Cruising Logs

Cruising in New Zealand (II)

Contributed By: Chuck St Laurent s/v Saints a' Sea (Beneteau Moorings 463), St. Lucia

Trip Summary

One-way charter from the Moorings' base in Opau, Bay of Islands, on the north Island of New Zealand to Auckland going south down the East Coast.  Straight distance: about 148 miles.

Boat: s/v Barvai Princess - Beneteau Moorings 463 (Club Class.)
Charter trip duration: 10 days; 9-19 March 2001

Day 1: Boat pick up:12:00PM. Underway:3:00PM, anchor OPUNGA Cove, Bay of Islands. 10 miles.
Day 2: Stay in OPUNGA cove with about 25 other boats due gale warnings off the coast.
Day 3: Sail to WHANGAMMU Bay on East coast heading south. Anchor. 30 miles.
Day 4: Sail to TUTUKAKA Bay. Take berth at marina. 30 miles.
Day 5: Sail to Great Barrier Island. Anchor Kara Bay. 55 miles.
Day 6: Remain in Kara Bay at anchor. Rains all day and night.
Day 7: Anchor Oneura Bay on Great Barrier Island. 5 miles.
Day 8: Sail to Kawau Island, anchor in Bon Accord Harbor. 32 miles.
Day 9: Remain in Bon Accord Harbor.
Day 10: Sail to Westhaven marina, Auckland. 28 miles.
Day 11: Turn over boat to delivery crew at 12:00PM.

General Information

1. Moorings base is at Opau, North Island, Bay of Islands, which is about 240Km. from Auckland, driving distance about 4-5 hours up Highway.

2. We arrived in NZ on 3 March, so we used a rental car from Budget, which allows drop off at Waitangi, which is 6K from Opau. (Recommended by Moorings.)
   
   Stayed in Pahia night before charter at Bay View Motel as recommended by Moorings. Pahia is 1K from Waitangi and 5K from Opau.Pahia is a small resort with many motels, shops, and restaurants. There is also a large number of sea/land excursions offered from Pahia.

3. Opau has limited facilities: post office, general store, and liquor store.

4. Visited Moorings base on Thursday afternoon. Office located at head of main pier next to SUNSAIL.  They have about 13 boats and during NZ winter, some boats are sent north to Tonga.  Some were leaving in a few weeks. All boat maintenance is done in Opau.
   
   Moorings staff: Kim Borgstrum - Mgr; Ruth Simmonds-Asst Mgr; Lesley Johnson-no title. We dealt with Lesley and did not meet other two. Dave, forgot last name, was the fellow that we did boat and chart checkout with.  He now works part time for Moorings having worked before as Ops Mgr. Real knowledgeable person on sailing area. There was another charter boat going out the same day we were.

5. Lesley recommended we provision from supermarkets in Keri Keri since local stores in Opau and Pahia do not offer variety and prices are inflated.  Keri Keri is about 28K from Pahia, so we got dry provisions Thursday afternoon and fresh, frozen Friday morning.  You must provision for most of your meals, as there are not many places to dine ashore if one makes the one-way trip south. Not like the BVI.

6. During trip south, the places to visit/anchor are very dependent on the weather in terms of coastal conditions and sheltered harbors. We wanted to go north first to Whangaroa Harbor (A must place to visit according to Dave our briefer), however, after spending a second day in Opunga cove during coastal gale warnings, we headed south on day 3 of the charter to ensure we made Auckland on the 19th.

7. Boats do use the holding tanks due NZ laws and you can drain to sea when at least 5 miles from the coast line.

8. There are no moorings to use. What moorings you see will all be private. Anchoring is the norm unless one gets a berth at a marina. Our anchor chain was not marked, so I did it with small 12-inch lanyards at our first anchorage. All anchorages had good holding. Night sailing is not allowed.

9. If needed, Moorings will provide cell phone for local calls only and contact with the base. We had our cell phone activated for overseas use, but at $2.50 a minute for both incoming and outgoing calls, we didn't use it very often.

10. The Moorings request the Captain to keep a log of the trip as they said it is required to be turned in to some authority. Moorings provide the form and said not all areas had to be filled out, just basic info. Moorings will make a copy on request. I did a running commentary with periodic weather info, distance and speed traveled. The local Moorings information package was very good and had lots of info.

11. You will have to post US$400 bond with credit card imprint.

12. If charterers are not knowledgeable on weather whys/hows/effects, etc. they should get good background/understanding of such since the trip (at least for the month of March) will be very dependent on weather conditions. There are frequent and helpful scheduled weather broadcasts on VHF.

13. Moorings FL provide a New Zealand cruising guide when you make the charter. However, I recommend buying a commercial sailing guide on the area to supplement their info.

14. We all know the navigational saying "Red right returning"; well down under it is "Red left returning".

15. Beware of tidal changes: can be up to 3 meters (10ft) in some locations.

16. There was a US$500 drop-off fee for our one-way trip and Owner per diem charges were US$670.

17. We took a berth in Tutukaka Harbor and the mooring was somewhat like Mediterranean mooring. You back into the pier between two pilings and there are stern lines on the dock and your two bowlines are hanging on the pilings (or should be hanging if previous occupant hung them up) so have line handler on bow with a boat hook. One side will have short finger pier for the stern quarter.  To make the landing easier, I would send a crewmember ashore in the dinghy to handle the stern lines. We were not so fortunate as it was just my wife and I on the boat.  Put over a stern fender and a stern quarter fender for the short finger pier. Call the marina for berth assignment.  We entered on low tide and had about .7 to 1 meter (2 to 3ft) under the keel.  The depth finder on board was calibrated to read meters beneath the keel.

18. The info in both the commercial sailing guide and the Moorings provided guide are pretty much comprehensive, so this report will not elaborate on the ports of call. We used a hand held GPS in addition to the installed one and with just two of us on board, it came in real handy as I entered the next day's way points the night before.

19. At the Westhaven marina in Auckland, the Moorings has two berths they own at pier Z which is where SUNSAIL has a big operation.

20. We were told that January and February are the big sailing months due to summer conditions and school and work vacations. There are a lot of boats in NZ and one should try to avoid Bay of Islands and Great Barrier Island during the weekends if possible.

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