Cruise Reports South of France/Italy Aug/Sep 2018

[J12345T]

James, great to hear Lazer made it back in one piece. Enjoy summer on board and the North Island.

Hope you get that window fixed!

Shane.

Hi Shane,

After installing a small bilge pump into the drain box I found that the jolly thing started gravity draining!! I'm guessing it must be due to the small diameter pump drain tube I inserted down the window drain pipe releasing an air lock?? Anyway; I'm calling that a win for now..

Cheers,

James.

 

[J12345T]

Re: Part Two. The Eagle has landed!

Excellent plan.
By heart, I'd say that it takes more than 100Nm to reach the Bay of Islands from Auckland, but it's a fantastic cruising area indeed, well worth the trip.
In the E coast of the N Island, myself and swmbo very much liked also the Kawau Bay, right along your route to Bay of Island.
And of course you can't miss the Waiheke Iskand, which we had the privilege to circumnavigate with SummerWine of this parish.
As we were told, the very wild Rakitu Island is also peculiar, but we didn't see it in that trip.

Btw, we'll come to NZ again this winter (i.e. this summer, for you guys down under!), and we are going to stay in the Coromandel Peninsula, among other places.
If by chance you are planning to be around there, give me a shout. It's always a pleasure to catch up with forumites around the globe!

Enjoy your fine vessel, in the meantime! :encouragement:

Thanks MapisM,

You're bang on re distance to the Bay of Islands. Not sure if we'll make it up that far as there is plenty to see around the Hauraki Gulf.

As far as an itinerary goes our only firm-ish date is the 24th of Jan when we have to relinquish the temp berth in Gulf Harbour. East or west? Unsure but probably east. I'm going to take along a professional first mate as it is a hell of a trip from what I hear.. Timing will completely depend on the weather..

Cheers,

James.

 

[J12345T]

About time for an update!

Hi All,

After much deliberation we decided that it would be best to drive from our home in Christchurch to Auckland (Gulf Harbour) where Laser is currently located in order to get all our New Zealand boating paraphernalia up there. It was no small task with 1127km of road and a 3.5 hour ferry crossing of Cook Strait we spread the trip over two long days. I have to say it was nice to revisit parts of the country I haven't seen in many years.

After arriving there was the obligatory 2-3 days of cleaning, loading, sorting and preparing the boat for departure. Our first destination was Waiheke Island. Having never been there I wasn't really sure what to expect but I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised (bordering on impressed but don't tell the Aucklanders). It was really quite beautiful.

Our first night was spent in Onetanga bay on the western end of a lovely white sand beach. The anchorage was fairly busy but being only 5m deep it was not a problem to squeeze into a nice spot. That said the tides here are 3-4m so something to watch... Swimming and hanging about in the afternoon and a long walk on the beach for coffee the next morning.

We then headed clockwise around the north coast of the island to Man-O-War bay where there was a fantastic winery where we partook of their wares and enjoyed the afternoon.

Next morning we continued our clockwise route heading down the Waiheke channel into the Tameki Strait along the south shore and completed the circumnavigation ending up in a nice little bay on the western shore for lunch and a swim.

With the approaching NE forecast we backtracked to the Waiheke channel and found the beautiful Patio Bay to anchor for the night. After the odd wine or three a blissfully calm night ensued. The whole channel was a mill pond. Love it.

Early afternoon the next day we delivered our guests back to Gulf Harbour completing a really nice first outing in the Hauraki Gulf. A couple of days in port to restock and refresh and we're planning to head to Kawau Island to the north. I'll keep you posted.

James.


View attachment 75177

 

[mcanderson]

Re: About time for an update!

James, a great write up thanks! Was your first photo from ‘the desert’? It looks like is and if so I know those tussocked plains far too well!

 

[BartW]

Re: About time for an update!

waw
I love the way you enjoy your boat, and your "just do it" attitude,
thanks for sharing this lovely experience with us !

 

[Hardmy]

Re: About time for an update!

Ahh, another nice cruise report from a (to me) completely exotic region! Exactly what we need to survive the long winter. Thank you!

 

[longjohnsilver]

Re: About time for an update!

Looks almost as good as Scilly Isles

Thanks for the report and great pics, I’d love to go there, but suspect I’ll not make it, unfortunately.

 

[J12345T]

Re: About time for an update!

