20th March The Wake Up Call

Over the last week we have continued to make miles south with Auckland being the final designated destination and are currently anchored off Kawau Island about 30NM north of Auckland.

The weather has been idyllic from a sightseeing perspective but not so good for sailing and as a result we have done a fair bit of motoring.  From Whangaroa we retraced our route South towards, and passed, the Bay of Islands and Cape Brett.  As we rounded Cape Brett this huge pod  of dolphins appeared.  They were churning up the water for as far as you could see and occasionally leaping clear of the water.  It looked like some kind of feeding frenzy.  Just south of Cape Brett we stopped in a beautiful remote anchorage called Whangamumu. It was so beautiful and peaceful we decided to spend two nights at anchor just relaxing and doing some exploring onshore to see the remnants of an old whaling station and small waterfalls.

Motutokaku Island off Cape Brett

Twenty miles SE from Whangamumu are the Poor Knights Islands – a group of rock formations rising sheer out of the Pacific.  I had tried to visit these on the trip north with Peter but weather and timing had conspired against it.  The islands are very steep to and so good settled weather is required to spend any time here.  This time it was perfect.  We cruised along the island’s western shorelines taking in the spectacular cliffs and rock formations plunging into aquamarine water.  Towards the southern end of the group there is an anchorage in about 18m water depth.  This is pretty deep to anchor in as we need 60m of chain deployed for that water depth.  The bottom was rock boulders so also not the best conditions for holding but with the calm weather we were ok. 

The Poor Knights Islands

The anchorage is just breathtaking with colourful sheer cliff walls in different shades of yellow and orange topped with green scrub and stumpy trees all around and at sea level there are numerous ledges, overhangs, sea arches and caves.  The water is crystal clear and with the area being a marine reserve there are fish everywhere.  It is also a renowned dive spot. 

Sea Otter at anchor at the Poor Knights Islands

The star attraction here is undoubtedly the Rikoriko cave – one of the biggest sea caves in the world.  It has been used to host concerts and is big enough for cabin cruisers to drive in and motor about in.  We waited until most of the day trippers had departed and there were only a couple of yachts left in the anchorage before deploying the dingy and motoring over to the cave to have a look.  It’s unreal as you pass from the bright sunlight outside into the interior of the cave.  The water changes to an even more intense blue and the walls are lit up by the reflected light.  As your eyes adjust you see the details on the walls, the different colours and can peer down to the bottom through the water.  The entrance takes on a very intense light which only diminishes as you pass back out into open water.  It’s well worth the visit.

Rikoriko Cave Entrance

Rikoriko Cave

We had planned to spend the night here but decided against it and headed back to the mainland to a place called Tutukaka.  Tutukaka is a small coastal village with a marina and not much else.  We decided to check into the marina for a couple of nights to carry out some laundry and pick up a couple of fresh supplies.  It also just so happened to be my birthday while we were in the marina so celebrated with a meal out.

Tutukaka Inlet

The next day the forecast was for northerly winds shifting west in the afternoon – perfect for making miles south.  We started off running dead downwind with the main and a poled out jib.  Perfect sailing conditions and making 6kts easy with spurts of 7kts.  We could see the wind shift coming along with rain and so started to reef down.  We had just got the main reefed when the shift hit earlier than expected and backed the mainsail tight onto the preventer which I, in my infinite wisdom, had decided to tie off.  With the jib still pole out this left us pinned down with the leeward rail underwater.  Rather than let the jib fly we used the motor to bring the wind on the right side of the main, furled the jib and settled the boat down.  We then put a second reef in the main and set the staysail as it was gusting to 24kts.  The wind was more southerly than westerly and so we now had to punch into a very sloppy sea.

Needless to say Nik was freaked out about the whole experience, as was I.  There were a whole bunch of learnings to take away from this incident if I am to sail solo.  The only positive was that nothing broke on the boat which gives me great confidence.  The whole incident was a wake up call that could have ended very differently especially if something had broken.

We punched on to round Cape Rodney and took shelter in a small cove off the village of Leigh for the night.  Everyone was glad to get to bed that night.  Next day we pushed on to Kawau Island where we are now.

13th March - Time to head back south

Great start to the day – we left our overnight anchorage around 0700 this morning and were trawling a line over the side and managed to snag a Kahawai barely a couple of hours into the journey which will be dinner.  You would have seen the clip on our instagram feed if you are following (@sv.sea_otter).

Since the last post we have had a foray further North.  The original intention was to get up to the North Cape or thereabouts and have a look around but the weather and timing got the better of us and we are now returning south. 

