With the winds blowing at 25 knots from
the northwest, it was an ideal forecast for a quick afternoon sail
down to the Bay of Islands. Once I was back on Honey, I stowed away
the dinghy and got ready to sail, moving on quickly as the tide was
on its way out and I had dropped anchor close in to get Mum safely to
shore. While I was in the harbour, I pulled up the main, putting in
one reef for good measure, and motor sailed out beyond the entrance.
The forecast was for rough seas, and there were a few large charter
fishing boats outside of the harbour sheltering around Stephenson
Island but no yachts. I unfurled the genoa, leaving some furled up
to minimise the sail size, and sailed out towards Stephenson Island
before altering course towards the north end of Flat Island and north
of the Cavalli Islands. It was beautiful weather – a sunny warm day
with a fresh breeze blowing and a bit of a sea, just the stuff that
Honey is made for! We had a lovely time, Honey averaging about 7
knots from Stephenson Island to north of the Cavallis, maximum speed
I noticed on the GPS was 10.6 knots!! The Cavalli Passage has a least
depth of 2.3m, and with a low spring tide when I was due to pass,
coupled with rough seas and a 1-2 m swell, I needed to pass around
the outside of the islands. Once I was clear of Taheke Rock, we
veered down towards the Needles and Cape Wiwiki and Ninepin Island at
the entrance to the Bay of Islands. The winds dropped off as I sailed
into the Bay of Islands, making for Urupukapuka Island and I dropped
anchor in sheltered Otiao Bay. It had taken less than 5 hours to sail
from Whangaroa.
Passing north of the Cavalli Islands
Approach into the Bay of Islands
The forecast for the following day,
14th February, was for rain, so I made a booking for a
berth at Opua Marina for that night – also a chance to shower, do
the laundry and top up Honey's water while I waited for the rain to
pass. But the rain didn't come – so Honey and I spent the day
nosing into a few of the bays on Urupukapuka Island, and I stitched
up the zip on the dodger (to connnect the rain shelter between the
dodger and bimini, that had been torn off at Port Hardy) in
preparation for the rain. Then it was a nice gentle sail towards
Opua, via Te Rawhiti Inlet, with the wind easing off and dying as I
passed Waitangi and Russell. By the time I arrived in Opua, the
marina office was shut as was the laundry. But fortunately Owen and
Emma from Dulcinea, one of the neighbouring yachts, popped over to
say hello, helped me tie up Honey, filled me in on what and where
everything was in the marina, and lent me their gate card so I could
access the marina shower. Owen and Emma saw I was flying the Pelorus
Boating Club pennant – they are also members of Pelorus Boating
Club, also from Christchurch and had recently returned from sailing
in the Pacific. While in Opua, we sorted out Tim's booking to come up
and visit me – he's flying into the Bay of Islands towards the end
of February! So I decided I would head further south beforehand and
then return to the Bay of Islands so we can explore it together.
One thing I was keen to do while I was
in the Bay of Islands was to visit Kerikeri – then I could get to a
supermarket to re-provision and see the movie “Lion”. Chris was
involved in the production of the movie, I had read and loved the
book and I was keen to see Lion while it was still on the big screen.
But Kerikeri is some distance from the water and many miles from the
closest marina, although it is possible to get to Kerikeri Basin by
sailing through Kerikeri Inlet and up the river, and tying up only a
few kilometres from the town centre. There are private pole moorings
up the river and some of the owners will accommodate boats that
venture upstream. The river is however very shallow, only 0.1m depth
on the chart in some places (this is the height at the lowest
astronomical tide), so with Honey drawing approximately 1.8m (and the
tidal range of 1.65m) I would need to make my way there right on the
top of the tide. High tide was 11.35am so no time for doing my
laundry, I needed to be in the Pickmere Channel in Kerikeri Inlet,
the access to the river, no later than 11am to be entering on a
rising tide.
