Two At Sea

July 4, 2022

We motored out to Ile Ndue with unexpected  (and not-forecast) light winds. Here’s what we found…

Here’s a map of this entire cruise.

This map doesn’t include our ill-fated start. We motored into the wind 5 miles, only to get to a very unappealing and crowded bay. We found a spot that looked OK, but then the kids on the beach started playing their music – LOUD. Off we went to the north and I’m so glad we did.

-Rich

July 3, 2022

We are still waiting (and waiting, and waiting some more) for weather to sail to Australia. It’s looking like there might be a window in about 9 days, but that’s probably too far out to rely on GRIB forecasts. In the mean time, we’re off on a little get-a-way, about 10 miles from Noumea to a bay called Papaye.

It’s pretty gray this morning but still beautiful. We’re sharing this huge, calm bay with three other boats (oops, one just left) while our intended anchorage next door has 21 anchored boats packed in! Yikes!

-Rich

June 26, 2022

We just finished Episode 6 in our weather planning for passages series. There’s still no weather window we like in sight as the waves have been too steep. I revisit the steepness factor in this very short video.

You can find all episodes here.

-Rich

March 12, 2014

After Hot Water Beach, I had a few more stops in mind, but our next destination was the one I was most excited about…

There’s a section of the Coromandel Coast that was formed from ignimbrite, a rock substance made up of pumice and ash from volcanic eruptions. This gives the cliffs here a distinctly white appearance, especially striking when combined with the area’s large pohutukawa trees and gem-colored blue/green water.

Cathedral Cove is the highlight of this area, with a huge naturally-formed arch over a white sand beach, effectively dividing it into two beaches. The underside of the archway forms a large, high-ceilinged cavern which inspired the name Cathedral Cove.

The best time to visit this area is at low tide when the cavern is dry and easy to walk through. This can make combining visits to Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove a bit hurried, but actually there’s a long period of time on either side of low tide to enjoy both beaches at Cathedral Cove.

Once we’d managed to find a place to park, we embarked on the 40-minute hike to the beach. Some of it took place along the top of the cliffs, treating us to some really impressive views. Below, a photo gallery (click on any photo to enlarge).

And a couple of panoramas…

Then the path started winding downhill towards the shore. It actually wasn’t difficult; it just took some time. The final bit went down some wooden stairs amid brush and boulders, then we emerged onto the first beach, Mares Leg Cove.

“Wow!,” was our first reaction. It felt like we’d gone through a wormhole to another world, a very beautiful one. On one side we had high white cliffs with gnarled green pohutukawa trees clinging to their sides. At the foot of these cliffs was a fantastic beach, framed on the south end by a headland. The water here was calm, with a few rock formations making little islets close to shore. Behind us was was the arch, which created a giant cave through which we could look to the other beach and its striking monolith rock formation. Below, a panorama…

and a gallery (click on any photo to enlarge.)

This was one of those scenes that’s so overwhelming at first sight that it’s impossible to take it all in, however much we wanted to. Because to take it in would mean we could really be in the moment and fully remember it later. To be overwhelmed is rather anxiety provoking; so it really helped to take time to relax, walk around, and take plenty of photos.

And so we did walk around, first exploring under the arch, then heading to the second beach: Te Whanganui-A-Hei. It was just as striking as the first beach with the white cliffs, clinging trees, and calm water, but it had something else that was special, a large rock pillar called Te Hoho. Below, a panorama of the beach…

and Te Hoho…

Plus a gallery of the beach:

After some time here, we went and walked the length of the first beach. Satisfied we’d experienced this place (although still a little overwhelmed), we began the 40-minute hike back up to the car.

On our way out of the parking area, we stopped at the lookout overlooking Hahei Beach, the gateway to the Cathedral Cove area and home to the water taxis and tour boats that visit Cathedral Cove. With all this going on I wasn’t expecting much, so I was surprised to see that, while not as stunning as Cathedral Cove, it was really nice. The beach had pinkish sand stretching between rocky headlands, sheltered by an offshore island which made the water calm. If it weren’t for its proximity to the more beautiful area, Hahei would get plenty of attention for itself.

As we drove off, I felt lucky we got out here to visit Cathedral Cove. As popular as it is with New Zealanders, it’s too out of the way  for the mainstream tourism track. Otherwise this would probably be considered an iconic sight in New Zealand. But I guess its somewhat remote location is just as well because it keeps it from getting too crowded.

Next up, I had one more beach in mind; then we could head to town for an overdue lunch and check into our motel.

Below is an interactive map that shows where Cathedral Cove is relative to Auckland and Tauranga.

–Cyndi

 

June 17, 2022

I’ve been working on a series of videos about passage weather planning. In this episode (episode 5) I talk about the amazing new wave data on PredictWind. Links to all the videos can be found below.

Table of Contents:
0:00 Introduction
0:06 Isobar Map Overview of Passage
1:35 Routing
2:24 Table View
3:27 New Wave Data from PredictWind
5:19 Wave Polar Help Article and Definitions
6:13 Looking Closely at Wave Numbers
7:44 Passage Summary Data
9:55 Another Look at the Map
10:52 How to Set Up Wave Polars
11:47 A Plea to Get a Pro Subscription
12:41 Summary (kind of)

Links:
The help article mentioned in the video is here.
PredictWind help article about models used.
Here’s a wikipedia article about ECMWF ensemble data.

The rest of the video series can be found here.

-Rich