Date: 16/10/15 Position: Waitepipi Bay, Wangaroa Harbour, North Island, New Zealand
At 08:30 Thursday morning we raised the mainsail, dropped the mooring line and motored our way clear of the other boats hanging on their moorings. Then we switched the engine off, unfurled the headsail and Ambler took off in the light south westerly breeze. As we sailed clear of Russell we got a few gusts reaching up to 18 knots at times but the wind remained fairly steady at around 12 knots from the south west. When we were abeam of Tapeka Point we poled the headsail out and ran wing and wing before the breeze across the Bay of Islands towards Ninepin Island. The sun shone out of a cloudless blue sky and we passed a few runabouts drift fishing over a reef. We rounded Cape Wiwiki at 10.30 which marks the northern point of the Bay of Islands and turned north west to run along the coast towards some pinnacles aptly named the Needles. We adjusted the sails to beam reach, with the wind still coming from the south west. A fishing trawler motored past between us and the stunning rocky coastline. After reaching the Needles the wind lightened to SW 5-10 knots as we sailed across Takou Bay. The numerous small islands that are part of the Cavalli Islands group which lie about 2nm off the coast exposed themselves as we sailed closer. The larger islands were a combination of sandy beaches, rocky headlands and a mixture of cleared land and low scrub. The smaller islands were rocky pinnacles home to flocks of white sea birds. At 13.00 we were about 1nm short of Cavalli Passage when the wind died away. The captain decided it was time to fish so we put the sails away and drifted. We saw a seal sailing by with its flipper in the air, heard a few penguins calling and saw the occasional fluttering shearwater pass by but no fish. About half an hour later a new breeze arrived from the NW at 10 knots. We reset the full main and headsail and tacked to windward through the Cavalli Passage. It was a stunning passage with long sandy beaches and clear green water with the islands scattered to seaward of us. We abandoned our initial plan to anchor in Matauri Bay as the anchorage was exposed to the new wind direction. So we continued to tack to windward and sailed a further 5nm to Mahinepua Bay. At 16:00 we sailed into Mahinepua Bay until we reached a depth of 5m then dropped all the sails and proceeded to deploy the anchor. The water was so clear we could see shells on the sandy sea floor under Ambler and clearly see the anchor chain and its drag marks in the sand. It was a brilliant day of sailing.
This morning we woke to a calm and tranquil bay. It was another gorgeous day with warm sunshine and hardly a cloud to be seen. After breakfast a light breeze from the south west began to ruffle the surface of the bay. At 09.45 we raised the mainsail, weighed anchor, released the headsail and sailed out of Mahinepua Bay. We had a nice breeze for a short time before we were becalmed only a mile out of our previous anchorage. Before long a new breeze came in from the NNW and we worked to windward in 6-8 knots to clear Flat Island. We were careful to avoid the cray pot buoys bobbing on the surface not far off the island. Once we had rounded and cleared Flat Island we beam reached towards the entrance to Whangaroa Harbour in the NNW breeze. It was pleasant sailing and we averaged about 4 knots. The large land mass of Stephenson Island lay to the north of us and the alternating rocky cliffs and cleared farmland rolling down to sandy beaches was to our south. We saw a few other yachts and motor launches out on the water. At 12.30 we closed in on the narrow, fjord like entrance of Whangaroa Harbour. The high headlands running either side of the entrance were steep and rocky with many tempting sea caves and arches at their base. After entering Whangaroa Harbour through the narrow entrance we dropped anchor in the small bush clad Ranfurly Bay just to the north of the harbour's entrance passage.
Without wasting any time we launched our sea kayaks and paddled back out through the entrance to explore the rugged coastline either side of the harbour entrance. We were not disappointed when we found several long interconnecting tunnels. The air inside the tunnels was cool and the surge either held us back or shot us forward. Occasionally surges came through narrow off shoots creating a froth of white water. The rock formations were incredible. The cliff faces reminded me of cookies and cream ice cream with layers upon layers of conglomerate rock. Huge rounded boulders were held tight by the surrounded grit and rock. Others looked like they were going to drop out at any moment. After exploring both headlands we kayaked back into the harbour with the falling tide. Wayne collected his usual dozen oysters and as we made our way back to Ambler we disturbed a few schools of fairly large fish feeding on floating weed.
After a hot shower back on board Ambler we motored around to the more protected waters of Pekapeka Bay and dropped anchor in the northern arm called Waitepipi Bay. It is another beautiful bush clad bay with several large rock outcrops and sheer cliffs at its entrance. Whangaroa Harbour reminds us of Fiordland with its high forested hills and Port Pegasus on Stewart Island with its bare rocky outcrops.
All is content on board. Kathy and Wayne
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