Diomedea is in Tauranga after her 595nm passage from Akaroa on the Banks peninsula, arriving at the channel entrance at 0200hr Monday morning, i.e. about 5 hours short of a full four days and nights. As you have probably guessed, East Cape was a big psychological barrier for us, and with good reason. Spoken about in hushed tones by experienced sailors, and written about in more worrisome prose in pilots, we approached this huge cape with trepidation. It is a notable for being the collision point of weather systems, different swell trains, and ocean currents. Beset by shoals, big overfalls, and big tide runs, it is a passage to be feared by the prudent mariner. The pilot recommends that small vessels make the trip as expeditiously as possible in favourable conditions, or pass 50 miles or more to seaward to avoid the dangers. With about 20 hours to go to the cape, Diomedea was being tossed like salad leaves in an extremely nasty seaway and my anxiety gland was going into hyperdrive. What would the cape be like in this? Fortunately, as we passed the latitude of Gisborne, things settled and we ended up rounding the cape in light winds and only a 2 metre easterly swell. As the cape and East island drew astern, a good breeze built allowing us to sail for some hours toward Tauranga, still 114nm away. Yes, the Bay of Plenty is plenty big! Our friends on board “Indian Summer” had been with us from Akaroa but were headed to the Mercury Islands so we bid them farewell as they slipped below the horizon. Eventually the breeze bundied off so it was back to the diesel for the trip past the sulphurous and active volcanic White Island. The island was more russets and reds than white but amazingly there were some areas of vegetation on this stunning piece of disintegrating real estate.
Naively we thought that the harbor would be quiet at such a late hour but how wrong we were. Frantic was all one could say as big ships were moving in and out of the narrow tide-riddled channel. We were lucky and had a good run despite an ebb flow and found our way to a short term anchorage just north of the Bridge Marina seawall. We had been advised not to enter the marina in anything other than slack water as tide runs of 4-5 knots are common in the marina, making manoeuvring difficult. We had a toast to our return to the North Island before a brief sleep. The marina is excellent and the airport only a stone’s throw away. We have done the walk up the splendid Mt Maungonui for outstanding district views followed by gelato on the strand, remarkably reminiscent of Cronulla. The large cruise liner “Oosterdam” had disgorged its cargo of voyagers for their assault on the area so the beach front was a tower of Babel. I am reliably informed that in strong westerly winds, cruise liners become pinned to overseas liner wharf and cannot get off even with all the horsepower of thrusters, engines and tugs.
Polynesians arrived here in the 13th century but the area was named by Cook in 1769 on account of its abundant natural resources and was settled by Europeans in 1830. Of course we all know the bay due to the wreck of the Rena on Astrolabe reef. The resulting oil spill was NZ’s worst environmental disaster. Tauranga does however compete with Nelson for the most sunlight hours per annum but in the last assessment was short by about 27 minutes, so I am told.
One interesting facet of the area is that two of the eateries in the marina are owned by one Phil Rudd. I had never heard of this chap but apparently he is the drummer of legendary Australian hardrock band AC/DC. And we saw him come to “Phil’s Café” in his jazzy red Ferrari. He recently made local headlines for all the wrong reasons. He had ordered lunch to be delivered from his restaurant to he and friends but sadly the food was sent to the wrong address. In a fit of pique he precipitously fired all the staff of his eatery. They in turn successfully took him to court for harsh and unfair dismissal. The lunch ended up costing him about $80,000.00. It truly is a long way to the shop if you want a sausage roll.