Bay of Islands Marina

Hi everyone,

We spent a week in the Bay of Islands Marina after clearing-in.  Great marina costing about $50/night for a 12m berth including live-aboard charge.  Great showers - our first since Panama - but you pay for them separately in 5 minute periods.  Excellent laundry too.

Zen Again in the marina

After arriving and clearing-in on the Wednesday we spent Thursday early morning doing our laundry.  Our friends on OCC sv Wild Iris invited us to share a taxi with them into Paihia to visit the town market.  The market was small but had lots of great stuff.  We stocked up on fruit & veg.  From there we walked out on the jetty for lunch at Charlotte's Kitchen - very nice.  We then walked the 1km or so to the Waitangi Woolworths for more general shopping.  We taxied back to the marina.

Marina building

Laundry

Paihia market

Lunch in Paihia with OCC sv Wild Iris

Paihia waterfront

Later on Thursday we met the crew of local sv Sam.  Like us they plan to cruise the South Island this summer.  They very kindly offered their car for us to use.  On Friday we drove south to Whangarei where we visited Bunnings, K-Mart, Woolworths and Harvey Norman.  Amusing how they're all arranged exactly as in Australia.

Shopping included another supermarket run; replacing our sheets, pillows and cushions; and buying a bread-maker.  The latter will be great not only for making bread but also as a 600W heater 'down south'.

We had lunch with Helen and Steve of OCC sv Cerulean.  We originally met them immediately after they purchased their boat in Gosport, UK.  We cruised in company with them on & off from our post-Covid UK departure to the Caribbean, Colombia and Panama.  It was great to catch up with them again.

On the road

Lunch in Whangarei with OCC sv Cerulean

Booty from Whangarei

Over the weekend we got on with various boat jobs made possible by two chandleries in the marina grounds.  We replaced our old, light-less, northern hemisphere compass with a new southern hemisphere unit.  We stocked up on various consumables such as cleaning fluids, head treatment liquid and hull scrubbing pads.

New compass

We measured-up for a bracket to stow our secondary 16kg Manson Supreme anchor on the stern.  We ordered 100m of 14mm 8-braid nylon rope for the rode.  And we cut 15m of 10mm chain from our main anchor chain, end-for-ending the remainder.  We need an anchor with 100m of rode for some of the Fiordland anchorages.  Local stainless steel fabricators Fisheye will make the bracket.

Test fitting for stern anchor bracket

Fisheye Stainless Steel Fabricators

On Monday we again drove to Whangarei to complete our shopping, visiting Spotlight, K-Mart and Woolworths.  We also visited Hunting and Camping for Bushman insect spray and sandfly-proof netting.  We drove on to Marsden Cove Marina for lunch with sv Island Kea II, Mistral Dancer, Moody Rudie and Thestral.  We won't see them again until next year so it was good to catch up with them all.

Marsden Cove Marina

Brunch at The Marina Cafe

This time sv Sam loaned us their truck.  We had hoped to refill an almost empty 10kg GRP propane bottle.  It turns out only NZ-certified bottles can be filled here - international standards don't count.  So we bought a 9kg metal bottle for our stay here.

The Truck

On Tuesday we met FSC sv Halcyon Days.  They had sailed in from Vanuatu a fortnight before us.  Their sail number is F89 and ours F88.  It was good to meet them and we agreed to do some island hopping in the Bay of Islands over the following week.

FSC F89 sv Halcyon Days II

During this stay we spent two evenings at the Opua Cruising Club.  They're a very active club and have great beer and food.  The nearby General Store is good for essentials and also meat pies.  Nearby also is an excellent fish & chips place.

It was a very busy week but we're now ready for a 'week off' cruising the Bay of Islands.

Trust all's well where you are!

Minerva Reef to New Zealand Passage Summary

Hi everyone,

Here is a summary of our 800nm passage between the North Minerva Reef and Opua in New Zealand.  We sailed in loose company with at least a dozen other yachts.  We had a wide range of conditions.  During the first four days we motored for 50 hours in very light wind.  Then we had to cross a stationary front which gave us 20-30 knot E winds.  On the final night we had to motor for another 10 hours in flat calm and fog.

