Western Beach of Great Mercury Island

[Kyle]We had pretty firm plans to sail from Kennedy Bay to Great Mercury Island. Then Rick and Nina sent us a message saying they were going to stop in while cruising with friends and our plan became concrete.

Duplicat had a reach from Great Barrier Island. Our morning was spent tacking directly upwind. We arrived just ahead of them at the agreed rendezvous point at Parapara Bay to find it filling up fast, with several others clearly heading for the same place and not far behind. With that new information, we both decided on our backup plan of anchoring in adjacent Huruhi Harbor.

After three tries in tight quarters, we finally got Begonia's anchor to hold, but we weren't really happy. We reported this to Rick, who suggested we go with Plan C and anchor in the open roadstead off White Beach, to the other side of Parapara. They beat us there and, despite being the last to arrive at Great Mercury, Duplicat had its anchor down first. We then lowered ours as close as prudence would allow.

An initial stroll ashore was hastened due to approaching rain

Then the six of us, me, Maryanne, Rick, Nina, and their two guests, Gert and Cristal, went for what was billed as a walk along the beach. It soon became clear that everybody involved had more energy than what was needed for one pass of the beach, so we joined the nearby road for a few kilometers in either direction to take in the views. Afterwards, they all fancied a swim, so Maryanne and I left them to it while we returned to Begonia for supplies for a subsequent meetup on Duplicat. Oh, what fun! We haven't had a cockpit get-together for months and Rick is a dear friend from way back. He has nice friends, as well, with whom it was a pleasure to spend an evening. I was particularly pleased that Maryanne's homemade hummus went over well with Gert and Nina, the two chefs in attendance. I am one well-fed man.

Duplicat had to keep moving so that Gert and Cristal could make their flight back to Belgium. Maryanne and I had the luxury of time, so we lingered at Great Mercury Island for a couple more days.

On the first of these, we joined up with the familiar road. Then we pushed further than the previous day until we were way on the other side of the island, which was also at the top. We left the deteriorating road at a thin path leading into the trees to our left. A few seconds later, we emerged into the light at the top of a 200m cliff of white sandstone. Wow! The whole climb had been a gradual one though dense forest. We had not expected to break out of it with such a great demonstration of our altitude. That was totally worth the hours spent walking from the beach!

The walk included fine forest filled with tree ferns - so classically New Zealand, and those clifftop views!

On the way back, just where we were about to transition back from forest to farmland, Maryanne spotted a Kaka in the Pohutukawa tree to our left. Kakas are an endemic New Zealand parrot species who regularly top lists of most intelligent birds, alongside Greenwing Macaws and African Greys. I've been lucky enough to share precious time with the latter, my beloved E-bird (a name he gave himself). He was hilarious and kind and endlessly entertaining. Seeing any parrot in the wild is always a thrill for me. I root for them as much as anyone I can think of.

For our next day at Great Mercury Island, we decided to take the main road the other direction, towards Huruhi Harbor. That turned out to be less interesting than we hoped, so we curtailed our walk and opted instead to spend our afternoon kayaking to Ahikopua Piont, at the southern end of White Beach.

The water and beach were filled with the egg chains of some form of sealife

That particular point had some interesting geology, which was fun to poke around. By the time we were done, though, the wind had started to pick up. That made for a pretty long, tough, wet paddle back to the boat. After the preceding walk, we were that kind of multi-muscle tired that made us feel no guilt about hoovering up whatever was on our plates later.

And we had a calm day to explore some of the local cliffs and caves from the kayak (getting in some arm exercise!)

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Anchorage location >> On google maps

Port Jackson & Kennedy Bay

[Kyle]Moving on from Double Island, our next stop was at Port Jackson, on the northern end of the Coromandel Peninsula. The bay there is protected from southwest winds. We arrived a few hours before a forecast wind shift to that direction. What we had when we dropped anchor was strong, but decreasing westerlies, accompanied by a swell wrapping around the point. That made for some decidedly unpleasant conditions aboard as we lurched our way around our bucking boat. It was no wonder Begonia was the only boat in the bay. Perhaps this wasn't the best idea after all...

Two hours after staggering to bed (we hadn't even been drinking!), the wind shifted. The motion became tolerable, then comfortable, and then non-existent. By the time we arose in the morning, it felt aboard as if Begonia could have been out of the water, resting on a concrete pad. That is SO much better!

Hankering for some exercise, we rowed ashore to the beach for a circuit of the trails along the Muriwai Walk, which includes some stunning views along the northern Coromandel shore, and also Great Barrier Island, on the other side of the Colville Channel. On our way back, the last bit of the trail passes along the beach and past the camping area there, where we were able to stop and chat with a few nice people therein.

There is a strange juxtaposition between those of us on either side of the water's edge, even though our living conditions share many similarities. For those of us on boats, the Coromandel Peninsula is a big thing that is in the way, so to speak. Anyone trying to go by water from the Hauraki Gulf to the coast to the south has no choice but to pass right by Port Jackson. The Coromandel sticks way out and Port Jackson is the first part you encounter if arriving from the north. It seems almost silly NOT to stop in for a rest. Had the weather been better when we arrived, I'm sure we would have had more company in the anchorage.

For the campers, on the other hand, Port Jackson as way at the end of a long road to the end of land itself. The drive from Auckland can take most of a day. The last few miles of road is unpaved and steep and can probably seem somewhat harrowing in a big RV or while towing a heavy trailer. Thus, while Maryanne and I were chirping away about how Port Jackson made for a nice easy stop as we bopped along the coast, the tone of the RVer's narratives tended to be of surviving a real expedition to get to this most remote and cherished of destinations.

