There has been a lot of bad weather bringing a northerly wind into Tindalls Bay, so I have moved across to a sheltered bay on Kawau Island for a few days.
Author Archives: Captain & First Mate
Come for a swim
Gone fishing
Bird Shit
Jumping off the boat
Not much to do
Imagine is being advertised for sale on a few website, with only a few questions being asked. Nothing positive.
I have to stay around Auckland incase someone wants to have a look at the boat. This doesn’t stop me taking friends out sailing for a few days at a time. Sheryl has come out with me for a few days. We headed off to Otarawao Bay, where we spent last night. Now we are at Mansion House Bay Kawau. We have gone ashore to go explore the old Copper Mine.
Rigging
What’s new
Those of you that check the blog every day will have seen it has been intermittently off line. This is because I have moved the site from the Canadian host server to one on Australia. This didn’t go as smooth as it should have. But it’s all sorted now.
Sabine and Jan joined us for a a short time. Their stay was cut short because Jan had scratched himself on coral while they were in Vanuatu a few days earlier. The scratches got infected and we had to get him to the doctors.
Back at Whangaparaoa
Thurday we were out of the wind and swell, tucked nicely in Farmer bay. B was able to finished off sewing the cushions on the starboard side of the saloon.
Friday we ventured out and around the corner to do some fishing. B caught a nice snapper for dinner, before we returned to Farmer bay where it was still more shelter from the wind and swell.
Sunday we moved to Motuketekete island where B was brave enough to swim in cold water ashore to collect more shells. If anyone has a spare 12 million dollars the island and its two bedroom cottage is up for sale.
Monday we made our way back to Tindalls Bay, Whangaparaoa. It took us a while as we had diverted our course to help a kayaker who had called on channel 16, asking for help as he fell in the water about 1 mile offshore of Army bay and couldn’t get back on his kayak. The coast guard arrived just in front us and so he no longer required our assistance.
In the afternoon we borrowed Darrens jeep to go to do some grocery shopping and in anticipation of high winds we moved across to Swan Bay for the night.
Dolphines
Sunday morning everything was still. The water was like glass as we departed Whangaruru. With a very lite wind behind us and a sunny sky we headed south. We started by setting the sails in a butterfly configuration (main one side and headsail the other). It wasn’t long before the wind changed. The wind was getting stronger as the day went on so we stopped at Tutukaka.
Tutakaka is a well sheltered harbour with a little bay and a marina. Monday we ventured ashore and walked along the peninsular to the lighthouse. The views were stunning. Tuesday we loaded the laundry into the dinghy and went into the marina. The Marina has a few shops and cafes, so we stayed for lunch.
Wednesday we headed further south. With the wind on the nose we motorsailed most of the way. We were escorted by a pod of dolphins for part of the way. As we cruised past we also spotted a couple of whales and a seal which was obvouisly asleep with its fins up above water . We made it all the way to Kauwau Island by 6pm and anchored in Farmer bay.
