Here’s a 20 second sample of today’s sail. Most of the time we’re motoring, or motor-sailing at best. Today we enjoyed a rare (for us) day of sailing on our way from the Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf to Tutukaka in Northland New Zealand.
The sea was a little lumpy with a following 1-1/2 meter swell from behind us with wind between 10 and 15 knots, also from behind. Even with the rolling, it was a really beautiful day! Cyndi said she had arranged this for my birthday. I will never again question her enormous powers. -Rich
It’s strange, sad and maybe scary to think that this may have been the last time we’ll see the Auckland skyline from our boat. Auckland has been our beloved home for a couple of years now but we left home this morning to head north and start staging for our trip to Australia (maybe in April or May).
Okay, yea, we’re sad to leave Auckland but tonight’s anchorage here at Mansion House Bay on Kawau Island is a not-so-subtle reminder that there are beautiful, wonderful things to come.
It was time to say say good-bye to Great Barrier Island and head back to the Hauraki Gulf. Our final destination on the way back to Auckland was Waiheke Island, and I was particularly excited about this visit because we were going to one of our favorite places: the charming village of Oneroa. We’ve cruised around Waiheke off and on during our past (nearly) 2 years living in Auckland, but the wind direction was never right to visit Oneroa during those outings. Below, a map of our approximate route.
Today’s winds were light and variable, which meant motoring the entire 7-hour ride to Waiheke Island. Actually it was a very pleasant, relaxed trip, and it wasn’t until we were nearing the island that the wind started to pick up from the south.
Below, a few photos from our trip, leaving through the beautiful pass into Port Fitzroy before motoring through the Broken Islands, followed by a late afternoon sparkling sea (click any photo to enlarge).
Not only was it great to make it in ahead of the wind, but then we got treated to one of cruising’s best gifts. It happens like this: we arrive someplace after a long journey. Maybe it’s a passage at sea, or maybe it’s just a long time cruising out in remote places, but the end result is the same: we bring the boat, depleted of resources like fresh food and alcohol, into a bay, too tired to blow up the dinghy or do much beyond getting the anchor set. Then we get a call on the radio from friends in the bay, offering sundowners, nibbles, and to taxi us in their dinghy.
We’ve been lucky enough to have this happen on a few occasions, and this time we got the hail from our friends on Oasis, who had spotted us arriving on Marine Traffic. What a luxury to get taken to a welcoming boat, with plenty of wine and yummy nibbles, sitting out in a comfortable cockpit enjoying a summer sunset. Thank you, Bob and Julie, for that lovely evening.
Below, a photo from our arrival early that evening, and a nighttime scene of this anchorage with the lights of Oneroa under the stars. –Cyndi
The remnants of Cyclone Dovi had passed, and this morning we were treated to mirror-calm water in Wairahi Bay. Rich flew the drone and got some really nice photos of the clouds reflected in the water, both around our boat and down into the arm of this bay. It looked like the other boats near us came through the storm fine. Below, a gallery of photos (click on any photo to enlarge)
Rich took a flight up into the harbor and we were both surprised to see the number of boats that ended up in a bay northwest of us, Smokehouse Bay. It would have been a great spot for westerlies but not for northerlies, which is why we never considered it.
We hadn’t noticed boats there before; so we figured they must have moved while Dovi was coming through. This meant it must have gotten unpleasant in their anchorages when the wind backed to the west. Is it possible the wind drop we experienced was simply due to the unique attributes of this bay? It’s hard to believe, but strange things do happen. When these strange things work in our favor, I don’t question them too much.
Below, a couple of photos showing the boats in Smokehouse Bay.
With Dovi now behind us, we took a final day relax before heading back to the Hauraki Gulf the next morning. –Cyndi
In my previous post, I described our wait for Cyclone Dovi, headed our way from the tropics. It would dissipate into a tropical storm by the time it reached us, but this “milder” system would still have considerable winds, forecast to gust up to 60 knots in our area. We’d enjoyed a calm day in an anchorage that we hoped would protect us through Dovi, and now that storm was due to arrive.
