Sailing in Paihia – Day 348

Today we are exploring the Bay the Kiwi way.

For the first time in New Zealand’s Biggest Gap Year in the last 350-something days, we are going to sail on a catamaran.

So this afternoon we are heading toward the beach literally the beach, it’s called the Barefoot Catamaran or Barefoot Sailing, and we are going to be sailing away across the harbour.

Sail away, sail away.

Unlike other activities we’ve done in Paihia this one starts on Paihia’s main beach and instantly it becomes really obvious why it’s called the Barefoot Sailing Adventures as we’re taking our shoes off to get onto the boat.

Our hosts today are Rachel and Luke, they are both Kiwis they are a lovely Kiwi couple in fact, and they’ve spent a lot of their life on the water so it’s basically sharing a slice of life in Kiwiland it’s pretty awesome and I have to say this cruise is super relaxed.

We’re joining them for their evening cruise which is one of the most relaxed tours I think we have done in this country. We basically just hang out on the boat while slowly gliding on the beautiful Paihia waters. It’s a perfect way to unwind, meet some new people, share travel experiences and generally enjoy life altogether.

What makes this cruise super relaxing is the fact we’re on a sailing yacht which means that we are just using the environmental elements to glide across the water and there’s no noisy motor involved. That means we can also hear each other talking and that makes for some awesome conversation as well we’re meeting people from all over the world. There are people from Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, Lithuania, Japan and Canada and of course, Robin and I are from France and England so we have a real mix of people on board today.

On top of that, the guys at Barefoot Sailing have a really awesome set-up. The flooring has these two trampoline-like section between the hulls which are nice and bouncy to walk on, and there are loads of bean bags to sit back and relax and on top of that, we have been given cookies, some beer to drink there’s also a choice of different drinks like hot chocolate and soft drinks it’s just super inviting.

While unwinding is a big part of this evening cruise we also get the opportunity to have a more of a hands-on sailing experience, if we want.

Laura’s sailing skills are actually better than her driving skills. Believe it or not guys.

But because of the lack of wind and also the lack of confidence from Luke, Laura is literally sailing at the equivalent of 3km/h that is snail pace if I have ever seen any.

So after gives back the helm to Luke we are back on the trampoline for some more beer and more chat with our tour goers.

I have to mention that despite the fact that we are in winter right now, the weather is so amazing in the Bay of Islands. It looks stunning all around us. It’s the perfect time of the year to get there, there is not too many people around and there is this beautiful area all to ourselves. It feels amazing.

Sailing is a such an iconic Kiwi past time. It’s the ultimate Kiwi activity, in fact, when you travel around New Zealand, Kiwis live on the water. In fact there is no place in New Zealand which is further than 128km from the water, plus, there is over 15,000km of coast in New Zealand, so if you don’t head on the water at any point during your trip you’re missing out.

And this wraps up our awesome tour on the Paihia waters. It was amazing to visit the Bay of Islands at a snail pace and just unwind from the craziness of New Zealand’s Biggest Gap Year. But we’re not done just yet, tomorrow we keep on exploring beautiful Paihia so stick around and subscribe!

Tomorrow, I’m going for a little bit of training because I am adamant I really want to Skydive by the end of this trip, so right now we’re going parasailing just to train just to make sure that the cast is Ok with some parasailing because if it works with parasailing it should work with skydiving. Right? I mean I am trying to convince myself, I am trying to convince people this is happening – I want to skydive, so tomorrow I’m training we’re doing parasailing.

It’s the highest parasailing in New Zealand, it’s gonna be above the Bay of Islands and it’s gonna be stunning. See you tomorrow.