Cavalli Island

From Kahoe, I took a cruise on the Snow Cloud with two guys from the hostel. We sailed through Whangaroa harbor and out to Cavalli Island, which is a nature reserve and makes for a perfect tropical getaway. Even though it was such a great spot, we were the only three people on the island, which was nice. It is nothing like Pahia and the Bay of Islands, where everyone else goes. On the way out, we saw a number of the strange little rocky islands that volcanoes have formed. We also passed by the resting place of the Rainbow Warrior. The Greenpeace vessel was protesting French nuclear testing (they were testing above-ground long after everyone else stopped) and so the French sent agents to blow up the Rainbow Warrior (interesting link) which they did, killing one person in the process. The boat was sunk further south on the coast, but the government raised it, towed up here, and sunk it again to make a reef for scuba divers.

Cavalli Island itself is edged with white sand beaches that have been divided into little personal-sized bays by the rocky outcrops. The rest of the island is covered with trees and long grasses since it is a preserve. I hiked up the first hill for some great views and also walked along the beach. From the top of the hill I saw a stingray in the next inlet. It was also warm enough to go snorkling in the water and there were a good number of fish in the kelp beds. In the rocks in the center of this photo I saw some cool chitons that had a snakeskin kind of pattern, as well as some big snails. This photo shows one of the bigger beaches and you can see how nice it is.


After all of that, the other guys wanted to go fishing, so we spent an hour doing just that. Here is Captain Chris with a red snapper, which ended up as dinner. We finally made it back to the dock about 11 hours after we started.

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