When you sail into an anchorage after dark, its always exciting to wake the next morning and check out where you are. I was last anchored here in early 1987, so its been a long time between drinks. The stunning dark green, lush backdrop the the Abel Tasman National Park provides, with the white sand and deep blue ocean in the foreground, all make this a special place and is something you never forget.

Anchorage Bay is a great setting, with a lagoon on the western side, that fills with water at high tide, attracting fish and sting rays in abundance. We took a RIB ride across the lagoon and up the river to the end. On stepping ashore it was a short 10 minute walk to Cleopatras Pool, where the Salt Lines crew aleady were . Our crew swam and enjoyed the natural stone water slide, carved from millions of years of erosion.

The fresh water was chilly, but everyone braved the elements to maximise the fun and sense of adventure. The lush native forest and bird sounds, make this a magical place to appreciate natures finest. We had to take the RIB’s back out of the water within 30-minutes of high tide or we’d face being stranded on fry ground for hours, until the tide came back in.

After the fun was done at Cleopatras Pool, the crew’s took the 50-minute scenic walk to the Anchorage Bay beach. 5 of the Silver fern crew continued on for a further 2-hour hike to the town of Marahau, where they enjoyed a leisurely lunch, before catching a water taxi back to Silver Fern.

We are busy hiring more Masters and Chief Mates for our team, so Sharon and I also catch up regularly to keep assessing and progressing the various candidates. Today we had a catch up session, in between the activities, so we can keep building our team and improving crew coverage.

The crew eventually found their way back to Silver Fern around 4pm and we decided to raft up with Salt Lines for a team meeting and dinner. I handed the reigns to my Chief Mate Matt, who briefed the crew and then masterfully guided Silver Fern alongside Salt Lines as we threw our lines across to them to tie up and checked the fenders were doing the job with separation. As we approached Salt Lines, the wind came up to 20 knots, but Matt as cool as a cucumber, bought us alongside nicely.

Emma, Chris and Kevin swam and Ray swam around the hull’s waterline, brushing off any slime.

Our crew spent 90 minutes catching up and swapping stories, before Matt and Sharon took them through the weather for the next 5-10 days and updated everyone on our plans for heading south. At this stage a window looks likely to open later this week.

We started bouncing around in the anchorage and flash backs of our hell time rafted up togther in Bluff, came rushing back. As we’d planned to head to the Tonga Island seal colony tomorrow morning, we figured why not head to the bay next to it tonight and anchor, so we’re ready to go in the morning.

David