Tag Archives: waiheke island

Cruise the NE Tip of the North Island

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Last season, 2023, we were pretty much focused on boat projects and only left the dock for 2 weeks.  During that 2 weeks, NZ was hit with a cyclone that flooded the Auckland airport.  Not the best sailing experience for us.  So, this season, 2024, we decided to try again.  Since we only have 2.5 months we will focus and cruise only the North East tip of the North Island of New Zealand.

This is a summary of all of the islands and anchorages we visited on the NE side of the North island.  A highlight reel with hyperlinks back to the blog post associated with each island (in case you missed it).  

This is a long post meant mostly for cruisers as I list out our lat/long location for each anchorage and the anchoring conditions.

Hen and Chickens

We anchored at Urquharts Bay for a few days of hiking then made a short 40nm cruise for the Hen and Chickens island chain (blog Hen & Chickens).  I just love the name!  We anchored at Starfish Bay off the Whatupuke Island. (35°53.565S / 174°45.024E anchored in 9m of sand, great holding).

Great Barrier Island

We make several stops at Great Barrier Island.  Our first stop was at Whangapoua Bay which has a very sad history. We dopped the hook at 36°06.849S / 175°25.806E in 5m in a sandy area with really good holding).

Our next stop is Haratonga bay which has an exclusive beach.  We were hiding from some strong winds and nasty swell. This anchorage proved to be a nice place.  (Anchored at 36°10.017S / 175°29.321E in 8m of sand with rock solid holding).

Rakitu (Arid) Island – The Cove

Holy moly this place is absolutely gorgeous!  This is by far one of our favorite places in New Zealand!  We anchor in a U shape spot called the Cove on Rakitu Island (also known as Arid island).  There is a small sandy beach with lots of caves at water level to explore.  We drop the hook at 36°07.224S / 175°29.618E in 4.5m of water.  There were some large boulders on the sea bed so be careful with your anchor chain.

Matt broke out the drone and captured some great shots of the boat. Read our blog on Rakitu.  A must see!

Mercury Island (The Mercs): Coralie Bay

The winds were not perfect, but it was a window to head south from Great Barrier Island to Mercury Island.  We “pinched” close to the shifty wind and were able to sail for the first 4 hours but then we lost the wind and ended up motoring the last 1.5 hours.  Either way, it was a gorgeous day to be out on the water. 

We arrive to Coralie Bay with 7 other boats.  Not the ideal anchorage, but still very pretty and super calm.  We meet our friends Mirko and Daniela from Yum Yum and Leigh and Linda from Moon Shadow here.  Anchorage at 36°36.353S / 175°47.612E in 4m of water.  Note, there is a rather large rock around here.  We avoided it but if you have a draft longer than 1.5m I’d avoid this spot.

Peachgrove Bay

A very popular and large anchorage on the south side of Mercury island.  We dropped the hook at 36°38.301S / 175°48.5064E in 8m of water.  We happened to visit the island during a long 4 day weekend so it was pretty crowded (for us).  Evidently it was no where near as crowded as it gets over the holidays.

Bumper Bay

This is truly a beautiful bay!  I highly recommend a stop here if you get a chance.  We dropped the hook at 36°38.248S / 175°46.707E in 4m of sand/mud with good holding.  We met up with our friends on Yum Yum (Daniela and Mirko) for dinner.

Coromandel

Little Bay

We left Mercury Island and headed to Matarangi Bay to do a little provisioning.  It was not a pleasant stop, very exposed bay, with a difficult dinghy landing on the beach. 36°43.550S / 175°40.116E in 6m of dark sand/mud with good holding.  We would not recommend stopping here unless you “have to” provision.

After we got some fresh food we headed to Little Bay for the night.  Really pretty beach, but a bit rolly with this particular wind direction.  But we did have a lovely sail here.

Squadron Bay

We sailed around Coromandel’s tip and decided to anchor on the west side of the island.  We landed at squadron Bay which was so peaceful and calm!  Despite there being close to 20 boats (mostly small fishing boats), it was the perfect little anchorage.  We anchored at 36°49.373S / 175°26.019E in 5m of mud with good holding.  Sprawling hillsides dotted with cows.

