Cruising Advice

Chatham Islands

43:57:11S

167:33:78W

More from the Chatham Islands.

Port Hutt. The water was expresso coffee coloured from the run off ashore where the beach gave way to solid peat. so we had no idea what the bottom was like. It’s easy to avoid the patches of kelp and the many cray pots. The beach ahead was white sand so we dropped the anchor in 6 metres and it set immediately.

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Port Hutt.

It didn’t surprise us that the following morning we were woken up at daybreak with the cray fishermen swooping past us in their boats to get a good look at us.Later that day they returned and we were given a generous gift of crayfish.

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gifts from George

Where are the Chatham Islands? For most New Zealanders it’s the last place to mentioned on the Marine weather forecast but few of them know that the time difference is 45 minutes ahead of New Zealand time – yes we crossed the date line. For those of you who use Navionics on their Ipad, our track shows us having travelled right the way around the world in 2 days ….. surely this is a yachting record?

The islands are situated right in the path of the roaring forties so we were lucky, or just good planning, that we had fantastic weather. The Moriori, the first inhabitants, called the island Rekohu Misty skies on account of the mists that rise from the confluence of cold subantartic currents meeting warm subtropical streams west of the group. We noticed the change in water temperature as we approached. This merging of currents creates upwellings of nutrients that have attracted whales, seals and feeding birds to this part of the ocean in large numbers.

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Chatham Island Albatross

Albatross are so hard to photograph, thank goodness for digital cameras! We moved from our first anchorage over to Waitangi, the main port where there is the Chatham Island Hotel, the store, a church, bottle bank and hospital. There is also a courthouse/jail/Policeman who visited up by canoe!

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Officialdom!

We asked Paul if he’d like to come on board for a beer but he declined saying everyone is watching and longing for me to fall in! We tried to arrange a trip over to Pitt Island but there was no chance. We rented a car for the day and had a happy day’s outing.

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Waitangi Harbour

Many of the islands’ native plants and animals are found nowhere else.

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Ice plant

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Bamboo rush

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Chatham Island aster

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trees growing shaped by the constant wind.

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Gurnard – delicious fish

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Perfect Sunset with a royal Albatross wheeling past. Sadly we ran out of water and had to cut short our visit. The fishermen on the wharf told us that the water was definitely non drinkable and our water maker had decided to pack up. In spite of Simon’s efforts it just flooded the boat with water…. so headed back to Napier. Just 100 litres of water seemed like severe drought to us. Especially with fresh water flush loos. So buckets of salt water for them and it was back to the old days of cleaning your teeth in salt water and washing in a cup of fresh.

Chatham Island

43:48:63S

176:42:41W

Yesterday ten miles away from the
island there was still no sign of land. Low cloud on the horizon but
nothing else. Even with GPS and all the electronic charts we still check again
that we are on the right course. Suddenly a nipple of a hill becomes visible.
These are low lying islands. Meanwhile the air is thick with birds. Albatrosses,
Shearwaters, Fulmars and terns wheel and swoop around us. We identified
various endemic species which is a thrill in itself. To our surprise it is much
warmer here than anticipated. The water temperature has only just dropped from
20 c to 16c. The wind is forecast to stay in the northern sector so we decided
to anchor in one of the bays that showed an anchor on the chart. no
cruising guide yet to the Chatham’s! Ocean bay looked too open so on to the
next, Port Hutt where there were fish works marked, looked the best option. A
scattering of sheds on the shore, a rough slip with a rusty tractor at the head,
two rusting hulks – and that was it. Dodging cray pots and patches of kelp we
nosed our way in and dropped our anchor in 6 meters of sand. Excellent holding.
Within five minutes I’d hooked a huge cod and a sole! Fresh fish for supper.

Saturday 9th February

40:52:03S
173:45:86E

Weather looks set fair for the
next couple of days. We left Nelson this morning destination Chatham Islands. We
planned to take a short cut through a narrow pass between D’Urville Island and
the Mainland saving ourselves 6 hours. However we got to French Pass just
1/2 and hour too late……even with the engine at full revs we came to a halt
and then were pushed back. making a quick turn we raced back to a
nearby bay where we anchored for a short while. We worked out
that we couldn’t attempt the pass again until after dark. Not a risk worth
taking. So we are now under way again motoring for Cook Straight in a light
N’thly wind that promises to fill in later this evening. So far so good.
Interestingly enough friends emailed us that they had googled up flight distance
from Nelson to Chatham Island which came up as 28624 Kilometres or 17786 miles
or 15455 nautical miles. Don’t forget to turn right out of Nelson. Thank you
Tim, we took your advice……

Nelson

Tuesday 8th February

The Generator was fixed by Cindy, an energetic and extremely capable young lady. Simon was most impressed! After a fast sail of 450 miles down the West Coast we stopped for a night in Tasman Bay. Since then repairs and more maintenance. Nelson is a fun place for a stop over as it’s relaxed, plenty of eateries to choose from, markets, crafts and arts.

