Circumnavigation of Great Barrier Island
Friday, December 4th – Great Barrier Island just calls to be circumnavigated. At least if you have ears attuned like The Captain’s. It is just under 25 miles long, but its two opposite coastlines are quite different. The western side faces the protected waters of the Hauraki Gulf, and the entire coastline is full of bays and harbors. The eastern side is exposed to the open South Pacific Ocean, and the coastline is full of rocky points and long surf beaches. Our guide book lists over 25 anchorages for the west coast but only 4 on the eastern coast, and none of these anchorages on the east coast offer a great deal of shelter.
Our hope is to spend at least one night in an anchorage along the eastern coast. For that, we need winds from the west. The Captain’s Log for Friday states: “Weather forecasts predict light winds, shifting around to the west — a good day to head for the east coast of Great Barrier Island.” And, so, at 0940, the engine is started. The anchor is raised.
Motoring
out of Kaiaraara Bay, we turn north in Port Fitzroy to head through the
passage to Port Abercrombie. Winds remain light, and the mountains
are covered in clouds as we motor up the last of the west coast to
Miners Head. There we turn northeast and begin to feel the swells
coming in from the ocean. By the time we round Needles Point at the
northern tip of Great Barrier, the swell reminds us that we have left
the protection of the Huaraki Gulf and are out in the ocean.
These headlands are rugged and rocky. The feel of the northern tip of Great Barrier Island is isolated and unfriendly. It does not help that we have just passed the site of one of New Zealand’s most tragic shipwrecks. 100 years ago, 130 people lost their lives on these storm-tossed rocky shores. The Captain’s Log notes: “Skies are gloomy and the swell is creating some nice waves, making this rugged headland appear like one of the great capes.”
As we start down the
eastern side of the island we try to fly our jib for a while, but there
is just not enough wind. We continue on past the first of the possible
anchorages on this coast. It is a pretty bay, but it is totally exposed
to the swell coming in from the northeast. A rocking boat at anchor is
no fun. We continue on to Raikitu Island where there is a small
protected cove on the northwest side. As we pass by, it looks very
tiny, and the swell crossing its mouth does not look very inviting. We
can just see a fishing boat anchored or moored inside the bay. Is there
even enough room in there for a sailboat our size? Maybe local
knowledge would have told us there was room, but not having that
advantage, we continue south to Harataonga Bay.
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And why are there no photos accompanying this wonderful segment of our travels?
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APPLE ATE THEM!.
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For those who have been following this blog for a number of years, you know the trials and tribulations The First Mate has experienced with her Apple. Here is another incidence of this wonderfully diabolical machine acting on its own as she knows all inanimate objects do from time to time. She transferred two days’ worth of photos to iPhoto creating two events. As she is working on one event, suddenly, all the photos disappear. The whole event goes blank. Quickly, she returns to the Event page. The event she was working on is still listed except there are no photos. Instead, there is an Apple generated photo of a grey palm tree.
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To make matters more desperate, the photos in the second event she had created just as suddenly disappear. With the original photos deleted from her camera and not yet having backed up the new ones on the computer, she has no photos! What happened? Back in the States, at Apple’s Genius Bar, where they should have a stool engraved with her name on it, they have no answers. The strange thing is that normally when one deletes all the photos in one event, the event itself is erased. It does not show up in the Event List. These two events are still live on her computer, though they list no photos. The First Mate is loath to delete these two events because she feels in her gut that somewhere in the bowels of her Apple those photos do exist. How to get to them? How to find them? Does anyone out there understand what happened? If so, you could be a Genius for Apple!
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Rocks line the entrance to Harataonga Bay. Anchored, we can still feel the swell. The wind is light so the boat swings back and forth. This causes the boat to roll more than we like, but we decide to put up with it for a night because the location is so beautiful and remote.
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There is a beautiful sand beach just off our stern, and although we know that there is civilization on the other side of the island and further down the coast, it feels completely wild and isolated here. There are no houses or other structures in sight. There are no other boats in sight. The only sign of man that we can spot is a fence running off in the distance.
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The evening sky draws us out on deck, and though the rocking of the boat is not exactly relaxing, the unsettled action of the water adds to the wild, remote, alone feeling out here.
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Saturday, December 5th – While The Captain was happy yesterday to have the light winds shifting around to the west for the start of this circumnavigation, he was hoping that we could do some sailing on this trip. Winds the next morning were variable in the bay, but as we motored out under mostly cloudy skies, we find 8 to 10 knots of wind from the SW. We raise our sails and head south, continuing around Great Barrier Island.
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Once outside the protection of the nearby point, the wind increases to 14 to 17 knots with occasional gusts off the hills. The Captain is elated. The Captain’s Log calls it “our first great sailing of the year.”
