…continued from an email dated Mar. 13, 2005
“Next morning we sailed from Great Barrier to Tutukaka, a small port town on the mainland north of Auckland. We spent a couple of nights in the marina and this afternoon we will head further north up the coast towards the Bay of Islands.
Yesterday we met up with Amy Bankoff. For those of you who don’t know her, Amy is formerly from the Phoenix area, an equestrian who as a junior rider used to ride and show my Cross Creek Farms horses for me. She emigrated to New Zealand a couple of years ago and now lives in the Tutukaka area. Believe it or not, she and I reconnected this past December around a baggage carousel at LAX, both of en route to Arizona from New Zealand for the Christmas holidays.
Amy joined us for a sail from the coast to the Poor Knights Islands. Amy is four months pregnant and we pounded through some pretty rough waves, causing a bout of seasickness. We almost turned back but fortunately Amy chose to tough it out. As soon as we anchored in the lee of the island out of the wind and waves, she revived and we all went snorkeling.
The Poor Knights are considered one of the five best diving spots in the world, according to my teenage idol Jacques Cousteau. The island group is protected as a nature reserve and the surrounding waters are a marine reserve. The water is spectacularly clear. You can stand on the deck of the boat and look down to see literally thousands of fish fifty feet below the surface.
We took our dinghy to explore the Rikoriko Cave, the largest sea cave in the world. It measures 139 meters long, 80 meters wide, and 35 meters high, as well as another 26 meters deep below the surface. The cavern has great acoustics and is regularly used for a cappella concerts. The musicians play from a boat inside the cave, and the audience floats around the entrance in their own watercraft. RikoRiko in the Maori language means ‘Dancing Light’ for the way sunlight reflecting off the surface of the sea shimmers on the ceiling of the cave
Sailing back to Tutukaka from Poor Knights was much more comfortable downwind. Amy recovered nicely and met us for dinner at a funky restaurant called Snappa Rock in the harbor. Amy’s first job after arriving in New Zealand was bartending at this very same restaurant.
This morning we are doing laundry, changing the oil (engine, generator and transmission), checking the internet, shopping and, in other words, just catching up on real life. We’re sailing out of here at noon and it may be several more days before we get back to you with the next update.”
