North to Cavalli Islands and Whangaroa Bay

When your Kiwi friends tell you not to miss the Cavalli Islands and Whangaroa Bay, you listen. So we detoured north to go south. From our time in this region, there are two things I want to remember forever—and one I hope to forget.

I didn’t want our paddle from Witepipi Bay into Wairakau Stream to end. The day was neither hot nor cold, and the water was smooth as silk. The tide carried us gently in and out as we slipped past everything from mighty vertical slabs of rock to delicate mangroves and tropical flora. The silence was broken only by a soft chorus of cicadas, birds, and lapping water. It was, in a word, sublime.

Even after completing three glorious hikes, my favorite outing of all was our dinghy ride up the Kaeo River. I can’t quite explain why meandering upriver in our tender gives me such a thrill, but it does.

Around every bend, a new surprise awaited: a huddle of cows, birds I’d never seen before, and working farms. Finally, at a café in the Māori town of Kaeo, we sipped two warm flat whites before we wove our way back home on the ebbing tide. So special!

It occurred to me last week, when I was reduced to tears of frustration, and Michael refused to give up on me, that true love is teaching someone to wingfoil. But now I know there’s an even deeper expression of devotion: cleaning the hulls of your catamaran. This is a chore I used to help with, but arthritis in my hands has put an end to that. So Michael scraped both of Gerty’s hulls entirely on his own in Mahinepua Bay. He surfaced when the job was done, covered in wriggly, squirmy shrimp.

So what do I want to forget? The gruesome sight of my husband coated in disgusting little sea creatures.

Last remarks

• Thank you to our new friends Antonia & Clive SV Meitaki, Katrina & Dan SV Camelot, and Hazel & Paul SV Susimi for New Year’s fun. It’s a good thing we arranged those belated fireworks!