The boat we chose to charter is a Lotus 10 sailboat that is built by Kiwis.   It is an older boat, but good and sturdy.  I have a few pictures of it from the distance, but she is no beauty.

We have to eat for the next 2 weeks on the boat so we have to provision.  I really have no idea what I am getting as I was unsure what kinds of foods would be available.   There are, of course, fruits and veggies, but as to meat and such, I was not too sure.   We found hamburgers in Canada to be something we did not like and were afraid of the beef here as well. So, we called a cab to take us to the grocery store.  Turns out the Cabbie lived in Atlanta for a few years and his wife is from Atlanta.   In their off times, they house sit and they have done that all over the world.  Dream job!!!!   When asked what his favorite location was, he said it was the Bay of Islands, his home.  We seem to hear that from a lot of folks here!

On the dock where the boat was tied up, we saw these crazy birds fighting for position.  They were having a good time fighting each other!

Stocked up and loaded up the boat but we were not feeling like cooking so we head over to the local Yacht Club for dinner.  There were not many seats so we asked if we could share a table with another couple and of course, they said yes.

Ruth and Rob along with Denise and her husband, plus the two of us, made for a fun time.  Ruth was the Yacht Club membership chair.   She and her husband cruised all the way from South Africa where they were originally from Zimbabwe.  Landed in the Bay of Islands and have been here for 5 years, where they started a marine parts store.  They still have family in Johannesburg and they return once a year to visit, but love NZ and do want to move back.  Ruth was a riot and Rob stated that she is not a sailor.   He explained that she can turn the engine on but that is it!   He did all of the sailing and that is a long way to go when I asked if she could turn the engine off, he said no, but that she was a good cook.  Everyone on a boat does his or her part.

For our first day of sailing, we decided not to go too far and we headed towards Opunga Cove in the Bay of Islands.  It was a nice and quiet bay with a lovely little house along the beach.   The sail there was brisk and the boat held up pretty well. It did have some quirks that we did not like that we had to adjust to and we lost a fender.  Lesson learned-do not rely on someone else’s ability to tie a fender onto a boat.

Our first night on the water was calm and uneventful and it was very dark as it was cloudy. And I mean dark.  We could barely see the boats anchored around us.  Except for the guy in the pic above.   He was all lit up!Saw this ship on our way to Opunga and many times later.   It is one of those ships you can go on for a day sail and they go all over.   A pretty boat!