Papakarahi Bay

The winds were shifting so we moved to a new bay less than 5nm from Squadron Bay.  It was super quiet and peaceful as well.  Anchor down at 36°48.481S / 175°26.617E in 5.5m of mud with good holding.

Ponui Island

We crossed the Firth which was a tricky little passage with huge gusts and a choppy swell.  We dropped the hook at Ponui Bay, Chamberlaine’s Bay.  Anchor down 36°49.942S / 175°11.416E in 5m on a sandy bottom.  Home of the very rare, white Ponui donkeys.  The three land owners do not allow visitors to come ashore, I went anyway for less than 10 minutes to meet these friendly beauties.

West Ponui Bay

Beautiful little anchorage with good holding.  Stunning sunsets.  Anchored at 36°52.253S / 175°09.790E in 2.5m of sand/mud.

Waihike Island

We stopped at several anchorages off Waiheke Island.  Beautiful island and a must see!

Man O War Bay, Waiheke

Super large anchorage with a beautiful sandy beach and a delightfully tasty winery.  We drop the hook at 36°47.368S / 175°09.487E in 4m of water.  There is a 2+ meter tide so be careful anchoring here with a deep draft. 

Owhiti Bay, Waiheke

Gorgeous bay with a long sandy beach to walk on.  An easy dingy ride to Garden Cove which is stunning but precarious entry into the bay.  In Owhiti we dropped the hook at 36°45.758S / 175°08.771E in 6m of sand/mud with good holding.

Rangitoto Island:  Islington Bay

This was a short overnight for us but the bay was really pretty.  Anchoring position 36°47.224S / 174°53.818E in 4m of mud with really bad holding.  We tried several times to anchor in this bay and had a difficult time getting the hook to stick.

Rotoroa – Home Bay

Rotoroa is a beautiful wildlife preserve with lots of fun tracks to walk!  We anchored at 36°49.283S / 175°11.749E in 5m of mud with good holding.  Great fun walking the trails around the entire island.

Maraetai Bay 

Off the main island is a small bay called Maraetai Bay where we stop to provision and pick up our friend.  We only stay for a short while, but we dropped the hook at 36°52.397S / 175°03.105E.

Rakino Island: Woody Bay

We are starting to make our way back north.  Our first stop on a rainy day is Rakino Island, Woody Bay.  We had this lovely little bay all to ourselves as we anchored at 36°42.905S / 174°56.606E in 5m of sand with good holding.

Kawau Island

The weather was shifting so we decided to go to Kawau Island to hide from the forecasted winds.  We anchored in Shark’s bay by ourselves at 36°25.566S / 174°49.653E in 6m.  We also anchored at Dispute Bay 36°26.284S / 174°49.768E in 4m (low tide 2.4m). Super pretty near the Coppermine ruins.  Another must see is Kawau Island.  We really enjoyed this place.

Tiritiri Matangi

We went to Tiritiri Island for the day during super calm conditions.  The anchorage is not protected at all so not a good place to stay overnight.  We anchored at 36°36.233S / 174°53.079E in 7m.  But the island is a bird preserver and there are some great hikes.

Main Land – Anchor Bay 

On our way North we stopped at Anchor Bay which is just off Bluebell Point for the night.  Our anchorage of 36°21.990S / 174°50.043E in 7.5m.  This pretty bay had a bit of a roll or swell but the hillsides were super lush and there were several long beaches to explore.

Urquharts bay (Whangarei River)

This is a great big bay perfect for arriving and departing into Whangarei.  We needed to drop off something to a friend so pulled in after a beautiful downwind sail from Anchor Bay.  This time we anchored in 7.5m of water at 35°50.877S / 174°31.804E.  We only stayed overnight and left early the next morning to Tutukaka.

