Two At Sea

August 16, 2020

I don’t know and I don’t care. It’s beautiful. This was the Auckland Skytower this morning (very early… too early).

It was blue a month or so ago and that was for the killing of a NZ police officer during a traffic stop. Actually, I think this time it has something to do with rugby, whatever that is.

The top of the tower is visible from our boat here at Pier 21 Marina. This photo was taken about a minute’s walk away, just outside the marina. -Rich

Update: August 26, 2020

Not just blue. Cyndi got this picture of the rainbow Skytower a few days ago…

February 8, 2014

The wind switched to the west more quickly than we thought; by the time we pulled anchor it was blowing into the bay. It wasn’t very strong, but it felt good to turn right and put it on our beam. Now we were headed north, motor-sailing up Waiheke Island’s east coast. We passed some small but appealing-looking bays, and I made note of them for possible future visits. Today, though, nothing would sway us from visiting one of our favorite places: Man O’ War Vineyard in Man o’ War Bay.

What a shock to pull into the bay and find it empty, although this didn’t last long as people soon started arriving in droves. This time no one anchored too close, but we were horrified to see how many people didn’t bother to set their anchor! This anchorage was silty, and when we anchored it took us three tries to make it set. If any wind picked up in here there would be a lot of boats dragging. Thankfully we’d gone close enough to shore that it was too shallow for  boats to anchor in front of us.

We went ashore to check on the winery’s hours and to see what sort of food they might serve as we hoped to have dinner there. It turned out they had wonderful-looking platters; so we made a plan to come back this evening. For now, we took a walk down the road to admire the scenery. All around us were people swimming, playing ball on the lawn, and looking very happy. This place just had that effect on people.

Below, photos of the beach, the winery, and our walk around the area. (Click to to enlarge any photo.)

After we got back to the boat we decided to get in the water and do some bottom cleaning. It had enough growth that we had a noticeable drop in speed since leaving Auckland. I worried it might be too cold to swim, but it turned out to be pretty nice. We ended up spending an hour or so cleaning and got a good amount of the bottom done, enough to make a difference.

That evening, we went ashore to find quite a few people at the winery. We went in and ordered a bottle of wine and a platter to share and were lucky enough to get the last available picnic table on the lawn, our wine brought out to us in an ice bucket. Soon we were sipping wine and enjoying the festive sunny summer evening atmosphere. Kids played on the lawn, and every picnic table had a bottle of wine and people holding wine glasses. Everyone just seemed so happy; this place had a glow. Soon our platter came; and not surprisingly the food was wonderful. There are just some places that are heaven on Earth, and this is certainly one of them.

The bay was peaceful when we went to sleep, but at 2am we awoke to the sound of strong gusting wind (we later heard it was gusting to 30 knots). We felt securely anchored but wondered about all those boats we saw earlier who hadn’t set their anchors. It was then we started to see flashlight beams; so we went outside to look and sure enough, all those boats were now having quite a time of it! In particular there was quite a lot of commotion going on by the cliff. It seemed the people were dragging into each other, and there was lots of re-anchoring going on. Thankfully the people around us were doing well. I dubbed this event The Anchorage Follies of 2014.

The next morning the wind switched again, going back to an easterly direction. It was only a breeze, but we decided it was a good time to head to our next anchorage.–Cyndi

February 5-8, 2014

Ponui (aka Chamberlins) Island is smallish, about 4 miles long and 1-1/2 miles wide. It sits just under Waiheke Island in the Hauraki Guilf, about 14 miles from our anchorage at Rangitoto. It’s nearly uninhabited, with only a handful farms and a few people. There are some lovely anchorages at Ponui, but we chose today’s anchorage, Apuapu Bay, for the protection it offered from strong easterly winds due to arrive.

Below, a map.

After our morning hike on Motutapu Island, we had lunch before heading off across the Haruaki Gulf. The sky started to cloud up as we motored along, but thankfully the wind stayed light. We pulled into Apuapu Bay about 3 hours later, heading into an anchorage surrounded by golden grassy hills and peninsulas densely vegetated with native bush and pohutukawa trees.