Honey and I left Opua at 9am and
motored towards Kerikeri Inlet – it was a very calm morning, with
heavy rain on the forecast for later that day. We made good timing,
passing through Kent Passage on the west side of Moturoa Island, and
on into Kerikeri Inlet. Light rain started setting in, and I was only
in the start of the Pickmere Channel when my depth alarm started
(this alarm beeps whenever there is less than 0.5m of water below
Honey's keel). The alarm beeped on and off the whole way into
Kerikeri Basin, sometimes showing 0.0m under the keel, which was a
bit disconcerting. I had found that occasionally the depth gauge
didn't read correctly, so I hoped that was the case although there
were a couple of moments when I thought I could feel Honey touching
the mud bottom. Pickmere Channel is well marked, but from the
Kerikeri Junction where there is a fork – one way through Waipapa
Stream and the other up the Kerikeri River – there were few port
and starboard markers. We made it up right to the historic Stone
Store in the heart of the Kerikeri Basin without getting stuck –
whew! The river was a little deeper in the basin, and there were
several yachts moored nearby, so I took up a pole mooring in front of
one large yacht and close to the wharf. It didn't show quite enough
depth, but I figured given the large yacht behind that perhaps the
depth gauge was not reading correctly and in any case it would
probably be ok if Honey settled slightly into the mud in the river.
The rain started pouring down so I was pleased I had done my
stitching to zip up the rain shelter. There has been a drought in
Northland so many would have been pleased to see the rain, although I
couldn't help wish that it was falling in Christchurch where the Port
Hills fire was by now raging out of control.
The Stone Store, Kerikeri Basin
In the mid afternoon I headed to shore
in the inflatable, and as I left I noticed that Honey had a very low
waterline, perhaps she was sitting on the bottom. The Stone Store was
open, the oldest standing stone building in New Zealand, and I popped
in to have a look. It had previously operated as a post office and
all-goods store, and now displays and sells all sorts of old Kiwiana
goods, and even has a genuine old-time smell about it, a great place
to poke around in! When I came out about half an hour later, Honey
had certainly grounded herself with a clear list towards the
starboard side. There was still almost 2 hours left until the bottom
of the tide, so she wasn't in the best spot. But there was nothing I
could do about that now, and with all the skin fittings on the port
side and wash boards in (so no concern about flooding), there was
nothing I could do. I left Honey and walked on through the rain into
Kerikeri to watch Lion – it is a fantastic film and great to take
my mind off Honey who would have carried on tilting in my absence
(although I didn't quite relax into the film for half an hour until
low tide had passed). After the film, a quick bite to eat and
re-provisioning, I returned to Honey – she was back floating with
no sign of her previous grounding. It was pitch dark and still
raining heavily by this time, and I decided the best option would be
to stay put rather than try to exit the river and risk a worse
grounding at night.
The next morning I woke as expected at
about 5am, on the next ebbing tide with Honey grounded and again
slightly tilting onto her starboard side. As I lay there, Honey
carried tilting, bit by bit – not a very comfortable feeling! Every
little additional movement to starboard felt like a lot, and I even
got up to tie a little plumb line onto the inside of the washboard so
I could see that it wasn't as significant as it felt. Lying in my
berth on the port side, suddenly 'boing!' and Honey righted herself
settling back upright into the mud. The tide was still ebbing, and
depending on where I moved Honey was starting to settle either
starboard or port side – I moved myself to the starboard side so
she would settle that way as before and read my book to distract me –
a much better feeling as the tide started to come back in and Honey
re-righted herself! A couple of hours later and a knock on Honey's
hull, one of the locals, Keith came to tell me that this pole berth
was very shallow and had caught a number of boaties out – he
advised the wharf alongside the Stone Store has plenty of water if I
was staying longer. I was keen to get underway, not just to escape
being grounded but to head further south. I extracted some of Keith's
local knowledge to ensure I didn't stray into the shallow parts of
the river – generally staying close to the boats and the pole
berths is best. (I also thought that means I am close to a pole if I
did end up grounding and needed to winch Honey out!) At 11am I headed
off with the last of the rising tide and cleared out of the Kerikeri
Basin without any further hitch.