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The First Mate is a bit less exuberant. She takes the wheel for a much-needed refresher and does a fine job, but evil thoughts race through her mind every time one of those darn gusts causes the boat to heel over more than she thinks comfortable.
Midway down the coast there
are lovely, long sandy beaches. Clouds are higher, and we can see the
summit of Mt Hobson. Occasionally, the sun pokes through for one of
those “Brief Fine Spells” described by the weather forecasters. During
those moments, the beauty of New Zealand is incredible.
Beaches soon give way to rocky hills as we reach the southern end of the island. We pass the southeastern tip and tack well out into Colville Channel before tacking back toward Tryphena Harbor.
In 2014, we had spent the
night in Tryphena Harbor on our way up the east coast of the North
Island of New Zealand. However, conditions were different that day.
Then, though the wind was fairly strong, it was out of the NE. Today,
the wind is out of the SW and blowing directly into the harbor. We
anchor several hundred yards off the ferry dock and consider our
options. We had sailed into Tryphena Harbor so that The First Mate
could go to the grocery store for a few items. We find that the grocery
store is on the other side of the harbor from the ferry dock requiring a
longer trip than we had planned. We could take the dinghy across the
harbor, but with the wind blowing onto the beach, that would make for a
challenging and wet departure from the beach on our return. The First
Mate decides that she does not need anything that badly, so we have
lunch while anchored before heading back out.
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After lunch, we sail up the west coast of Great Barrier Island to Whangaparapara Harbor. Wind has increased to 15 to 20 kts from SW, and we enjoy a nice reach hitting speeds of over 10 kts. Since the wind is not gusting off the hills on this side of the island, it is a much steadier ride. “This is more like it!” thinks The First Mate.
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21 knots of wind. 10 knots of speed. We’re flying!
Things get even better after we sail into Whangaparapara and are anchored behind Lighthouse Point. This is one of the prettiest harbors that The First Mate has seen in a while. From anchor, we look across the harbor at a few buildings near the ferry dock. The striking mountains rising up from the coastline bring back memories of the chiseled mountains and deep valleys of the Marquesas in French Polynesia.
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Monday, December 7th – We are getting close to the end of our trip and need to be back in the marina by Thursday morning at the latest. The winds have been out of the SW which is the direction that we want to go. It’s no fun sailing directly into the wind. Today, however, the forecast is for NW winds in the morning, shifting to SW in the afternoon and then staying fairly strong from the SW for several days, but as with all weather forecasts, things do change. The Captain is up and on the radio at 0530 to catch the morning report and is disappointed to learn that the forecasted NW winds will be from the W instead. So much for the hoped-for nice reach across the gulf.
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The anchor poses a challenge as it is raised. Not only is the usual amount of mud glued to it, two very large rocks are stuck in the muck. It is a struggle for The Captain to get those rocks off the anchor without getting himself full of mud in the process. Done! By 0750, we have sails up and are on a starboard tack heading back across the gulf to Kawau Island.
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By the time we reach Kawau, the “Fine Spells” have gone, and it is completely overcast with light rain. Kawau is just off the mainland and has regular ferry service. There are several big bays on the western side and lots of houses. Our guide book showed numerous anchorages in these bays, but the wind direction makes them less than desirable. We motor up the largest bay but do not see anywhere that we want to spend the night. The gloomy weather does not help, and after spending time on Great Barrier Island, there is just too much civilization on Kawau for us.
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We decide to continue on heading down the Inner Channel to Mahurangi Harbor. We sail past a number of small and attractive islands, but they are listed as day anchorages only. With the winds forecast to strengthen, we dare not trust them.
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We drop sails and motor into Mahugangi Harbor to anchor in a cove near its mouth. A park is located on shore. A large group of children are playing on shore. With the end of the school year coming up, we figure it must be an end-of-the-year outing. Later, after the school children have left, we contemplate the quiet of a classic New Zealand setting: green, verdant rolling hills dotted with grazing sheep.
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Wednesday, December 9th – Fortunately, we had chosen an anchorage that was well protected from the southwest, because Tuesday dawned cold and rainy and did not inspire any outdoor activities. We spent the day sheltered on the boat each involved in personal pursuits. Today, things are much nicer. It is still quite cloudy, but the wind is only about 15 kts from the SW. Only 15 miles north of Gulf Harbor Marina, we enjoy an easy sail back to our berth.
Avante is safely tied up back in Gulf Harbor Marina. She has spent so much time here that she must be starting to regard it as home. We spend several days in the marina cleaning and securing the boat and then head for the airport. The Holidays are approaching, and we have planned a busy schedule. Fortunately, we are crossing the dateline from west to east. This time, rather than losing a day, we arrive home before we left which, as often as we have done it, an interesting phenomena it remains!
We will return to New Zealand in early January to continue our water-based exploration of this beautiful country.