The passage to Auckland…Here we come!!!!

Goodbye Whangamata…hello Auckland… the City of Sails!

It had been a long time at the dock and frankly I was a bit nervous getting back out on the water…STILL.  But we finally un-tied the lines from Whangamata Marina on March 4th and hit the morning high tide out of the harbour.  It was important for us to hit high tide as the sandbar at the entrance/exit of the harbour is only about 4.5 feet at a mean low tide.  We draft 5.5 feet and needed the extra 7 feet (swing of depth between high and low tides) so we could clear said sandbar.  Additionally, the wind had kicked up the last few days so the swell had potential to be big at the sandbar in which case we would want more clearance under our keel.

Great Mercury Island (GMI)- We decided to try to get all the way to GMI, about 47 miles away….for us that is 8 hours of motor sailing.  The particular anchorage at GMI is pretty wide open so we thought we may be exposed to the swell (we were experiencing 3 meter swells getting there) that can often wrap around an island….but was pleasantly surprised to find 7 or so boats tucked away and we felt great just being out once again!

GMI is a private island, owned by Michael Fay and David Richwhite since about the 1970’s, two of the richest men in New Zealand.  But the beaches are public and you are allowed to land.  We didn’t go to land but rather stayed in the boat ready to leave early the next morning.

Great Barrier Island (GBI) – We had been told to stop here by many people and this was our chance!  We left GMI early morning to “sail” the 25 miles to the southern anchorage of GBI and anchor at Tryphena Harbour.  The weather predicted 10-15 knots of wind but it turned out ZERO wind!  We didn’t need to be in Auckland until the 11th of March so we decided to stay here a few days.  

Waiheke Island – After a good few days of rest and relaxation, we headed to Waiheke island, about 35 miles west of GBI.  We stayed here for a few nights catching up on movies and making plans for being in Auckland.  BUT…we saw incredible lighting!

Auckland…City of Sails –  We had been in contact with our friends on SV Sky Blue Eyes, Karl and Julie, who had been in Auckland receiving visiting family for the last month.  We were having little luck getting a reservation at Westhaven Marina, where they were, but Karl and Julie kindly offered us the remaining time they had reserved at Westhaven so that we could come in as they were headed back up to Opua, Bay of Islands.  However….we saw them again in Auckland but that will be in the next post.  We coordinated the “slip swap” and we literally saw them sailing by us as we were coming into Auckland bay!  Thanks to them we were able to come into Auckland at ALL and even a few days early!!!  Thank you Karl and Julie : )

Thankful we arrived safe and sound on March 9th…Cyclone Hola was on our tail and was supposed to make landfall north of us in 2 days time.  We were happy to be at a slip in a marina, just in case the weather turned bad.  Thankfully it was a non-event but you never know!  We now get ready for our South Island Routeburn hike and gathering supplies for our boat.