A west coast Sunset.

Nelson has plenty of attractive and easy walks.

plenty of Market Gardeners happy to show you their cucumbers

Anchorage Bay where we met up with friends.

A new seasons cruise

31st January 2013

We began the year with a quick trip ‘overseas’ to get an extension for Duet to stay another year in New Zealand. Norfolk Island is an extraordinary place isolated as it is from almost everywhere. It is the closest bit of Australia to New Zealand which is why we choose to go there. It is little visited by yachts as there is no harbour, just a roadstead in which you can anchor although the holding is not good and you have to be prepared to move very quickly when the wind changed direction. Our visit was extremely rapid, 12 hours in total, as Cyclone Erne was heading our way.

as it is impossible to come alongside the jetty wall the cargo has to be unloaded into a lighter and then the crane hoists them onto the jetty.

Christmas weather was dreary but we had a great time in spite of that with our friends in the Beautiful Bay of Islands.

This year I have decided to practise aquaculture. I have discovered that bok choy, spring onions,leeks and celery will continue to grow when stood in a small amount of water. Spring onions are particularly successful as the tops re-grow really quickly so always a fresh supply of ‘chives’ to hand.

I have my mini allotment of fresh veggies!

No fish caught this year so far which is typical as Simon gave me a New soft bait rod for Christmas.

The weather has been stunning ever since new year and instead of hooking a fish we dived for scallops of which there were plenty this year.

Apart from sailing we have done quite a lot of walking in some of the most stunning places. Both of us are much fitter than we were!

Is it a bird or is it a ‘plane?

We visited the Murawai Australian Gannet colony. We spent hours watching these fascinating birds.

It’s the breeding season – chick looking on as it’s parents bill and coo! Like all Kiwis they grew up, emigrate to Australia and then return when they are a lot older.

Not an April fool

35:15:28S
174:14:56E

Killer fish weighing in at 4.3KG
Fishing with Consie on April 1st.

tomorrow – ?

37:40:34S
178:42:14E

Friday 30th March or is it?

We are at the most eastern cape of New Zealand. In fact we are
very nearly on the international date line. So it is yesterday again, or nearly.
Quick look in the mirror confirms that No, I don’t look a day
younger…..Rats.

We are heading north from Gisborne to the bay of
Islands where we will meet up with the Lennox-Kings and friends for
Easter. We have to keep the speed up as a tropical depression is heading our way
– we hope to be in by Sunday as the forecast shows storm force winds and rain
for Monday and Tuesday…..

Picton to Gisborne

38:40:22S
178:01:75E

Thursday March 39th.

We were not sorry to leave Picton. We had ferocious gales that put a stop to sailing for a while. We walked a few trails and did some wine tasting so didn’t waste our time so to speak. We were happy to get out of the marina after a few days and park ourselves in some attractive coves. We found beaches with Cockles and Pipis so that satisfied the hunter-gatherer instinct. Plenty of time in hand to catch up on boat jobs as well. The forecast was better so we headed off up the coast to Gisborne. Cape Palliser and Castle point lived up to their windy reputation but as it was on the beam it made for a very fast and comfortable ride. Gisborne is a pilgrimage to visit the spot where Captain James Cook stepped ashore on 8th October 1798 to meet with the Chief. It was not an altogether happy occasion as Maori gestures were misinterpreted by the Brits who of course fired off a Musket and shot a Maori. Not clever. Cook sailed off without reprovisioning with food or water, hence naming the area, Poverty Bay. First we climbed the hill overlooking Gisborne which gives stunning views of the bay and stood beneath the statue of James Cook. Except of course it isn’t him. The statue had been given to the town thinking it was the real Cook, but it turns out not to be the Great Man himself, but probably some Italian……… However we found the real statue as well as the one of Young Nick the surgeons lad who was in the crows nest as was the first person to spot the land.

Duet sails north

41:12:76S
174:19:26E

This is the Exit of the Tory channel into the notorious Cook Straight.

Lovely sunny day and wind dropped to 25 knots. We are heading North maybe stop en route.

Picton and the Sounds

41:17:23S
174:00:54E

Tuesday March 21st.

When the bottle of wine slid off the table as Duet heel
over in a particularly vicious gust, we said; ‘That’s is, we are not going to
the Chatham Islands. We were securely moored up in Picton marina at the time. We
have had weeks of bad weather but this took the biscuit so to speak. In the
meantime we have thoroughly enjoyed cruising the sounds and
walking the Queen Charlotte Track. We would park the boat on a
Pylorus boating club mooring, walk part of the track and take a water taxi
back from whence we came.

One evening we were lucky enough to be on one such mooring
when a launch came and moored alongside. They asked if we would like a crayfish,
would we ever!