Tasman Bay
01 April 2010 | Adele Island New Zealand 40*58.786'S 173*03.251'E
Linda
The last eleven days have been great fun. We sailed from Nelson to explore the west side of Tasman Bay and poke our heads around Separation Point into Golden Bay. We've anchored in seven different anchorages, most of them in Abel Tasman National Park. Nearly all were accessible by water taxi so the beaches and tracks were busy during the day. By late afternoon we were nearly always by ourselves again. The park has a number of tracks along the shore as well as through the interior. Road access is limited, so as we've seen throughout the country, tramping is very popular. If you come to NZ, don't miss this area and consider doing the coastal track. It looks like fun.
The coastline here has so many beautiful, golden sand beaches. We anchored for one night behind Taupo Rock on Golden Bay 40*47.460'S 172*57.207'E. Took a dinghy ride into the lagoon at high tide the next morning, then had a picnic. That didn't last long, as the wind came up very quickly out of the west at 25 knots. By the time we made it back to the boat the waves were a good 5' and close together. We managed to get the motor off the dinghy and onto Kattywompus. Started up the engine and at full throttle were able to haul in the anchor and head out to sea. That was exciting, "and wet too", says Brad!!! Just around the corner, back at Abel Tasman we anchored in Totaranui Bay. Well sheltered from the wind it was a peaceful evening.
We've hiked, beachcombed, seen blue penguins, big bat rays, jellyfish, bell birds and best of all, seal pups. There is a colony on Tonga Island near our anchorage in Onetahuti Bay 40*53.025'S 173*03282'E. Early in the morning we paddled over in our inflatable kayak to check it out. The marine reserve is noted for its curious pups that on occasion will propel themselves up onto the deck of a kayak. There were dozens of the little guys in the water, so we drifted in and sat motionless while they came to see what we were all about. Watching them dive, swim at amazing speed under the kayak, bump us around and then pop their little heads up and stare was outstanding. They were close enough to easily touch, but we didn't.
Today we're waiting out weather here behind Adele Island in Astrolabe Roadstead. The sky is very dark, it's cold, blowing like crazy and pouring buckets. When I asked for some rain to wash the boat down, this wasn't quite what I had in mind! In spite of the weather, the birds on shore are singing up a storm and we love it. It's a good day to inventory and reorganize what we have in all the storage lockers. We'll see what's left from the last 10 months then I can start a provisioning list for our trip north through Tonga and Fiji.
The forecast is for a nice day tomorrow so we'll get up early and sail back to Nelson. In the afternoon we're off to Christchurch to pick up our friends Mark and Cindy. We'll do a bit of sightseeing there, then make a quick scenic tour on our way back to Kattywompus.
Stay tuned.