Whangaroa: Christmas Eve
Whangaroa: Christmas Eve
Global warming cannot come too soon to New Zealand. Auckland is on about the same latitude as Sydney, but usually at least 5ºC--9ºF--cooler.
We were very aware of the difference on our way up here yesterday.
I had the boat ready to leave at first light, but when I got up at 5:30 and poked my head on deck it was 47ºF and a light breeze was blowing tendrils of fog across the water.
We dropped the mooring and got underway two hours later.
The forecast was for southwest wind of fifteen knots, which should have meant that all but the last five of the forty miles would be on a reach.
Instead the wind, when it came up was from the north and northwest, heading us at twenty to twenty-five knots, with intermittent cold showers. It was like sailing in New England in the fall and not the pleasant summer sail we had expected.
Whangaroa is a great harbor, four miles long, with many arms and coves, entered through a narrow opening in the hills. Further in there is a small marina, but I have always anchored in the first arm to the east of the entrance where there is no development. The only buildings visible are of a fishing lodge and a WWII concrete bunker a mile away on the west shore.
Those hills are steep, with some sheer rocks of phantasmagorical shapes.
Once the anchor was set, we warmed up with lapsang souchong tea, followed by Laphroaig.
When I was last up here in February, I had this cove to myself. Christmas through January is the holiday season for New Zealanders, the equivalent of August for Europeans, and there are ten other boats here now. I expect there will be even more after Christmas; but if the forecast can be trusted, we will probably head back to the Bay of Islands on Tuesday.
Monday, December 25, 2006