Thursday, March 28 - Kayaking in Coromandel

Wednesday afternoon we crossed the peninsula and saw Coromandel
Harbor from an overlook, and were immediately fascinated by the view
of islands and bays and coves. We decided that if we could rent a kayak
without a guide, we would explore the area the next day.  So Thursday
we drove to the only place in town renting kayaks, and got one for the day.

Green-lipped mussels are grown in extensive farms in the areas.  Here a barge
is pulling up a long rope on which the mussels have been 'seeded'.  It takes
about two years for the mollusks to reach harvestable size.

We kayak onto a beach for lunch.

There are many little unpopulated coves.  And as opposed to Abel Tasman
where there were dozens of kayakers out for the day, except for some sailboats
and mussel farmers, we were the only ones on the water.

We poked around the coast, exploring this cave and
checking out other interesting areas

Although he's difficult to spot in this photo, a little Blue Penguin was fishing
near us at one point

Late in the afternoon sailboats began to set anchor in the coves for the night.
We took a little break on this beach to stretch our legs and backs.  We had
a lot smoother conditions than at Abel Tasman.

We finished up kayaking near sunset at a little harbor where we'd been
dropped off eight hours earlier.  

After seeing the mussel farms and talking to the locals about how wonderful
the bivalves were, we knew we'd have to eat some for dinner.  We went to
the Mussel Kitchen, reputedly the best place to try them.  I had a dozen, grilled
with four different toppings.  This type of mussel is one of the largest in
the world, and twelve filled me up.  Pretty tasty too, although I suspect
more because of the added ingredients than because of the shellfish itself.

Diana had the Boiled Pot.  Too bad they didn't just do it the French, or
Jayne way.  These were nearly ruined by cooking them with bacon.  What
a shame. As you can see however, they are really big, and there were at least twenty in the pot.