Bay of Islands

Tuesday we toured the bay with Captain Richard aboard Honfleur, a 40-foot Beneteau. Beneteaus are prized for their comfortable cabins and easy-to-rig sailing plans—a vast departure from Bexhill’s stinking bilge. With a self-furling headsail and lazy jacks on the main, Captain Richard sailed Honfleur all by himself, tasking the crew only with getting out of the way.




With the mainsail up, we motored to Moturua Island where Captain Richard dropped anchor, buzzed us ashore in his runabout, and then returned to Honfleur to fix tuna sandwiches while we took a hike. The kids had a great time mucking around on the beach. “Don’t get your pants wet!” Of course they got their pants wet.



After lunch, Ivy settled in the v-berth for her afternoon nap, leaving us nothing to do but sit on the foredeck, soak up the sunshine, and admire the crystal blue water and green hills. The wind picked up and was quite fresh when the sun went behind the clouds. If the Bay of Islands is this nice in winter, I thought, I’ve got to come back in summer.



Ivy awoke with a whale of an appetite for more fish and chips. What else?
We said goodbye to Captain Richard and stumbled up the pier to the legendary Duke of Marlborough Hotel, which has burned to the ground at least once in its long history. They seated us right away and treated us as their guests of honor—seeing how there was no one else to assume the role. They had plenty of beer on tap and fresh green-lipped mussels. Oh, and plenty of “fush ‘n’chups.”