Goin’ Fishin’ in the Bay of Islands

---

Saturday was our day for fishing on the Bay of Islands! We took a slightly more leisurely start to the day than is usually customary for most fishermen but were afloat by midmorning. The sun was shining down hard so we lathered on the sunscreen thick. But even that didn’t save us poor melanin deprived folk from getting a little pinker than desired.

No luck in the catching of fish and a mild case of seasickness quickly convinced us all to refocus our efforts to exploring and sightseeing instead. Fern and I sat on the bow of the boat as we dashed over waves. We caught a glimpse of a dolphin watching cruise boat heading out of the bay and I can’t say I didn’t get my hopes up for seeing some dolphins myself. Fern’s uncle has even seen orcas in the bay before but assured me that my odds of getting to see a whale were pretty slim. So unfortunately there were no exciting marine mammals for me to write about this time but I did get to see a Little Blue Penguin swim by!

Pete (Fern’s uncle) took us to “The Hole in the Rock” which is exactly what it sounds. A giant hole in a rock big enough to drive a boat through! Sitting on the bow as we went through that was thrilling! The waves bounced us around like we were galloping on water.

When it was time for lunch we anchored the boat in some shallow water and waded up to Urupukapuka Island. It’s the only island in the Bay of Islands where camping is permitted so a few little tents were scattered out among a heard of sheep. We laid out some towels and blankets and brought out the picnic. We tried to stay in the shade under the trees but after an animated debate on whether or not I would be able to catch a lamb and what strategy might be the most effective I stubbornly braved the harsh sun in hopes that I might indeed catch a sheep. My strategy was to very slowly crawl up to the herd while acclimating them to my presence and get them to trust me enough to come up to me. Well, aside from being a bit of a novelty to the sheep and progressively getting more and more sun burnt I didn’t accomplish too much.

When it was time to head back out and try our luck at some more fishing Fern and I walked over the hill to the other side of the island and were picked up by Sue and Pete by the docks. This part of the island was a little more populated with a lot more people, a restaurant, a harbor, and a Maori guide dressed up in full authentic traditional dress.
The afternoon proved to be a little more harmful to the fish population. We caught two adequately sized snapper and several other smaller ones that we through back into the water. Fern even caught a sinker which was good as it replaced the one she lost a little later on. Dive-bombing sea birds entertained us for quite some time and we even developed a scoring system to rank which dramatic plummets into the ocean were best. Scoring was based on a height to splash ratio (more height to less splash being the objective) and extra points were awarded for aerodynamicity and number of spins before entering the water. These were some very acrobatic birds!

As the sun went down Fern drove the boat back to the marina where we launched. That evening for dinner we had chicken. We only had enough fish for an appetizer. But I was moderately successful in filleting my first fish! I’ve wanted to learn how to do that for a while now and I’m proud to say I wasn’t too squeamish. The only part of the fish acquiring/preparing process that I have not mastered now is the actual killing of it. The plunging of the knife into the brains of the fish and twisting was just a little too gruesome. I do however believe that if I were actually starving to death I could find a way to muster up the stomach to do it. Oh well, at the risk of depleting my impeccable reputation as a feminist, that’s what men are for. Make them deal with the yucky stuff!

The fish was very yummy and we toasted to the little morsels of fishy goodness with lots more New Zealand wine. Sue even joked about how this must be the most drunk to fish ever.

So after a long day of sun and sea (and a little more hot tub at the end) we went to sleep with that rocking back and forth feeling you get after spending a whole day on a boat or riding roller coasters. That might be my favorite feeling ever! So in addition to someday living in a hobbit hole and a tree house I think I’ll also add boat to that list.

---