Tag Archives: beach

Telekitonga: 3-mile Beach

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It is a special treat to visit an uninhabited island as lovely as Telekitonga.  This island is one of the eastern barrier islands in the Haa’pai island group.  It is located about 65nm from Tongatopu.

We had a short 12nm sail from Kelefesia to Telekitonga.  With very light winds we decided to put up Big Bertha to get us there.  We were not in a hurry and thought it would be nice to enjoy a lazy sail day.  It was hard to keep the sail full as we only had 3-4kts of wind, but we made the best of it.

Telekitonga

Telekitonga has a long 2.5 mile beach around the island that can be walked during low tide.  In the center grows a lush, thick forest.

Telekitonga

Telekitonga

We have been running island to island to try to find a protected anchorage where there is no swell.  The swell is coming in from the south and even though we are protected from southerly winds the waves are wrapping around the island creating pretty uncomfortable waves in our anchorage.

So, we decided to go to shore to explore the beautiful beach of Telekitonga. As you walk around the island you encounter all types of ground cover.  Not much sand but a lot of coral which makes it hard to walk barefoot.  A quarter of the island was covered in limestone and another quarter covered in coral rocks.

This little island was hit hard by the tsunami.  You can see the damaged trees and bush trying desperately to come back to its former glory.

We found loads of lobster shells and floats.  Well over 3 dozen of each were strewn about the island.  We also found a treasure marked by a giant “X” and the world’s largest light bulb.

Super nice change to walk around such a large island exploring what the sea brought to us.

Events from this blog post occured during the end of July.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  Did you miss your opportunity to buy your very own private island in Tonga, see our last blog post on Kelefesia?

Murchison, Westport and a Swing Bridge

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Our destination today is Westport, but we stop several times on along the way.  About an hour into our drive we pull over at the Hope Saddle Lookout.  We knew we would have wonderful views as we had been winding all around the mountains and through the forest.  The clouds were hanging low and dancing around the peaks.

This spot is famous for saving over 30,000 hectares of forest as the NZ government made an accord with the logging companies.

A sweet little church popped up seemingly out of nowhere.

Murchison and NZ Longest Swing Bridge

We arrive into Murchison which is the home to New Zealand’s longest swing bridge.  It is 110 meters long and is suspended 172 meters high over mighty the Buller Gorge.

We were lucky, there were not a lot of tourists here when we arrived.  We paid $10NZD per person and eagerly headed toward the bridge.  It was a fairly calm day, not a lot of wind so the only swinging came from our own weight.

The views were beautiful from the center of the bridge.

When we got to the other side, we discovered several trails that led to a beach and Ariki Falls.  Super easy walks that led us to beautiful places.  The top left photo shows the flood mark in 2021 – check out the white arrow – it is well over 2.5-3 meters tall.

The Ariki Falls were a really nice diversion and oh so pretty.

This is also where they did a lot of gold mining in this location.  They had a replica of a house used by the miners.

Westport

We arrive into Westport about 6 hours after we left Nelson.  It is a nice little beach town.

We enjoy a nice lunch at Donaldo’s and then head to Carters Beach Seaside (our hotel).  Next we drop our bags and make our way to the beautiful, and very long black sand beach.

We then head to Cape Foulwind where there is a nice hike to a lighthouse.  Yep, you read that right, “Cape Foulwind” and it is very obvious why this town got its name once you arrive….yuck!

This photo shows the original wooden lighthouse that was built in the late 1800’s and to the right is the newer digital, unmanned lighthouse.  I like the original one better.

Pretty views from the base of the lighthouse.

Just 5km down the road is the famous seal colony located in Tauranga Bay.  To my surprise, there really weren’t that many seals – maybe they were all out hunting.

We ended our day with a bottle of rose on the beach at sunset.  I’d say this was a good day!

  • Travel:  210km
  • Hotel: Carters Beach Seasisde

Events from this blog occurred during the last week of February.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind live events.  Check out the Abel Tasman Caves in our last blog post.

Sugar Shack alone at Bahia Llucio

El Mar: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

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El Mar, the sea, the ocean, the Pacific.  All the same, a challenge.  Must admit, it has been a bit frustrating traversing across this side of the ocean.  Perhaps it is our route and I am being unfair, but gesh!  The majority of our days sailing down the coast of Chile have been with the wind and current on our nose.  We can figure out how to deal with that, but then you couple those conditions with the swirly seas and it becomes downright uncomfortable.

Please refer to the “live blog on 21 February 2019” as I don’t want to be repetitive.

The 600nm trip from Quintero to Valdivia should have taken us between 5-6 days.  We padded it a little as all of our trips have taken longer than expected with the stronger currents and weather conditions.

Early on the 4th morning, we were seeing almost 2 knots of current and over 20 knots of wind pushing against us.  El mar was so squirrely that our auto pilot could not hold our course.  We had a choice.  We could either keep our heading and make it to the next safe harbor 60 miles away.  At our speed it would take us 2.5-3 days.  Or we could turn around, backtrack 40 miles and hide out in Bahia Llico.  We decided to backtrack.

Bahia Llucio

Bahia Llucio is a one horse town. Well, not literally, but there are only about 4-5 streets, 3 small tiendas, 6 restaurants, and a fish market.  We walked the entire town in 10 minutes.  However, they do have a magnificent, long beach peppered with lovely little sea shells, crabs, clams, and muscles.

The bay is surrounded by lush, green trees which is a stark difference to its Northern towns.  Fishing boats are pulled in and out to sea using a tractor and a dozen dogs are your welcoming committee.

Bahia Llucio Anchorage

Bahia Llucio Anchorage

It was cold, so we were in full cold weather gear when we went to shore.  The pack of dogs followed us on our walk down the beach.  A small herd of cows were sun bathing, but would have nothing to do with Matt.

Bahia Llucio beach walk

Bahia Llucio beach walk

We hit out in this bay for 4.5 days before a weather window presented itself.  We had 180nm to conquer against the wind, waves, and current.  El Mar was cooperating as we were leaving.  The trip started out decent enough, we had a double reef in the main for about 12 hours before taking it down.  But then, el mar started to mimic a washing machine cycle making it a really uncomfortable ride.  We forged ahead and arrived at the Valdivia mouth at dawn.  A short 2-miles up the river and we arrived at Club de Yates Marina Estancilla.

Valdivia - Club de Yates

Valdivia – Club de Yates

Some fun photos.  Matt surrounded by his computers and charts, sunset and sunrise

Matt navigating from inside

Matt navigating from inside

Sunset at sea

Sunset at sea

Sunrise at sea

Sunrise at sea

This is what it looks like when a fishing boat encroaches on your space.  Of course, this only happens at night.

Close encounter at sea

Close encounter at sea

TRIP 1 – Thwarted and had to backtrack

  • Total miles – 377
  • Total hours – 76
  • Max Speed – 11.1
  • Average Speed – 4.9

TRIP 2 – Continuation to Valdivia

  • Total miles – 199 nm
  • Total hours – 40.25
  • Max Speed – 8.3
  • Average Speed – 4.9