We were looking forward to cruising New Zealand’s North Island during our ‘summer’ here and we were not disappointed. While many cruisers tie up their yacht and explore New Zealand by land, we decided to keep sailing south along the east coast of the North Island to see what we could explore by boat first, with land travels planned afterwards. There is a lot of good cruising beyond the Bay of Islands and we were glad we ventured further.
With the arrival of Covid 19, we ended up spending longer than planned in New Zealand– about 8.5 months – and our planned South Island travels never materialized. This just means we have more to explore on a subsequent visit.
Here is an overview of how we spent our time in New Zealand and what happened when Covid hit.
Bay of Islands to Great Barrier Island
Soon after returning from our trip to Australia (early January 2020), we met up with cruising friends on Queen, and left the Bay of Islands. We enjoyed a fantastic few weeks, harbour hopping down the coast, stopping in some beautiful bays and enjoying the stellar cruising grounds on offer.
The emerald green hills interspersed with forest and hiking trails along with a series of good anchorages made for some great cruising. We stopped to explore Cape Brett and the ‘hole in the wall’, anchoring in Whangamumu for the evening, then pushed on to Whangaruru and then Urquharts Bay, which turned out to be one of our favourite anchorages in all of New Zealand.
In Urquharts Bay, we were lucky to meet cruising friends on Sunrise, who showed us how to gather scallops and we gorged on huge plates of fresh scallops and enjoyed hiking and workouts in the surrounding parklands. This was the first time we’d tried scallops eating the orange ‘sac’ along with the white meat. Simply delectable. We’ve been lucky with enjoying a lot of fresh seafood on this trip – I have to say that these fresh scallops are my number one favourite. Wow!
Front Row Seats to a GP50 Foiling Catamaran Training Session
One morning while anchored in Urquharts bay, Nathan shouted, “Hey, is that a foiling Catamaran?” as he peered through the binoculars. Sure enough, it was the Danish Sailing GP team training in the bay as they zipped back and fourth on the 50 foot wing sailed catamarans planing at over 20 knots back and forth. Queen and us hopped in our dinghys and enjoyed the morning watching and listening to the high pitched hum as the yacht zoomed by us. The two chase boats came by to give us instructions on how to spectate around these fast moving boats: “ Don’t try to get out of their way – just stay in one place. It’s easier for them to avoid you that way.” When they are moving much faster than our dinghy on full plane – that makes sense!
Great Barrier Island – more good cruising!
We had a quick errand to take care of in Whangarei (to pick up our new larger asymetrical spinnaker – thank you SV Argo for bringing this from Australia to us!!!!) , so we head off up the river anchoring near Kissing Point, and then met up with Queen a few days later at Great Barrier Island in the protected ‘Smokehouse Bay’. We had some fun evenings meeting local cruisers from New Zealand as we shared campfires and using the self service professional marble slabbed pizza oven to cook our pizzas. It’s a special spot with land held in trust by a NZ family who allows cruisers to access the land, with swings for the kids, a sandy spot to play, and of course the pizza oven. Brave souls can even rig up the baths by using locally plumbed fresh water heated up by a fire. And there are huts where the local fisherman smoke their fish.
When one local cruiser referred to Smokehouse Bay as the ‘Smokehouse Nightclub’, we chuckled and then later that evening, learned the reason why. Folks away for the weekend on their yachts pumped music late into the night. We didn’t mind too much. We’d had several nights in Mexico listening to loud music under our belts!
After that we left Smokehouse and found a spot outside the bay to anchor in the lee of some islands. The boys had some success spear fishing and we enjoyed a dinner of NZ’s famous green lipped mussles that we had gathered nearby. We eyed the large 2m Bronze Whaler Shark that circled our anchorage, becoming particularly excited when the fishes were being cleaned. We’ve seen a few of these sharks around New Zealand. They are large but everyone assures us they are not aggressive or dangerous. Interesting that our shark encylopedia does not give a similar rating! We enjoyed a few more memorable nights with Queen and then sadly said good bye as they were heading back to the mainland to meet family and head back to the Bay of Islands to enroll their kids in a local school for a couple of months.
Overnight Hike to Mount Hobson – Highly recommend – A must do!
