Hole in the Rock cruise
A full-day sail out to Piercy Island (Motukōkako), where boats thread a natural sea arch carved by wave action. The bay's single most-booked trip, and for good reason.
Read the full breakdown →Bay of Islands, Northland, New Zealand
One bay, 144 islands, and the place a nation was founded.
Most guides mash this trip into one list. It actually splits cleanly into two: the water — sailing, the Hole in the Rock, island-hopping — and the land — Waitangi, Russell, the history that happened on these exact beaches. This guide keeps them separate, then helps you weave them into real days.
144islands, one bay
Two trips, one bay
Everything here sorts into one of two tracks. The water track is sailing, cruising and island time. The land track is Waitangi and the 19th-century history that unfolded around it. Most visitors do a mix — this split just makes it obvious which is which before you start booking.
The water
Island-hopping the sanctuary islands
Urupukapuka, Moturua and Motukiekie are all reachable by water taxi or your own boat, and several sit inside Project Island Song's pest-free sanctuary — real walking tracks, real birdlife.
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Dolphins, resident year-round
Common and bottlenose dolphins live in the bay permanently — not a seasonal migration, an actual local population most cruises expect to encounter.
Read the full breakdown →The land
Waitangi Treaty Grounds
Where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed on 6 February 1840 — the founding document of modern New Zealand, and the place its meaning is still actively discussed today.
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Russell & Kororāreka
Once nicknamed "the hellhole of the Pacific," this 15-minute ferry ride from Paihia holds the country's oldest surviving church — its outer walls still show musket-ball damage from 1845.
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Paihia, the base town
Most cruises, ferries and tours leave from Paihia's wharf. It's not the historic site — it's the launchpad for reaching all the others.
Read the full breakdown →Signature tool
How many days have you actually got?
Pick a length and get a real split between the water track and the land track — not just a list, an order that respects ferry times and cruise durations.
Why the split actually matters
Waitangi and Russell are half-day, land-based stops you can do on foot or a short ferry hop. The Hole in the Rock and the outer islands are full-day, boat-based commitments with fixed departure times. Mixing them without planning means either rushing the history or missing the tide-dependent cruise window.
Treat this bay as two separate itineraries that happen to share a wharf. Read when to come and how to actually get here next.
