Opua Return

Hi everyone,

After several nights at Opunga Cove we started making our way to the Bay of Islands Marina in Opua.  We spent two nights in Matauwhi Bay near Russell then two nights in Tewahapu Bay.  We went into the marina to wait out a tropical low as it passed by.

Run-off in Opua 'apres le deluge'

Here are out tracks...

Tracks

In Russell we repeated our pattern of fish'n'chips on the waterfront, a beer at the Duke of Marlborough, an ice cream then a shop at the supermarket.  Always fun!

Icecream in Russell

At Tewahapu Bay we anchored a shore dinghy ride away from the small beach.  There one can leave the dink and follow a track to the Omata Estate Winery.  We had a great wine tasting and lunch there.

Zen Again in Tewahapu Bay

Tewahapu Bay dinghy beach

Walking through the vineyard

Ready to eat at 

Lovely wines and kitchen platter

We moved into the Bay of Islands Marina on Tuesday.  An E wind was coming in, with a lot of rain and wind forecast.  Wednesday and Thursday were both wet and windy.  We easily filled out water tank and jerries.  And it was nice to return to the Opua Cruising Club for cheap beers.  And of course the hot showers were marvellous, even with the horizontal rain en-route!

We'll be using the marina's courtesy car tomorrow to get our empty gas cylinder filled and for a provisioning shop.  We hope to clear out on Tuesday and depart towards Australia - if the weather window holds.  Otherwise we'll wait in the Bay of Islands.  New Zealand hasn't been kind to us with weather windows but perhaps our luck will change!

Trust all's well where you are.

Whangarei to Bay of Islands

Hi everyone,

We spent five nights in Marsden Cove, from Monday to Saturday last week.  It was a miserable week weatherwise so nice to be in a marina.  The marina stay gave us an opportunity to catch up with some friends, fill up water, fill diesel tanks from jerries, stretch our legs, enjoy hot showers and have our rig inspected.

Sunset in Opunga Bay

The rig inspection was carried out by Independent Riggers.  Their two guys were very professional and thorough.  We often do our own rig inspection but once in a while it's good to have the job done by a pro.  Happily no significant faults were found.  We also got a few tips which was very helpful.

View from Marsden Cove

Rig Inspection

We also replaced our engine battery.  This is a 300CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) lawn mower battery.  We first changed to this smaller battery type in Deltaville, VA two years ago.  Recently it has been cranking more slowly so it was time for replacement.  During replacement we found its engine compartment wall-mounted battery box was splitting.  We rotated it 180 degrees to remedy that too.

New Battery

On Saturday we sailed 53nm N to Whangamumu.  Escaping Whangarei Harbour was hard work with wind over tide conditions.  Once out we had a fresh SW breeze gusting to 30 knots with occasional light showers.  A great little shakedown which Zen Again loved.  We were down to double-reefed main (= triple-reefed on a full sized main) and triple furled yankee.

Here are the usual screenshots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

Departing Whangarei

Anchored in Whangamumu

We stayed in Whangamumu for two nights with half a dozen different boats each night.  It's a great anchorage.  Nicki tried out her recently completed knitted pullover.  Very warm!

Chilly in Whangamumu

We'd had a full week of cloudy weather with little solar input.  I knew the batteries were getting low but hadn't checked the individual battery Bluetooth status, relying on the Battery Monitor's state of charge reading.  Turned out they were lower than indicated.  After our first night in Whangamumu we were woken by the gas detector alarm.  On inspection it wasn't alarming for gas.  As I pondered the cause, still half asleep, I saw the voltage on a nearby USB charge drop from 12V to 6V then the lights went out!  There was also a loud 'clunk' from the pedestal/table housing our batteries.  Oops!

Each of our Lifeline LiFePo battery's internal BMS cuts itself off at 8V so we'd really given them a workout.  The lights came back on when I started the engine using the entirely separate (and new) engine battery.  The BMSs restore connection at 10V.  This incident reminded me of the 'cliff' LiFePo batteries fall off when deeply discharged.  Our battery monitor is good but the battery voltage needs to be monitored too.  Here's a graph from our Lifeline battery manual.  Unless very cold the 'cliff' is very steep...

