10 March - Akaroa

This was one place we had plans. An American couple on the cruise had announced they had a sail boat trip booked and if anyone else on board was interested we could join them. This was very inviting, so we booked and paid for this trip before we left.

On a previous visit, we had seen the yacht moored alongside the wharf and I mused about sailing on it. So I was really looking forward to the day.

As this is a tender port, we had made arrangements to be one of the first group of passengers to be tendered into town. This meant an earlier start than we had anticipated, so I had found a cafe where we could go and have breakfast. This turned out to be very good. Then we walked around town before it became too congested. Most of the early tenders were for people on tours so we had watched the procession of tour buses, large and small leaving town. Other passengers had to wait until later to disembark.

We boarded the yacht on time, but there is always one person who runs late. Finally we were underway after a safety briefing. The weather was not kind - it was rainy but not too cold. we were suitably attired.

We motored through the harbour towards the entrance. Akaroa is situated on an extinct volcano which has subsequently sunk, creating this beautiful hillside harbour. Originally settled by the French, there is a definite French flavour to the town. The harbour itself is full of interesting wildlife and our captain, Ray, told us what we may encounter - dolphins, seals, penguins and many sea birds.

The dolphins soon appeared. These Hector Dolphins are only found in NZ and are endangered so we were very fortunate to experience them in their home at Akaroa. We saw the NZ fur seals and also saw a couple of penguins.

The plan was to sail back towards the wharf as far as possible. Ray had hoped to be able to sail into the area where the penguins spend their day after fishing all night. Sadly this was not to be. The wind whipped up and he had to make the decision to take down the sails. It was too dangerous to manage the yacht in such squalling conditions with lots of inexperienced sailors on board who did not understand the dangers of a boom!

After our return we had a welcome lunch at Bully Hayes where we had booked. It was not too busy however, I think the weather had put off lots of people. We had an easy return to the ship with very little in the way of a queue to get on the tender.

We would like to go back and try the sail boat trip again. It was so much fun.










Cormorants

Under sail

NZ fur seals

A little penguin

Hector's dolphins playing in the wake


Cloud rolling in over the town

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