March 26, 2019
We’re back in the world of internet (mostly). We spent the last two weeks in the wilderness of Port Pegasus and southern Stewart Island and have only been able to post on YIT via satellite phone. For those who didn’t follow us on YIT, here’s what we posted from last to first…
Tue Mar 26 7:39 2019 NZDT
46 54.325S 168 07.130E
Weather: Rain, barometer 1001 and falling.
We made it to the big city! Well, I guess it has about the same population, not including tourists, as our dock back in Tauranga, but after a couple of weeks in the wilderness, it’s a big city for us.
What did we do there? Got lunch of course, and shopped at the Four Square. It’s a bit of a trek up and down a hill to get to Oban, especially carrying eight bottles of wine, but we needed the exercise.
Oban is a cute little town. We didn’t get to explore much. We got a break in the rain and took off for home. Maybe tomorrow as it looks like rain and wind today.
By the way, there’s plenty of room to anchor here. We were needlessly worried about that.
Sun Mar 24 7:57 2019 NZDT
47 02.854s 168 10.495e
We took a tour in Legacy of Port Adventure yesterday and ended up in the Heron River for the night. Nice spot. We’re anchored in a small, deep hole (7 meters deep) and tied to a tree on shore. “Did you get more Paua?” you ask. Why, yes we did. This time, just wading ankle deep at the rocky end of a beach. “Haven’t you had enough yet?” you ask. NO! For us, there’s no such thing as enough, and there are plenty here.
Sat Mar 23 7:45 2019 NZDT
47 03.63s 168 10.21e
We moved to a nice anchorage in Port Adventure that’s called Abraham’s Bosom or Redsand Cove depending on where we look. There’s a mooring buoy in the middle of the most ideal anchorage area but there’s still room around the edges. A tale of two abalone: Yesterday morning at low tide, while we were still in Lords River, we took the dinghy to a kelp bed. I took off my jacket and shirt, put on my mask, and was able to get two abalone by just hanging my head and arms over the front of the dinghy (Cyndi sitting on my legs as a counter balance). What a dinner! This place is paradise!
Fri Mar 22 8:45 2019 NZDT
We were expecting some wind last night so we tucked into a spot the Mana Cruising Guide for Stewart Island calls “The Nook”. We had some shallow water getting here but we anchored (and as usual, tied back to a line already here) in 17 feet of water (5 meters). It’s another great spot. For future reference of those using YIT’s incredible Destination Planner, I’ll say that The Nook is a Stewart Island must-do.
The sun came out yesterday and it was warm! We sat around in tee-shirts and shorts… And bug spray, although they don’t seem to like the sun. When it comes out, they disappear. It got to 77f in the cabin (25C). It was like being back in Fiji again! Well, I guess it wasn’t quite that warm.
We might move on to Port Adventure today. The name certainly sounds intriguing.
Thu Mar 21 7:36 2019 NZDT
47 06.304s 168 07.759e
We moved from Port Pegasus to Lords River, about 12 miles east. What can I say… another day, another beautiful bay. A beautiful bay with a bonus: as we were coming in, we slowed down to talk to three guys on a little tinny. They asked if we’d been getting any fresh fish. “No, we’re not doing very good in the fishing department” I said. “How’d you like a feed? When you get settled, I’ll bring you some fish. We’ve got tons!” And an hour later, he dropped off a bag of trumpeter and two abalone (don’t know how to spell paua?) Wow, what a dinner. People are so nice here!!! I love you New Zealand!
Wed Mar 20 8:27 2019 NZDT
47 10.377s 167 40.306e
Yesterday started with heavy cloud cover and some fog that turned into a glorious, sunny afternoon. We took the dinghy across this little bay (twice) to find Smuggler’s Cove. Our first pass was unsuccessful. After reviewing satellite images, we went on another search. First, we found a great cave. I thought that was it. Cyndi said it didn’t match the pictures she’d seen. Then, around the corner, we saw the opening. Wow, what an amazing little keyhole bay (well, pond, really). Inside a narrow opening, there’s a sand beach, all flanked by 15 meter tall vertical rock walls and covered by trees growing over the top.
Back at our bay, there were two big pinnipeds relaxing on the beach. (I say pinnipeds because our id skills are somewhat lacking. We think they were NZ sea lions. Once we have internet again, we can use the thousands of pictures we’ve taken of them to make a more exact id.) Another dropped by to swim around our boat for a few minutes. The background music was a beautiful chorus of bird song. Yep. Doesn’t suck to be us right now!
