NZ summer was coming to a slow end: high time to take Guppy out for a sail again! …and besides that, it was a good opportunity to introduce Chantal to sailing and for her to find out whether the legs she uses are sea worthy or not.
The work around the windows was all finished and turned out beautiful, and – even after a week of rain and waves – the windows did not show any sign of leakage! So I think they’ll be good for another trip around the world! (Just not with me).
Slowly we sailed up the Northland coast, stopping in small bays overnight and exploring the areas by dingy. Whangamumu is one of the bays we stayed in for a little while, it’s an idyllic place, save from the swells of the ocean and horse-shoed in by lots of wild bush and patches of lush, high grassland. The dingy trip there took us past many caves. Once inside the caves the ocean swell hitting against the far walls sounded very much like thunder. It’s an exciting area with clear water around the rocks and boulders. The little tracks on shore lead us either along a frequently falling stream or along ridges and through plentiful forests and green hills. A scenic jewel indeed.
The bay of islands was as far north as the winds took us and I realized once again how much more strenuous it is to sail along coastlines with ships, reefs and islands. But I do love these challenges and we found some cool little passages through various islands that led us to beautiful anchorages.
The Northland coast is quite epic and one could easily sail around for years and still discover new beautiful places to go to.
After only a day at the Bay of Islands we headed back south again and couldn’t help but visiting the Poor Knights islands (where Chantal had previously done her diving course). Daniel and I (and Chantal now too) love these islands for it’s abundant marine life and the untouched and ruggedly wild looks of it – no one is allowed on the islands. There are lots of caves and arches to explore around those high cliffs, which drop vertically into the water and make anchoring very challenging. We managed to find a spot to anchor at 11m of depth, very close to some of the steep cliffs. I had to get up regularly to see whether there had been any changes in the weather. It turned out easier then expected to get up very often, as there were hundreds of hungry mosquitos that would not let us sleep! It drove us crazy, they managed to get to us even though we had a net spun around us! We had to get up at leasts every hour to fight back all of those that had gotten inside of the mosquito net! The weather was great most of the days out at sea though, and we loved the little adventures around those islands. Also – we had the islands to ourselves, although we were hoping to meet one of the dive boats as we had run out of drinking water surprisingly…. But no one came by that day and we had some bottles left for reserve, so we enjoyed the loneliness and the feel of an ancient jurassic world alone.
Chantal turned out to be a good cook onboard a ship, managing fairly well to cook while the boat was rolling with the swell. There was only a few flying objects… and no vomiting nor sickness! She’s a natural, besides the use of water!
After our weeklong sailing trip Chantal left for a week to Fiji which gave us some time to finish some other little jobs that we had to get done before heading off for a road trip 🙂

Laura

Whangamumu bay

Early morning swims 🙂

On our way to the bay of Islands, moving along at 7knots!

Anchored in one of the beautiful bays at Urupukapuka islands

Walking one of the many trails on Urupukapuka Island.

Our co-pilot, doing a great job. He must be a real pro, keeping us on course facing backwards!

A rolly anchorage and night, not all of the bays can be perfect, but they where all beautiful!

threatening but beautiful skies while anchored at the poor knight islands.

Poor Knight Islands.

Exploring the Poor knight islands underwater world.