Our first day ashore we found a fine coastal trail to walk to the North of the bay (Muriwai Walk), and we especially loved the Port Jackson beach at low tide

Our next day there, we were looking forward to walking a different loop on the western side of the peninsula. Upon leaving the main road, though, we were confronted with a sign delineating the track as 'private only' for walkers with a specific tour company, the sign hinted you could access "with permission". As it happened, one of the tours was just finishing up now, so we approached one of the employees to see if we might be able to get that special permission for a short jaunt.

Alas, we could not. Even after clarifying that we only wanted to do the very short part at the end of the trail as some variety to the bit of the main road back, it was explained to us that the only way we could do that part of the trail was to sign up for the full three-day, cross-Coromandel hike with them. The cost was $800 – each. The $800 includes accommodation and meals. All we would need to do is the actual walking – no pack required. Uh, no. And not just because we have already catered our own lunch of granola bars and fizzy water. We decided an out-and-back along the public road would have to suffice.

Before climbing the main road, we stopped to marvel at (and lure with food) the eels in the local river

That road walk turned out to be just fine. The wide (compared to a a normal "trail") road allowed us to walk abreast, hand-in-hand, which is a nice luxury. The gradient was steep, but consistent, and in hours of walking, we only encountered half a dozen vehicles. We were even able to achieve a higher maximum altitude than the day before. I was surprised, at reaching that particular point, that Maryanne suggested descending almost back to sea level on the other side, until we could see what was around the corner, even though it would mean a steep climb back up. Since we were not on private farmland, we were also spared the necessity of dodging cattle.

Day 2 had us walking up the hill via the road to see some different coastal view

It was really nice to get some good walking in at last; not huge distances, but great exercise and some fine views to boot

Our days of offshore winds at Port Jackson were about to come to an end. Our previous experience at our arrival told us it was time to move on to better protection. Our destination for the next leg was Kennedy Bay, along the Coromandel's east coast.

Kennedy Bay is rather large. It is filled with fish farms and has wide mud flats between the water and the thin settlement ashore. We decided we would spend our time there aboard.

Well, sort of. On an after-hike swim in Port Jackson, I had noticed an unfortunately widespread covering of Acorn Barnacles on Begonia's newly painted bottom. The water had been too cold to think about dealing with it then, but I knew I was just kicking that can down the road. Donning the full wetsuit and dealing with it was to be our "one thing" for our day in Kennedy Bay.

Ugh - Barnacles!!! On our "new" paint!!!

It wasn't too bad. The barnacles were the only growth and they popped right off when touched with a plastic scraper. The cleaning was over in half the time I had budgeted for the task. Still, it was disappointing that only a few weeks after going in the water with pretty much the best paint money can buy, we were already having problems. Maryanne subsequently contacted our paint supplier, who conceded that all of northern New Zealand is having blooms that are overwhelming even their best paints this year. Apparently, the climate is changing, although that's not what the salesman said when he sold us our new Tesla. It's powered by Beautiful Clean Coal and it's reputed to be a great getaway car because you can't see it from behind.

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Anchorage location: Muriwai / Port Jackson >> On google maps

Anchorage location: Harataungua / Kennedy Bay >> On google maps

Coromandel Harbour & Double Island

[Kyle]Our next stop at Coromandel Harbour was meant to be more practical than glamourous. To be honest, Coromandel Harbour looks like it has many beautiful anchorages. We were certainly grateful for the scenery on the way in.

Begonia's anchorage, however, was right smack in the middle of the giant bay. This is because the bay is quite shallow, particularly on the northeast side near the town. The middle is as close as our draft would allow us to get to the town of Coromandel. To complete the journey, we would need the dinghy and the electric outboard for the few hours on either side of high tide.

Some beautiful skies

at high tide we could explore up the river

Unfortunately, we were there on the day of the new moon, when the day's high tides fall just after sunrise and sunset. Our time ashore the next morning was before most businesses opened for the day, so we never got to stroll through the pedestrianized areas, with refueling stops at the pubs along the way. The grocery store was open though, and we managed to snag our haul of fresh produce before the other vultures descended. At the twenty-four-hour petrol station, we filled a jerry can, which should get us through another few weeks at least, and then it was time to take our haul back to Begonia, sitting way on the horizon at the end of a soon-to-be-muddy channel.

With those chores done, we hoisted sail and spent the next few hours tacking northward through the Hauraki Gulf to our destination at Double Island. Double Island has little in the way of diversions, as the actual island is closed for re-vegetation. For us, it was the only place along the Coromandel Peninsula's western side that offered protection from forecast strong westerlies.

Even so, it wasn't great. Strong currents ran by, which can heap up confused seas. The island itself has a big gap, hence the name, which allows the wind to come through, but it does so in fits and starts. The boat can swing around the anchor like it's a tetherball.

Moving on to Double Island

When we arrived, there were already two monohulls taking up the prime spot. We laid our anchor between them in deep water, but then backed way out into really deep water while we paid out our full chain.

That turned out to be good for us, because, while we were attached to the island with our anchor, we ended up parked in the tidal flow passing by as if we were at a La Grange point. This kept Begonia in a more stable position then the monohulls were, albeit sideways to the wind, so we used much less of our turning circle than they did. Further out, we also had the company of a big military ship that had spent the day doing maneuvers, but was now anchored on a shallow shelf about a quarter of a mile away. What impressed me was how effective the camouflage of their gray paint is. Looking in their general direction, even though they floated in a blue sea backed by green mountains, it wasn't immediately apparent that they were there. They clearly were when you were looking right at them, but they seemed to disappear completely when using peripheral vision. I guess that's the point. Unless you know exactly where to look, you might miss them entirely. They looked like half a container ship on radar, though.

Pretty scenery and the odd passing boat and PENGUIN!

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Anchorage location at Coromandel Harbour >> On google maps

Anchorage location at Motuwi (Double) Island >> On google maps