December 10, 2015… A Three Bay Day
We started at Bland Bay, toured Poor Knights, drove the dinghy through three amazing caves/archways, and ended the day at a perfect little no-name bay in Tutukaka Harbor.
These islands are stunning. I think they’re as pretty as anything I’ve ever seen from our boat. There are jagged cliffs, caves and arches, stunning blue water, and it’s all covered with what Cyndi called pohutukawa sauce (pohutukawas are New Zealand’s Christmas tree, blooming with vibrant red flowers in December). See for yourself…
You say Archways, I say Caves
After anchoring, we launched the dinghy to drive through a few of the many nearby caves. Wow! One, we think, was high enough to take Legacy through, mast and all. Another was smaller, dark, colorful with crystal clear water beneath us.
All the while, ghosting through these caves, “Dead men tell no tales!” was bouncing around in my head. We were on a Disneyland ride!
And below us, these must have been workers, cleaning the tracks…
We had to put up the dinghy engine and paddle through this cave using our yelling sticks so we wouldn’t run over divers from one of the three dive boats anchored nearby.
Below is a photosphere of one of the caves. Click on its title bar and then drag to pan left, right, up and down. -Rich
Comment from Cyndi: Poor Knights is famous for being a dive destination, which is a shame because it’s so much more than that. You don’t have to brave the cold water to enjoy it; all it takes is a dinghy, a kayak, a paddle board, or even just your own boat. The wind picked up and the skies were gray as we arrived, and we wondered if it had been a mistake to make this trip. But as soon as we saw the masses of pohutukawa trees dripping off the top and down the slopes of these islands, we decided it had been worth it just to see that. When we went around the east side, the wind instantly dropped and it was calm, proving that contrary to what we’d been told, there is some protection here. When the sun popped out, it made for a great afternoon for running around in the dinghy.
We thought about spending the night, generally thought of as a no-no, but with the winds due to shift north, we decided to play it safe and make the 12-mile trip back to the mainland. We ended up spending the night at a bay in Tutukaka Harbour which turned out to be a very comfortable stop for the night. If it has a name, we couldn’t find it; so we called it No Name Bay.
Anchor Waypoints:
Bland Bay: 35° 20.62′ S, 174° 21.56′ E in sand and mud about 15′ deep
Poor Knights: 35° 29.047′ S, 174° 44.637′ E in ROCKS! This was close to shore and still 55′ deep. We wouldn’t spend the night here unless it was pretty windless.
No Name Bay, Tutukaka Harbour: 35° 36.807′ S, 174° 32.272′ E in muddy sand about 15′ deep. There room for about one boat in this bay (or eight Kiwis!). We had it to ourselves. There are some rocks on the bottom.
