Another calm day predicted with no wind so we headed for a little island off great Barrier that is only really accessible in calm conditions. It was amazing as the sky was divided in two, looking east was grey and cloudy, looking west was brilliant blue sky, it stayed like that all day. We had a very scenic motor up north and found the anchorage on Arid Island, a tiny little cove with a narrow entrance. The entrance was surrounded by very dramatic rocks with loads of caves and holes going all the way through to the sea the other side. We were surprised to see a couple of batches as it is a Scenic Reserve, so great that all predators have been eradicated since 2002. There were a few people on the beach, looks like they had just offloaded the barge with some building supplies and water tanks. There was a big motor launch in the middle of the cove, they soon told us they would be leaving in 5 minutes, so we decided to idle in the water and anchor after the launch had left.
We had been getting a warning alarm with the starboard engine intermittently over the last couple of days. We were just marvelling at the scenery when the alarm went off, meaning the starboard engine lost power, luckily with two engines Rowan quickly switched over to the other engine. Shock horror as that engine failed too. We were now at the mercy of the swell coming in and luckily very little wind. We got closer and closer to the wall of rocks. I tried frantically calling the launch on the vhf but they must have had theirs switched off as I got no response. Suddenly Rowan managed to get the port engine working, it was enough for us to skedaddle out of the cove, which was way too confined for engine problems! Goodness knows what the launch thought we were up to getting so close to the rocks and then doing all sorts of throttle checks once we were out in open water. They never came by to investigate. It was a fairly nerve racking experience for those crucial few minutes. Rowan managed to contact the Australian Yanmar dealer that had saved us in Tahiti, even on a Sunday he responded, we are just so glad we sent him a case of wine from Nakedwines Australia. Sadly we will have to get a dealer to check it out as it is an electronic error that needs their machine to work out the fault!
After a little while Rowan managed to get both engines working, and we continued motoring around the northern tip of Great Barrier island. It was a stunning motor around the needles at the top of the island. We headed for the huge Fitzroy bay that we had visited before, and went into the first anchorage. We had not been to it before, it had been recommended to us and was a lovely very sheltered spot. A gorgeous old house that was built sometime in the 1800’s, it had some rather dubious Chinese guys using the dock and the house. They had a fishing boat and were diving for some sort of shell fish and others taking spadefuls of oysters off the rocks. They left in the evening which was a relief as they had some very shouty kids!
We were rocked to sleep with the sound of a Morepork owl …….calling more pork, more pork!
Our blue dot showing our anchorage for the night. We had come up from Medlands Beach, visited the little island on the right and then around the top of Great Barrier Island
Calm waters, grey skies looking east
Beautiful blue skies looking west with just a bubble of white looming over the horizon
Incredible coloured rocks and cliffs, difficult light looking into the grey skies
We are just under the dividing line of blue and grey skies
Dramatic shapes and holes in the walls
Looks like it may have been a caldera, it is old volcano territory
The little island with the cove at the top left hand side
The cove with the narrow entrance
Entering the cove with the motor launch in the middle
Seriously impressive scenery
The wall of rock that we got way to close to for comfort
Looking back at the entrance
Leaving in a hurry!
Happy to have both engines working again, leaving the little island behind
The needles at the tip of Great barrier island, look at the line in the sky, it sat over us all day
So blue looking west
Bright green on these cliffs, we think might have been from Gold mining
Caves everywhere
Fragile porous rock
Impressive seams running through the rocks
The old house, beautifully maintained, with blue sky looking west
A batch in grey skies looking east, such remote spots, only accessible by boat
Enjoying a sunny supper at 8pm – spot my Fijian Christmas angels I hung up today……. Rowan’s hair looks a bit like a halo, otherwise not very angelic enjoying his glass of wine!
Moonlight in the anchorage
The cloud descending , tomorrow is forecast to rain all day
A Morepork, photo courtesy of Google
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