Over the Top

[Kyle]We timed the trip pretty well for the overnight journey to the complementary anchorage on the other side of the North Island, just a 25 mile Tui flight away. We would have to sail six times that far.

Dolphins joined us for some of our passage - always a highlight!

We started with good tailwinds, which bent with us and decreased as we rounded Cape Van Diemen and Cape Rienga for the eastward sail over the top of the island. We had the current with us, sometimes being half of our speed, and the cloudless sky was brilliant with stars. The moon had set and the Milky Way and our two satellite galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds, broke up the black velvet of space.

We rounded North Cape just before sunrise and turned southeast into the wind. We were just barely able to sail close hauled to our destination at Maitai Bay without having to do a single tack. Woo, hoo!! We tucked up between a few rocky islets and dropped our anchor. We were the only boat in sight.