Sailing in the Bay of Islands

We have a group of 8 that will be visiting the Bay of Islands as part of our cruise in February and would like to go sailing. We are trying to decide which type of ship/company would be best. I see that there are both sail boats and catamarans being offered. There are also companies that specialize in seeing dolphins/swimming with dolphins. Does anyone have any experience with any of these firms that they would recommend? Thanks in advance for your help. We are really looking forward to this stop and want to ensure that we have a great day.

We were in Paihai (Bay Islands) and walked into the tourist office. The two companies were recommended by our hotel since we were staying for three days. One company left at 9 in the morning for a four hour tour to see dolphins and the other was pretty much the same and left at 10. We were given an option to get off in Russell on our return to have lunch on our own. The ferry was running once an hour and we were back into Paihai by 3:15. Check on-line for more info about "Hole in the Rock". :)

We have a group of 8 that will be visiting the Bay of Islands as part of our cruise in February and would like to go sailing. We are trying to decide which type of ship/company would be best. I see that there are both sail boats and catamarans being offered. There are also companies that specialize in seeing dolphins/swimming with dolphins. Does anyone have any experience with any of these firms that they would recommend? Thanks in advance for your help. We are really looking forward to this stop and want to ensure that we have a great day.

As detailed below on my live/blog, plus with the pictures and details shown at the bottom of this post, we had a great sailing experience at Bay of Islands. I would check with several potential providers, see what they can offer for your date there, etc. Added questions and reactions?

Bay of Islands: For doing charter a sail boat/yacht, we worked with Captain Anthony Browne. At http://www.zindabar.co.nz, you can see more on his 60’ yacht named Zindabar. Doing this sailing, landing on the remote island, seeing the dolphins in the wild, having lunch at sea, etc., it all added up to a great, highly-memorable adventure. On the live/blog, posts #270-271 and #273 have many visuals on the Bay of Islands sailing adventure day.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 161,958 views for this posting.

They said we might get lucky and be able to see some dolphins. Did we? Seeing is believing!! They knew these waters and how to draw these dolphins closer to our boat. We loved the results (and good luck), especially seeing multiple dolphins jumping and flipping. Plus, these cute creatures coming so close to our sailing craft. Great fun!! Our Captain Sharon was a sailor for New Zealand at both the 1996 Atlanta Olympics (where she sailed off of Savannah) and the 2004 Athens Olympics.:

How does shore time on an outlying island in the Bay of Islands sound? Seems like fun!! First, here is our group's Sharon, who was fearless, going out on the kayak to explore these waters and this island, doing snorkeling, etc. And who goes out in the dinghy? It's John, Mike and me who are preparing to go ashore to explore and climb to the top of the "mountain" that is there on this island!:

At Bay of Islands during our private sailing adventure, we went ashore and walked past this scenic cove with a mother and daughter enjoying this great setting. Then, we had to climb up the Motuarohia Trail to the TOP!! How tall was this challenge? Officially, it is 450 meters or 1476 feet. BUT, by the time we got back on the boat, with bragging skills learned in Australia, that "mountain" we conquered had grown greatly up to 2414' in height. Inflation? Sure! Just makes the stories better to those who stayed on the sailing craft. And the views from up, UP there? See this one example below to prove our great achievement.:

It was not until mid-day, after lunch, that the winds were up enough to use effectively the sails. One of the options for those in our group on this custom, private sailing was to help to do as much (or as little as desired) in helping make this sail experience happen. In the first picture, you can see John helping Captain Sharon in raising the front, jib sail. In the foreground of this picture, you can see Sharon from our group doing the cranking to raise and adjust the main sail. The second shows Murray guiding the ship from this vantage point on the back of the Zindabar.: