Cruising The Harauki Gulf, Great Mercury Island, The Coromandel, Great Barrier and Waiheke….

Hot tubs on the beach!……at low tide, you can dig your very own piping hot, natural, spa pool right on the beach.

We arrived at Mercury Bay (otherwise known as ‘hot water beach’) on the Coromandel Peninsula at 3am on a jet-black night and anchored just behind the crash of the surf break.  We had heard about underground hot springs that provide a constant flow of 64 degree water to the sandy surface. At dawn it became obvious that the swell was too big to get into the beach, so we re-anchored around the corner and, at sunrise the next morning, caught a taxi back to Mercury Bay to get us a small piece of this unique, geothermal action.…

The local b’n’b’s and tour companies cheerfully hire out little shovels and the tourists come in droves, armed with brightly coloured tools and looking for the perfect digging position. Locals and ‘in the know’ visitors had arrived pre-dawn and secured prime spots. They had done all their digging and were now languishing in large, steaming pools and watching the entertaining sight of late-comers scratching at the sand in an attempt to beat the incoming tide and warm up from the early morning chill.

The springs only cover a narrow patch of sand. Dig too far to the right and the water is skin-burning hot. Too far to the left and it’s freezing cold. Too far back; no spring water at all. Right in the centre; already chokka-block with pools and, as the crowds spills closer and closer to the surf, and the tide starts edging in, relaxing baths get frequently sloshed with cold, clammmy, salt water deposits. We were on the cold, salty, deposit fringes, but had (ingeniously) channeled some of the scalding hot water from the right to combat the effects of the chilling waves. Eventually, a young couple behind us got tired of watching us wallowing in alternating hot, sandy mud and cold waves, decided they had had enough and offered us their prime position tub. Thanks!

After a while, the walls between our pool and our neighbors collapsed and we got to chat with a lovely, kiwi family taking a break from their property and farming lives. We invited another woman to join us after watching her looking desperately for a free patch of sand and the whole experience turned into more of a social event. We wondered why, in the first instance people didn’t just ‘pool’ their resources, dig one massive, communal bath and make everyone feel welcome! Of course you would have to pay your way by contributing to the on-going building of the protective walls and deepening of the pool, but it would have a party-at-sunrise feel. If ever we go back we are going to make that happen   

After a good soak, we had breaky at the local cafe before heading back to Ha’hei beach. We loved this coastline and settlement. It’s funny how you get a feel for a place being anchored off the shore and watching the goings-on from the water.  The houses were classy and big but still had a cosy, beach-shack aesthetic/feel/look. We watched locals walking their dogs along the shore, greeting each other and stopping for chats all along the way. There is no boat ramp and it seemed that every resident owns their own tractor. They were lined up on the beach or splashing or hauling out fishing boats. There was a tractor in every drive-way. Not shiny, new, swanky tractors but old, rusty, Massey Fergusons with dents and character. A local told us that most of them are unlicensed and that the town hosts an annual tractor race. Some of them had horns and were painted with sparkly paint. Fun!

A river mouth gave way to a large, grassy embankment scattered with cute cottages and baches. We liked the way they were all unfenced with open spaces that  sprawled into one another evoking daydreams of long, lazy, shared, summer holidays. We are adding Ha’hei onto our list of beachy retirement options and spent a couple of hours googling real estate in the area just for future reference.

Russ and I own an ancient Massey Ferguson and have a soft spot for these cartoon characters of tractors

We cruised around to Te Whanganui-A-Hei or Cathedral Cove where a gigantic, arched cavern passes through a white-rock headland to join two secluded coves.

The naturally formed archway is accessible only on foot or by boat or kayak and has an air of grandeur with it’s dramatic cliffs lined with pohutukawa trees, dotted, tidal caves and rock structures jutting out from the sea.

After a quick re-provision in Whitianga, we spent a couple of days exploring Ahuahu or Great Mercury Island. The Mercuries are a chain of 7 islands off the east coast of the Coramandel. Great Mercury is (unsurprisingly) the largest of the group and is privately owned but open for public access. We were impressed to see a sign announcing that a joint pest-eradication project by DOC and the island’s owners has rid the island of non-native pests. Another success for New Zealand’s conservation.

Exploring Great Mercury…

After a night at Little Bay back on the east coast of Coromandel we got scared off at 5am the following morning by huge, rolling north easterly swells- we took off to Great Barrier Island- squeezing through the deep but skinny (about 30m wide) Man ‘O’ War Passage into Fitzroy harbour…

Above; Smokehouse Bay on Great Barrier Island goes down as one of our favourite anchorages in New Zealand. Eric Webster was the coolest dude ever. Not that we met him; he died years ago, but the facilities he created in the 1960’s has left a legacy and continues to make many many boaters extremely happy. A fire pit, a smokehouse (obviously) with three large pits and racks, a compost toilet, laundry tubs with acme hand wringers and Hillmen’s hoist washing lines, a bath house with a boiler, pot belly stove, indoor bath with views out over the bay, a shower stall, a wood shed with axe and tools, careening poles (that allow a yacht to ‘dry out’ in low tide so that hulls may be painted, props and shafts maintained etc etc) a community notice board, swinging ropes for the kids and a small donations box. Apparently, when Eric died his family took over the maintenance of the space that is available to the community at all times. Local boaters all contribute in small ways and the place is well looked after….

