Cavalli Islands

{{Short description|Group of islands in New Zealand}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

{{Infobox islands

| name = Cavalli Islands

| local_name =

| image_name = CavalliIslands.png

| image_caption = The Cavallis. The knobby hill to the right on the mainland is at the northern extremity of Matauri Bay.

| locator_map =

| map_caption =

| nickname =

| location = Matauri Bay
Whangaroa

| coordinates = {{coord|35|0|S|173|57|E|region:NZ_type:isle}}

| archipelago =

| total_islands = 27

| major_islands =

| area_km2 = 4.5

| length_km =

| width_km =

| highest_mount =

| elevation_m = 177

| population =

| population_as_of =

| density_km2 =

| ethnic_groups =

| country = New Zealand

| additional_info =

}}

The Cavalli Islands are a small group of islands near Whangaroa{{Cite web|url=http://www.whangaroa.co.nz/|title=Whangaroa, Northland, New Zealand | sister to the Bay of Islands|website=www.whangaroa.co.nz|access-date=21 March 2021|archive-date=1 September 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050901060318/http://www.whangaroa.co.nz/|url-status=dead}} on Northland's East Coast in northern New Zealand. They lie {{convert|3|km|mi|1}} to the east of Matauri Bay on the mainland.

The group consists of the island of Motukawanui (area {{convert|3.55|km2|abbr=on}}) and the smaller islets of Motutapere, Panaki, Nukutaunga, Haraweka, Motuharakeke, and Motukawaiti Islands. The main island is used as a nature reserve, and some of the smaller islands are privately owned.

The Cavallis were so named by Captain James Cook on 27 December 1769 during his first voyage of discovery.{{cite web

| url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8106/8106-h/8106-h.htm#cook-10

| title= Captain Cook's Journal, First Voyage

| last= Cook

| first= James

| publisher=Project Gutenberg

| date= May 2005

| accessdate = 23 October 2012

}} In his journal he recorded that some Māori "sold us some fish--Cavallys as they are called--which occasioned my giving the Islands the same name". Cook probably meant trevally which is abundant near the islands, known to the Māori as araara.{{cite web

| url= http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/coastal-fish/4/2

| title= Coastal fish

| last= Walrond

| first= Carl

| publisher= Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

| date=

| accessdate = 23 October 2012

}}

On 2 December 1987, the hull of the bombed Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior was scuttled between Matauri Bay and the Cavalli Islands, to serve as a dive wreck and fish sanctuary.{{Cite book |last=Robie |first=David |date=2015 |title=Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior |publisher=Little Island Press |page=172 |isbn=9781877484285}}

{{coord|35|0|S|173|57|E|region:NZ_type:isle|display=title}}