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Firefly - Tutukaka to Whangamumu



Its Wednesday 18th March and Firefly is anchored in Whangamumu and the bay is as spectacular as its name. There are some remains of an old whaling station but other than that there are no other buildings or signs of habitation in sight. There are several gannets diving for fish although not in the same numbers as we saw recently on Great Barrier Island.

Its a large bay and we are sharing it with a small motor cruiser and a catamaran without a mast. We have seen several of these 'catamaran motor cruisers' in NZ, they look like they come off the same mould as the sailing versions and probably make a good 'stink pot' with the advantage of having 2 engines, one in each hull and all the stability and space that 2 hulls provides.

When Cyclone Pam brushed past the North East coast of NZ a few days ago, we had chosen wisely to get a berth at the recently built Marsden Cove Marina near Whangerei. With good internet access at all times in NZ we had seen Pam developing when she was up by the Solomons and followed the news and weather updates it as it sadly made a direct hit on Vanuatu - then headed for NZ. We spent a month in Vanuatu in October 2014, visiting all of the southern islands and it just does not seem fair that such good people who have very little in the way of privileges or possessions should be hit so hard - our thoughts are with them.

Pam had weakened from category 5, the highest for cyclones or hurricanes but was still 4 as it neared NZ. Following a south easterly course as predicted it missed the mainland by several hundred kilometers, enough to avoid major damage and as the storm passed Whangerei it was extremely windy but felt similar to the severe gales we experience in Devon. We had prepared Firefly well, she was 'trussed up like kipper' in her berth - the facing berths in marinas here in NZ are separated by 2 piles and these are really handy to tie to aswell - so that the boat is held on both sides and hence the fenders don't get squashed when the boat is being blown onto the berth. With the approaching weather it was going to get noisy and bumpy on board so we had decided to check into a local motel - this also solving the problem of when we were going to do the floorboard varnishing and interior painting, something that its hard to fit in when you are a live aboard.

With Firefly all spruced up, we left Marsden Cove heading for Tutukaka with a couple of forecasts for a south westerly, one giving 4 knots and the other 8. As Pam passed the temperatures had risen due to all the tropical air nearby and since then the weather has been reasonable again with sun and showers - but the wind forecasting has been somewhat amiss. The direction was right but the 30 knots we had as we rounded Bream Head was somewhat unexpected. Fortunately it was behind us and we rocketed along with just the mainsail until nearly half way to Tutukaka when we finally unfurled the headsail. As a remnant of the cyclone there was also a considerable swell and we were happy once we had gone through the narrow entrance and had the anchor down.

Leaving Tutukaka this morning the forecast was for an 8 knot south westerly so we were again expecting a gentle ride. Today the highest wind speed we saw was 24 knots and with it averaging between 15 and 20 knots it was another quick sail, mostly on a beam reach with a more gentle sea. Whangamumu was not our intended destination, although it had been highly recommended to us before. Out plan had been to go on to the Bay of Islands but once round Cape Brett we would have had about 5 miles dead to windward - so plans changed and we are glad they did. We have light winds forecast again for tomorrow and are hoping to reach the Bay of Islands under sail - it will be interesting to see what we get.

Paul and Susie

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