Author: richwest3

March 20, 2013

Some bays don’t reveal their beauty until you get up close to them, but not Waewaetorea! It’s a standout any way you look at it.

I first spotted this bay as we motored by en route to Urupukapuka Island and said, “What is that?”  I did some research and found it’s called Waewaetorea Bay, and it sits in an area nestled between Okahu Island and Waewaetorea Island.  On one side those islands come very close together, nearly enclosing that side.  The other side is open so boats can easily enter.  It’s a little shallow, and it’s recommended as an anchorage for settled weather; so we would need good weather to be able go.

Our good weather was now here; so after our hike on Motorua Island, we pulled up the anchor and made the short trip over to that magical area between Waewaetorea and Okahu Islands.  The two islands are close enough together they pretty much make one big bay; so it doesn’t matter which one you anchor closer to.

Waewaetorea Island is the more beautiful island, with green grassy hills, a gorgeous white sand beach, and clear aqua water.  It looks like it could just as easily be in the tropical South Pacific as New Zealand.  Okahu Island is more brushy, and its beach is more gray and rocky, but for all we know may be a very nice place to explore.  With our limited time, we opted for Waewaetorea Island.

We landed on the beach and our feet sunk into the soft white sand.  We decided to climb the hill, which is a long, steep grassy slope.  It’s not an easy climb, but the views from the top make it well worth the effort.  Once we reached the top, we walked out along the top of a long, flat hill for a view of the isthmus between Waewaetorea Bay and the facing bay on the rugged east side of the island.

After a long climb down the hill back to the beach, we took a swim.  We noticed the water was cooler than it’s been but didn’t know if it’s from an upwelling of cool water somewhere or a sign that fall was around the corner.  In spite of the cool water, it was a wonderful swim.  We ended up in a small cove between the rocks just big enough for the two of us, resting there until some biting sea creature (fish, shrimp?) chased us out.  We were starting to get chilly anyway and headed back to Legacy.

As the afternoon went on the conditions began picking up, and it was starting to get rolly as the ocean effects were sneaking in through the Okahu Passage between the two islands. We decided that it was time to move on for the night, but it had been well worth coming to this place even just for an afternoon.–Cyndi

Click on any picture in the gallery to enlarge, then on the right side of the picture to scroll through them.  Click the X in the lower right corner to return to the regular-size photos.

March 20, 2103

There’s a path that goes all the way around Motorua Island, and since it isn’t that big, the walk takes less than two hours.

These walks all start with a dinghy landing, but that’s an easy task here in these calm bays with no waves to contend with.  The harder part is carrying the dinghy up above the high tide line.  We can’t drag it because we don’t have a hard bottom; so we pick it up out of the water at the shoreline, each taking an end, and carry it to a nearby tree.  Generally we’ll tie it off to that tree or a nearby bush as an extra precaution.  As far as theft prevention, that’s not been something we’ve needed to worry about in any place we’ve visited since leaving California. (Hopefully it will stay that way.)

We located the trail and climbed on thick, spongy grass up to the top of the hill where we had terrific views of our bay.  The rest of the walk alternated between forest, grassy areas, and the beaches of Mangahawea Bay, Waipao Bay and Otupoho Bay before returning us back to where we started in Army Bay (aka Waiwhapuki Bay).

Like Ururpukapuka Island, we were struck by the number of birds here on this island.  The forest was filled with tuis and fantails, while pukekos roamed about in the grassy areas.  This was quite a treat for us bird lovers!

In all, this was a beautiful walk, and we would come to count this among our favorite spots in the Bay of Islands. –Cyndi

(At the top of this post is a photo gallery from our walk. Click to enlarge and scroll.)

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

March 19, 2013

We’ve gone back out cruising after three days in Opua for some repairs, to pick up some supplies and to miss a weather system that blew through. Now, once again, we’re headed south, eventually to end up in Tauranga (but there are about a million places to see on the way down!).

“How is he posting this?” you ask. I’m using my birthday present (ok, it’s not for another week). We got an Iridium satellite phone and Cyndi said it could be my present this year. Yea! I just got the data connection working last night. Ah, the cruising life – working on difficult technology while anchored in beautiful bays. I guess I should take a picture of the bay and use it as my computer’s desktop wallpaper so I can at least get a glimpse of what’s around us 😉 -Rich

March 16 – 19, 2013

When Saturday morning brought gray skies with squalls visible on the horizon, we knew we’d better get going for Opua.  We pulled anchor and left Paradise Bay, checking out a few bays on the mainland as we passed to see what they were like.

I felt a little silly returning to Opua after our triumphant exit little more than a week earlier, and it wasn’t like the weather was going to be so bad we couldn’t have stayed in a sheltered bay.  But the idea of what we could get accomplished at the marina while the winds blew made it easy to swallow my pride as we motored into a slip.

We made the best of our 3 days in Opua.  We re-provisioned at the farmer’s market, the supermarket and the chocolate shop, did laundry, downloaded another round of TV shows, and enjoyed some pizza.  We also got some boat work done: Rich rebuilt our saltwater pump, had a part welded, and picked up and installed the Iridium Satellite phone he ordered from Cater Marine after we decided to return to Opua.  I’d resisted getting this phone as calls are so expensive and unreliable, but the idea of being able to pick up a phone and talk to our weather router on passages to and from New Zealand was a big comfort.

It was definitely three days well spent, and when it came time to head out again, we did so with clean laundry, a full fridge, and an expensive-but-hopefully worthwhile phone. –Cyndi