A Day on a Tall Ship in the Bay of Islands

A highlight of the cruise was our day on a Tall Ship, the R Tucker Thompson.  It was a small Tall Ship, 80 ft long.  

I do not know its history, but it was refitted with found objects, one of the masts used to be a telegraph pole, and lots of energy and determination. The goal was to be able to be part of a flotilla of boats in the South Pacific trying to prevent the French from detonating nuclear bombs on an atoll, which they did from the 60’s to 1996. Greenpeace was involved and I remember hearing about it on the news.  They did not succeed and were only a few kilometers from an explosion when it happened.

Now, the income generated from the cruise ship shore excursions helps to pay for groups of young people to live on board and learn life skills. The life skills are disguised as learning how to sail and live on a tall ship which requires discipline and following orders and eventually giving orders and working as a team.  To prove their skills, they run the ship on the last day of their sail.

Getting to the R Tucker Thompson was interesting.  First a tender to shore from the cruise boat, then around the bay in a coach to another dock and the ship.  We went in a huge semicircle to be able to sail out, past our cruise ship. 

 It would have been so much easier if we had been able to go from the tender to the tall ship, but goodness knows how many port rules that would have ignored, and health and safety measures broken.

The day was all I hoped it to be, we first sailed to the island that both the Tahitians and Cook arrived on, several hundred years apart.  

As someone not familiar with the history of New Zealand I did not realize that the country was only populated by south pacific islanders from about the 1200’s.  

On the shore there are story boards, on one side Cook’s actions, and on the other, how the Māori experienced it.  The story boards speak for themselves.  Sadly, shoot first and ask questions later was Cook’s response.

And

I could not resist a picture of this tree which is growing out of a rock hillside, thriving.  I wonder if it predates the first people here.  

I remember hearing about cedars that grow on the Niagara escarpment down in the Hamilton area.  They were tiny, but many hundreds of years old.  They have to grow where their seed fell and make the best of it.

More about Captain Cook

And of course:

And so it continues:

Back to the ship for a lovely lunch, which had followed coffee and scones, jam and cream for breakfast.  I was in heaven.  We had had to be ready to leave the cruise ship by 7 am so no breakfast for us on board the cruise ship.

I couldn’t get the grin off my face as we prepared to sail, and I helped hoist one sail.

We had an all-woman crew, who worked really well together.  The skipper Aihri, would give the order and someone would answer that it was heard and being done. So simple but needs discipline, and I think, respect for the person giving orders.  My nephew would appreciate this as someone who sailed on the Stad Amsterdam tall ship for several years (I think it was years, time stretches and compresses in my mind)

View from the wheel

We swam from the ship, me approaching the water in my usual way by the steps, slowly, and others jumping from the rigging and from a rope swing.  The ocean was glorious and much fun was had.

The wind picked up a little after noon and we were able to use wind power for a while.  Up went the sails, my cousins Cathy, Jim and wife Karen would know their names.  

I had helped raise one in the morning, I think we raised them to set the tone for the day because there was no wind to speak of, and it worked, the tone was set.  

I even got to take the wheel for a short time, and loved it

We reversed the rigamarole of the morning and queued to get back on board the cruise ship, but the day was worth it.

Anne, yet again, did not see dolphins or whales, which is a dear wish.  It was hard for her to hear at breakfast the next day that another shore excursion has seen two kinds of dolphins during their outing.

I enjoyed all the shore excursions, but this was the best.