Coromandel to Gt. Barrier

Hi all,
Well, we enjoyed Te Kouma and stayed an extra day. It is described as "the best harbour on the Coromandel" in the Royal Akarana Cruising Guide and the description is accurate. It is very sheltered and almost landlocked and very pretty. We went ashore and climbed up to a vantage point and the view was amazing - across to Waiheke and right up the Coromandel Peninsula towards the Barrier.
The next day (Wed) we left at 8 in the morning and found (once again!!) the wind on the nose. So we motorsailed north along the Coromandel coast past the Happy Jacks Islands, then out past Cape Colville and Channel Island. Once at Channel Island our course changed 20 degrees to the east which enabled us to sail close hauled on the port tack direct for Whangaparapara 12 miles further on. The wind had increased a little to 15-18 knots and we had a good sail under reefed main, staysail and genoa with our Fleming wind vane steering (Mrs. Fleming!) doing the honours. It was great to just relax and let it all happen - and peaceful without the engine. We sailed in through the entrance and saw where Noel and Litara were anchored on their boat "Sina" just off the Whangaparapara Lodge. They rowed over a short time later and it was good to see them again. They have their daughter, Sina with them for a few days. She is an intern doctor at Hastings Hospital. Everything seemed fine to begin with but as night fell the wind started up and quite quickly began blowing hard from the SW - more or less straight into the bay. On top of that we realised we had anchored in an area a little shallow for comfort so decided to move to deeper water in the dark! In the windy conditions it was a little tricky getting the anchor up in the dark and resetting it but this sort of thing is all good practice and it all happened without incident. But we couldn't get out of the wind and spent a fairly sleepless night keeping check on the GPS to make sure we weren't dragging the anchor.
This morning we were quite tired after the night together with our 9 hour sail the day before but things were better in daylight. Still blowing though. To give you some idea a yacht about the same size as us tried 3 times to leave the harbour but found conditions in the narrow entrance with the wind blowing straight in too difficult and probably somewhat dangerous as she was single-handed, and abandoned each attempt. Then later when the wind had abated they managed to leave but still very rough outside. We moved to another slightly more sheltered position in the harbour (Graveyard Bay) and so we didn't have the boat pitching the way she had all night. In the meantime Noel had put out a second anchor at 2 in the morning which gave them some more security. They rowed over later and we had a cup of tea and some fruit cake and we enjoyed their company.
Now the wind has abated and the boat is almost still. It is 2240 and time for a good night's sleep. What a contrast! In the meantime we have let out 70 metres of chain to help hold us but it looks as though we won't need it. Still, better to be safe than sorry. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to go ashore and do some exploring. We now have a new haulout date at Norsand Whangarei - March 8th. So our plans are to stay here tomorrow, then go up to Port Fitzroy for a couple more days, and then we will sail direct for Whangarei.
More later!!
Our current position:
latitude 36 degrees 15.0 minutes south
longitude 175 degrees 24.5 minutes east
Cheers,
J & J

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