The Bay of Islands provides the perfect place to just enjoy and relax the true beauty surrounding you. But if you get jiggy you can find plenty of fun things to entertain yourself.
Long blog post including our adventures in snorkeling, cave diving, SUPing, Beach bonfires, bats, and floating happy hours.
Snorkeling
The crystal-clear turquoise waters make snorkeling fun everywhere you swim. There are lots of fish and corals around each of the mushroom-shaped, limestone pillars and passes.
We found a surprising number of soft coral and fans (which are my favorite).
The vibrant colors are simply dreamy!
Future homes for Nemo.
These scary %uckers come around periodically. Some have tentacles and some are just like cabbage jelly fish.
SUPing
Matt went on epic SUPing adventures averaging 5-7 miles each day. He enjoyed finding new nooks and crannies and circled all of the mushroom-shaped, limestone pillars and islands that he could find. He would later take me by dinghy to all of the cool places he found.
Why didn’t I go with him on my SUP? Well, (1) because I sprained my ankle and (2) I am not crazy enough to paddle that far!
Happy Hours
Matt and I found a hidden lagoon. We decided it would be fun to organize a happy hour with the boats in and around the Bay of Islands. There are a lot we know and several that we don’t know (yet). We invited 15 boats.
We sent out this message and asked others to spread the word: “Tuesday, 10 June at 2:30pm Happy Hour. Location is at 17°10.6606S / 179°01.6036W. Get your adventure on to find it. Bring a dinghy anchor, drinks, snacks, and join the fun!”
We loaded up our brand new Bote 10′ Hangout float, magnetic cups, magnetic speaker, GoogleFi phone (which has our music stored on it), snacks, and drinks.
And the crew starts to arrive. First come first serve as they say….everyone loads up on the new Bote Float. There is a 1200lb limit but we managed to squeeze 11 people on here. Probably not wise, but it was too fun!
Michelle (sv Breza) and Lindsay (sv Kumo) and I have a good laugh.
Beach Bonfire
We celebrated the strawberry full moon with a beach bonfire. Of course we could not see any “strawberry” in the moon, but it was a fun and beautiful night.
Underwater Caves
There are many underwater caves in and around the Bay of Islands. We’ve found 3 that are particularly fun to explore. Many you can enter at low tide, but some you have to swim under the low hanging limestone rocks to enter the cave.
Caves at the Bay of Islands
We took a cave tour when we first visited the Bay of Islands in 2022. You can read about those adventures here.
The Meeting Room cave is the furthest away from the anchorage. Elders used to meet here during low tide. You don’t need a mask to get inside, but you do need to swim in.
Fruit Bats
There are several types of bats that live in the Bay of Islands.
Many scientists consider the Bay of Islands a five-star resort for bats!
The Pacific (Insular) Flying Fox bat is widespread in Fiji. They feed on fruit, pollen and nectar and often roost in trees.
The Fijian Free-Tailed Bat (also known as the Fijian Mastiff Bat) is endemic to Fiji and Vanuatu. They roost in caves which are plentiful in the Bay of Islands.
This area is dotted with limestone caves making it the ideal place for roosting bats.
These bats are made for speed and long distance travels.
Bats of the Bay of Islands
At dusk they all come out to scavenge for food. It makes for a truly fascinating sunset.
Favorite Photos from the Bay of Islands
Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual live events.
The events from this blog post occurred during the first 2 weeks of June 2025.
Learn more about the Bay of Islands from our last blog post.