New Zealand: Mount Maunganui & Tauranga Harbor
Cruising into the port of Tauranga on the North Island, you go through the vast Bay of Plenty (so named by Captain Cook for the abundant food supplies he found at the Maori villages along this bay). The notable feature here is Mount Maunganui aka Mauao, a dormant volcanic cone standing at the edge of a peninsula protecting the harbor and rising 232 m above the surrounding sea level. The mountain has a huge significance to the Maori people and features prominently in various legends. The island is beautifully green and the surrounding water and spectacularly blue and aquamarine.
