March 15, 2013
Still recovering from our hike yesterday, we opted to explore the north end of Urupukapuka by dinghy. On the west side of the island, there are three bays: Paradise Bay (the bay we were anchored in), Otehei Bay (the bay with the ferry dock and cafeteria), and Otaio Bay (the bay just north of us that we visited briefly).
We had not considered Otaio Bay as a destination because it’s too shallow for Legacy. It’s a beautiful bay, more rugged than Paradise Bay, with a long stretch of brown sand beach, taller trees, and rocky headlands. Because of its shallowness, the water turns some interesting colors in full sunlight. Today was pretty gray, but we had a few patches of sun as we went.
We motored through Otaio Bay, then up around the rugged, rocky point to the north side of the island. That point is a neat area, a rocky shore draped with pohutukawa trees and hiding numerous small coves with emerald water, seaweed, and even an occasional blowhole. There’s an interesting little unnamed cove just beyond the point, with a grassy saddle of land and a white beach. Beyond that is the north side of the island, more rugged and open to the winds and currents that go through the Waewaetorea Passage (the passage between Urupukapuka Island and the island just above it).
We would like to have done some more in-depth exploring, but the skies were turning more gray and the wind was picking up. We could see rain coming and raced back to the boat, if you can call it “racing” when you have an electric outboard that only goes at grandma speed. We ended up getting a little wet, but we made it back to Legacy in time to avoid getting drenched.
The weather was now starting to change, and tomorrow we’d be headed back to Opua. –Cyndi
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