We had been tipped off by Tony that Goat Island was a good snorkelling spot. We headed East from Auckland to a nice looking free campsite where we were intending on staying that night before snorkelling the next day. We forgot that the fact the weather was scorching and that it was a Saturday meant that the world and his wife had emptied out of Auckland to the coast for the weekend leaving us high and dry with nowhere to camp (well free camp at least) so it was off to the beach to bask and then on to a pay site for us that night.
The next morning we were straight out to Goat Island nice and early but even so the place was starting to fill rapidly. There were people clutching snorkels and fins, people struggling with air tanks and wetsuits heading towards the beach at a rapid pace. We were a little perturbed by the fact that thick wetsuits seemed to be the call of the day as our wetsuits were winging their way back across the sea towards Ol' Blighty! Nevertheless I put on my mask and fins and strode manfully towards the water in just a pair of board shorts. It was slightly bracing but doable. I made the signal to Katie that all was OK but she remained staunchly on the beach with the water lapping up to her ankles. There was no way that she was coming snorkelling in just a bikini. It was at this point that two women took pity on Katie's shivering and loaned her a spare wetsuit.
We swam out to the Island spotting a few fish on the way but the visibility was poor. We even tried going to the same place that the glass bottomed boast were taking their hoards of passengers but still not much to see and bad visibility. I did have an idea of dropping my strides and swimming under the glass bottom boat but decided not too as the coldness of the water would not do me any favours! So as we (I) started to go numb we headed back to the mainland and wrote off Goat Island as a bad spot due to the choppy seas.
After lunch in a nearby town we headed up the coast to Whangerei. We had booked some more snorkelling at the Poor Knights Island in a couple of days time so decided that we had time to kill. Again no free camping but we found a nice pay site with a spa bath and pool and spent the night there. The next morning we decided to catch up with Carole May from Sonadora. This was the Catamaran from Tahiti that we stayed and worked on for three weeks but never left the safety of the harbour. Now Carole was in Whangerei and the boat was in Fiji. Apparently (very long story, short) our fears about the lack of seaworthiness of the old boat and the slight insanity of the captain was proved to be right. The boats engines were completely broken by half way across the Pacific so Carole limped the catamaran into Fiji to have it fixed in October. Whilst she was there awaiting the arrival of the boat engineers she got a Staph infection in one of her eyes. After three days of suffering she losty the sight in the eye and had to be rushed to Auckland where she stayed in intensive care for 2 weeks. Since then ahe has been slowly recuperating at a flat in the boat yard in Whangerei where she is optimistically waiting the return of the busted Sonadora.
Carole was fine in herself when we saw her and as batty as ever but after hearing the same story for the third time we thought it was time to move on so it was off to Tutakaka for our snorkelling at the Poor Knights Island the next day.