We headed back into Smokehouse Bay, met some more local cruisers and of course made more pizza, then anchored in nearby Kaiarara Bay to get ready to hike Mount Hobson. We booked 4 beds in the government hut (easy to do online) and set off after school. It was an enjoyable hike up to the hut, with many flights of winding stairs, meandering riverbeds and a few suspension bridges. We were rewarded with beautiful views when we got to the hut. The hut is basic, but a fantastic option as far as camping standards go. Cooking stoves with gas are supplied, along with a selection of pots and kettles, and basic mattresses in two different rooms with high and low bunks. The best part was the jaw dropping veiws from the cabin as we enjoyed our evening meal and chatting with fellow hikers. A great day!
The following morning we got up early and ascended Mount Hobson. We were already sweating in the warmth of the early morning as we headed steadily upwards. It was gratifying to reach the top as we reclined on a large wood platform and took in the 360 views. Then it was all the way down, many more stairs and winding paths, and suspension bridges as we made our way back to Slingshot. We enjoyed seeing the Kauri trees along the way, and learning about the historical forestry practices of harvesting the Kauri. The trail was well maintained and we highly rate this hike!
Meeting Friends in Tauranga
Nathan’s best friend from home was going to be in Tauranga soon so we took a few days to make our way South for the 100 or so miles from Great Barrier Island so we could meet up with Sam and his family. We loved Tauranga, and found some protected spots to anchor near Omokoroa Point, Pilot Bay and near the Marina.
It was fun for us all to be with Sam and his family, with the boys having a sleepover and spending time together. We loved climbing Mount Maunganui and exploring the beach and town. We also found some nearby flat water kiting. Luckily we had vacated the area when the local news reported a huge Great White Shark spotted by a fisherman in the same area we’d just been kiting in.
After saying goodbye to the Crockfords, we spent some more time exploring Tauranga. We anchored off of the marina and visited our friend Haavard on Mille Momenti. Then dinghied under the bridge up the river to explore more. There is a fantastic playground on the waterfront and a large grassy park a bit further along. Also some good provisioning nearby.
Waitangi Day – Fun Learning about New Zealand’s national day.
We celebrated Waitaingi day at the historic village in Tauranga with Julia and Nathan first completing a school assignment to learn more about what Waitangi day is about. It was interesting to learn about the background surrounding the signing of the treaty between the British and the Maoris in 1840. Of ourse there is controversy surrounding the signing of the treaty – not all Maori chiefs signed and disputes remain about the wording of the treaty itself and whether the appropriate Maori words for ‘ceding sovereignty’ were correctly used. Nathan and Julia participated in an art workshop and leaned how to make ‘pois’ used by traditional Maori dancers.
Coramandel Peninsula and Mercury Islands – some beautiful spots
Next we were off to the Mercury Islands. We met another friendly Kiwi family cruising on SV Argo and were blown away by their hospitality. We spent some fun days playing on the nice beaches in the Mercury Islands. One day they gave us fresh scallops they’d gathered, and the next day they dropped of a perfectly cooked lobster for our dinner. Seriously! When we tried to say no they assured us that they’d already had their fill of scallops and that lobster are plentiful and that they’d already spearfished a bunch of butterfish for dinner that evening. Wow!
We had favourable winds and were able to anchor out front of a couple of popular tourist stops along the Coramendel Peninsula: Hotwater Beach and Cathedral Cove- both spots are aptly named!
Hot Water Beach
After researching instructions on where to dig and packing up supplies (bucket, thermometer and shovel) we set off for ‘Hot Water Beach’. It is a long sandy beach where hotsprings bubble up through the sand at low tide.
We found a spot to dig and before we knew it we had a dug ourselves our own ‘hotub’ at the water’s edge. The spot was busy with many other tourists and families but there was enough room for everyone. The water was so hot at one end of our ‘pool’ (40 to 50C as measured by our thermometer) that we used our bucket to cool it down with cold water. A fun afternoon!
Cathedral Cove
Afterwards we motored to nearby Cathedral Cove and spent time exploring the beautiful cove with a large cave separating the beaches. Nathan and I also enjoyed a 50 foot drop ‘natural shower’ with fresh water pouring down from a cliff above. Most folks who visit this spot take a tour boat or drive then hike in to visit. We felt lucky to be able to anchor Slingshot right out front.
Back to Great Barrier – Kaitoke Hot Springs
There were a few spots that we didn’t get to on Great Barrier Island the first time, so we sailed back to explore a bit more there. A highlight of our second visit there was our day hike to Kaitoke Hot Springs. It was a full day of hiking with lunch spent at the most beautiful natural hot springs we’ve ever seen. We were lucky to have time there all to ourselves and luxuriated in the beautifully warm water. It was also fun to practice our French lessons orally while walking and to challenge each other with math problems to do in our heads. It helps to pass the time and bonus to get a few ticks in the homeschooling box.
