dolphins & fishing

We arrived at the i-site to book our activities around 11 – not exactly opening time as we’d intended! After several dead-end attempts, the lady working at the i-site found me a spot on a fishing charter, and Ann got wait-listed for the dolphin swim/cruise, which was booked solid for the next few days. We drove down to the seal colony to kill the 1.5-2 hours before our activities, and found a little seafood stall by the water and - of course – had to try a crayfish fritter, which turned out to be a deliciously light egg-based creation served with rice and salad greens. After that, we made some excellent PB&J sandwiches for our ‘real lunch’ (yes, we are pigs, and yes, our taste varies from plebian to gourmand).

My fishing charter pick-up was on the beach near the seafood stall, so I camped out for a bit and read the book I’ve been working on for the past two months – quite a switch from the 3-books-a-day life at the orchard. I made it through a few pages before getting distracted by the sandflies and the fact that I had cell (texting) service, and then it was time to go. I wasn’t really sure what the plan was – didn’t see any boats around – but a truck pulled up with a little fishing boat on a trailer, so I smiled and waved in that direction hoping someone would tell me what was going on and wandered on over when it seemed like they recognized me as one of their passengers. I was introduced to Gerard (the captain/owner of Koura Bay Fishing Charters, a retired bank manager/stock sales agent/farmer/landlord, and a cousin of Ewan McGregor, who’d been out on the boat twice a couple months ago) and Nick (first mate, an ornately tattooed Maori with one aluminum leg).

As we were heading out, Gerard got a call on his cell from three more people who wanted to come out, so since I was flexible on time (Ann’s cruise was scheduled to end an hour after my fishing trip), we circled around in the bay until a car of three surfers from England pulled up and joined us. On our way out to the fishing grounds, we swung past a bunch of seals on rocks, including Harry the Koura Bay Fishing Charters Pet Seal – apparently he gets leftover fish from the charters, so he is quite willing to pose for pictures when the boat comes around. We were more interested in fishing, though, so we went on by, and dropped our lines in 25-30m water. I got several bites right off the bat, but didn’t land anything until the guys had pulled in several perch…but I got the biggest blue cod of the day next! It wasn’t the biggest fish – someone got a shark – but it was the biggest keeper. I got 3 blue cod and one perch in the hour or so we had our lines down, and we headed back with plenty for dinner. Fish cleaning was included in the deal, and Gerard had two crays back at his house that he was going to give the boys (mine had come along for the ride already), so we drove back there to get the fish filleted.

On our way back, I was driving with Gerard and he offered Ann and I the use of a big tent in his yard for the night. I’d told him earlier we’d been camping nearly every night of the trip, and thanked him for the offer but said we’d planned to drive up to the Marlborough Sounds tonight so we could do a day and a half of sight-seeing there before we headed to the North Island.