Next stop was the Kerikeri Cruising
Club where I finally did my laundry. My plan for the afternoon was to
head to Whangamumu, a few miles south of Cape Brett, although I knew
I would be running short of daylight – Deep Water Cove still in the
Bay of Islands and a few miles before Cape Brett was my back-up plan.
Heading out from Doves Bay, I made directly for Cape Brett, skirting
around Slains Castle and the Brothers. The wind in the bay was a
steady 15-18 knot northerly breeze and with full sail, Honey moved
along nicely at 5.5 knots. It was still lightly raining and there was
a swell of about 1.5 m running – I hadn't deflated and stowed my
inflatable dinghy which was trailing along behind, so I decided to
make for DeepWater Cove. My back-up autohelm also gave up working at
this point, clearly not happy with getting wet, and I hadn't yet
attempted to resurrect the main autohelm, so I was back on the
tiller. When I arrived into Deep Water Cove, which as it name
suggests has deep water, there were already two other yachts
anchored. I wasn't happy with my proximity to one of the other yachts
anchored and wanted to be sure I slept well after my previous
unsettled night of grounding, and it was on my third set of the
anchor and in rather deep water with all the anchor chain out that I
was comfortable that I would not need to get up in the night to check
on the anchor. Honey does not have an electric windlass, so after I
had manually hauled in the anchor and 40m of anchor chain twice, my
dinner certainly hit the spot and I did sleep soundly that night.
Deep Water Cover - with Honey anchored out deep
The 17th February dawned
with rather heavy rain which eased mid morning. Before stowing the
inflatable I went ashore and followed the DOC walking track up the
hill that heads towards Cape Brett. There was significant bush cover
and I only got small glimpses back towards the Bay of Islands and
down the east coast in the direction I was going to be sailing. By
the time I got back to the water, the rain had cleared, clouds lifted
and the sun was drying out Honey – time to set sail for Whangamumu.
The winds were very light and I raised the main sail and motored out
towards Cape Brett and the Hole in the Rock, passing outside of
Piercy Island so I could take in the view. There were quite a few
other boats out, and Honey and I motor sailed close to the coastline
with its steep cliffs. About a mile south of Cape Brett, I cut the
engine and with the headsail raised we slowly sailed towards
Whangamumu with a very light following breeze. The breeze falled away
completely and we motored into the inner part of Whangamumu Harbour
and dropped anchor. It was now a beautiful hot and sunny day. I had
planned to stop only briefly in Whangamumu before heading south to
Whangaruru but it seemed to lovely to rush away. I paddle boarded to
shore where there are remains of an old whaling station, with
photographs displaying how the station appeared in its heyday. It
always amazes me how quickly the bush takes over with the large old
boiler, wharf blocks and concrete vats being the only part of the
whaling station that were still largely intact. I spent the rest of
the afternoon relaxing on Honey, swimming, paddle boarding and
following some of the stingrays (they are quite incredible how with
one ripple of their wings they can scoot away at great speed when I
get too close) and walking around some of the tracks. I caught up
with the sailor from the neighbouring yacht from the previous night
in Deep Water Cove (who said he had been quite comfortable about
where I was anchored on my first set), and we noted a pohutukawa tree
that had fallen over and resprouted roots half way up the tree.
Almost every beach in Northland is lined with pohutukawas, incredibly
beautiful and resilient that seem to be able to reach their roots to
find the smallest amount of soil to grow into such large trees.
Piercy Island (Hole in the Rock) and the Dog
 |
| Beautiful Whangamumu Harbour |
The next day I headed off late in the
morning to Whangaruru Harbour, less than ten miles south of
Whangamumu. It was another lovely sunny and relatively calm day with
only a few knots of breeze from the east, and I alternated between
motor sailing and slowly sailing/drifting towards the harbour. The
wind picked up as we rounded Pararaunui Point into Whangaruru, and I
anchored Honey offshore from Teparapara Bay on the east side of the
harbour, and after doing a few jobs on Honey I spent the rest of the
afternoon stretched out in the sun reading my book!
