Snapper alarm at Goat Island

Matt's cousin had come for a visit last weekend and of course the boys went straight to the rocks to catch some fish. Didn't have much luck, unfortunately. They wanted to go back fishing on Sunday but the weather had really changed for the worse. Once again it was pouring down and the temperatures had dropped, too. So what to do?

We didn't want to just sit around and waste our time so we decided to go for a cruise. Made it all the way to Mangawhai where we found a map of the area - and our eyes landed on Leigh and the nearby Goat Island Marine Reserve. Matt and I had wanted to go there ages ago but never got around to do it. We looked at each other, looked at the watch - and thought "why not, it's only an hour's drive". So off we went.

And man it was soooooo worth it! By the time we arrived in Leigh the sun was shining and we had clear blue skies. We went for a walk along the beach and noticed an ad for a glass bottom boat. $20 per adult for a 30min trip? Yeah! We were laughing a bit about their slogan "no fish, no charge" and were wondering what we would be spotting. Matt was hoping for a kingfish but chances were low.

Still it was a great experience! Skipper Ivan was an awesome commentator explaining how the Marine Reserve works, what the researchers do, what sea life comes around... and we spotted quite a few snapper (some MASSIVE ones that made us wwant to put a rod in the water), some moki (?), HUGE kinna - and my comment "gosh, that would be a mean feed" made everybody laugh, especially Matt :-)

Here's some pictures of our trip...