Whangaruru Bay

Well we skipped Tutukaka much to our dismay as our friends who have a bach (beach house) were not there.  We ended up at Whangaruru Bay in a little nook called Teparaparapa Bay.  Dropped in 3m of sand at 35°21.696S / 174°21.463E.  We only stayed for the night so no big adventures.

Otehei Bay

We found this super shallow anchorage in front of a long white beach and it had a lovely restaurant/bar Otehei Cafe!  The entrance was really shallow even though it was high tide.  We did not realize that there is a marked channel which the ferries use (so use it) and then we anchored to the right at 35°13.426S / 174°13.862E in 3.2m.

MotuMaire Island

We returned to Pahia so I could catch a bus to Whangarei.  We dropped the hook behind two small motus in pretty shallow water.  It was mid-tide when we arrived and we dropped in 3.8m of water at 35°16.376S / 174°05.508E.

This is a cool snapshot of our travels during the month of February 2024.  Starting at great Barrier (the end of the line with no ship on the right), to Arid Island, to Mercury Island,  around the tip of Coromandel, Waiheke Island, Ponui Island, Rangitoto, Tiritiri Matangi, Kawau island, Urquharts bay, up toward the Bay of Islands (where the ship is)….and we continue on North.

Cavalli Islands – Motukawanui Island

We head north to the Cavalli Islands.  We dopped the hook at a beautiful bay called Waiiti Bay on Motukawanui island.  Our anchor spot is 35°00.478S / 173°56.115E in 4m  We had the bay to ourselves and it was glorious.

Waihinepua Bay

 We anchored at 34°59.802S / 173°48.969E in 5m of mud.  This is a really protected, pretty, small bay.  There is a bach on one side but not much else here.

Whangaroa Bay

We got lucky and were able to use a friend’s mooring located near the Whangaroa Boating Club and Cafe. 35°02.554S / 173°44.775E in 6m.  It was a short dinghy ride to shore where enjoyed a nice hike up St. Paul’s Rock.

Waitepipi Bay

We moved the short distance over to Waitepipi Bay so we could do the Duke’s Nose Hike.  We anchored in 7m at 35°00.276S / 173°43.890E.  Super quiet bay with no other boats.  Rere Bay which is where the trail starts had several boats so we decided to come here for some solitude.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog posts occurred between late January-March 2024.  In our last blog post we take you to Limestone Island where we learn about its rich history as a cement quarry.

Stony Batter WW2 Bombardment

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Our friends on Yum Yum (Mirko and Daniela) join us for a hike on Waiheke Island to an WW2 heavy coast defense battery called Stony Batter.  The actual website for Stony Batter and their contact and tour information can be found at www.stonybattertunnels.nz.  It was a 2nm dinghy ride to a small beach to get to the start of the trail which was straight up!  Seriously small trail (maybe for cows and sheep) that was vertical through the woods and forest.

The walk was straight up hill, then across several fields, up a few more hills, and over a few fences.

We passed by lots of animals on this hike…cows, sheep, waka (bird) and funny enough they all stopped what they were doing to look at us.

We arrive to the tallest peak and finally see the Stony Batter in the distant valley.  I love the funny face someone painted on the rock (lower left photo).  Matt is on top of a rock on top of the hill (top left) and the 3 remaining concrete gun replacements can be seen on the top right photo.

Stony Batter

Stony Batter has 3 concrete gun emplacements and an extensive system of underground chambers connected by stairs and tunnels.

We first come across the foundations for the Carpenter Store, Lister Engine Base, Auxiliary Engine and Lighting Plant, the Public Works Building and a ventilation shaft.

I will let you read about the history at Stony Batter, if you wish, but here are a few photos that we came across as well.

They had a cool little museum at Stony Batter where you could sign up for a tour, which we did!

The Underworld of Stony Batter

You can only see the underworld with a tour guide and as luck would have it we arrived 10 minutes before the tour left!  Us at the entrance to the tunnel which is 7 floors below the earth’s surface.

We visit a supply room which now is the home to the precious heritage findings (top left), a meditation room (top right), the engine room (middle two photos) and the plotting rooms (command center) (bottom two photos).

