Bay of islands - tours

Bay of Islands - tours

Just researching all our New Zealand cruise ship tours.

Dad will be in Bay of Islands twice in 6 weeks. Once on the Cunard Queen Elizabeth and then on Radiance of the seas.

What tours do you recommend?

Try the ports of call section as well as google to get an idea. We have always just done our own thing in there. They have shuttles to Pahia and then the ferry to Russell , there is also the Waitangi treaty grounds to investigate.

A boat trip out to the Hole in the Rock is always fun.

We enjoy catching the ferry across to Russell for lunch at the Duke of Marlborough pub.

Wondering if the Mack Attack jetboat is still running? Reviews seem to be a year old for this activity.....

A Bay of Islands jetboat operator has been ordered to pay $270,000 in fines and compensation after three women broke bones in their backs while passengers on the high-speed vessel.

Intercity Group (NZ) Ltd, owner of the Paihia-based boat Excitor III, was sentenced today in the Auckland District Court and ordered to pay Auckland resident Petula Patey $60,000 and her London-based best friend Amanda Lee $45,000 for the incident during a jet boat trip in the Bay of Islands in January last year.

The woman had gone on the trip after the wedding of Patey's daughter.

Brisbane woman Jan Phillips, who also broke vertebrae on a trip two months later, was also awarded $45,000.

The company had earlier admitted two charges of failing to take all practicable steps to ensure no action or inaction of any employee at work harmed any other person.

According to Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) the first incident happened on January 12 last year when Patey and Lee were passengers on the Excitor III jet boat on a trip to the hole on the rock. The pair, who were seated towards the back of the boat, suffered fractured vertebrae after hitting large waves.

Phillips suffered similar injuries in a similar incident on March 22 last year.

The Excitor III is a 300-horsepower boat that takes tourists on high-speed trip through the Bay of Islands.

The company was also fined $50,000 for the first charge, and $70,000 for the second charge.

MNZ investigator Bruce McLaren said the most serious aspect of the offending in both cases was the company's failure to react to concerns raised by passengers and staff, and to stop its operation in order to fully investigate the causes of the injuries.

"Despite at least four similar incidents between January and March 2011, including the two serious injury incidents investigated by MNZ, the company did not stop its operation to investigate what might be causing people to get hurt.

"Even though the Excitor III was a new vessel, the company did not respond to concerns raised by passengers and one of its own skippers about the movement of the vessel. And, despite having clear knowledge of the kind of forces the vessel would be subject to, it did not take adequate steps to ensure its drivers were aware of driving the vessel appropriately to these conditions."

McLaren said MNZ stopped the boat from operating after the March 22 incident.

"The responsible course of action for Intercity following the first incident should have been to take the vessel off the water and keep it off the water, until testing showed that the problem had been identified and properly controlled.

"It's a serious reminder to all operators of all high-speed vessels and extreme type thrill rides that they must continually be evaluating and adapting their safety systems and operating procedures to ensure they evolve alongside changes to their operation."

In separate prosecutions, MNZ has also laid charges against Seafort Holdings Ltd and Richard John Prentice, operators of the high-speed vessel Mack Attack, following incidents in December 2010 and January 2011.

The above is an idea old new posting on the Mack attack jet boat.

I suppose they cannot ever operate again as it would be considered a failure to put safety ahead of profit.

Was there in March this year on Radiance did the Kawiti glow worm caves tour with ABC Shuttle and Tours. Much cheaper then the ship tour. Amazing experience seeing the glow worms up close.

We went with a private local company "Bay Of Islands Tours"

They are fantastic and you get to see all the highlights but don't have to deal with the big crowds off the ship busses

http://www.bayofislands.tours is the website. Just book the Cruise shore tour or email them and they will reply straight away with any answers to questions.

They have lovely vehicles and are friendly and professional. Locally owned