March 19, 2013
We left Opua in the morning and headed back to the Bay of Islands for a few more days of cruising before heading south. Our next pick was Army Bay on Motorua Island, about 2 hours away.
Army Bay is an exception to the rule of west-facing bays being rugged because it’s protected by another island close by: Motukiekie Island. In fact if you look at a map, it’s easy to imagine Moturua Island and Motukiekie Island as a single land mass that’s been snapped in half and pulled apart like a cookie, opening up a passage of water between them where boats can slip through. In fact the north tips of the islands are only about 800 feet apart; so you have to take care coming in that way to avoid the scattered reefs and rocks between the islands.
Once inside, you can head to either Army Bay on Moturua, or Sunset Bay bay on Motukiekie as these two bays face each other across the passage. (If you’re a small boat you can head down a little further to Otupoho, aka Trailer-Sailor Bay). Motukiekie Island is privately owned; so while you’re allowed to land on the beach, you can’t walk around the island. That made Moturua Island the easy choice for us.
It was stressful getting away from Opua. Because of the strong currents there, you have to leave at slack tide, which always seems to be too early or too late in the day to be convenient. This usually means you have to leave earlier than you’d like. Actually, it means you have to leave on time, and what boater ever leaves on time? We had to rush to get out, and as we headed up the channel towards the islands, the wind picked up to 20 knots. I actually wondered if we ought to go back and try again tomorrow, but Rich assured me that Army Bay would be protected in these winds.
Rich was right. When we headed in through the narrow north pass between Motorua and Motukiekie Islands, the wind died off as we motored into calm waters. This is the upside to unpleasant passages of any length: the great feeling you get when you pull into bay that’s sheltered and calm. That feeling is even better when that bay happens to be beautiful, as Army Bay was. Rocky headlands protected and enclosed a bay with grassy slopes surrounding a lovely crescent of sandy beach. So far, these anchorages in the Bay of Islands were exceeding our expectations. We planned to relax the rest of the day. Our “boot camp” walk around the island would wait until the following morning. –Cyndi
