Although we originally intended to stay at the marina in Auckland for only three nights, it cannot possibly surprise anyone to learn that will we end-up staying here for a week. Other than the expense (and at around NZ $30 per night it is no worse than the boatyard), we really like the Westhaven Marina which seems to be run very efficiently. The oldest marina in New Zealand, with more than 1,400 berths, it is not surprising that Westhaven claims to be the largest marina in the southern hemisphere. It is located at the south end of the Auckland Harbour Bridge and is within a 45-minute walk (20-minute bike-ride) of the heart of the city. With four yacht clubs based in the marina, there are no shortage of sailing races to watch during the summer evenings.



Dinghies line the dock near the pile-moorings in Westhaven Marina, Auckland

A couple of days after we arrived on Tuesday (March 14th), Scott from Advanced Trident Ltd., visited Tregoning to look over the equipment that they had sold us (more than a year ago) to fix and update our electronic autopilot (Otto). He drew some wiring diagrams, noted the extra items that he would drop-off that afternoon, and gave various inevitable and fateful “you JUST have to…” instructions and departed.

For the next several days, with some wailing and gnashing of teeth, Randall removed the old equipment and installed the new. It was not so much the various ‘black boxes’ that caused problems but having to remove and install the associated wiring which runs under the floor, through the engine-room, and under our bed for most of the length of the boat. The worst were the cables that go up tubes in the binnacle to the chart-plotter and other cockpit instruments. To fit the new cable with its connector at the end, up these tubes, we had to removed four other cables and then reinstall them (using strings to pull the cables back through), none of which wanted to move without protest.

By the time Randall had finished all of this frustrating work, the new instruments mostly seem to be working correctly but we will know for sure, and hopefully sort out the last of their problems, when we go out for a sea-trial with Scott tomorrow (Tuesday). It will be good to have Otto back in operation so that we do not have to hand-steer when we are motoring (Susie-New only deigns to steer when we are sailing).

Annoyingly for poor Randall, no sooner was this project complete than we found that one of our bilge-pumps was not working. It took a while to work-out that it was a bad switch but, luckily, we are close to one of the densest clusters of marine suppliers in the world, so it was not difficult to get a replacement.

Other than helping with pulling cables through the boat and switching pumps on and off, I have mostly been walking and biking around Auckland getting supplies, and using the free WiFi. The marina has also been an excellent place from which to run and bike, with paths along the redeveloped harbor front for many miles. One evening, we walked along the waterfront to the main ferry terminal, took a 10-minute ferry ride north to Devonport, and met Carla and Harry. Like Randall, they are alumni of San Luis Obispo High School and we had talked to them about their apartment in New Zealand at the 50th High School Reunion in September.

Harry and Carla generously treated us to a delicious dinner at a lovely restaurant near Devonport’s ferry terminal and it was fun to talk about their several years of cruising that was a little grander than us, with crew in a 90 foot (27 m) sailing yacht. We were very lucky to catch them as they were returning the following day to their house in Hawai`i. The ferry ride back after dark was delightful, especially as the city’s Sky Tower was floodlit in green for St Patrick’s Day.

Another evening was the “White Night” in Auckland in which free arts events were held in various venues. We cycled to the New Zealand Maritime Museum on the waterfront and looked at one of the art installations about immigration. We also had a quick look around the museum which has particularly interesting exhibits on early Polynesian sailing and about the boats that won the America’s Cup for New Zealand in 1995.



Former America’s Cup race-boats (back when they were monohulls) on an evening charter pass under the Auckland Harbour Bridge

If all goes well with the sea trial tomorrow, we will leave Auckland and return to exploring some of the Hauraki Gulf islands. I am particularly keen to visit Tiritiri Matangi because it has a particularly diverse bird fauna including several rare species. If we see the saddleback there, I may be saved from hiking up Rangitoto’s summit again. However, the anchorage at Tiritiri Matangi is small and is not sheltered from southly and westerly winds (as we have at the moment) so we may be exploring some other anchorages first. We have about another month before we have to start planning our trip to Tonga so, assuming that the weather cooperates, we have some time.