Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from New Zealand, where the holidays come one day before the U.S.! We just got off a 3-day sailing excursion through the Bay 0f Islands that was the highlight of our trip so far. We climbed about the 72' Manawanui, which means "great heart" in Maori, and spent the next 3 days sailing, fishing, kayaking, diving and hiking through the fantastically beautiful Bay of Islands! The crew and boat were incredible - we ate like a king and queen and were busy every day helping sail, fish or participate in other great activities. We snorkeled and pulled green-lipped mussels off the rocks, which we grilled for lunch. We trolled for skipjack tuna and had sashimi for dinner, and we ended (or started) each day in a beautiful sheltered cove, with pristine beaches to ourselves! The Bay of Islands are incredible - fed by the warmer waters of the Coral Sea, the place is a boater's and fisher's dream. A litany of uninhabited, forested islands are surrounded by jade green waters that host a diverse assemblage of marine life, including lobster, various fish species, dolphins, coral and sandy bottom and even Orcas! On the way in to port we sailed with a pod of bottlenose dolphins sprinting along our bow wave. The day after we returned to Paihia and went diving on a 300' ship that was sunk in the bay. Sunk in November of this year, the Canterbury was a New Zealand naval vessel that was purchased for $1 and sunk in the bay for recreational diving. We got to dive it only 5 weeks after they sunk the wreck! We approached through the helicopter bay and dove through the interior corridors, ending up the bridge, where Daniela played underwater captain. The dive was fantastic and it was our first real wreck dive. We had a lovely dinner on Christmas eve at the one of the only places actually open for dinner, during which a moonrise came up over the bay. The moon swelled to a fantastic size as it lumbered over the horizon and we celebrated with a cold beer and a good meal. Today we drove north to Watauri Bay for a surf and a lunch picnic. The surf was great, with glassy chest-high surf coming into a shallow sandy bay. Most of the surfing in this area occurs in these sandy bays that are interspersed between rocky capes and green cliffs. The surfing potential is incredible, and there's always only a few other surfers in the water. Tomorrow we head to Raglan, the surf mecca here in New Zealand that was in Bruce Brown's Endless Summer, which features one of the world's longest left-hand point breaks. Much love to you all and we hope your holidays are as much fun as ours!
Love,
Jack & Dani