Last Day of vacation period- KAYAK FISHING!

The sun here is intense more so than the northern hemisphere due to the thinning of ozone down this way. So we lathered up with 30+ sunscreen for a few hours of solar radiation coming from all directions. 

We paddled a good ways before setting our lines with bait and then drifting with the rhythms of the sea.

 A large Kowhai in the ice chest and a smaller snapper on the cutting board

 A stilt below is also looking for it's next meal from the bounty of the sea.

 After a brief preparation Nils and I paddled out for a couple of miles and began fishing. It was the clearest day so far since I arrived almost a month ago. After four hours of paddling and drifting we had managed to catch two snappers each and Nils also caught a larger fish called a kowhai, kind of like a fat mackerel. So we have eaten fresh snapper the last two evenings with great salads. I also caught a young shark the measured over three feet long but let him go along with a couple of other fish too small to keep. In several of these photos you can get a good sense of the nearby mountains. In the first photo you can see Kapiti Island and faintly some of the mountains of the southern island that surround Marlboro Sound.

 The bait board remains ready for re-baiting as we keep catching more fish and drift with lines dragging bottom.

 This one is too small and has great fins that are very brightly colored, and the first fish caught by Maori custom has to be released to honor the sea spirit.

 Just beyond the high tide mark, these stones, and large drift wood, are the small dunes. The Tararua Range dominates the background, a high place I hope to travel on another beautiful day in the near future.