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 Bay 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!

Te Kouma Harbour to Port Fitzroy

Hi everyone,

Yesterday we had a great sail from Te Kouma Harbour on the Coromandel Peninsula to Wairahi Bay in Port Fitzroy on Great Barrier Island.  It was a 44nm passage in a 10-20 knot ENE-E wind.  Nice and flat in the lee of the peninsula and 1.5m seas in the Colville Channel.

Approaching Great Barrier Island

Here are the usual screenshots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

We spent four nights in Squadron Bay in Te Kouma Harbour.  Tis a very nice spot.  We spent three afternoons thoroughly cleaning the hull.  Visibility in the water was at least 2m.

Evening light in Squadron Bay

The passage up the peninsula to Cape Colville was very pleasant in an 8G12 knot breeze on the beam.  In Colville Channel the wind was more ENE and 15G20.  The seas were a little lumpy but Zen Again powered across comfortably.  It was a close reach due to a W tidal current.

Te Kouma Harbour astern

Passing Coromandel Harbour

North along the peninsula

Passing Cape Colville

Into Colville Channel with Channel Island ahead

As we crossed the Colville Channel the Kiwi sail training ship Spirit of New Zealand was sailing parallel to us a couple of miles away.  She reminded us of WA's STS Leeuwin - a pretty sight.  She had anchored in Te Kouma Harbour one night while we were there.

We entered Port Fitzroy through Man'o'War Channel.  The channel has a narrow 'neck' - Governor's Cut - which is about 50m wide.  Happily there was only a little current against us and from there it was a short motor to Wairahi Bay where we anchored.

In Man'o'War Channel

Approaching the 'neck'

Anchored in Wairahi Bay

We had another piece published in this month's Yachting Monthly.  This one's relatively long and describes how we've kept Zen Again ocean-ready over the years.

Ocean Ready

We've finally given up on our South Island ambitions.  Only two boats in Island Cruising's South Island Rally have made it to Fiordland so far.  Both started in South Island.  Popular cruiser's web site Noonsite said recently:

"New Zealand: Unsettled Summer Weather

Unusually warm ocean temperatures around and NE of New Zealand have contributed to a run of unsettled summer weather, helping passing low-pressure systems deliver frequent heavy rain and strong winds. National climate outlooks from NIWA note that warm seas combined with weak La Niña conditions have helped sustain a humid northeast airflow and repeated rain-bearing systems affecting the country. For sailors and offshore cruisers, this has translated into fewer stable weather windows, making cruising around the country tricky this summer."

So we've now turned northwards.  We'll sail from Great Barrier Island towards the Bay of Islands via Whangarei.

We've also decided - for the time being at least - to forego our SouthWest Pacific cruise this year.  Instead we hope to sail direct to Australia.  This will complete our circumnavigation and allow us to return to work.  If we don't secure work we'll cruise Queensland over the winter.  Hopefully a weather window will come along!

We expect to spend this week exploring Port Fitzroy.  Like Whangaroa Harbour the port provides all-round protection with many anchorages.  Most of the island is a nature reserve.

Trust all's well where you are.