The following morning, Sunday 19th
February, was slightly drizzling to start but this soon burned off
into another beautiful day. I had sailed past Bland Bay the previous
day, and was keen to see what it looked like from the other
perspective, from land. There is a narrow isthmus that separates
Whangaruru from Bland Bay, and I paddle boarded down the harbour to
Tuparehuia Bay and walked through the motor camp to the beautiful
beach of Bland Bay on the other side. A group from the Navy had set
up camp for two weeks of training, they certainly get to stay in some
lovely spots! After I had paddled back to Honey and had a quick swim,
I was keen to see if I could resurrect either or preferably both of
the autohelms. I'd opened up my back up autohelm to ensure it was
fully dried out the day before and I put this back together, and
checked over the connections for the main autohelm. The main autohelm
controller was working again, so quite possibly it was a voltage
issue I had encountered on the trip north, but the drive was now not
working properly. I upped anchor and motor sailed out towards
Mimiwhangata Bay, about 5 miles out from the harbour in the south
eastern corner of Whangaruru Bay, so that I could test out the
autohelms while we were on the move. Unfortunately neither worked
adequately – the main autohelm drive would turn to port but would
not turn to starboard (later I found that the drive's motor had burnt
out), and the back up autohelm would not operate on automatic mode.
This meant I would be sitting at the tiller until I could resolve the
problem – which is fine for short distances, but not ideal for
overnight passages.
After I dropped anchor in Mimiwhangata,
the chap from the neighbouring boat, Rose of Therese, came over to
say hello and invite me to dinner with his partner. They introduced
themselves as Ian and Marcia, and we had stayed at several of the
same anchorages – Whangamumu two nights previously, I had spoken to
Ian briefly at Deep Water Cove, and we had been moored in the same
bay in Whangaroa Harbour. They were curious about my story sailing
solo, and we spent the evening trading stories and talking about some
of the fantastic places we have visited. Ian and Marcia are both very
keen to visit Dusky Sound, which is still my absolute favourite
place, and they were dead jealous of my trip there, but they have
also spent time in Anchorage, Alaska, a place on my bucket list.
I had contemplated sailing to Great
Barrier Island the following day, but had been advised that if there
was any southerly component in the forecast 20 knot easterly winds
then it would be too tight on the nose to be able to sail. The
forecast had seesawed between south-east and easterly winds, and
being at least 60 miles distant it would be a long day to reach the
island even if the winds were favourable. Plus I would only have a
day or two there before I would need to sail back up to the Bay of
Islands to meet Tim. I decided to instead head the short distance
down to Tutukaka, a wise decision given the winds did in fact blow
from the south east, such that it was almost too tight on the nose to
sail to Tutukaka. I left Mimiwhangata just after 1pm, expecting to be
tucked up in Tutukaka less than 15 miles south soon after 3.30pm.
There was a reasonable 2m swell running and a rather messy sea, with
the swell coming from both the south east and north east. And with
the wind at about 15 knots from the ESE it made for a slow and bumpy
sail south. The wind gradually picked up to 20-25 knots and veered to
the SE, and I reefed in the sails so Honey sat better. Whilst the
wind strength was helping to drive Honey, the wind direction was not
idea, and it was almost 6pm by the time I was outside of Tutukaka
Harbour. This was my first time entering into Tutukaka Harbour
(actually my second time I later found out, having been here aged 3
½) and I had not realised what a hair-raising approach it is. The
entrance is 0.1 mile wide between Tutukaka Head and Red Rocks, with
the remainder of the approach all rocks. With the swell building to
about 3m in the shallow waters at the entrance, more than 20 knots of
easterly wind and the sun lowering to the west in the direction I was
heading, all I could make out was a wall of white water where the
entrance should be. I contemplated making for what was shown on the
chart as the entrance or turning back to find another anchorage, but
decided to wait for another boat to enter and follow them through,
now motoring and circling Honey out beyond the harbour entrance.
Another yacht was approaching so I did not need to wait long, and
followed them through avoiding all the rocks. Needless to say it was
a nerve racking entrance – real brown underpants stuff – and I
had a swig of whiskey once Honey was tied up safely in a berth in the
marina!