Tue Mar 19 6:36 2019 NZDT
47 10.85s 167 39.85e
Another day, another beautiful bay, what we saw of it, that is. We mostly had an indoor, rain day in pretty constant drizzle. Our heater is getting a pretty good workout here, but it’s keeping us toasty and warm.
Note on the bay: there’s room to swing here. There is a buoy that can be used to pull your boat closer to shore, but with the way the sandflies have been the last couple of days, we decided not to use it. We’re anchored in about 4 meters with what seems like good holding.
Mon Mar 18 7:18 2019 NZDT
47 11.758s 167 40.141e
We’re anchored off a tiny but beautiful white sand beach in about 4 meters of clear water. So far, of the five nights we’ve been here, all but one time we’ve had to stern-tie to a buoy, line or tree or stern anchor. The water is pretty deep and the bays we’ve been in are pretty small. Most of the time, there are lines with buoys on them that you can tie to. Here, we had to put out a stern anchor. Up until yesterday, we didn’t think bugs were a problem. Yesterday, the sand flies appeared. We are each nursing a couple of itchy bites. This must be unusual here as someone even said something about it on Meri Leask’s radio net (Bluff Fishermans Radio).
We’re off to explore the north arm of Port Pegasus today. Happy travels, boat work and sailing everyone.
Sat Mar 16 8:24 2019 NZDT
47 12.371s 167 37.070e
Weather: Wind still. Barometer still 2021 steady.
We’re still way down in Port Pegasus, about thirty miles south of Oban. We saw one yacht leaving the area as we entered the other day. They’d been here for five weeks (Night Music). There are a couple of people in tinnies camping about two miles north of here. And of course, the one fishing boat that threw a crawfish into our cockpit. Literally. He told me to stand back and made a perfect toss. I tried to call Meri Leask from Bluff Fishermans Radio but couldn’t get through. We really are totally isolated.
Yesterday, right after we anchored where we are now, we threw some less-than-fresh blue cod to what we think was a fur seal. She was skeptical at first, and kept her distance. Then she smelled it and came in to investigate and chow down. After that, she was our best friend. She put on the most amazing acrobatic swimming display right next to our boat. It went on for an hour or so. We giggled, oooh’d and aaah’d the whole time. We got some video that we’ll post when we can.
This place where we’re anchored/tied up now is really beautiful. Then again, all the places we’ve been here are really beautiful. We’re using the Mana Cruising Guide for Stewart Island but it’s not great. It seems there are a lot of places here the author hasn’t visited. It does give us a starting point so we still view it as essential. The Navionics charts aren’t great for this area either. According to them, we crossed over an island yesterday. It wasn’t even bumpy. I’m glad I made satellite charts and it’s so handy to be able to display them on our chartplotter (Navico brands).
Fri Mar 15 8:36 2019 NZDT
47 14.606s 167 37.123e
Weather: Wind still. Barometer 2021 steady.
Wow. I’m tempted to leave it at that, but… We’re anchored/stern tied in Disappointment Cove and it’s not at all. It’s beautiful. We took an arduous hike over the hill to the furthest south white sand beach in NZ. Beautiful. There were NZ sea lions (we think that’s what they were) on the beach and they didn’t seem to care too much about us. The hike was mostly a game of “which way do you think the trail goes?” and we’re sore today. Later in the evening, we had a sea lion playing under Legacy. It’s cold here and I play “the air is acid” every morning, trying to keep all my skin under blankets to escape the “acid” cold. Cyndi ran up to turn on the heater this morning. Much appreciated. It does warm up during the day. We had an hour of sitting in the cockpit in tee-shirts yesterday afternoon.
Tue Mar 12 16:45 2019 NZDT
47 13.889s 167 33.471e
Weather: Can’t comment on the weather as it seems to change every few minutes, with the one consistency so far being COLD.
We made it: Port Pegasus on Stewart Island!!! We had a really nice downwind passage (if you don’t count the brutal beat to get out of Otago Harbour and the two hours we spent beating the final 5 miles into Port Pegasus when the wind turned noserly!). At times the wind got to 33 knots, but with it behind us, it was still very pleasant.
I’ve heard from life-long cruisers that this is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I guess that’s not a first impression type thing. It’s pretty but so are so many other places we’ve been. We’ll see if this grows on us, and give it every opportunity to do so.
Sun Mar 10 9:08 2019 NZDT
45 47.609S 170 39.168E
After 28 days in Dunedin, we are finally on the move again. We left the marina on high tide and motored a little over half way out the 12 mile channel where we’ll anchor for the night. Tomorrow, we’re off to Stewart Island.
Cyndi said that she feels like a fan worm that attached itself to Dunedin and has now been set adrift. We really did get attached to the place. It’s a wonderful place to stay for a while.
