The day began with us taking a 20 minute stroll to the beach from our hostel in Paihia. Going on a rocky boat after several days of traveling and poor sleep was the last thing I wanted to do. As soon as we reached the dock a friendly man named Rowin who also happened to be a captain took us in groups on his jet-boat to his boat-The Rock! It is definitely a fitting name because that place certainly rocked. Once both our groups moseyed on to the boat and got comfortable we all played a game of paintball where each one of us had to introduce ourselves, say where we were from, tell an interesting fact at us and try to hit a decoy duck in the water in three shots. It was loads of fun and we all learned some great new things about each-other.
After our introductions we had a couple of hours to kill until dinner so me and some of my friends went up to the balcony and had a great chat with Rowin about his life, kiwi culture and politics. After our talk he asked if Kamylli, Eva and I would do some sort of activity for dinner. So we decided we would call upon the phosphorescence goddess to bless us with her presence. We made the whole group stand in a circle and chant; it was good fun. After that we had some good bbq food we all had to gear up to go kayaking at night. Why on earth would we go kayaking at night? We had to go at night so that we could see the spectacular phosphorescence! I’m not usually impressed but kayaking in the dark and seeing the water light up made me feel like tinker-bell, but much more majestic and magical (obviously). Phosphorescence I then learned it is a type of photoluminescence related to fluorescence. It is interesting because phosphorescence re-emits radiation in slower time scales, it was really an amazing thing to see. Unfortunately it is impossible to take pictures of it so you really just have to see it to believe it. Once on the boat we all cozied on up next to the fire-pit, thats right theres a fireplace on the boat! After that long day we all hit the sack to get ready for our day tomorrow.
The next day we had some breakfast and took a 30 minute jet-boat to an island where we all went snorkeling and hiking. The jet-boat was so much fun we saw dolphins and penguins! It was awesome, the water was pristine and clear.
After that epic boat ride we were on the island! We took a treck up some steps to army point and the view was really spectacular! Army point was originally a lookout base for possible ships they may have been intruding.
After that we hiked back down and took another long hike to another point at a beach where we all snorkeled. Some people collected Kinna (sea urchins) to eat later. Snorkeling was loads of fun as I have never done it before, I saw fish, sea anemones and lots of other cool marine life. This was a great part of a trip and I hope I can go back on the rock again someday!