Nelson to Auckland
After our passage across the Tasman Sea from Hobart to Nelson, we spend a few days in Nelson. Much of Friday is spent cleaning up the boat after the passage. The marina is a fairly long walk from town, but our affable crewman, Rodney Smart, manages to make friends with the local harbormaster who lends us a car for the weekend. This is extremely convenient for provisioning and getting to restaurants.
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Over the weekend, we take a drive into the countryside around Nelson.
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The weather is perfect, and the scenery is even better. This area is noted for great treks with alpine views.
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At the tope of a hill, we discover that Nelson is close to the “Centre of New Zealand”
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Abel Tasman National Park is not too far up the coast, and as it is a pretty drive, we decide to head up there.
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Monday April 7th – This is a lovely area and we would like to stay longer, but we are still a long way from Auckland, and there is some time pressure. Rodney’s wife, Chris, has found a great price on a flight back to Tasmania which leaves Auckland on Tuesday, April 15. The First Mate has a very good friend back in the States who is suffering from brain cancer, and she would like to fly home as soon as possible to help out and be with her. We need to get moving.
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Just before noon, we leave the marina and motor out of the harbor. It’s a partly cloudy day, and the wind off Nelson is less than 10 knots.
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In less than two hours, winds are blowing at 18 – 25 knots. There are large hills on our right as we motor up the coastline, and katabatic winds are tumbling down off them creating a lot of variability in windspeed.
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Late in the afternoon, we go through French Pass. A lot of water moves through this pass with the tide, and we timed our departure from Nelson to get close to slack tide. We actually go through this pass about an hour before slack tide, so that we have time to get to an anchorage with daylight.
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Once through the pass, we go north in Admiralty Bay and turn into Catherine Cove looking for a sheltered spot on its eastern side. There are a lot of fish farms in this cove, and we tie up to a large mooring near one of them that the large service boats use when working out here on the farms.
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Tuesday, April 8th – The wind appears to have picked up overnight. We are quite sheltered in this cove, but we have experienced the occasional concentrated blast known as a wind bullet. Unable to connect to internet to obtain any weather information, we decide to head out of the bay and have a look for ourselves.
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The wind is blowing 22 – 30 knots from SE as we round D’Urville Peninsula.
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Conditions are rough but not unsafe as we begin crossing Admiralty Bay.
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Before we get to the middle of the bay, the wind is gusting over 50 knots and our forward progress is very slow. Of concern is that once we get across the bay, we will be turning right and heading much closer into the wind.
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Even with the engine revved up, Avante cannot even make 2 knots against these winds and seas. 1.72 knots! We are hardly moving! Even the depth finder is having a difficult time reading in these conditions. 4.7 feet? We would be firmly aground if that were the case.
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Our planned destination is over 35nm down the coast, and in this wind, we will not get there in daylight. We know that there are closer anchorages, but we are not sure how well sheltered they will be in this wind. The Captain decides to turn around and head back to Catherine Cove which we know to be well sheltered. Our return trip with the wind off our port quarter is much faster that our outbound leg.
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Fifty minutes after leaving, we are tied to the same mooring in Catherine Cove. Weather does not improve with rain and winds all day, but we are well sheltered in the head of the little cove and only get occasional gusts of wind.
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Wednesday, April 9th – Once again, we motor around D’Urville Peninsula and into Admiralty Bay. It is overcast with light rain, but the wind is much calmer today with only 7 – 10 knots from SE compared to the 22 – 30 knots that we found here yesterday.
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As we head southeast toward Cook Strait, we pass all kinds of intriguing islands, peninsulas, bays and sounds on our right. The clouds rise a little, and the rain stops. Conditions look like they might improve a little.
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By late morning, we round Cape Jackson and head down Queen Charlotte Sound directly into the wind. We have to increase our engine power to keep our speed at 5 knots. We are in the Marlborough Sounds area which is a beautiful place, but we are not getting to appreciate it, for our hoped for weather improvement does not occur. Instead, the cloud level has lowered, and the rain has started again. We motor slowly south in Queen Charlotte Sound and anchor by mid-afternoon in Umuwheke Bay on Arapaoa Island.
Thursday, April 10th – It’s decision time. Rodney Smart is booked on a very inexpensive flight home that departs from Auckland next Tuesday morning, and the cost to change it is outrageous. Today is the last day that we can cross Cook Strait and sail around the eastern coast of the North Island and reach Auckland on Monday.
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Unfortunately, the weather is terrible with gale warnings in Cook Strait and difficult winds for sailing up the coast. The First Mate summarizes the weather forecast shown on the computer with a dismissive “There is far too much red.”
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It is decided that the prudent thing is to go into Picton. From there, Rodney can easily catch the ferry to Wellington and then take a train up to Auckland. We feel bad about not being able to get him all the way to Auckland as planned, but the weather gods have not made our trip from Hobart easy.
