While staying in New Plymouth we decided to book ourselves a cruise aboard the Rock house boat. The cruise offered dinner, breakfast, accomodation, kayaking, fishing, hiking, beach going, as well as snorkeling and night swimming. We boarded the dingy, aptly named Climax, at Paihia wharf and motored out to the waiting Rock. The Rock was originally an oversized house boat that had been converted into a motel on the waves. It sleeps thirty including a crew of five or six, and thats just the upstairs. The downstairs featured a bar and dining area, as well as a semi living room stocked with games, magazines, and other sorts of diversions. The first activity on the boat was fishing, and being the master outdoorsman that I am, I landed a snapper within fifteen seconds of putting my bait in the water. I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think that one of the employees was putting fish on our lines, because everyone, even the girls, caught fish. Either that or we were sitting on top of the largest colony of undersized fish of all time. None of the fish that were caught were of keepable size, but it seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves. Maria also caught her first fish all by herself. She was amply rewarded with a pat on the back. After fishing we had a great dinner featuring three kinds of meats and several different salads. the boat had a moderately priced bar, but since both of use were still taking antibiotics, alcohol was avoided. After dinner we were given the option to go night kayaking. Since neither of us was drinking, this seemed like a worthwhile diversion. The water in the Bay of Islands is inhabited by a photoplankton that when disturbed emits a glow similar to neon. As one paddled through the water, their paddle left a trail of tiny lights. These plankton supposidly are common in other parts of the world as well, but it was still pretty exciting for everyone in the water. We also got to see something that many USers hardly ever get to see, and thats an unpolluted sky. The Bay of Islands was free of both noise and light pollution, so the sky was filled almost to the brim with stars. It really was an amazing sight, unfortunate that we couldn't capture it with a camera. After kayaking we played cards for abit before going to be. In the morning we had breakfast, then it was time for snorkeling. Most of the patrons and all of the staff chose to wear wetsuits, but yours truly decided to rebel and instead accepted only a snorkel and fins. The water however turned out to be ludicrusly cold, and most of the swimmers, those with wetsuits were out in twenty minutes. I couldn't make it much longer than that, and got out to find both my hands and my feet as white as white can be. In addition, all of my veins had turned a very pretty purple, giving my hands a deathly quality. Don't worry though! I still have all of my toes and fingers. After swimming we ate lunch and went to the beach, where a short hike accompanied a local history lesson. We then soaked up some sun before heading back home. All in all it was a reccomendable trip, however I would suggest waiting until the weather is slithly warmer.
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