Down the coast to a Whangarei lockdown
Author: Shirlz
26th March 2020
I left the Bay of Islands in mid-January and made a leisurely passage to Whangarei with some interesting stops along the way.
Deep Water Cove and the path leading to the Cape Brett Trail
A very slow start in light winds saw me making my first anchorage of the voyage at Deep Water Cove, a mere 10 miles from my starting point and the last possible anchorage before leaving the Bay of Islands area. The cove lives up to its name and I had to approach far closer to the rocky shore than I would normally choose to do, but the weather was settled and I felt it safe enough. One reason for choosing to stop here was that there is a small rocky beach from which a path gives access to the Cape Brett Trail. The full trail takes a day each way with an overnight stop in a hut at the point, but from Deep Water Cove its possible to do a round trip to the light house and back in less than a day.
The view towards Cape Brett
I set off early and the trail was quite hard-going but spectacular. Some stretches of the path were along a narrow ridge with vertiginous drops either side. The anchorage was well sheltered from the west wind that was blowing and I only realized how strong it was when I was exposed to it on the ridge. I was almost tempted to drop to all-fours, but carried on bravely vertical.
The path and Piercy Island
The lighthouse is situated high up on the ridge, but the hut is back down at the waters edge. Of course I had to get down there, and found a table to sit at and enjoy my sandwich for lunch. I didn’t want to spend too long relaxing as I was a little anxious about the safety of Speedwell in the rocky cove. A long slog back up to the top and soon enough I was safely back on board. Pretty tired after a really great walk.
The Light house
Next day it was an interesting sail around Cape Brett and I got to see the lighthouse and Piercy Island from a sea-level perspective. Tourist boats were taking sight-seers through the hole in the island.
A sea level perspective
The wind was light and fluky so I decided to stop at the nearby Whangamumu harbour where there is an old whaling station and access to some other good walks. My shoes had rather fallen apart on the hard Cape Brett trail and I spent a while stitching the uppers back to the soles with my handy-stitcher, an invaluable tool.
I found a good stick
The next day I had another good walk (wearing my repaired shoes) to Te Toroa Bay. It was also quite tough with many steep ups and downs. I found a good stick along the way which helped to stabilize me on the steep parts. When the trail reached Te Toroa I was delighted to find a small beach with a tidal pool. There was no one around and I had a quick refreshing skinny dip. Big waves were crashing on the rocks nearby. Quite a dramatic place.
Whangamumu harbour
I spent another day or two at Whangamumu enjoying the calm, clear water and doing some more exploring. The waterfall where I had hoped to get some fresh water for the boat had practically dried up as there hadn’t been any rain for some time. Linda and Bryan on Fantail were also there and we had a good walk together to Tangatapu with lunch on Fantail afterwards.
When I eventually left, I had a really good sail down the coast with a NE wind giving the junk sail a chance to do what it does best. I reached the entrance to the recommended anchorage at Whangaruru about lunchtime, but decided to carry on to Tutukaka as we were doing so well. The entrance to Tutukaka was quite narrow with waves crashing on rocks either side. I would have loved to take some photos but was fully occupied in just getting safely through.
The spot that I chose to anchor in when I first arrived started to seem alarmingly shallow as the tide began to fall and, unsure of what the bottom might be like, I prudently moved to a deeper place while it was still possible.
Next morning I left early at slack water and motored most of the way to the entrance to Whangarei. The wind I had hoped for never materialized, but I enjoyed watching enormous flocks of seabirds (prions, petrels, shearwaters) sitting on the water, comfortably riding the swells. They seemed unsure of us as we approached and would take off at the last moment and land again a short, what they considered safe, distance away.
Whangarei Heads
I was able to reach the entrance to the bay at Whangarei with the tide in our favour and had a fast trip up to Parua Bay where I anchored in the Nook for the night. A lovely peaceful spot. The next day I waited until 14:30 for the tide to start coming in and had an easy trip up to the anchorage off Norsand Boatyard. Fairly shallow but a soft muddy bottom so not too much of a problem if we touched.
Once I was settled in I contacted Annie Hill who is building herself a boat at the yard. She kindly invited me over to join her for dinner at her boat-shed. Annie’s boatbuilding deserves a separate post and you should have a look at her blog. She has been wonderfully helpful in showing me arround and providing transport for serious shopping trips.
My Dinghy tied to the dock at low tide.
I spent a few weeks anchored in the rather muddy waters of the Hatea River having to plan my trips ashore very carefully. There is a strong tidal current with a nearly 3m tidal range. The bottom is very soft mud and walking and dragging the dinghy through the mud at low tide was not a good option. Timing was of the essence.
Speedwell being hauled out at Norsand Boatyard
I had planned to haul Speedwell out of the water at the beginning of May and fly to the UK for a few months to be able to extend my visitors visa, but now the coronavirus has made that impossible and I find myself ‘locked down’ aboard on the hard at Norsand Boatyard. No excuses now not to get really stuck in to all those long-outstanding boat jobs. A pity that all the hardware shops and chandleries will be closed, but I did manage to get a just-in-time delivery of 5 new aluminium battens. So, on we go.