Battery discharge graph

That (Sunday) morning ran the engine for several hours to put a little energy in the batteries.  On Monday we motor-sailed the 17nm to the Bay of Islands' Opunga Cove in very light winds.  We motor-sailed partly to put more energy in the house batteries!

Track

Arrival

Whangamumu astern

Cape Brett

Motukokako Island astern

Motoring into the Bay of Islands

This bay is very well protected from all but W winds.  It's quite popular with about a dozen boats each night.  After anchoring we realised we were next to a Fremantle-registered boat sv Zulane.  We met them today.  Their Contest 45 'lives' here in NZ and they spend their summers here.

Anchored in Opunga Bay

This morning (Tuesday) we swapped between our two 10kg GRP propane cylinders.  The empty cylinder had lasted since mid-November, soon after arriving in NZ.  Nearly four months.  Using our inverter-driven 600W kettle adds a month to each 10kg of gas lifetime.

This afternoon we had a hull-cleaning swim.  We were surprised to find the hull quite clean 10 days since our last clean, including 5 nights in Marsden Cove.  The fouling here in NZ can be really bad.  We expect to spend the rest of this week on anchor around the Bay.  We expect to move into the Bay of Islands Marina in Opua for a few days next week.

Happily the batteries are charging well in this week's sun!

Trust all's well where you are!

Port Fitzroy to Whangarei

Hi everyone,

We spent six nights in Port Fitzroy at Great Barrier Island, staying at Wairahi, Smokehouse and Oneura Bays.  We briefly visited Port Fitzroy village to fill water jerries.  Port Fitzroy is a great place with at least half a dozen good anchorages.  It's similar to Whangaroa in providing all round protection.

Tracks in Port Fitzroy

On arrival we headed to Wairahi Bay.  This offered good protection in the coming strong S winds.  It is relatively shallow at 5m which suits us (and our manual windlass).  We stayed there for two nights as the winds blew through.

Wairahi Bay

Waitrahi Bay dawn

The next day we moved to Smokehouse Bay, anchoring in 8m.  This is a favourite spot for cruisers with a pizza oven, toilet and hot shower building.  We spent one evening ashore with sv Lady Annabelle.  The pizza oven works well.  We also went for a walk along one of the trails. 

Smokehouse Bay landing

View over Smokehouse Bay

Into the woods

Amongst the ferns

Smokehouse Bay facilities

Pizza Oven

One morning we spent an hour in the water again cleaning the hull.  Pretty good visibility.  That afternoon a 2-3m bronze whaler swam by.  Apparently it is a regular visitor.

Bronze Whaler Shark

Smokehouse Bay dawn

On Friday we motored over to Rarohara Bay  We had planned to spend the night there but the anchorage E of Quoin Island was full of moorings and deep.  And the anchorage off Port Fitzroy village didn't feel like good holding.  So we anchored only long enough to dink ashore and fill some water jerries.  We then motored out of Port Fitzroy through Governor's Cut to nearby Oneura Bay.

Leaving Rarohara Bay

Oneura Bay

On Saturday we motor-sailed to Urquharts Bay at the entrance to Whangarei Harbour.  It was a very pleasant day but there was very little wind.  We motored at 1500rpm to keep the noise down.

Track

Arrival

Urquharts Bay was quite crowded when we arrived.  We passed most of the boats to get to a spot in 5m where we anchored.  It's a nice anchorage spoilt only by occasional wash from vessels passing by in the main channel.

Departing Great Barrier Island

Passing the Pinnacles

Anchored in Urquharts Bay

We expect to move into Marsden Cove Marina later today.  We're looking forward to some rubbish disposal, shopping, laundry and socialising!

Our 'circuit' of the Hauraki Gulf from Whangarei was wonderful.  Lots of nice anchorages.  Some great wineries and breweries on Waiheke Island.  It's a shame we didn't make it to Auckland or Tauranga.  We reckon we saw many of the best spots.

Trust all's well where you are!