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| The shore along Mt. Maunganui taken during a casual hike around the mountain!! |
| Glenn's Journal 01-07-03 New Zealand We were up early (7:45 am) preparing for the day out at sea. We made lunches (peanut butter and jellly sandwhiches) along with using suntan lotion and taking our hats. We arrived at the dock at 8:45 am and quickly boarded onto the boat. We met our shaggy bearded captain Butler along with the crew (Mary, Anna, Irene, and Etienne) on the Gemini Galaxsea Charters. We picked up the rest of the adventurours at the port of Mt. Maunganui. We totaled 20 or so in all and the first thing we had to do was listen to the rules of the boat and take a sea sickness pill if you so required. We left port this morning around 9:00 am, picked up the other tourists at around 9:30 am and were heading out to sea by 9:45 am. The weather was much better than yesterday with limited clouds and relatively calm waters (thank goodness!!!). We spotted a pod of dolphins around 11:45 am where a few of us had the chance to get into the water while holding onto a two bar at the rear of the boat while we were still motoring along with the dolphins. We were told to hum a tune into the water in hopes of attracting the dolphins to the back of the boat to "play" with us. After about 15 minutes of this the dolphins seemed content to play at the front of the boat and not join us at the back. The captain, who has over 14 years of experience in this Bay, decided that we would move on in search of another pod of dolphins that may be more interested in letting us swim with them. We continued on towards the islands where we stopped for lunch and some snorkeling along the reef. We snorkeled for over a half hour while Erin and Karen (a young lady from St. Louis that we met on the boat today) stayed on the boat to chat. After the snorkeling excursion we zig-zagged our way back to the port in search of another pod of dolphins. We didn't find another pod and found our way back into port around 5:30 pm. We thanked the whole crew for a wonderful day and went on our way. We were pretty warn out from the day but Karen had planted an idea into my head about the hot pools in Mt. Maunganui. We had walked by them the other day and didn't even realize it. We drove back to Mt. Maunganui and checked out the hot salt water pools. They were wonderful!!! We switched from a hot pool to a cooler pool but by the time I was done by whole body was softened. We did meet Karen there and Erin and her chatted (I assume about girl stuff) while I switched from pool to pool. It was very nice!!! We left the pools around 6:45 pm and Karen joined us for dinner in town. We found a quiet little restaurant in town (Mt. Maunganui) where I enjoyed a pasta, Erin enjoyed a steak, and Karen enjoyed some wedges. The girls both enjoyed some desert and wine before we called it a night around 10:00 pm. We dropped Karen back off at her hostel and we returned to our where we read before calling it a night. Tomorrow we are off to Rotorua. |