Finally, we have managed to leave the Bay of Islands. Forecast was westerly 15 knots for a trip up the coast. Nice wind if you were sailing north from Pittwater but here it was more NW and almost right on the nose. And up to 25 knots across the deck. A long port tack up to the Cavalli islands and then lots of shorter tacks past Flat island to the extremely narrow entrance to Whangaroa harbour. The Cavallis are quite spectacular and home to the Rainbow Warrior, a popular dive site. We caught a Bonito just off Stephenson island on our approach to the harbour and will have him for dinner tonight. Whangaroa harbour is totally awesome. The narrow cleft between big headlands is very easy to miss from the ocean, but opens up into a gorgeous labyrinth of bays and islands. The surrounding hills are surmounted by stunning rock outcrops, many hundreds of metres high. Foremost is the Duke's nose, in which I most certainly could see Prince Phillip's features. However, as you pass to the north of it, it starts to look more like the head of sheep. The cliffs often come right down to the waterline but despite this we have good internet reception. Our chosen spot tonight is Pekapeka bay, in its NW corner. There is a low pressure system rolling in later tomorrow with lots of wind and rain, so this should be a good hidey hole. Perhaps we will have a short window in the morning for the climb of the Duke. I also tried my hand at fishing in the bay with what the locals call a "noodle" and a "Nuclear Chicken". More on this later.