Bound for New Zealand

Here are the usual plots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

Here are the vital stats for the passage…

    • Distances/Speeds

        • Route Distance = 790 nm

        • Logged Distance = 763 nm, so we had current assistance overall

        • GPS Distance = 828 nm

        • Duration = 7 days

        • Average speed = 4.9 kt

        • Minimum boat speed = 2.0 kt

        • Maximum boat speed = 6.1 kt

    • Weather

        • Minimum wind speed = 0 kt

        • Average wind speed = 15 knots

        • Maximum wind speed = 25 with gusts to 32

        • Apparent wind angle range = 70 to 150

        • Seas 1-2m

        • Swell 1-3m

        • Cloud varying from 1/8 to 8/8

        • 3/4 to full moon

    • Engine

        • Total = 60 hour

        • Driving = 60 hour

        • Charging = 0 hours

    • Failures

        • None

    • Stars

        • The boat - as always

        • Pelagic autopilot in the light airs

        • WindPilot vane gear in the breeze

The weather for the passage was interesting.  We had always expected to encounter a front since they come through too frequently for us to avoid.  But we ended up with a stationary front to cross, with mid--level troughs above too.  Here are two synoptic charts from the middle of the passage.

Synoptic chart from Fiji met service

Synoptic chart from NZ met service

The stationary ftont had some big embedded storm cells but thankfully they were scattered and we didn't encounter any.  Some boats had 50-60 knots to contend with.  The nastiest part for us was before the wind set in but the sea state was ugly with 3m breaking waves on the beam.  I reckon they came from a storm upwind we missed, but we got its waves which were tumbling once out of the wind.

Through the front under storm staysail & trisail-sized main

Seaway

Looking at NoForeignLand showed over 70 yachts enroute to New Zealand with us, from Tonga, Fiji and elsewhere.  The officials told us they were setting a new record for the number of boats being cleared in one day at Opua.

So it was an interesting passage!  It was great to arrive in New Zealand - our primary goal for the year.  Now we have an entirely different country and climate to enjoy over the summer.

Trust all's well where you are!

Opua Arrival

 Hi everyone,

We arrived in Opua at 0630 on Wednesday 5th, making it a 7 day passage.  We'll post a passage summary soon.  We docked at the Bay of Islands Marina Q (for Quarantine) dock.  It was fairly crowded but we found a spot.

Bay of Islands Marina

Tuesday afternoon saw us reaching towards the Bay of Islands in a slowly fading breeze.  By 2100 we were losing steerage way and the sails were slatting in the low swell so the engine went on.  We slowly motored the 35nm to Opua.  On entering the Bay of Islands we were enveloped in fog which made it an interesting arrival.  Visibility wasn't too bad at 100-200m.  We did one 'circuit' to delay our arrival until after dawn.

Into the foggy Bay of Islands

Approaching Opua

At the Q dock

At about 0800 officials started to visit all the waiting yachts, building a queue based on their arrival times.  Very fair but we were well down the queue.  A few hours later we were searched by a NZ Navy guy on loan to Customs.  Then we were interviewed by a very friendly and efficient Customs lady.  Then in the early afternoon we were interviewed by an equally friendly and efficient Biosecurity lady.  She had seen our Biosecurity document and asked to see our video taken after the most recent hull cleaning.  She then used a GoPro to inspect the hull herself.  All good thank goodness!  The many hours of hull cleaning paid off.

By mid-afternoon we were in a pen on E dock of the marina.  At 1700 we joined an OCC get-together on an Amel 56, then dinner at the Opua Cruising Club.  The beer was good, as were the sausages.

In the marina

Opua sunset

On Thursday we did our laundry then joined the crew of OCC sv Wild Iris to taxi into the nearby town of Paihia.  There we got fresh fruit & veg at the farmer's market, followed by a great lunch at Charlotte's Kitchen.

Marina office with great facillties including laundry

Laundry time!

Lunch!

After lunch we walked the 2km to the Woolworths supermarket in Waitangi.  The town is famous for the treaty signed there between the British and Maoris.  The supermarket is pretty good.  We taxied back to the marina from there.

 

Heading home with booty

Back on board we filled our water tanks and jerries, and washed off the salt on deck.

Today we filled our fuel tank and jerries, did the remaining laundry and started spending at the two on-site chandleries.  Busy busy busy but fun too.

Trust all's well where you are!