James, a great write up thanks! Was your first photo from ‘the desert’? It looks like is and if so I know those tussocked plains far too well!

Yes indeed the desert road. I too have spent far too many nights being chased through those tussocked plains (and hills) by SAS commandos, police dogs and RNZAF helicopters. We were even made to spend a night up on that mountain above the snowline in a blizzard. The only shelter was a single man life raft. Good times...

 

[Adrian]

Re: About time for an update!

Great stuff James, can’t quite get my head around the fact that its the same boat we had a coffee with you on in Port Grimmaud!

 

[J12345T]

Re: About time for an update!

Great stuff James, can’t quite get my head around the fact that its the same boat we had a coffee with you on in Port Grimmaud!

Pretty crazy right. Ironically, the 'biggest' leg of the journey for me is about to begin. We're looking to head south (actually a very long way east then south) around the 24th to Laser's permanent home of Picton. Weather permitting of course and as I type this I'm looking out at a 35kt SW squall; thankfully from the safety of the marina berth which we arrived back into only an hour ago from Kawau Island...

Forecast? Not a chance. This is New Zealand of course... Gulp.

 

[J12345T]

Home at Last!

Hi All,

Laser is now in her home berth of Picton at the top of the South Island. 603nm travelled in just under 3 days with 65 hours of fault free engine run time. God I love those Volvos. As promised, we saw flat calm, we saw huge ocean rollers and we saw grey sea terror. But all of that in good time.

Since my last update we made two more excursions in the Hauraki Gulf area. The first was to Kawau Island, about 15nm north of our berth in Gulf Harbour and the second out to Great Barrier Island, a far more adventurous 40nm open sea crossing; sort of a 'dry' run for the main event to come.

Kawau Island was lovely. A small, picturesque set of islands with a history of copper mining, some lovely beaches and one or two nice anchorages. The first night was spent in the fairly popular and somewhat crowded North Cove. The forecast easterly blew in over the hills but the water remained calm. A short explore in the dinghy and a BBQ dinner was just the ticket.







The next day was fine but forecast to be a bit changeable over night so we headed out to look at some of the other anchorages. Initially we stopped at Dispute Cove which was flat calm and great for a swim. We went ashore and took the walking track up and over to the next bay to get a closer look at the old abandoned copper mine. The evidence for copper was everywhere as all of the rocks had that greenish tinge.













As the wind began to pick up we moved around to the south of the island to Bostaquet Bay and joined a couple of other boats for a peaceful night. As you can see, the sunset highlighted the cliff faces in a very photogenic way.





Next morning with the forecast worsening and some rather ominous weather visible to the south we headed back to Gulf Harbour arriving into the berth not half an hour before a 35kt SW squall hit. Timing is everything..


Next up was the slightly more challenging trip out to Great Barrier Island. I'd heard and read a lot about Fitzroy Harbour and was very keen to get a look. The forecast was OK with a 20kt SW behind us kicking up a fairly nasty short sea. Laser handled it well and it was a comfortable 4hr crossing. Man-O-War Passage, the entrance to Port Fitzroy is a very narrow channel between Kaikoura Island and Great Barrier Island. The channel can't be more than 150m wide but when you go through it opens up into a beautiful Jurassic style protected harbour.




We settled into Smokehouse Bay along with a significant number of other boats; so named for the smokehouse at one side of the bay on a plot of land that was gifted to the cruising community and includes a wood fired hot tub, BBQ's, pizza ovens, fresh water, washing lines and of course fish smokers. We spent the afternoon exploring in the dinghy and watching the Gannet birds dive bomb for fish. The sound they make when they hit the water at very high speed, very close by is something else again. At times it was almost like we were under attack.







The next day, feeling the need to cir-cum navigate something we took a cruise around Kaikoura Island and through another very narrow channel. Didn't take long so we decided to settle into an anchorage just outside Port Fitzroy for lunch a swim a paddle-board and an explore. The evening was so lovely that we decided to stay put for the night. It was glassy calm in the evening when we saw a couple of strange trails in the water nearby. As the trails drew closer we began to make out the unmistakable shape of fins and for the rest of the evening we were circled by two fairly decent sized Bronze Whaler sharks. Certainly made the swimming less enjoyable from there on in.