At the head of the bay was grassland, a pasture for cows. Our first clue: there were a lot of cows. We’d even get an occasional cow on the beach. Overall, this place had a low-key yet appealing beauty to it. We felt very comfortable here.

We had a couple of sailing yachts in the bay with us and they were fine, but Rich had to run off a couple of power boats that anchored too close. We understand they may have only been making a temporary stop, but we have no way of knowing their plans and had to assume they’d be sitting out the blow. Either way, they should have anchored accordingly. Thankfully they didn’t argue and moved.

After dinner we sat outside to sip some whiskey and enjoy being serenaded by mooing cows. What is it about that sound that’s so damned entertaining? I don’t know, but we enjoyed it. In all, we were really liking this spot.

Later, the sunset was particularly beautiful!

The next morning felt like deep summer, with warm pleasant air, a blue sky with streaks of white clouds, and the buzzy sound of cicadas coming from the island.

It wasn’t long, though, before we started to get gusts of strong wind interspersed with still periods. By nightfall the gusts were coming more frequently, strong enough to wake us up occasionally. Thankfully the boats around us had anchored sensibly so we didn’t worry about them, but at times the howling wind noise was unsettling.

The gusting winds lasted for two days, and we finally got some rain the second night. I rather enjoyed this time hunkered down on the boat, but Rich could have done without the sound of gusting wind–it makes him nervous. Another evening of whiskey in the cockpit helped with that. Overall it was strange weather in that during the lulls, it still felt summery and really nice to sit outside.

After three nights in Apuapu Bay, the wind was due to clock around and come from the west. Any time the wind completely switches direction, it tends to go light and gives us a chance to move with no dramas. Our planned destination for the westerlies: Man o’War Bay on Waiheke Island. –Cyndi

February 5, 2014

After walking over the causeway to Motutapu Island, we set out on the trail heading up into the hills. The further we walked, the more enchanted we became. This landscape was like places we knew in California, but as Rich put it, “on steroids.” I would say it was more dreamlike. On Motutapu, miles of golden grassy hills are dotted with copses of large trees, with many birds and a surprising amount of scenic beauty. Below, photos from our walk (click to enlarge any photo).

The walk required some effort but not too much, and the surroundings were so lovely and peaceful that the experience brought on a kind of natural high. It’s not that often I experience that feeling on a nature walk, but here it was. As we walked, we came to a couple of nice lookouts over the Hauraki Gulf. Below, a couple of panorama shots.

We didn’t make it all the way to Home Bay, instead doubling back on another path. In all it had been about a 2-hour hike. I managed to get photos of a couple of elusive birds, a fantail and the colorful parrot called a rosella. The fantail flits around constantly, and the rosealla just doesn’t stay put in one place for long. Both are hard to photograph.

After we returned to the boat and had some lunch, we pulled anchor and headed off to another island, Ponui. We had some heavy weather coming and had chosen a good anchorage there in which to hunker down. After that passed, we’d continue cruising around the Hauraki Gulf. – Cyndi

February 5, 2014

We woke up early, settling into the cockpit to have our coffee and enjoy the damp grassy smell of Motutapu. Today this was the island we’d visit. We planned to dinghy over to Islington Bay Wharf, close to where Rangitoto and Motutapu are joined, then hike towards an area called Home Bay. Below, a map.

After motoring over, we tied our dinghy to the wharf and climbed a ladder up to the dock. We were actually on Rangitoto but only a short distance from the causeway to Motutapu. (Click to enlarge/scroll through photo galleries.)

The first thing we wanted to see was exactly how these two islands were joined; so we set out on a path that took us in the direction of the bridge. Our walk took us through green and golden brush, small beaches, mangroves and pohutukawa trees. It was really quite a lovely area. Below, photos from the walk.

It turned out the islands didn’t quite join—it seems there’s always a small river between them no matter how low the tide is. We walked onto the bridge. The view to the south was filled with mangroves, but on the north side we could see a pleasant sandy area, a little cottage by the river, and a bay. Below, photos of the bridge and views to the south and north.

After we walked across the little bridge to Motutapu, it felt like a different world, more golden grassy, very different in look and feel from Rangitoto.

It was looking like we were in for a nice hike. –Cyndi