Gisborne to Tauranga

Saturday 02/07/2011


The wind howled all last night from the south and was still blowing well this morning so we went for a walk up town, had some lunch, listened to the forecast, went for another walk and decided the best time to leave would be around 4 in the morning so that we reach East Cape in daylight (much nicer if you can see where the waves are coming from) and reach Tauranga on Monday morning before more high winds reach the area on Monday night.

On our walk along the wharf area we found another monument which is at the spot where Captain Cook first landed in New Zealand on 8 October 1769. You cannot go far in this country without finding some place that has historical reference to Cook.


Peter and James (Cook)

Having had an early Chinese take-away meal we will have an early night in preparation for the start at some ungodly hour.

Sunday 03/07 – Monday 04/07/2011

Awake at 3am and out of the harbour by 4.15 we were pleased to find that the swell in the bay had died down considerably and we along with a couple of fishing boats headed out into the darkness. We were soon on our own as the fishing boats were heading out further offshore while we made our way around the shallow areas at the northern end of Poverty Bay before turning north.

A very grey dawn appeared before we reached Gable End foreland which is an impressive white cliff face. It appears that the end of the cliff has been sheared off and fallen into the sea leaving a grassy top and white limestone face. A south easterly swell gave us a reasonably comfortable ride up to East Cape which we rounded at about 3pm.



East Cape and East Island

As we neared the Cape there was a distinct line of change in the colour of the sea from deep blue to a milky green around the Cape which we had also noticed on the way south. By 3.30 we were heading westward into the first spot of sunlight seen that day but it was short lived and the swell from the south east on this leg of the journey got larger along with a strengthening easterly wind.

The night was unbroken by any moonlight and seemed to stretch on forever like this stretch of water across the Bay of Plenty. Around 1.30 in the morning we were abeam White Island, an active volcano which is constantly emitting steam, but the pitch black night didn’t offer us even an outline of the 320 metre high island from a couple of miles off although I think I got a whiff or two of its sulphurous breath.

To add to the enjoyment of being tossed around in a washing machine sea for endless hours, at about 3am we had the fun of realising that the automatic bilge pumps had stopped working and an inspection of the rear bilge caused a moments panic. Water was up to the floorboards and Pete was quickly at work with the manual pump. It took about 10 minutes of pumping to empty the bilge and then an anxious watch through the rest of the night to see if the water was continuing to come in. It turned out that water was coming through the rudder shaft seal and as there was no way to fix it while underway we had to manually pump the bilge every half hour for the rest of the trip. Thank goodness for a manual back up system otherwise we could have been calling for help!

It was 7 in the morning before daylight set in and we were very happy to reach the Bridge Marina by 9.30 and fall into a shower and then have a good sleep.

We were definitely feeling better when Ian and Caroline arrived at the boat later in the afternoon with a couple of bottles of red wine and then took us out for a tasty Thai dinner.