Next night was back inside to Smokehouse bay where the weather was looking like it might allow a return trip early the next morning. We weighed anchor at 7am and headed out into the SW which allegedly had abated to 15kts. Not so much as it turned out. That nasty short steep sea that wasn't such a big deal on our way over was still there and going to give us a thumping on the way home. The next 3 hours were spent at between 4-8 kts getting variously drenched from greenies over the bow and huge waves of spray. A taste of things to come for sure. At about the halfway point we took a 30 degree offset to head for Kawau Island making the open crossing ~10nm shorter. The plan was then to head an additional 10nm south in hopefully more protected waters. Pretty much worked out and we were able to get to planing speeds as a result. A very wet and salty Laser arrived back in Gulf Harbour having proven she was a willing candidate for what lay ahead.

The next week was spent packing and preparing Laser for the epic journey to Picton. Bimini was taken down, all non essential items packed into the car and all other items stowed and lashed as best as we could. We purchased additional safety equipment, renewed membership to the Coastguard and began assembling the crew.

More to follow.

Cheers

James.

P.S. Photo situation hopefully sorted out...

 

[Bouba]

Re: Home at Last!

Brilliant cruise report! Can I just make a suggestion, you photos deserve the full four star treatment, so I suggest you get on a free photo hosting site like
https://postimages.org/
There are others. You can then imbed large photos in your thread and never run out of storage.
Can’t wait for the next installment (I’m spending tonight at anchor, so perhaps it’ll give me something to read if it’s ready)

 

[NGM]

Re: Home at Last!

Great report, look forward to the next update. The cruising opportunities look incredible, the peninsular where your new home port is located looks quite stunning.

 

[J12345T]

Re: Home at Last!

Thanks for the suggestion Bouba.

This is a test image... And it works!



Cheers.

James.

P.S. New photos inserted into the previous post..

 

[Bouba]

Re: Home at Last!

After you upload an image to Postimage it gives you lots of options, choose hotlink for forums (click the little blue icon). Then paste it in

 

[MapisM]

Re: Home at Last!

Bouba, far from wishing to criticize your suggestion - it's more a pet peeve of mine, sort of.
The link automatically generated by hosting websites are actually designed as click baits, because on top of embedding the image in the forum post, they add also a clickable link to the hosting website itself.
The image of your lovely dog is an example: anyone who clicks on it is redirected to postimage website, with no meaningful reason.
In order to just embed an image, it only takes the

part of the link, getting rid of the "url" part.

In other words, using the above test image as an example, the following statement...

...is sufficient to give the following result, with no clickable link to the hosting website:

 

[Bouba]

Bouba, far from wishing to criticize your suggestion - it's more a pet peeve of mine, sort of.
The link automatically generated by hosting websites are actually designed as click baits, because on top of embedding the image in the forum post, they add also a clickable link to the hosting website itself.
The image of your lovely dog is an example: anyone who clicks on it is redirected to postimage website, with no meaningful reason.
In order to just embed an image, it only takes the

part of the link, getting rid of the "url" part.

In other words, using the above test image as an example, the following statement...

...is sufficient to give the following result, with no clickable link to the hosting website:

I have noticed that. So I always make sure that after I post, I logout of Postlimages so my personal account can’t be accessed. But I’ll try your url idea.
I think they want you to do this so the site can stay free and not end up as ransom ware like the last one every one was using. Which one do you use?

 

[vas]

guys,

are you aware that the picture on post #94, #96 and #97 are missing and we only can see a nice square blue box with a postimage warning text on it?
I don't have a postimage accnt if that's relevant.

V.

 

[MapisM]

Which one do you use?

I use imgbox.com. Not a website whose functionalities are worth writing home about, but does its job.
It also generates links where the IMG part, i.e. the relevant one, is enclosed within the URL tags, btw.
So, I cut and paste the link exactly as you suggested, removing manually the URL bits. It only adds 3 seconds to the process, if that...

Btw, if any of these website would go the Photobucket ransom route in the future, well, so be it.
I didn't pay PB just as a point in principle, so they also wouldn't get one cent from myself, that's for sure.
And after all, it's a grab-and-go lifestyle age, that we are living in...
...Who cares about posterity?

 

[MapisM]

I don't have a postimage accnt if that's relevant.

I don't think it matters, V.
I also don't have it, but there were images instead of those blue squares when I posted my previous replies, so I can only guess that the file was removed by James. It was a pic of some high copper content (hence greenish) rocks in Kawau island, if that satisfies your curiosity!