Sailing Vessel Beruta Ship's Log: Whangarei

Sailing Vessel Beruta Ship's Log

Whangarei - Auckland, New ZealandO

3 April 2017 (Monday)

Whangarei is a lovely place to rest after thousands of sea miles. The nature is awesome, the people are friendly and Town Basin Marina is welcoming. I have explored almost every trail in a beautiful forest surrounding the area and some even a few times. Check my latest video from the series "The life and adventures on the sailboat Beruta". The water in Hatea river is fresh and no rust spots develop on stainless parts. On the other hand, the underwater life is thriving and I spent couple of hours diving and cleaning Beruta's bottom a day before the trip. I had lifted my dinghy every night but it helped a little. The barnacles and green weeds still covered its bottom as well. It took me another couple of hours to get rid of them.

It took me couple of months to find a job and over three months to get a work visa. The New Zealand Immigration web site states that they issue such visas in 25 days but reality is quite different.

Anyway, I am on my way to work. Auckland is the city where I will spend the next few years. To be honest, I actually received the work visa after my arrival to Auckland but I knew that it would be issued that week.

I could have waited for it in Whangarei but the weather was getting bad till the rest of the week. Monday was the last day to sail safely.

I checked out the marina in the morning and left my pile moorings at high tide at 13:15 local time (UTC+12). I had to motor down the river against head wind. I had wanted to make a stop at Marsden Cove Marina in the mouth of the river near the refinery to get some diesel but the wind was gusting to 25 kts and I decided not to. With such wind I could sail all the way to Auckland without an engine. The forecast though only showed 10-15 kts.

It turned out that the forecast was correct. In the river I was experiencing some local effects and once I was at sea some distance from the shore, I had 5-10 kts apparent wind from NE. In the mouth of the river I set the storm jib but at sea I was reaching under half main and genoa making 5 kts. The distance from Town Basin Marina to Hobsonville Marina previously known as Westpark Marina was 90 nm. I expected to arrive to Auckland sometime in the morning.

4 April 2017

I really don't like these kind of overnight trips in vicinity of a shore and marine traffic because I have to be on the watch all the time, meaning two days without a sleep.

Around 6:00 I entered the Rangitoto Channel leading to Waitemata Harbour. I should have said that Vancouver looked much better from the sea than Auckland, although from the land the area reminded me of beautiful British Columbia. Maybe it was just the rain that started early in the morning.

An hour later I was passing the city business district on one side and NZ navy's base on the other. There was also a Bayswater Marina next to the navy. It is a shorter ferry ride to downtown but more expensive. Hobsonville Marina is at the west end of Waitemata Harbour. The area is called West Harbour. The long marked channel leading to the marina is said to have at least 2 m depth at all tides. The downtown ferry terminal is in the marina at the same pier that is assigned to Beruta. Going to work will be easy. 35 minutes and I'm there.

Shortly after 8:00 Beruta was docked, secured the lines and reported to the marina.

All pictures from Auckland region are on Google Photos.

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Sailing Vessel Beruta Ship's Log

Whangarei - Auckland, New ZealandO

3 April 2017 (Monday)

4 April 2017

Last modified: July 28, 2023

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