February 12, 2014
What a pleasure to wake up in Squadron Bay, go outside, and be surrounded by trees, hills and so many birds. Hearing some birdsong I didn’t know sent me groggily into the cockpit before I even had my coffee in hand. It turned out to be a group of Australian Magpies, a bird not uncommon in New Zealand, but I hadn’t heard them group together and be so vocal before.
We sat outside and had our coffee, admiring our surroundings and what looked the beginnings of a a beautiful day. Aside from large birds in the trees (cormorants and those lively magpies), we saw groups of larger birds like wild turkeys and pukekos grouped on the hillsides surrounding us. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the scenes in Jurassic park with the grazing dinosaurs. This place had a similar appearance and feeling, not typical for a New Zealand anchorage.
Once again, it would have been lovely to linger in this one spot, but we needed to keep moving to take advantage of the good weather. Our plan now was to make the short trip north to the next area, Coromandel Harbour.
Coromandel Harbour isn’t really a popular destination. It edges the border of the good cruising grounds of the Hauraki Gulf. There are anchorages and some scattered islands further north, but they are rather open and rugged, lacking the pastoral prettiness of Te Kouma and some of the Hauraki Gulf’s inner islands.
The reason we wanted to go there was to visit a town called Coromandel, located at the head of the harbor. It’s a historic town dating back to the gold mining and logging eras of the 1800s, but it’s now one of those places that attracts artists, craftspeople, and those who enjoy living in a remote, somewhat difficult to access area. There is a road that goes out to it, but it’s a long and winding drive to get there.
The harbor looks large, but much of it is shallow and actually dries out at low tide. In spite of this there are a few anchorages in the outer half of the harbor, protected and suitable for a deep-draft boat. We were headed to an anchorage called Woolshed Bay, about 3 1/2 miles total from our Squadron Bay location. Technically Woolshed is on an island, Whanganui Island, but it’s more like a finger of land got split, opening a channel of water between the two ends and creating this “island.”
We pulled anchor and headed out of Te Kouma Harbour around 10am, the conditions fine until we exited the harbor and headed north. We could see what looked like a patch of fog approaching and realized it was actually a thick layer of cloudy rain. Soon, we we were in miserably wet conditions as the wind gusted up to 20 knots and the temperature dropped.
Between the rain and the wind we didn’t get to enjoy checking out this new harbor as we headed in towards the anchorage. Mostly what we experienced was just was gray and damp, with splashy whitecaps around us. We continued towards Woolshed Bay, promising ourselves some Laphroaig (our favorite Scotch) as something to look forward to when we got to our anchorage (shown in the lower right in the gallery below–click to enlarge any photo).
By the time we got in, the rain and wind had died down, but it was still cold outside. So we went below to huddle under the covers and enjoy that Lahroaig we’d promised ourselves. While cruising there are plenty of times we get caught in less than nice conditions, and a good way to cope is to dream of the treat we’ll give ourselves upon landing. Arriving in the evening after a very long passage, it’s a long shower and champagne. Daytime arrivals usually mean a meal at an eatery, hopefully one with a view and and festive atmosphere, but any place that serves adult beverages will do. On a day like today, crawling into bed to warm up and sip some whiskey is just the ticket!
After a time, the sun came out and we went outside to look at our bay. It was very nice, well-forested with an attractive beach. We wouldn’t call it particularly special by New Zealand standards, but it was still a nice place to be.
With the weather suddenly looking better, it was time to think about heading to Coromandel Town. –Cyndi