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Picton is less than 10nm south in Queen Charlotte Sound. All the ferry traffic between the North Island and the South Island crosses Cook Strait between Wellington and Picton. When navigating through these waters, sailboats like us need to watch out for these big guys!
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We motor into Picton Harbour searching for a fuel dock. We have been running the engine a lot recently, and we want to ensure that we have sufficient fuel for the trip north.
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Unfortunately, this is the end of the trip for Rodney. It has been a lot of fun having him onboard for the passage across the Roaring 40’s from Tasmania to New Zealand and our soggy cruising in Marlborough Sounds. Both The Captain and The First Mate will miss him. We say farewell, then Rodney walks over the footbridge to the ferry to begin his trip back to Tasmania.
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After fueling, we motor out of the harbor and back up Queen Charlotte Sound. It’s still overcast, and a light misty rain has been falling for the last few hours. Without Rodney’s infectious banter, our spirits are becoming as dismal as the day.
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We turn east into Tory Channel, then south into Onapua Bay and find a quiet anchorage at the head of the bay. This would be another beautiful location with a little sun. Conditions are extremely wet, and rain continues all night.
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Friday, April 11th – We finally have a day with no gale warnings forecast for Cook Strait. In fact, winds are forecast to be 20 knots this morning, easing to 10 knots this evening. We should have a good run up the coast with some southerlies forecast for tomorrow. However, as we begin to start up, we discover a major problem. Our instruments are not working, and that means no autopilot , no wind readings, no depth — just to mention a few! We can’t leave until we fix the problem.
With the wet conditions that we have had, moisture has contaminated the instrument network somewhere. But where? Everything is wet and damp, and the instrument network runs all over the boat. It connects to the wind instruments at the top of the mast, the depth and speed sensors on the bottom of the boat, the autopilot at the stern of the boat, and numerous displays and black boxes located all over the boat. The Captain dejectedly begins troubleshooting. It is mind boggling task to try to disconnect each of the elements of the network from the system and then see if the system will start up. There is no central hub where this can be done. Instead, The Captain has to systematically take the boat apart removing panels and floorboards and then disconnecting wires. If there is no change, the wires have to be reconnected, and he moves on to the next item.
Shortly after noon, there is an excited yell. The Captain had removed the mattress from the forward berth and was examining some connection boxes that are mounted there. Several of these boxes have moisture in them, and one contains water up to the wires. When the wet box is removed from the network, we have instruments working again! Fortunately, we can easily live without the display that this box connects to the system. The Captain finishes up, and we quickly put the boat back in order.
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It is early afternoon before we start the engine and motor out of Onapua Bay under overcast skies with light rain and drizzle. We turn east in Tory Channel and head right into the wind. Fortunately, the wind is only 5 – 8 knots, but we are also fighting the tides. The clouds are very low, well below the surrounding hilltops. Needless to say, this is not a very auspicious start to our trip up the east coast of the North Island.
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Things look better as soon as we reach Cook Strait. This is a notorious body of water which lies between the North Island and the South Island. The wind blows across the Tasman Sea and funnels between the islands blowing right down this strait. On the daily New Zealand marine weather report, it seems that Cook Strait almost always has high winds. Today, they are only 6 – 8 knots from S, and the seas are calming down. The Captain is rarely happy when he has to motor, but he is delighted to have to run the motor all the way across Cook Strait.
Our world continues to improve. In late afternoon, about 50 dolphins swim by the boat, and we always regard that as a good omen. In the early evening, we are amazed to see the moon behind a thinning layer of overcast. Before midnight, we round Cape Palliser and begin heading north. The misty rain that we have had all day has finally stopped. The moon is up and illuminating the coastline and hills.
The rest of our trip up the North Island goes pretty well. We finally get some wind, and it increases to 30 – 35 knots for a while, but it is coming from behind us. We sail deep downwind most of the time using only the jib. The rain is not finished, an a front goes through on Saturday afternoon. Late on Sunday afternoon, we round East Cape, the easternmost point on North Island, and begin heading west. We have steady sailing across the Bay of Plenty with the wind still behind the beam. Late Sunday evening, we turn on the engine for the first time in two days and motor into Tryphena Harbor on Great Barrier Island to anchor for the evening.
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Tuesday, April 15th – We are underway fairly early to cover the remaining 40nm to Gulf Harbor Marina where we have arranged to keep Avante. By early afternoon, we are tied up in our slip and cleaning up after our 600nm passage north from Picton.
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We are finished sailing for a while. Avante will spend the southern winter in Gulf Harbor while we return to the States. The First Mate has a flight home in two days so that she can help her friend. The captain will stay on for a little over a week doing some boat maintenance. We hope to be back in November and sail around New Zealand during their summer. The Marlborough Sounds area has the potential to be one of the nicest cruising areas in the world. The weather that we found in April was miserable, but we hear that conditions are lovely in January and February.