A beautiful day welcomed the new crew to Te Kaihopara at her berth in Gulf Harbour, just north of Auckland. Most of the crew arrived by ferry from the City of Sails and had the opportunity for initial introductions before getting to the boat. They managed to recognise each other on the ferry as fellow mariners, not sure how, there must be a yachtie look! After a cup of tea on board the crew were shown their cabins and then went through the boat from stem to stern learning where to find everything from snacks to life jackets.
Dinner on board, a yummy risotto, with a glass or two of wine was the perfect end to the day, thanks to chefs Helle and Will.
We awoke to news of a last minute arrival and were joined by Averill just after 10am.
Winds were light, barely reaching 5 knots and were right on the nose so the iron sail was put to good use. The solid Gardner Marine diesel engine was barely ticking over and still giving us just over 8 knots. We decided to head for Great Barrier and went through a little sail training along the way as well as a man overboard drill. Smokehouse Bay was our target destination, an idyllic little spot with a BBQ, fire pit, wetback boiler for those requiring a bath, a wood fired pizza oven and of course, a smokehouse! All required wood, so a landing party went ashore to a deserted beach to collect washed up driftwood whilst those onboard threw out a few lines to catch fresh dinner. Lots of were caught but only two met the measure, a very tasty pair of red snapper which augmented our dinner of pork chops and a Greek salad, well done to Mark and Will. Once at anchor we took our firewood collection ashore ready for later in the evening. The water was too enticing so most of us jumped in for a swim, Sharky leading the way. Once all were back safely on-board, right-on queue, a pair of Copper sharks, also known as Bronze Whaler or narrowtooth sharks came for a swim around the boat. After checking us out for a few minutes they were gone as silently as they had arrived.
Needless to say, dinner was delish, the BBQ’d pork topped with BBQ’d apple and veggies with some fresh snapper, what more could we ask for, Averill and Sharky making a great team in the galley.
A run ashore in the tender, a beer along with sharing campfire stories with other yachties was the perfect end to the day.
Saturday morning and skipper Mick was the first to hit the water with a few laps around the boat. Sharky and Rob went for a little more of a workout earning their breakfast with a 1,200m swim across the bay and back. Then it was time to weigh anchor and head off for another day of adventure.