10-Feb-2007 -- We arrived at Matauri Bay on a nice summer day, where we planed to launch our boat early in the morning. Unfortunately, there was already quite a heavy surf due to a south-easterly wind and so we decided to not launch the boat. We went to find a more sheltered bay, which we found at the beach at Te Ngaire.

We launched the boat and off we went to find our Confluence Point. As we pulled out of the Te Ngaire bay the waves were about 1m and would make for a bit of a choppy ride. We could see a bit of white water in the gaps between the Cavalli Islands. Deciding not to cross any of the gaps between the islands with white water and against the waves and wind, we went around the south of the group of islands and then headed direct towards the Confluence Point, which was about 6km to the north east. The sea got rougher and the swells were long and according to our GPS reading reached up to 6m in height.

At 11:47 we reached the Confluence Point but we experienced quite a rocky ride and spent some time to get an acceptable picture of the GPS reading. We made several passes over the Confluence Point taking pictures. In the eastern direction there is just sea for about 9,500km towards South America. To the west, the Cavalli Islands are clearly visible. 13km to the south is the mainland near the Bay of Islands and northwards is mostly sea with the top of the last Cavalli Island visible at north-west.

Having accomplished our mission we headed north-west to pass between two islands towards our sheltered beach. There was even more white water between the islands but having the sea and wind now from behind, we had a quick but rough ride through the gap and soon cruised in a calm and lovely sheltered sea. Arriving back at Te Ngaire we found the beach had some surf as well now, but we were still able to retrieve our boat with only limited effort.