished we had got
N - John Dory
V - I think we had everything?

Best moment
N - Making it into Nelson after sailing down the West Coast
V - Jumping into the middle of the Tasman Sea, Dolphins at Hen & Chicks, Dolphins in BoP, snorkeling near the sandy Peachgrove Bay, New Year's Eve with our friends, yoinking my first crayfish, skinny dip at Mayor Island, too many to go through

Favourite marine animal
N - Eagle Rays
V - Crayfish

Best Beer
N - Sprig & Fern, Haze of the People #2
V - Pina Colada

And for those nerds out there, we've got a few trip stats for you:

Total miles sailed - roughly 2000, 1942 miles as recorded by find penguins, but there would be some that weren't recorded

Fish species eaten - 25
Snapper, Leather Jacket, Parore, Porae, Kahawai, Blue Cod, Kingfish, Silver Drummer, Red Moki, Painted Moki, Koheru, Butterfish, Red Gurnard, Pig Fish, Goat Fish, Grandaddy Hapuka, Eel, Blue Maomao, Pink Maomao, Grey Maomao, Spiny Dogfish, Rock Cod, Trevally, Packhorse Crayfish, Red Crayfish

# swims with sharks - 4

# islands visited - 19 (21 including North & South Islands)

# friends/family who have visited us on the boat - 39

Top boat speed - 17.0kt

Deepest water we sailed in - 1500m+

Shallowest waters we sailed in - -0.1m (under the keel, must have been skimming the mud)Read more