22 November 2024 -New Zealand- Coromandel Harbour -Waiheke Island

It had been a windy night and we had moved around quite a lot. The anchor alarm had gone off a couple of times but I think this was due to the swinging rather than dragging.  We were fine despite a restless night.

When we woke it was a lovely blue sky day and the wind was fairly light. The wind was at this stage south and our stern was pointing out of the bay so if we dragged we had plenty of space.  We had a cereal breakfast with mango and banana. We decided we would go to see Te Kouma harbour which was south over the immediate hill and then go and visit Rangipukea Island. We upped anchor and navigated out beyond the fish farm and out of Coromandel Harbour. It was a most beautiful clear bluesky day but the wind was coming from the South and Southwest which meant from the Southern Ocean and so it was a cold wind. We needed a jumper even in the sun.

We came out of Coromandel Harbour and rounded its southern edge and then entered Te Kouma Harbour which was a narrower estuary but also very beautiful with a number of small bays. It was shallow so we could only go so far but enough to give us an idea of the bay and lovely scenery. We therefore turned round and exited the bay and headed for the middle of Rangipukea Island which has a saddle on the middle and a lovely anchorage on the eastern side which would shelter us from the wind.

The island was beautiful and we anchored in about 8 m and sheltered from the worst of the wind. We got the dinghy down and headed ashore. There was a small pier with a narrow wooden passageway which we realised was so that they can transport sheep and cattle to and from the island. There was a lovely beach and we tied up the dinghy and walked up the highest points on the island which gave us great 360 degree views over the whole peninsula. The picture of the day is Stormbird in the anchorage and the view across to the Coromandel Peninsula.

Once we had explored the island and taken loads of pictures we headed back to Stormbird and had lunch. We decided rather than stay another night we would head back to Waiheke and find a sheltered anchorage on its Northeastern side.

We used the firehose to clean out the dinghy as we raised it and to clean the anchor and anchor chain as we raised it. We then upped sail and headed back toward Waiheke. This was a fast sail and was mainly a close reach. We had one reef in the main and initially used the genoa but then changed to the Staysail as the wind increased. This was as fast and more controlled. The wind was quite strong and about 15-23 kts and was mainly coming from the South rather than Southwest. We were averaging about 7.5 kts and at times 8.5 kts. It only took us about 1.5 hours to cross over on a close reach with a meter swell.

As we approached the Northeastern end of the island we put in the sails and motored the last half a mile into Hooks Bay which is reasonably sheltered. We anchored in about 8m of water in quite a large bay. There were some motorboats ahead and some water skiing or pulling a float. However, they left within an hour leaving us the only sailing yacht here.

We had a sundowner and enjoyed the vista. We had the rest of the gulf behind us. Keith then cooked an enjoyable risotto with vegetables and chorizo which was delicious.

It had been good to explore the Coromandel Peninsula but it was good to be back for our last few days exploring Waiheke before we go into a marina.     

Opportunity Year Two

In year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025. I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com