Then of course we sailed back to Smokehouse for more pizza at the pizza oven where we waited for a couple of days for good wind to sail to Auckland using our newly acquired spinnaker.
Trying out our newly acquired Asymmetrical Spinnaker – We love this sail!
We were excited to find a barely used 150 square meter asymmetrical spinnaker. It’s an A4 which means that we can carry it into heavier winds and can sail a deeper angle than our code Zero and other A3 spinnaker. We hoisted it in 15 knots of wind and it flew beautifully, carrying Slingshot along at a good speed of 9/10 knots. We love this sail! The sail has turned into an excellent purchase for us as it came in handy during our passage from New Zealand back to French Polynesia. We had some glorious days of making good progress with it earlier in our passage outrunning some nasty weather behind us.
When the wind increases significantly or comes from a tighter angle (wind comes more from the beam than aft) then we have our smaller A3 spinnaker and code zero. Our code Zero is another of our favourite sails – we use it regularly in varying wind speeds and Slingshot always comes alive with it.
Auckland – Visiting by Boat
We’d already been to Auckland over land and stayed overnight there while we were on our way to Australia. But it was special to sail Slingshot right into Auckland’s famous harbour.
It was apt that our sail into the harbour happened to coincide with the start of the doublehanded ’round the North Island’ race. As ‘racers’ before we were cruisers, we loved watching all of the boats beat towards us and we were impressed with the fleet. It was impressive to see some of these double handed crews handling TP 52’s (large racing yachts typically crewed by 11 to 13 crew) into some serious ocean and conditions ahead. There is a doublehanded offshore race to be included in the upcoming Olympics and there were some crews in this race who surely have the olympic race as a goal in their minds.
We were graciously hosted in a marina on the Northshore by friends we’d met cruising who didn’t need their slip for the week. We successfully maneuvered Slingshot through the current and narrow confines of the marina into their slip. We notice the size of Slingshot (60feet) whenever it comes to docking. However, we have our systems down now and there is always someone (usually me) ready to hop into the dinghy to help guide Slingshot into a berth if needed.
The marina made a perfect home base for our daily excursions in and around Auckland. We were also happy to time our Auckland visit with meeting up with Nana and her friend who had flown into New Zealand for some sightseeing of their own and for Nana to catch up with us. We had some fun days and evenings exploring Auckland with them.
We loved our daily dinghy rides into the city where we visited the maritime and national museums, ate out in restaurants and enjoyed walking, shopping and skootering around the city. We especially loved seeing the America’s Cup in person. And it was a bonus to catch a sneak peak at NZ’s prototype foiling monohaul racing around the bay and being pulled out of the water into their team wharehouse as they prepare for defending the Cup in 2021. We extended our stay into a second week, anchoring in a good spot west of the bridge and enjoying more walks and jogs along the seawall.
Rangitoto, Waiheke Island and Hauraki Gulf area
Next we sailed the short distance from Auckland over to nearby Rangitoto island – a 600 year old dormant Volcano. We had fun climbing up to the summit and enjoying the views of Auckland. It reminded me of the Grouse Grind from home – full of weekend hikers from the city – only the Grouse Grind is a fair bit steeper!
First Time Kite Foiling
It was off Rangitoto that Nathan tried kite foiling for the first time. We had picked up a second hand foilboard while in Auckland which happened to be a fairly advanced model – it is carbon, has a smaller foil (450 square cm) with a 1 meter mast, the rationale being that a smaller foil has less water resistance and will go faster in the water. It even has a sticker on it from a previous world championship. We got a good deal on the board – because most people prefer larger foils which are easier and smoother to use. I was a worried about this but Gavin assured me that he would be building a larger easier foil for us to learn on. More on that later!
We’d already had practice tow foiling behind the dinghy with friends’ foil boards and Nathan was keen to try our new board. He was able to get up foiling behind the dinghy on his first run. Being sub 40 kilos helps!
So next step was to try with the kite in low winds. Nathan was very excited to be able to get up and foil with the kite. It is an interesting phase of parenthood when your kids are able to pick things up and do them better than you can! Turns and foiling in the opposite direction are skills to work on. Good thing we have lots of time near and on the water out here!
Waiheke
Next we visited Waiheke Island – another island close to Auckland. We loved it here. Protected anchorages, wine tasting, hiking, long sandy beaches and some kiting. We stayed in this area for a couple of weeks.
