February 16, 2014
After enjoying morning coffee in Coralie Bay, it was time to head north over the top of Great Mercury Island to its west side. The trip wouldn’t be too far, less than 2 hours, and it was looking like a nice day.
Traveling over the north end of this island was interesting because of the multitude of rock formations and islands. The wind was up a bit higher than forecast but mostly coming from behind us so a nice trip overall in sunny, breezy conditions. Below a photo gallery of the trip (click to enlarge any photo in the gallery).
Once we arrived on the island’s west side, we checked out an area called Huruhi Harbour before deciding to return to the bay we’d gone to last year, Parapara. It’s pretty, well protected, and just all-around pleasant. With only one other boat there, we had plenty of room. Below, a couple of photos…
How nice to find a spot, get the anchor set, and settle in for lunch. We looked forward to spending 2 or 3 days here before heading over to the Coromandel Peninsula for a couple of stops. After that, we’d finish up this cruising season in Tauranga.
What happened next was another example of cruising’s most annoying challenges. This doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. It goes something like this:
Cyndi: “Ahhh, all settled in here at a nice bay. It will be lovely to relax for a couple of days.”
Rich, taking a quick look at the weather, stayed silent and settled in to read. Sometimes it’s best not to be the messenger but to let someone see the bad news for themselves. I got up to take a look at the situation and indeed, it was bad news. The wind was due to increase tomorrow, followed by several days of south-easterlies. We’d be fine here in this bay, but it wouldn’t be good for heading to Tauranga or any of our hoped-for stops along the Coromandel. Which meant we’d be pinned here at least a week.
Rich, observing that I was now seeing what he had, asked, “Do we really feel like sitting here for a week?” I said, “With the exception of leaving right now, we’re stuck. The wind is forecast to go up to 20-knot easterlies tomorrow, and I don’t want to be out in that!” Rich wasn’t as put off by those conditions as I was, but I pointed out the wind would likely be gusting higher, making for a both an uncomfortable trip and difficult marina arrival.
I noticed there was one option to avoid tomorrow’s wind, and that was to leave, like, right now. We could motor-sail overnight and arrive at Tauranga in the morning before the wind came up. Rich came over and looked at the situation with me, and asked, “If we could leave now, would you be up for it? Would you be disappointed not to make any stops?” Sigh. I told him that yes, I could leave now. And the stops I hoped to make were places we could visit by car in the future.
With that, Rich sat down to look at tide times in Tauranga and plot distances. He determined it would actually be best to leave at 7pm, motor overnight, and arrive early in the morning at slack tide, best for going through the channel into Tauranga’s harbor.
So, there it was, our best option. It wasn’t a happy option as we’d now gone from anticipating a restful time at a lovely anchorage to steeling ourselves for a long overnighter followed by a nerve-wracking passage through a busy shipping channel and dealing with a marina arrival. What a way to ruin a perfectly nice afternoon! But it was our best option, and an option we could live with.
When I call this one of cruising’s most annoying challenges, I’m not referring to the disappointing weather forecast or having to leave earlier than planned (although those things are annoying). I’m referring specifically to getting the news of needing to leave imminently and pull an all-nighter. It’s happened to us before, and unfortunately it will probably happen again.
It was tempting to just rip off the band-aid off and leave right then, but the sun was still strong, and this area is prone to late-afternoon gusty winds. It would be better to wait until this evening. So, we relaxed as best we could (not easy when facing an overnight passage), had dinner, took showers, and put on scopolamine patches knowing conditions could get choppy with wind at, or ahead of, the beam. At 7pm, we brought up our anchor and headed out of the bay.
In spite of only a day at Coralie Bay, I have a few “second chance” photos I like that didn’t make the blog posts. (Alas, we were in Parapara Bay such a short time that I have no photos to include.) Here, a good-bye gallery for Great Mercury Island that includes Coralie Bay, the unnamed bay just south of it, and yes, some Canadian Geese.
These birds were introduced to New Zealand as game birds in the early 1900s and like so many of us others who’ve been “introduced” to this place, are loathe to leave. Since Mc Donald’s has expressed no interest in making Canadian Gooseburgers, no one actually eats these and they’re considered a bit of a pest. But us being from Southern California, we think they’re exotic and beautiful and are always excited to see them. –Cyndi