The coolest thing about Eric’s facilities is the way that it brings people from all walks of life together around a roaring fire.

Jaiya became instant best friends with another 9 yr old girl who she met on the rope swings. We got to share the fire, a beer and a chat with her millionaire businessman dad who was busy planning a year long sailing trip with his family. Jaiya got an invite onto their 90ft (and 90 ton!) superyacht and came back with reports of a captain (who referred to the 9 yr old as ma’am and her 6 yr old brother as ‘sir’), a maid, 5 cabins, 5 bathrooms, 3 baths and a sauna!  The dad was very generous in talking about his business empire and in truth, we grilled him about his success as we are always on the look out for a new and proven industry/career!

We met a local fisherman who had been dropped off to smoke fish from the days fishing efforts. After sharing a holiday with two families and 5 kids, we found him relishing in a quiet beer by the fire. He shared his smoked, brown sugar and maple glazed king fish and snapper with us and we chatted about a marine-services business that he once owned in Australia.

One night, just on sunset we saw two kayakers heading into the bay. When they arrived by the fire they told us they had kayaked from Coramandel in 9 hours and were planning to circumnavigate Great Barrier. As outdoor education teachers, they told us tales of taking boys out on wilderness adventures as part of a very successful, year 9 outdoor education program. It was a joy to see their appreciation of the fire (their multi-fuel stove was leaking) and a hot water bath (we had been stoking the fire all afternoon so it was steamy and hot for them)   

Above; smoking king fish in the smokehouse… This place really is a yachtie’s dream. Fresh water is a valuable commodity on a yacht and so showers and laundry have to be managed carefully. A hot bath! laundry facilities, a smokehouse and a fire pit…a yachtie could want for nothing more.

Above left; Smokehouse Bay’s careening poles. After hauling out 3 times in boatyards, I have to say that this idyllic spot is the perfect place to carry out hull maintenance. Most boatyards are dusty, outdoor workshops and certainly don’t provide the chance for a steaming hot bath after a day working on your yacht!  

Just to top off the magic of Smokehouse Bay, we found ourselves gigging with delight each night as we rode Tika-Taka back to Tika and found sparkling phosphorescence glowing and twinkling with every stroke of the oars…  

Below left; one day a massive pod of dolphins came to play in the bay to play…

Below right; squeezing back through Man ‘O’ War Passage….

We had a night at Man O War Bay on the east side of Waiheke Island. We had been email-chatting to a couple who have just purchased an Outremer 55 (a ‘light’ version of Tika) after connecting via mutual friends. We had been planning to meet for a while but it transpired that this night was our only opportunity, so, they sailed out from Gulf Harbour after work to meet us. They arrived at 10pm with a bottle of smooth, Polish, bison-grass infused vodka…

The next day, we popped across to Kawakawa Bay on the mainland to pick up Carolyn, Marco and their three children, Anna-Keira, Francesca and Pablo….Carolyn and I met at Glenwood Springs, Colorado many years ago and travelled down through Mexico together on an epic backpacker trip. We had briefly caught up in Auckland before our South Island road trip but I wanted to introduce them to Tika and take them sailing for a day. The weather wasn’t great for sailing but it was perfect for motoring over to nearby Pakihi Island, drinking coffee, eating croissants, taking a walk on the beach and hearing all about this families plans to head off on their own travel adventure in Australia and Europe later this year… 

Above left; picking up our visitors and getting them onto Tika.

Above right; Jaiya paddles the girls ashore..

Below; After dropping Carolyn and family back at Kawakawa we retreated from weather on the south west of Waiheke and anchored in Rocky Bay. On a townie visit we misjudged the tide and must have been a comical sight as we stood, scratching our heads and looking forlornly between the shore, across a large expanse of damp sand all the way to where our dinghy sat, high and dry…oops…. there was a bit of heave-ho-ing required to get her back in the water- phew!

Above; a classic, kiwi beach with rows of colourful dinghies lined up in the shade of the fringing trees…

Above; New Zealand is the first place we tried Feijoas. Sometimes called a pineapple guava or a guavasteen these fruit are everywhere in season and are a cross between a pineapple, a banana and a kiwi fruit…

Below; boat-life is hard on computers. I killed one in Cuba as we we crashed along in the dinghy trying to get to Tika as she was dragging anchor across the bay. I replaced it in Florida but cracked that screen during our road trip around the south island. I was still using it with a broken screen but, on the passage up from Nelson, it died a tragic death at the hands of a bottle of minerals. I figured we could all use some minerals given that we mostly drink desalinated water and so, I purchased a bottle from the health shop in Nelson. In the 4-5 hours of choppy seas across the Bay of Plenty, the bloody bottle tipped over and, unbeknown to me, my computer was sitting in a pool of salty liquid for a 24 hr period. The kids picked it up and watched the minerals pour out of all of it’s orifices. Unhelpfully, Jaiya read out the label on the bottle; ‘keep bottle upright to avoid spills’ Mmmmm….. We turned it into a school project. The kids seemed to enjoy dissecting a laptop and learning about fans, motherboards, hard drives and power supplies of a computer. 

Next post; Tika arrives back in Opua…and farewells New Zealand!

This entry was posted in The Sail.