One afternoon we even had a visit from a police helicopter and speedboat. It turns out that someone on shore had seen us kiting from Slingshot and thought that a kiter had collided with a yacht. Perhaps folks weren’t used to seeing kiters in this bay (no suitable beach launch area so we launched from the boat) and saw the kite tied to slingshot when we came in to take a rest.
We were impressed with NZ’s search and rescue and that the Police had sent a Rib out 15 miles from Auckland to check we were okay. The police were friendly and we were glad that no one was in distress out there and it was just a mix up with an anxious caller onshore.
Cyclone Gretel
It was while we were in Waiheke that early forecasts showed that a named storm, Cyclone Gretel, could pass uncomfortably close, even pass right over top of where we were. There were a few anxious days as we watched the weather and mingled with friends on SV Flocerfida, and SV Renegade who were also at Waiheke, as we considered where the best place to ride out the storm would be.
Luckily the storm tracked north and we had good kiting winds instead of uncomfortable storm force winds. It was during this time (mid March 2020)that the Covid crisis was hitting North America and spreading across the world more generally preciptating lockdowns elsewhere. We watched the news with concern and felt safe to be in New Zealand.
Visit with Nana
After flying into Auckland, Nana had enjoyed a campervan tour down to the South Island and returned north to join us for a week aboard Slingshot. We picked her up in Waiheke island and enjoyed some
fun days, walking and exploring Waiheke, and then on to meet friends at a nearby island and then on to Gulf Harbour. Nana helped out with homeschool and we enjoyed some social time with kidboat
friends on SV Axeline and SV Archer. We enjoyed an overnight stop in Gulf Harbour next to Axeline with a delicious dinner on board their beautiful Baltic 56.
With Covid concerns rising we appreciated Axeline’s help in lending us their car and we did a large provisioning stop before level 3 and level 4 lockdown was imposed in New Zealand.
Thankfully, we were able to enjoy the last few days with Nana before she boarded one of the last flights out of Auckland the day Level 4 lockdown was imposed. We are so glad that she got home safely and that her trip was not cut short by Covid and that we were able to have a great visit together.
Covid – Lockdown in NZ
We ended up getting some boat chores done (painting the mast!) and primarily spent lockdown in the Bay of Islands nearby our buddy boat, Queen, where we were able to get onshore for exercise and change bays depending on weather and provision in nearby Russell for groceries. It was a 5 week period where we got a lot of homeschool done and overall feel pretty lucky of where we were and our experience during this time. We enjoyed ‘zooming’ with friends from home who were all homebound and homeschooling just like us and felt more connected to our home life -a small happy outcome from Covid.
New Zealand took lockdown very seriously and the lockdown was able to stamp out community spread of Covid for the most part.
Changing Plans – What Now?
Prior to Covid our plan was to head north to Fiji in April/May, then visit Vanuatu and New Caledonia with the decision still not solidified for cyclone season – either head to Australia, back to New Zealand, or over to Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
Once countries began closing their borders we realized that we would be staying longer in New Zealand. We held out hope for a ‘travel bubble’ with Australia to open by June. Our plan B was to sail to Australia and cruise north into the Great Barrier Reef and Whitsunday Islands. But with Covid proving a challenging nemesis, Australia remained shut, borders remained closed and we continued to contemplate many options including staying in New Zealand or returning home.
Winter arrives in New Zealand
We were feeling disappointed with the uncertainty of our plans and options – though at the same time feeling incredibly fortunate to be in New Zealand during this period. We felt lucky to be together and be reasonably self sufficient, already homeschooling, and well prepared for living off the grid.
We were a little unprepared for the damp winter rains that arrived. Luckily Gavin had our heater running (turning our Air Conditioning unit on reverse so warm air pumped out instead of cold) and we were thankful to have the generator to make power during the cloudy days. In the tropics we can run our entire boat for weeks (freezer, fridge, watermaker etc.) on our 1000 Watts of solar power without needing the generator, but in the cloudy New Zealand fall, we relied on our generator more often.
While we are from the Pacific Northwest (Vancouver) which gets its fair share of rain, after 2 years in warm tropical weather the sub 20C temperatures with wind and rain were chilly. We were all wearing our puffy jackets and checking news daily regarding country borders and closures hoping for somewhere north we could sail to.
Congregation of Kidboats in Bay of Islands
A happy outcome of the border closures from Covid was that all of the kidboats which had previously been somewhat spreadout in New Zealand, congregated for a couple of months in the Bay of Islands. This meant many fun times and excursions as we all waited for borders to open and decided what to do next.
