Travel
Port Gore
Scream spent the first night of our Christmas holiday in Port Gore. We had intended to travel all of the way from Wellington to Guard's Bay, but despite a wonderful and long day flying our cruising chute we weren't traveling fast enough to make the distance before dark. We had a lot of bottom growth […]
Pelorus Sound
Scream spent two crazy weeks in Pelorus Sound, part of the Marlborough Sounds of New Zealand's south island. We anchored in seven places along Pelorus' 380 km of shoreline, which will get their own posts. Crossing Cook Straight Our friends on Clara Katherine have this amusing book entitled, My Dream to Cross Cook Straight Or […]
Napier
Scream spent two weeks in Napier. The city of Napier has considerable tourist infrastructure. The town center is quite pleasant to walk around. We had a great time at the National Aquarium, particularly viewing Kiwi's, Sea Horses, and their large pelagic tank with its diversity of sharks. We tied up at the visitor's dock of […]
Gisborne
Scream spent a week in Gisborne on our way south. While in Gisborne we visited the museum, a brewery, and the cidery. Gisborne's business district starts right at the marina. Gisborne is a large town and the regional centre, and as such has a fairly large commercial district. We enjoyed shopping and several good meals. […]
Tauranga
Scream spent eleven days in Tauranga. While in Tauranga we enjoyed ourselves. We visited Mount Manganui and watched SuperRugby in person. We also sailed on land in blokarts, which was fantastic. We stayed at the Tauranga Bridge Marina. The marina staff are great and their rates are very competitive. There is a nice cafe and restaurant. Unfortunately […]
Rounding Cape Colville
Thanks to some less than accurate assistance from Metservice, Scream encountered all sorts of annoyances rounding Cape Colville. Cape Colville poses a challenge that many cruising sailors will find novel. The tide runs at a couple knots between Cape Colville and Great Barrier Island. As every sailor from Alaska to Seattle knows well, this causes […]
Great Barrier Island
Scream spent two nervous weeks in the wonderful sheltered harbours of Great Barrier, or Aotea, Island. Port Fitzroy is a magnificent harbour. It has two narrow and protected enterances, leading to a large harbour. Port Fitzroy harbour is almost four miles north to south with an average width of almost half a mile. There are […]
Pier 21
Scream spent a week tied up at Pier 21 marina in Auckland. We needed to pull into a dock to get mail and provisions, and we decided that we might as well come into Auckland and have a good time. Pier 21 is wonderful. It is the best located and best priced marina in Auckland […]
Tiritiri Matangi
Scream made a brief stop at Tiritiri Matangi, an island sanctuary in New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf. The island itself is a delight. We landed on Hobb's beach and walked the Kawerau track, after making the mistake of walking up cable road first. (Kawerau track leaves the beach 5m north of the washroom, not alongside the […]
Whangarei Town Basin
Scream spent another very pleasant month in the town basin marina in Whangarei. We were mostly waiting for mail: we received new bank cards, driver's licenses, and Darusha's NZ citizenship papers, amongst other things. We really like Whangarei and the town basin marina. Whangarei has a lot of services to offer to boats. There are […]