The engine rooms contained three diesel engines and generators which powered the lights in the tunnels, the equipment and the guns.

The top photo is the image of the stairs that take us 140m below the earth. The top right photo shows a part of the tunnel that was not completed. Just for fun, a picture of a latrine, and the exit from the tunnels.

The Gun Emplacements

We continue making our way around Stony Batter to find the gun emplacements.  We found #2 and #3.  The third gun emplacement was never finished so we moved on to the 2nd one.  We climbed down a sketchy ladder and got an up close look at the center.

It said “no entry” but we did not see it until we were climbing back out – ooops.  They did have signage down there so I think it used to be public.

The curator recreated the overall defense for Auckland.  The top right ship was a German ship that destroyed a NZ passenger ship “in accident.” The top left submarine is Japanese that threatened their security and safety.

More epic views on our way back down the trail.

And a gorgeous panorama shot of the anchorage and Northland islands.

There are 2 tours that you can take.  In 2024, a 25-minute tour costs $25NZD. A full 55 minute tour for $30 which takes you to all of the cool places we visited.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog occurred on Valentine’s Day!  Be sure to check out the rare, white donkeys we encounter in Coromandel.

Waiheke Island Wine Tour

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We visit Waiheke Island with our friends the Barkers (Matt, Diana, and their family).  We take a short 45-minute ferry ride from Auckland to the idyllic Waiheke island which is renowned for its vineyards nestled in beautiful settings.  It is often called “The Island of Wine.”

There are over 130-hectares (or 321 acres) of grapes and new vineyards are being planted every year.  The local winegrowers have mastered the unique maritime climate and ancient soil structures to produce red and white wines.  The first vineyard was planted in 1978, a relatively young vineyard.  Since its birth, Waiheke has made a name for its structured Chardonnay, fruity Merlot, elegant Bordeaux-style blends, and expressive Syrah – all noted as outstanding in their class.

With the Barkers we decide to visit three vineyards in our short 6-hour Waiheke Island Wine tour.  Matt and I arrived on an earlier ferry and managed to squeeze in a short hike.  Our plan is to drive to Man O’War Vineyard (purple arrow), then head back and stop at Cable Bay Vineyard (blue arrow) and our final stop is Mudbrick Vineyard (between blue and red).  The ferry dock is where the red arrow is pointing.

We start off at the furthest vineyard called Man O’War Vineyard.

Man O’War Vineyard

This was my favorite vineyard by far.  A more casual atmosphere right on the beach with loads of sitting areas, a DJ, first class wines (and beer), and food.  Man O’War is located on the far eastern side of Waiheke Island making it the most difficult to get to, but it is so worth the drive.  

This vineyard planted vines on numerous small individual sites across the volcanic hilltop and clay hillsides on their 4500-acre farm.  The wine was my favorite as was the tasty “garage beer” for the “Matts”

Cable Bay Vineyard

Guests enjoy breathtaking sea views while sipping on award winning wines from Cable Bay Vineyard.  But, unfortunately, we only had an hour to explore here so one glass of rose.  The grounds are beautiful and they grow their own herbs, vegetables, and edible flowers for their restaurants and bars. 

Mudbrick Vineyard

Located right next door to Cable Bay Vineyard on Waiheke island is Mudbrick Vineyard. It is world-renowned for it superb restaurants, award-winning wines and spectacular sea views.  They claim to offer the perfect Waiheke experience with their beautiful accomodations, tours, and wine tastings.  NY Times said “Mudbrick is a must see when visiting Auckland.”  Which is kind of funny to me as Mudbrick is on Waiheke island a 45 minute ferry ride from Auckland.

Mudbrick offered a lovely wine tasting!  Shockingly, I really enjoyed the sauvignon blanc over the rose.

A beautiful shot of Auckland from the Sky Tower and from the Ferry on the way to Waiheke Island.  While on the ferry we swung by the Navy station which has the largest of NZ fleets of boats.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred toward the end of December 2023.  In our last blog we replace our shattered Moonlight Hatch Frames.