It wasn’t yet windy when we woke up the morning of the 12th, but we were seeing the first signs of Dovi. The weather was hot and tropical, with passing rain showers that forced us to close our hatches, reluctantly, as they passed over. As soon as the rain stopped those hatches were immediately opened up to catch any breezes. Aside from obsessively checking weather forecasts, all we had to do now was wait.
The wind speed remained in the teens all morning, but we started to get some stronger gusts that would cause the boat to swing around at anchor. There wasn’t much noticeable about this except if we happened to look out thorough our cockpit as this happened, the land would be going by at a pretty good clip.
Around noon the wind picked up to around 20 knots, and we started to hear it pretty consistently. Normally it’s not a sound we’re fond of, but today we welcomed it–it meant air was blowing through the boat, providing relief from the heat!
As the day went on, I enjoyed the wind yet felt ill at ease. I made brownies, always a great comfort food, which we needed when we got a look at the 4pm forecast that had an unnerving visual of Dovi descending over New Zealand.
In the evening we both had wine, a great comfort drink. I know that doesn’t sound like the best idea for cyclone preparation, but the wind wasn’t really due to get strong until the dead of night; so any wine buzz we had would be long gone.
I did have a wonderful moment when the wind was blowing but not yet terribly strong. I went outside and stood in the breeze. The wind felt cool and refreshing and not threatening at all. In fact it felt incredibly invigorating and uplifting, and I felt a sensation of being truly alive. I knew it was going to get stronger, but for now I enjoyed this moment with the wind.
By the time we went to sleep, the wind was well into the 20-knot range and getting into the 30s. We were now accustomed to the howling noise so that didn’t bother us, but we’d get these gusts that would make the boat lean, and I kept feeling like I was going to get rolled out of bed. I finally stuffed a big pillow between me and the edge of the bed, but not surprisingly, I didn’t sleep well at all.
I was up a few times during the night, and I eventually went to sit in the cockpit. It was very dark and I couldn’t see anything, but I did run the video camera to try to catch the sound of the shrieking wind gusts. The wind was now in the 40 knot range, although I’m not sure it ever got up to 50.
After getting more sleep, I was up again at 3am. Having just finished one book, I needed another. For some reason, maybe the scary wind noises, the mood hit me to read The Haunting of Hill House. So, I got on Amazon, ordered it, and downloaded it onto my Kindle. I have to say it’s a pretty amazing world when, in the middle of the night, I can be sitting through a tropical storm at some remote island, and with the magic of the internet, download whatever book suits my mood. Soon, I was reading the book and not paying so much attention to the wind.
The next morning it seemed so much calmer, but now looking at the video I took it looks rougher than I remembered. Still, as the morning went on, the wind did calm down continuously as it backed to the west. I’d been worried we might have to pick up and move closer to the other side of the channel; so what a relief when it seemed to die off so much!
Naturally, we wondered what happened to cause the change from what was, even now, still in the forecast. We decided to look at weather observations in our area and were shocked to see Great Mercury Island still had wind in the 50s gusting to 62, and a rock island east of us was seeing 68 knots gusting to 76! So how was it our wind was barely in the teens? We had no explanation.
Naturally we worried the wind might suddenly pick up again, but it never happened. By 11:30am, the wind was so light I could have gotten on the paddle board or gone swimming. Rich, noticing me sitting outside rather somber, asked me if I was happy with the weather. I was thrilled but also uneasy because I didn’t understand what was going on, and not understanding made me uncomfortable with the situation.
As it turned out, the storm was through and the day remained cloudy but peaceful. It was nice to hear from a few friends asking if we made it through OK, that nice feeling of people looking out for us.
Below, some video clips starting with the wind picking up on Saturday, the wind noise in the middle of the night, and the conditions on Sunday morning as they were dying down. I would like to give a shout out to our Rocna anchor, which once again really came through for us. –Cyndi
