Chrissice - You will need to do some searching on which cruise to pick . Some trips do go through "The hole in the Rock" depending upon the "conditions".

Urupukapuka Island has very clear sea water. When I was there decades ago I could see the yachts' anchor 6 metres down so dived in. Zane Grey (Author of westerns in the 1930s) "established" his big game fishing camp there.

As per #1 we did the dolphin cruises one. Due to sea conditions we did not go through the hole in the rock but the captain reversed the boat in as far as he could for the echos and dripping water.

Kia Ora Chrissice, welcome to the Paihia forum.

There are several cruises offered to Cape Brett and Hole in the Rock. Many are half-day cruises, with a morning or afternoon tour. I recommend that you book a morning cruise, before potential sea breezes develop in the afternoon.

My family have done several Hole in the Rock cruises. I liked the longer Cream Trip with Fullers the best. 5 hours on the water.

Thanks

Thanks. I'm trying to figure out the differeence between tours. It seems the full day Fullers Cream trip is $120 but the half day trip is $140. What am I missing? SHouldn't the full day trip be more expensive? Does the full day trip do less, have a lesser chance of seeign dolphins? Can anyone advise?

It doesn't appear that the full day tour goes to Hole in the Rock.

There is good reason why some tours are more expensive. For starters I note that the Explore Group have smaller vessels,like they used to have when they ran an opposition ferry service against Fullers to Waiheke Island. Their smaller vessels have good manouverability and can fit through Hole in the Rock better. No guarantee that they can routinely do so though.

I see that with Fullers Great Sights using larger vessels in the BOI, to carry more passengers, they may be oversized to go through Hole in the Rock. Hence they may approach the gap to show passengers this feature and then back off for a more eco-tour experience with dolphins and the Otehei bay visit.

Explore Group also has a fast jet boat from Paihia. 1.5 hour tour including Hole in the Rock, if weather is suitable.

I was presuming the comparison was for the Full Day tour:

https://www.dolphincruises.co.nz/bay-of-islands-cruises/day-in-the-bay

versus the half day tour:

https://www.dolphincruises.co.nz/bay-of-islands-cruises/hole-in-the-rock-dolphin-cruise

Perhaps another possibility is that the full day tour is a delivery service and gets it's revenue for that. Having aboard passengers is bonus revenue. Just a thought...

We did this one a few weeks ago, at 40% discount through bookme:

https://www.bookme.co.nz/things-to-do/northland-bay-of-islands/activity/discover-the-bay-hole-in-the-rock-cruise/1372

Not sure what discounts will be achievable around the time of your trip.

The trip was on a large Fuller's catamaran and we did go through the hole. It was the first time in a week they'd been able to do it as the sea had been too rough.