Rolling around on the high seas

So Christmas in Pahia, bay of Islands. One of tourist Meccas in NZ. People singing Christmas carols in park.  Christmas dawned bright and sunny but very windy. Water taxi to our hiking spot cancelled. Couldn't land. Plans changed by the minute. Suddenly on a boat with captain making announcement that is you're not a sailor, you should get off. John jumped up and headed for the gangplank. Too late, I thought about joining him. Boat was pulling away. First Christmas a apart from each other. We headed out to see the sights. Huge crowd on one island re-enacting first Christmas in NZ 200 years ago. Yachts. Multi million dollar homes. Rough seas. Very. People puking as we splashed and rolled with the swells. Further out. More rolling. I rode whole time in front, clinging to the bars. Skipper says to point when you see Dolphins. We do. Over and over. Sopping wet from splashing waves. Beefy Swimmers get in water and chase Dolphins. Cold cold. They follow our pointing. Lots of Dolphins. All day. Skipper says it was a particular lucky trip. For some. Our co-leader sat on floor inside playing solitaire. 19 year old. Argh. Stopped at island for lunch and a hike. She points to some trails and tells us we have 15 minutes. Hike?  Top of hill beautiful Puhutakawa tree in bloom with sheep underneath. Back on boat repeat. Dolphins. Puking. Touring outer islands. Terra firma and waiting John. Good. He had gone on several hikes with Adonis leader. Happy to have missed the boat.