South Island Visit, Part One

It's been quite a while since I posted anything here, but we've not been off on any big adventures to write about.  Well, we are now.  Somehow, we got the idea into our heads to visit the South Island by boat, maybe even to visit Stewart Island — seriously south — and, just maybe, a very big maybe, to visit Fiordland — big adventure for a small boat.

To get to the South Island from Whangarei, one has two options.  Either sail far to the east to pass (imaginatively named) East Cape, or far to the north to pass (equally imaginatively named) North Cape.  There are pros and cons to both.  I'll just say that we chose to sail south by sailing north.

The first objective was to stage ourselves somewhere as far as possible up the east coast that still had cell coverage (for weather products).  We were in no hurry, though, and enjoyed many favorite anchorages along the way.  We also met up with a number of friends, some planned, some serendipitously.  The weather was excellent, with some fine sailing.

We ducked in to Mangonui — last groceries — before heading further to stage somewhere closer to North Cape.  As luck would have it, though, an excellent weather window opened right then, so off we went.  No wind to speak of for the next five or six days, so it would be a motorboat ride, but, hey, there are worse things at sea than motoring.  To be honest, Cape Reinga and the Tasman Sea both have bad reputations, so we intended to treat them both with respect.  I was quite happy with the forecast, even though such extended motoring gets pretty dull. 

The forecast for calm winds was long enough for us to take the opportunity of anchoring for a last night’s rest in Spirits Bay, a beautiful, remote bay on the north coast of the North Island.  A pea-soup fog enveloped us during the night, but burned off by mid-morning.  We had wanted to delay a few hours anyway for better tidal currents around Cape Reinga, and to allow some forecast thunderstorms to clear our route later in the  day.  The chart shows tide rips all over around Cape Reinga, so I planned to be there as close to slack water as possible.  It also shows one spot well off shore that “ALWAYS BREAKS”.  Looking ahead, I saw broken water at about that spot, and steered to give it a wide berth.  It looked really strange, though, only breaking every few minutes, and not looking like a break over a reef.  We finally realized it was a whale breaching.  It continued to do so every few minutes for a good half hour, with many spectacular jumps.  

Looking Back on Cape Reinga

And so, we motored (i.e. droned) on heading south, destination Nelson, on glassy seas, under mostly sunny skies.  A light following breeze on the second day gave us a six-hour respite from the noise, but then it was back to the diesel wind.   

As we often do when motoring, we dragged a couple of fishing lures, not really expecting to get anything.  Just before sunset one day, though, wham!  Robyn reeled in a nice, fat tuna, either a Bigeye or an Albacore.  Not sure which.  Not the biggest fish we’ve ever landed, but there’s a surprising amount of meat per inch in a tuna.  We gorged on it for six  meals.

        OMG!  What Have I Done?

Somewhere along the way, we realized (duh!) that Nelson was not the obvious first stop on this passage.  Abel Tasman National Park was, just twenty miles or so short of Nelson on the west side of Tasman Bay.  As we approached Farewell Spit and Golden Bay, the beginning of Tasman Bay, the forecast promised a light northwest breeze, perfect for a pleasant broad reach  finale.  So, up went the full main and our larger jib.  Ah, delightful sailing.  In short order, though, we reefed the main once, then again, then changed to the smaller jib, as the wind rose to twenty to  twenty-five knots.  Still great sailing, but the shallow water in Golden Bay made for some rather short, steep seas.  Ended up sailing into a wind shadow and motoring in to anchor in the park, three and a half days from Spirits Bay.  

Abel Tasman National Park

Beating in to Whangaroa Harbour in 20 Knots