From the Cavalli islands we stopped first at a spectacular natural harbour called Whangaroa.  This is a fjord like bay with a narrow entrance which opens up to a larger body of water with various inlets, islands and anchorages.  The hills around the harbour are all pretty steep and very green with scrub and forest which reached all the way down to the waterline.  On the northern side are imposing bare rock formations which rise sheer out of the water.  Whangaroa settlement/town/village lies close to the end of the main artery. 

Milford Island Anchorage

We anchored off Milford island in the bay for the first night in absolute solitude.  Given the high hills the anchorages here are very protected and in the morning there was not a ripple on the water.  We made our way to Whangaroa town and anchored off.  Whangaroa has some history in the early settlement times but now it’s main claim to fame is as a base for sports fishing.  Their other attraction is tourism especially some hiking trails.  We got off the boat and attempted a short walk called St Pauls which is a volcanic rock plug which overlooks the harbour and Whangaroa.  It was a short steep climb but the views over the harbour were fantastic. 

Whangaroa Harbour from St Pauls Peak

Whangaroa Harbour from the "Dukes Nose"

We lingered in Whangaroa for another night as it was so peaceful and then headed further north to a place called Houhora Harbor about 40NM away.  Houhora harbour is really a river estuary about 25Nm south of North Cape.  There is a narrow entrance with a bar and then it opens up into the estuary a lot of which dries out at low tide.  There is one deep channel which hugs the south shore and winds its way up a couple of miles to the town of Pukenui.  The weather was very calm and we arrived at high tide so the entrance and river passage were uneventful.  We anchored close to town and had a look around the next day.

There was not much to Pukenui apart from a supermarket, café/bar and a bottle shop.  The guides talk about orcas swimming up the river to chase stingray to eat but that did not happen while we were there. The anchorage was not particularly pleasant either as the tidal current was pretty strong and each afternoon gusty 20+ knot winds would blow which when combined with different states of the tides produced some very funky movements on the boat.

Early Morning Pukenui Anchorage

After reviewing the weather we decided not to go further North as we did not want to get stranded there for multiple days plus there was a tricky bar entrance to the inlet we were targeting.  Instead we headed to a place called Manganui in Doubtless Bay about 30NM south which is another historic small town on a river estuary famous for fish, fishing and whaling in days gone by.  We spent a few days here in a pretty tranquil anchorage before pushing on south.

Mangonui 

On the boat front – Nicole has turned into a passionate fisher woman and takes pride in both the catching, cleaning and cooking of the fish.  Since leaving Opua two weeks ago we have only had one other protein meal apart from fish.  We have been using the new Torquedo electric outboard which is pretty cool but I can now understand range anxiety with electric vehicles.  We do need to 2 stroke also for the time we are unable to recharge the Torquedo.

Nik cleaning the catch

          

Summer is definitely over here although its still quite warm during the day.  The more time we spend in New Zealand the more we like the country and its population.  The scenery is sometimes like Scotland, sometimes Norway and then other areas are almost Mediterranean.  The result, though, is breathtaking and there are few or no other boats or people around now. 

3rd March: Cavalli Islands

Its Sam's 25th birthday today.  We will do what we can for him in the way of festivities but its pretty limited what we can do on the boat.  The day was to commence with bacon and eggs until we discovered the eggs had been omitted from the provisioning list so we had to make do with bacon wraps.  The sacrifices we make to live on a boat.

Happy Birthday Sam

Prior to leaving the Bay of Islands, we anchored for a night at Urapukapuka Island to acclimatize Sam to the boat life and get ready to sail.  Whilst in the marina I had picked up a part for the electric outboard which I had been waiting on since before X-mas.  Have never used an electric outboard before but like the idea of it.  We assembled the unit which consisted of essentially three parts – a drive shaft , a battery and the control arm.  Sam took it out for a test drive and it performed pretty well.  Its very disconcerting given it puts out zero noise.  Only issue will be the recharging as it will take a fair bit of power and so needs to be carried out when we are under engine or have excess solar power.  We now have the electric outboard and a smaller 2HP 2 stroke unit onboard.

Walking track on Urupukapuka

On Saturday (1^st March) we left the Bay of Islands and sailed for the Cavalli Islands about 20NM north.  This small group of six islands lies about 2NM off the coast.  None of the islands are that big and the largest island can be walked across in an hour.  The sail was in very light easterly wind with an uncomfortable sea which did not make for either a fast or a pleasant journey but it was good to get the sails out again and it was only a short trip.  After about 4hrs we sailed through a very narrow pass and ended up in a beautiful big sheltered bay called Horseshoe Bay in the southern part of the main island of Motukawanui. 

