sv evi

Since we haven’t had to be in Paihia for school, we have been exploring around for the past month. Our friend Hilton said a few things about cruising that really rang true for me:

1. The tragedy of cruising is making these good friends, then having to say goodbye to them
2. Cruising will wreck you for the rest of life. Ha. I mean, I don’t know, because we are just starting our cruising lifestyle, but after the adventure of cruising, of being able to decide where to go based on the wind, the weather, and what you want to do; after arriving at a new island and being so excited to explore it, both on land and in the water, it seems hard to go back to the ole 9 to 5 job.

Anyways….

First we went north to the Cavalli islands and then further north to Whangaroa.

Then we went south to Whangamumu, and on to Tutukaka, where Tomu and Jade had surf camp for a week. Luz also got to try surfing for one day in a group lesson. More about surf camp to come in another post.

From Tutukaka we went out to the Poor Knights, a marine reserve and world-class diving destination. We went with our friends on SV Pangea, Taylor, Brad & Rex. The anchorage was a bit scary — deep (20 meters), rocky bottom, and we were quite close to the cliffs of the island (maybe 6 meters away?) AND it was so beautiful. The water was so clear, and we could see so many fish (huge snapper, trevally, and kingfish) from the boat, and also saw some Bronze whaler sharks cruising around. The kids did an awesome job snorkeling! We all swam quite far from the boat, and they did a good job at relaxing and using their feet and flippers to propel them. On our snorkel we saw a school of hundreds of Pink Maomao fish, some Sandager’s wrasse, a red pigfish, 3 sharks (bronze whalers), a ray, two-spot demosielles, red mokis, … and lots of others. It was spectacular! Riki, Taylor & Brad went for a scuba dive while Rex hung out with the kids & I. We decided to stay the night! It was rolly and we didn’t sleep well, but so worth it to have another go at snorkeling in the morning.

We carried on to the Mokohinau island group, and we were the only boat in the anchorage there. The kids all went skinny dipping as soon as we arrived. 🙂 They are really loving swimming in the ocean.

Next stop was Great Barrier Island, or Aotea in Te Reo Maori. There we did a phenomenal hike up to the top of Hirakimata peak. The kids counted 1711 steps on the track! We left the dinghy at 9:30 am, and didn’t get back until 7 pm! Then we had to drag the dinghy out through the mud to launch it. We all enjoyed an evening swim. A Kiwi man, Russell, came over and gave us a bunch of Green-Lipped Mussels. We steamed them open. Jade & Luz were fans, but Tomu not so much. I ate one. 🙂 Riki pronounced them delicious. We saw 2 Kaka (a NZ parrot) and our first New Zealand pigeon on our hike.

Then we sailed to Tiritiri Matangi island, a scientific reserve, to meet up with our friends Jen, Andrew & Isobel on SV Due South. Hilton gave us the tip that Tiritiri was the best place to spot birds! We got to see the rare Kokako, the endangered South Island Takahe (a family of 4), the endangered Hihi (stitch bird) with its bright yellow feathers, Pukeko, NZ robins, bellbirds, Tui, and … blue penguins nesting in boxes! We put our faces up to the hole into the box & could see the little face of the penguin in there. It was a banner day!

We heard from Riki’s friend from Western Australia, that she was coming to NZ in a few days, and wanted to visit us. Riki’s other friend Dave generously offered to pick her up at the airport — so we anchored off Hatfields Beach, in front of Dave’s house. We dinghied ashore, met up with them, and had homemade scones and coffee at Dave’s house. Then Dave took me shopping (we hadn’t been to a store in 10 days and were out of eggs, fruit, bread, cream cheese…).

After a delicious real fruit ice cream on Hatfields Beach, we pulled up the anchor and motored up to Kawau island. The kids LOVED playing with Riki’s friend, and she was so gracious with them. Jade especially was stuck to her side every waking moment.

We decided to do an overnight sail to get back to the marina in Opua for three reasons: 1. it would be good practice for us, our first overnight passage with the 3 kids 2. the kids get bored if we are sailing all day, and we figured by sailing at night, we could save ourselves 3 long-ish days of sailing (and entertaining kids) and 3. Bay of Islands sailing week was happening, and our van was parked behind the fencing for the vendors, so we needed to move it ASAP!

We pulled up the anchor at 3 pm on Sunday, and put the main up with a reef in it, as strong winds (20+ knots) were expected. It was pretty bumpy with a lot of swell as we tacked back and forth in the channel. We buried the bow several times in the waves. Luckily it wasn’t as rough once we got through the channel and on course heading north. Luz fell asleep in the cockpit, and we transferred her to her bunk fine. Jade threw up in the cockpit (seasickness) but then went to bed and slept all night. Tomu also slept all night and awoke quite cheery. I think I went down to try and sleep around 10:30 pm, and got up at 5:30 am. Riki was up all that time in the cockpit. It was pretty rolly and loud, so hard to sleep. After we jibed the main over & Riki set up a preventer line on the starboard side, he went down for a nap. We saw a pod of Hector’s dolphins around 7 am — they were so cute! Very small, with some black & darker grey markings. We got into Opua around 2 pm, and immediately went to get ice cream at the Opua General Store.