Last week with John and Kathleen, we boarded a boat and cruised up the coast, got off and hiked back down the coast before catching the boat again back to the car. I’m now further up the coast at the final spot the boat visits. Today I’m going to hike down the coast then back to camp. As I set off I saw the boat making a stop on my beach.    

My hike would be to Skinner  Point, Goat Bay and to Awaroa where there is a low tide crossing point. Low tide today is at 2:40.   

The hike was very similar to last week. Through the rain forest with spectacular views to the ocean and beaches.       

This hike was nice in that it actually came down to a couple of different beaches. The trail went along the beach and the back into the forest.   

On one beach I saw a stream that came out of the forest and crossed the beach but before getting to the ocean it disappeared into the sand.   

Finally I got to the low tide crossing at about noon. The information says it was safe to cross 1.5 hours before low tide to 2 hours after. I was early (along with a few backpackers) so I sat, ate lunch and watched the water recede.     

Finally I saw others start to cross so I started across.  The water was just above my ankles until I got to the two stream crossings and then it was knee deep. No problem crossing. On the other side was a hut for the Abel Tasman trekkers and a small community of houses. I walked along the beach and hiked up to an overlook. 

When I headed back it was just after low tide and it was amazing the difference  from when I crossed. There was now no water except at the two streams. Everything else was dry sand.   

In places it was covered in small shells.  You can see my foot prints and no others. I probably saw 6 or 7 people cross.   

On the return I enjoyed the beautiful waters again making my way back to camp.   

Since Easter weekend was approaching more people had arrived but still each bay had only a few campers. As the sun set on an empty beach a nearly full moon was rising in to the sky.