Coastal Cruising to Whangarei

We departed The Bay of Islands for a leisurely weeklong sail down the east coast of the north island to Whangarei, our home base for the coming months. We covered a mere 93 nautical miles, sailing or motorsailing no more than 20 nautical miles each time we moved anchorages. It was quite the change from our cruising style leading up to New Zealand where 93 miles would be done in less than 24 hours. Navigation and weather planning were certainly more simple for these short hops, but we were still met with some of the common challenges of sailing. Coming around Cape Brett (where we previously hiked to the lighthouse) put us in rough seas. Waves were around 2 meters high and ricocheting off the cape giving us the classic washing machine effect. It was uncomfortable, but only lasted about 1 hour rather than multiple days as we have previously experienced. Winds were often much lighter than forecast so we had to motorsail instead of sail. No one loves the sound of the engine, but its fine for just a few hours.

Our biggest challenge was a problem with our fresh water system and aft head. The electric pump for flushing the aft head that pulls up either fresh water from our tanks or salt water from the ocean had been on the fritz and it finally failed 3 nights before we reached Whangarei. No problem we thought. We carried a spare pump to swap in, and in the meantime we could use the forward head that has a mechanical hand pump for flushing. The first project of the morning was to swap in the new electric pump which Mark quickly accomplished. Pumping in salt water worked perfectly but we noticed that pumping in fresh water only resulted in half the amount of expected water in the bowl. Time to troubleshoot. Through testing various other manual and pressurized fresh water taps and systems on the boat, we found that we had large air bubbles throughout the entire fresh water system. We spent the remainder of the day troubleshooting and trying to narrow down the ingress of air to no avail. We finally stopped at dinner time with the conclusion that we would likely need to disassemble a unique metal water manifold, assuming it had a crack, and possibly have a replacement fabricated. Doing so would take our entire fresh water system offline – meaning no drinking water would be available and only salt water could be accessed for flushing or washing. It was the first time in nearly a year and a half of cruising that we considered using our backup emergency drinking water stored in bladders under the salon floor. However, since we were only 2 nights away from Whangarei, and we could still use the foot pump in the galley sink to pull fresh water from the tanks (albeit with air shooting out between spurts of water), we put a pause on the project. We decided to wait to do this destructive repair until we were safely in the marina in Whangarei with plenty of access to fresh water and access to businesses that could make a replacement part for us if needed. In the meantime, we ate delicious pizza in Tutukaka, and Mark did additional internet research on our problem. The next morning Mark had one more idea to try. He tightened a bolt on the selector valve (that tightens the packing gland of the valve stem) for the two water tanks. And that was it! Over thousands of miles jostling out at sea, this one bolt had finally loosened slightly and started letting in the air. We were quickly able to purge the remaining air from the fresh water system and were back to fully operational! We are both very happy that a potentially big problem was eventually solved so simply.

Aside from these challenges, we had a really nice time coming down the coast. We stopped in Whangamumu Harbour, Mimiwhangata Bay, Tutukaka, and Smuggler’s Bay. We had wanted to stop over in the Poor Knights Islands as well for some scuba diving, but the weather did not cooperate. We’ll visit those islands another time. Whangamumu Harbour was an interesting spot to explore as it has the ruins from a whaling station that closed in 1940. They herded whales into the harbor, pulled a steel net across the entrance trapping the whales, and harpooned them. This was apparently the only whaling station in the world to use this tactic. If you want to learn more about this whaling station there is a detailed Historic Heritage Assessment from the Department of Conservation available here: https://share.google/c4K9y6hDKnLc2j77z. It was hard to envision the past terror and violent destruction in such a beautiful peaceful anchorage. Mimiwhangata Bay is the Kiwi Caribbean. It is a large bay with a white sandy crescent beach surrounded by rolling grassy hills. The sand is almost as fine as powdered sugar and the water is warm. It’s the first place in New Zealand so far that we have enjoyed a good swim without wetsuits. We hiked the surrounding hills, beaches, and cattle pasture where we met a nice Kiwi farmer who has cruising plans of his own coming up. We celebrated Thanksgiving there by cleaning the hull! Cleaning the hull was a bit rough given the strong wind gusts blowing the boat back and forth, the swell wrapping in rocking the boat side to side, and the massive bloom of non-stinging jellyfish bumping into our hands and faces constantly. It was like diving in a primordial sea with more jellies than water. We got through it though, and then feasted on salmon and mince pies (classic Kiwi food), roasted Kumara sweet potatoes, and pavlova with kiwis for dessert. We then moved along to Tutukaka where we spent most of our time dealing with the water problem. Tutukaka was a nice small town with the best pizza we’ve had since leaving North America. Our final stop was in Smuggler’s Bay at the mouth of the Whangarei Harbour. We had a perfect downwind sail from Tutukaka to Smuggler’s Bay, the stuff cruising dreams are made of, with 20 knot winds aft of the beam and calm following seas. As we neared Bream Head, the wind and sea state began to pick up. Coming around the corner at Bream Head we were completely protected from the swell and a large dolphin escorted us to our anchorage. It was awesome to end our cruising for the year on such a high note.

We had a peaceful final night at anchor and then made our way into Whangarei Harbour and up the Hatea River to Whangarei. We had to meticulously plan our approach to Whangarei due to the shallow depths of the river. Our anchorage on the coast was 18 nautical miles from the marina. We could only transit the final 4 nautical miles of the river to the marina after mid tide on a rising tide. We also had to work in the timing to pass under a bridge in the last 1 nautical mile that we would need to have opened for us due to our mast height. The bridge does not open during morning and evening rush hours. On the day we came in, mid tide was at 1:56 pm, high tide was at 5:09 pm, and the bridge would not open from 4-6 pm. We had to time our entrance to start the final 4 nautical miles no earlier than 2 pm, make it to the bridge before 4 pm, and be in our slip at the marina no later than 5 pm. We also had to take into account the rising tide in the river on our way in which gave us at least 1 knot of current flowing with us. (Does this sound like a math class test question, or what?) Kris calculated our planned speed to route us through the river on this specific timeline. This resulted in us departing the anchorage at 12:25 pm with a requirement to maintain a speed of at least 4.5 knots without exceeding 5 knots. All while keeping an extremely close eye on the depth gauge and trying to follow the natural path of the deeper parts of the river (i.e. the river cuts more deeply in the outer part of the curves and deposits more silt in the inner parts of the curves). In the shallowest stretch of the river we generally saw between 3 and 5 feet of water depth below the keel. Thank you mid to high tide! However there was one point, just as we approached the marina and had to move over towards the river bank to allow a departing vessel to pass by, where our depth gauge read 0.1 feet of water below the keel! That is 1.2 inches or 3 centimeters. We braced ourselves to potentially plow through the soft mud, but we were able to quickly steer back into the center of the river after the vessel passed and we were back to a “comfortable” 3 feet under the keel. Cruising friends were waiting in our slip to catch our lines and we were happy to arrive at 3:30 pm without running aground!

We’re starting to settle into marina life. We have over 80 items on our “to do” list and as many of our friends can attest, we often add two new items for each one we cross off. It’s going to be a busy few months here in Whangarei. Our big news is that we bought a car, also known as a land dinghy. Buying a car and reselling it before we depart should ultimately be more economical and definitely more convenient than renting one every now and then.

Next Stops: Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, and Waitomo Caves via Land Dinghy, and Boat Projects!