Whangamumu to Whangaruru

Hi everyone,

On Thursday we motored to Whangaruru after three nights in Whangamumu.  The latter is a very nice anchorage with good walks ashore.  We spent two afternoons diving on the boat to clean the hull.  Water temperature was 22C.

Whangamumu Harbour

Our first two nights in the anchorage had light W winds.  On the third afternoon the wind died and a low E swell penetrated the bay making it quite rolly.  There was a constant stream of boats arriving and departing with about a dozen anchored each night.

Around the bay there were several apparently new land slips.  These presumably happened during the extreme rains from the ex-tropical low which passed by last week.  Lots of still-green trees at the foot of each, and a lot of debris in creek mouths too.  We saw similar slips all along the coast.

Ashore on the western beach

Trail signage

On the beach

Old whaling station

Whaling station boiler

Whaling station creek after recent heavy rains

Creek mouth

We motored the 15nm to Whangaruru in winds of less than 5 knots.  Once in the harbour we continued N past Motukauri Island and anchored SE of Tamateatai Point in 3-4m over sandy mud.  The chart shows 2m but low tide was 1m giving us the 3m of minimum depth.

Track

Arrival

Rounding Whangamumu Peninsula

Passing Motutara Island at Whangaruru Harbour mouth

Anchored in upper Whangaruru Harbour

Looking NNW with Tamateatai Point at left

Whangaruru Harbour is a nice quiet spot and we spent a lazy two nights there.  Most boats anchor further S, on the E side of the harbour.  Further up is quieter and better protected.

Trust all's well where you are!

Whangaroa to Whangamumu

Hi everyone,

We spent a week from 17th January in Whangaroa Marina.  Twas time to do the laundry and the weather outlook was grim - lots of wind and even more rain.  So it turned out with very heavy rain from an ex-tropical low on Wednesday and Thursday.  We had at least 250mm of rain.  Areas further south in Northlands had much more.

Sailing SE from Whangaroa

Full water tanks and overflowing jerries

Run-off turned the harbour brown

Zen Again in Whangaroa Marina

After leaving the marina early on Saturday morning we motored to Waitepipi Bay in the harbour's western arm.  There were half a dozen yachts and several motor vessels anchored there.  For the next two days S-SW winds were strong and gusty - up to 30 knots - with rain showers.

There's an interesting weather phenomenon here.  The winds die almost every night.  It seems an inversion layer forms with calms below and gradient wind above.  The gradient wind gets back to the surface by 0900 each morning.

Yesterday we finally departed Whangaroa Harbour.  We really enjoyed our time there.  So many scenic anchorages and no swell.  The only thing missing is a supermarket.

We sailed to Whangamumu on the east side of Cape Brett.  Here are the usual screenshots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

Winds were light to moderate W-SW.  Occasional light showers and mostly overcast.  We sailed all the way to Cape Brett.  From there we motored around the cape where winds were very fluky then onward 4nm S to Whangamumu Harbour.

Approaching Cape Brett

Approaching Motukokako/Piercy Island and "the Dog"

Rounding Cape Brett

Passing inside Motukokako/Piercy Island

Cape Brett lighthouse

Approaching Whangamumu Harbour

Anchored

Morning Light

We expect to spend several nights here.  Winds are forecast to be very light for the next week.  We plan to clean the hull and explore ashore.  We'll then hop SE towards Whangarei.

We haven't given up on reaching South Island.  At the moment we're thinking we'll give the E coast a try.  This allows us to explore the coast to Auckland and perhaps the Bay of Plenty.  We'll be watching out for a weather window to take us S.

Trust all's well where you are!

Western Australian Anchorages

Hi everyone,

This is a technical post!  It describes a set of 450+ waypoints extracted from the Western Australian Cruising Guide (WACG).  The image below shows the anchorage locations overall.  The WACG covers WA with lesser coverage of western NT and western SA.  It is the WA cruising 'bible'.

Overall Coverage

The WACG is freely available to download here in either ePub or PDF formats.  It has been published by the Cruising Section of Fremantle Sailing Club since 1997.  I have compiled the waypoints from the v5.5 2025 edition.

This set of waypoints is not intended to be a 100% WACG set but I believe it covers 95% or more.  Some waypoints described as 'desperation' anchorages are deliberately omitted.  Likewise some public moorings shown on charts.

WACG Front Cover

As for our New Zealand waypoints, three sets of data are present.  First three GPX files of waypoints (NT, WA & SA) created in OpenCPN.  The waypoints include anchorages, moorings and marinas.  Second a single zip file of KAP satcharts for most of the waypoints.  Third a single KMZ file for use in GoogleEarth.

Below are three GoogleEarth screenshots showing the Kimberley, Pilbara and West/South coast waypoints...

Kimberley

Pilbara

West & South Coasts

Every waypoint includes the WACG v5.5 PDF page number in its description field.  The ScaleMin parameter is set on most GPX waypoints.  This prevents dense sets of waypoints obscuring the underlying charts.  Zoom in to areas of interest to see all waypoints.  The screenshots above show all waypoints.

The accuracy of these waypoints has NOT been verified.

NOT for use in navigation!

The GPX files may be downloaded here.

The three files are named "ZenAgain_Waypoints_Australia_??.gpx".

Each file should be added to OpenCPN as a 'layer'.

The KAP zip file may be downloaded here.

The file is named "Australasia_Australia.zip".

Unzip the file then place the files in a folder searched by OpenCPN for charts.

The KMZ file may be downloaded here.

The file is named "ZenAgain_Waypoints_WACG.kmz".

Load the file in either the Google Earth Pro app or its online equivalent.

Here is a short video tour of WACG waypoints - from Darwin to Port Lincoln via Broome, Exmouth, Fremantle, Augusta and Esperance...

If you find these waypoints useful consider donating using the button at the top of this page.

Alternately Buy us a Coffee!

Trust all's well where you are.