Chamberlain’s Bay on Ponui Island (Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand)

February 9, 2014

It was only a mile from our anchorage at Rotoroa Island to the north end of Ponui Island. Our destination was Chamberlain’s Bay, a large area that actually included several bays.

Chamberlain’s is unofficially the most popular anchorage in the Haruaki Gulf, but I’m not sure why this is. Yes, it’s beautiful, but so are many other bays. Maybe it’s because it’s difficult to visit unless you have your own boat, but with so many boats enjoying the mystique of “getting away from the crowd”; it actually becomes pretty crowded.

Fortunately for us the holiday weekend was ending and there weren’t many boats left in the anchorage. The interesting thing about Chamberlain’s is the prettiest bays are in an area too shallow for all but very small or shallow-draft boats. No matter, though, as it’s an easy dinghy ride from the deeper anchorage to the shallow bays around the headland.

We pulled into the anchorage, pleasant with grassy hills and craggy, pine-covered headlands. At the head of the bay was a long, narrow beach. Most of the boats remaining in the anchorage were on the far side of the bay from us; so it felt roomy. Below, a photo gallery of our anchorage at Chamberlain’s (click to enlarge any photo).

 

After a quick lunch we got in our dinghy and motored to the bay around the corner, wearing our swimsuits just in case. As we rounded the corner we could see two beaches divided by a rocky area. The whole area was so pretty with grassy green slopes and saddles over the long white beaches.

Beyond this area was another headland and more bays that looked nice…

But we returned to what I’ll call the Bay Around the Corner as it was the most appealing to us. We dinghied over to the beach and found it was made up of tens of thousands of shells and shell pieces. It was the kind of beach where you leave your shoes on, but it was lovely. After we beached the dinghy, I noticed a tree swing and made a beeline for it. I swung out over the water a few times, then let Rich have a few turns. As swings go, this was a fun one. We then walked down the beach, enjoying the beauty of the afternoon and the remote, peaceful feeling of this place.

We’d thought we might go for a swim, but it was getting late in the afternoon and time to head back to the boat. This turned out to be a good decision in that the breeze was picking up. Our plan now was to spend at least one night in this lovely place. –Cyndi

Drone Training Flight in the Forest

October 2, 2020

I’m still new to this drone stuff but I think I found a great way to hone my skills: fly on a narrow path in the forest, following Cyndi. Sure, I did a little weed-whacking along the way, but no crashes!

I didn’t really intend to post this, but I loved the way it turned out. Yes, I know I could have just carried a camera and gotten the same shots, but that’s hardly any fun!

This was in Dingle Dell Reserve near Auckland. (Hey, we didn’t name it!)

Music: The Hu – Wolf Totem. I searched Google for Didgeridoo Rock and came across this amazing group. If you like this, check out some of their other songs (on Amazon).

-Rich

We (Still) Have a Drone!

September 24, 2020

When we thought we were going to Fiji, we bought a drone so that we could show you the anchorages, beautiful water and beaches on TwoAtSea and make you green with envy. Covid closed Papua New Guinea, Australia and Indonesia so that spending cyclone season in Fiji went from a worst-case scenario to inevitable. Now, here we are, “stuck” in New Zealand. Poor us! (We love it here!)

Anyway, we have a drone, and we’re slowly learning to fly it. We took a small boat trip out to some nearby Islands to try to remember what cruising is like and we got a chance to do a little flying and filming. Here’s our first of hopefully many videos featuring drone shots.

 

Great Sena Headset Alternative

September 23, 2020

We bought a two Sena headsets to use for anchoring and docking. For a very short while, they were great, then they died. Being able to communicate easily in full-duplex mode with no push-to-talk buttons to deal with was a game changer. Here’s a post we did about this some time ago.

But these Sena headsets were ABSOLUTE CRAP! They are so poorly made and very expensive at almost $200 US, each. Ours only lasted a few months and then one died. I looked high and low for an alternative, refusing to waste any more cash on Sena garbage. I found an alternative and they are fantastic.

Sena alternative from Amazon (a little DIY required).

We got ours from AliExpress, but above are the units from Amazon. These are meant to go into a motorcycle helmet and we thought that might be a little silly for anchoring, so here’s what we did…

Lexin motorcycle headset on a cheap pair of headphones.

We bought two very inexpensive pairs of headphones, broke them apart, removed the speakers, and strapped on the Lexin units. It was easier than I expected and works so well.

After prying apart the headphones and cutting out the speakers, I just used the Lexin supplied Velcro to place their speakers in the headphones.

I again used the supplied Velcro to attach the boom microphone.

Then I simply attached the electronics box to the headset frame with a couple of cable ties as well as the supplied adhesive tape. I wrapped the excess wire around the electronics box and we were good to go.

Here’s me, all smiles, able to easily communicate my every wish to Cyndi on the bow (not that those wishes are often granted! 😉

One thing I have to say about the Lexin intercoms is that the range seems to be far less than advertised but far enough even for a superyacht. The battery life is amazing and the sound quality and noise canceling are superb.  (It’s like having Cyndi right there, inside my head with me.  Ah, wait. Is she? What if she can read my thoughts? Oh oh.)

Total cost for this experiment:

Headsets from AliExpress, about $100 NZ.
Two sets of headphones: $60 NZ.
Savings over buying more of Sena’s garbage: incalculable as I was very likely to have a heart attach from the sheer frustration of trying to use Sena’s crap!

Update, June 2021: After using these quite a bit, I’m still thrilled with them. They are flawless and make life so much easier when anchoring or docking. They are so comfortable, Cyndi has started to wear them to keep her ears warm on passages.