Approaching the Cavalli Islands

The Cavalli islands lie about 2NM off the mainland and are uninhabited and a conservation area.  Even given the proximity to the mainland they feel pretty remote.  The biggest claim to fame I guess is that in the waters around one of the islands lies the Rainbow Warrior.  Readers old enough will remember the Greenpeace ship that was bombed by the French secret service in Auckland Harbour in 1987.  After the bombing the hull was towed here and sunk as a dive attraction. 

The scenery of the islands is truly stunning and amplified by the fact that we have had near perfect weather during our stay.  The scenery is a mixture of Jurassic Park rock formations, complete with sea arches and caves, topped by very green vegetation of small trees and dense grasses and then a number of secluded mainly pebble beaches dotted around the periphery.

Horseshoe Bay

There is a walking track running the length of the big island and Sam and I tackled that on the second day.  The walk is about a 7km round trip with an elevation of 177m at the highest point.  On the far side of the island we spied a secluded cove on one of the other islands called Panaki Island which looked like a nice anchorage and moved Sea Otter around there in the afternoon and decided to stay for Sam's birthday.

View from end of walking track main island to alternative anchorage

Sea Otter at Panaki Island anchorage

Nik and I have been onboard for a month and boat life has formed its routines.  When we are anchored we typically get up just after sunrise which is about 7:00am here and spend the first couple of hours having our coffee and catching up on news and emails.  We have a Starlink mini onboard which is very convenient and very reliable.  For some reason our day does not really start till around 11:00am when we throw ourselves into the days activities be it working on the boat, admin activities or taking in some local attraction.  Things start to slow down around late afternoon where we start to think about the highlight of the day – dinner.  The sun does not set until around 8:00pm here so we have these very lazy evenings which we typically spend on deck chatting, drinking and generally observing life around us.  It is amazing how much time we can spend just taking in the scene around us.  Once dark we either read or watch something before turning in.  Life is certainly at a slower pace but given the above schedule the days still get away from us.

Sunset at the Cavalli Islands

The Fishing Drought is Over

Its been 10 days since the last blog – I probably need to try and do shorter blogs more often otherwise its difficult remembering what’s been going on.  It’s a good job we have a ships log which records our daily activities.

We were really just waiting for Sam to join us on the 27^th Feb so spent the time looking around some more areas in the bay.  First stop was a place called Honeymoon Bay on Motuarohia Island.  This was a beautiful anchorage – very sheltered from the wind and not that busy.  We spent three days anchored here doing not much more than relaxing  and swimming.  We did go for a hike around the island one day which turned into a four hour epic after we took a wrong turn and ended up bush bashing for about an hour.  The islands are all very green with vegetation right down to the water and the coast pockmarked with small pebbly or sandy beaches.  Typically the windward side is pretty rocky and rough but the beaches in the lee are stunning.  The highlight of our stay here was a feed of fresh mussels which we had bought in a store in Russell and cooked up on board.

Honeymoon Bay

I wanted to try and navigate up a very narrow and shallow river to a place called Kerikeri which is in the north east part of the Bay of Islands so after Honeymoon Bay we relocated to the north first to a quiet bay called Wharengaere Bay.  This was a very shallow protected bay where we were on our own.   Nik tried fishing with her new rod but was not very successful.  The next day we relocated close to the entrance to the Kerikeri river ready for the transit the following day.

The Mussel Dinner

Nik Helming

The Kerikeri river is extremely shallow however Sea Otter has a retractable keel which means that we can lower our draft to 1.3m.  Some areas of the river were charted at 0.0m water depth meaning that only on a tide of say 1.5 to 2.0m could we navigate up it.  We picked a suitable rising tide on Sunday 23^rd Feb and started into the river mouth proper.  We probably made it about a mile upstream when the depth sounder showed about 1.5m in a particularly narrow section.  At that stage, caution being preferable to rash bravery, we abandoned the attempt – it would have probably been OK but without further local knowledge we were not willing to risk a possible grounding.

We turned around and steamed back into the approaches to the river mouth.  That night we anchored in Wairoa Bay and thought of what could have been.  As something of a conciliation we threw a line over the side and, I kid you not, within about 10 mins we had four snapper on deck.  We filleted these and had a fantastic dinner.  So impressed were we that we decided to stay and the next night Nik pulled in three more which we baked for dinner – this place really is a fishing El-Dorado.

Sea Otter at Anchor

End of the Bay of Islands

The time had come to start back to the marina where we would pick up Sam.  The next two days were spent in a berth in the marina.  We cleaned up the boat and did another big provisioning trip.  Sam arrived onboard last night and today we headed out again to the islands before heading north out of the Bay of Islands area towards Cape Reinga at the tip of the North Island.