We especially had fun with good friends and cruising buddies on SV Queen. They are a Norwegian family who share many of the same interests as us –dinghy racing, kiting, hiking, workouts, and cooking delicious meals – and we spent many fun days throughout the Bay of Islands doing all of these activities together. I loved kiting with Jana and Eivand and watching Nathan (10)and Leon (10)
high five each other with one hand flying their kites as they zipped and jumped beside each other. Linn (12) is a fantastic role model for Julia as she jumped high with her kite and zipped around. And it was so cute to see Nathan, Leon and youngest Lukas make raps together about kiting. There were several days of these boys chasing sheep and flying the trainer kite for hours on the beach. They even had a sleepover on the beach one night in the tent and I’m not sure too much ‘sleeping’ occurred.
A highlight were the multiple days of dinghy racing where Queen rigged up their two Bic Opens, and we rigged up our Byte and the kids and even adults had a mini regatta. It was fun to watch the kids yell instructions to the adults at the startline after they had heard many instructions in their direction from previous days.
We were so sad when Queen made the tough decision to put their boat for sale and head home to Norway. With borders appearing to remain closed, a number of other boats made a similar decision. It’s one of those realities of cruising life – saying goodbye to friends met along the way never gets easier.
Cavali Islands – Whangaroa – Cruising Gems North of the Bay of Islands
After a sad goodbye to Queen we regrouped and took advantage of some sunny days to head north with some other fun kidboats – sv Torea and sv Pu’Ahona.
We are so thankful that we had a good window to explore these beautiful places. We enjoyed some fantastic hiking in both locations with unbelievable scenery and views. We also met up with another fun cruiser boat – SV Sunrise – and had some fun potlucks and fires on the beach with all of the boats together.
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Fiji Opens – Now what?
One evening we were having happy hour with Pu’Ahona and the happy news arrived that Fiji was opening up for cruisers. We all celebrated and then madly began preparations for sailing to Fiji – paperwork, provisioning, last minute boat jobs.
But as we prepared and fully intended to sail to Fiji as planned – some nagging questions lurked in the back of our minds. Fiji is right in the middle of cyclone area in the South Pacific – last season they had a direct hit. We have a chart on our open cpn program which shows all of the paths for cyclones in the past 50 years – you can barely even see Fiji but for all of the previous cyclone tracks who have passed directly over or just nearby.
With Covid still in full swing would Australia or New Zealand open their doors to us to return before cyclone season? Only citizens were and are as of this writing (Aug 2020) permitted entry. Would we feel comfortable requesting or would we even qualify for an exemption under a humanitarian reason to enter either of these countries or another country outside of the cycone season by reason of needing safe shelter out of the cyclone zone if we’d purposely left a safe country (NZ)?
Some folks spend cyclone season in Fiji at one of the hurricane ‘holes’ there – they tie their yacht in the mangroves, or put it in one of the ‘pits’ on the hard so it won’t tip over. Or just secure it in a marina as well as can be.
Is French Polynesia even an option?
Shortly before Fiji announced it was opening, French Polynesia announced that they were opening to air tourists as of July 15, 2020. French Polynesia is a large area with a much safer record as far as cyclones go. While not unheard of, cyclones are much more rare in this area as compared with Fiji. Also, with a keen eye on weather, it is possible to head north of any cyclone that appears on track as French Polynesia has islands closer to the equator (Marquesas) and it is only a couple of hundred miles north to reach within 5 degrees of the equator – where cyclones will not enter.
The only drawbacks with French Polynesia – maritime borders were (and still are) closed, entry only allowed upon individual permission – and,not insignificantly – a 2200 mile passage from New Zealand during winter, passing through an area with multiple lows and big seas , not to mention potentially sailing upwind against the tradewinds for a considerable portion. Hmm. Not too enticing!
Another piece to consider with French Polynesia is duration of stay – while possible to stay through cyclone season, a long stay visa is required, otherwise entry is only permitted for 3 months (depending on citizenship). Luckily, we have a longstay visa option so the requirement to leave after 3 months was not an issue we needed to be concerned with.
We wrote to the French Polynesian maritime authorities (DPAM), and requested permission to enter and inquired about quarantine obligations upon entry and explained our plans. We were so thankful to receive permission to enter and were told that we could complete a Covid test upon arrival to avoid a long quarantine on board.
What to do? Stay tuned…:)