February 16 – 17, 2014
It was 7pm but still sunny when we left Parapara Bay, making the trip ahead much more palatable than it would have been if we’d left in the dark. We passed a neighbor who complimented our boat (a man with good taste, obviously!) and asked where we were headed. Tauranga, we told him. Incredulous he said, in a British accent, “Now-ow?” I loved the way he said it, with that British inflection that puts questioning rise at the beginning of the word, then goes down in tone. (For weeks afterword we’d say it the same way.) Rich answered him that we were doing an overnighter. I’m sure he was scratching his head about that one, but I suspect he later came to understand our seemingly-bizarre decision. Below, a map showing our approximate route from Great Mercury Island to Tauranga.
Thankfully the wind was from the northwest and aft of the beam as we motor-sailed past the island. Below, a few photos…
After we left the island behind us, we started taking turns on watch. On big passages we do long watches, but on trips like these we switch off every couple of hours or so. Thankfully the wind stayed from the northwest at about 10 to 12 knots for the duration of our trip. As a bonus the current was going with us. The moon later rose as a big orange ball and lit up the world around us.
It was actually a nice sail except for the fact that it was quite cold, and with the scattered small powerboats in this area, generally out fishing, we felt the need to keep watch outside. It was still dark when we started to see huge freighters, many miles outside of Tauranga, waiting for daybreak when the harbor’s ship pilots would start work and could take them through the channel.
When the sun came up we both kept watch together in the chilly morning air. I was pretty thrilled to see the Mount ahead of us, a landmark that let us know we were getting close to Tauranga.
We’d arrived earlier than planned, but the tide was rising and the current would be with us going through the channel. We decided to go for it, gliding in at a fast clip on the swirling water rushing through the channel. What a good feeling to get through and be able to admire the the Mount from inside the harbor.
Unfortunately while we could get away with riding the current at the harbor’s entrance, the marina really did need to be entered at slack tide. We now had about an hour to kill so motored around, tired and ready to be in. Finally it was almost time and not a moment too soon. The wind was supposed to pick up to 20 knots at 10am, and it was now almost 9:45. The wind was just starting to get stronger as we headed into the marina and to our slip. We got in beautifully, and what a relief to be tied up!
Our next order of business: get signed in at the marina office followed by a late breakfast at the marina’s cafe. While waiting for our breakfast sandwiches, Rich took another look at the weather. It turned out we made the right move coming here as conditions had worsened–the wind was now forecast to be 30 knots and would stay up for a week! That British guy back at Parapara was probably thinking we were pretty smart at this point.
We headed back to the boat, indulged in a bottle of arrival wine, and then both promptly feel into a deep sleep. I woke up to what I thought was the next morning, so sunny and bright. Rich said he’d downloaded the Super Bowl and we could watch. He went to our galley and instead of coming back with coffee, came back with beer and chips. Beer and chips in the morning? How decadent! Rich told me it was actually evening but my brain was so foggy that took awhile for it to sink in that this was still the same day as when we arrived. In spite of the nice long nap this afternoon, I was still feeling the effects of being up much of the previous night.
It wasn’t long after watching the Super Bowl that we were both asleep again. Tomorrow we’d begin a new phase in our cruising lives: land life. But unlike last year, when our time in Tauranga was mostly spent prepping the boat to head to Fiji, this year we planned to do a lot of car travel around the north island. We’d already covered the north part of this island, but most of New Zealand tourism’s “big guns” were still south of us. I’d seen a few of these places on a previous trip and was anxious to show them to Rich, hoping they’d live up to my memories of them.
Many cruisers would accomplish this goal by doing a 2-week road trip, covering it all in one loop. Rich, though, is not one for long car trips; so I’d have the challenge of figuring how best to cover everything in several short trips. In between road trips, we would again be prepping our boat for another season in the tropics; so there was lots to do in the weeks ahead.
-Cyndi
