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 washroom). in our brief hour ashore we saw saddelbacks, New Zealand Pigeons, Tui, Stitchbirds, and Kakariki along with hordes of difficult to identify songbirds. The number and diversity of birds on Tiritiri is much greater than on most islands in the Hauraki Gulf.

Unfortunately, the anchorage at Tiritiri is marginal. There is room for about a dozen 12m yachts in a shallow cove 3-4m, sand bottom. We anchored at 36? 36.23 S 174? 55.98 E. The wind shelter is from the east and northeast, but there is no shelter from swell. We arrived on a calm day (variable 5) and decided against staying the night. Luckily Kawau is only 15 miles north, Islington 15 miles south, and a variety of other anchorages lie between.

Tiritiri is nice to visit, especially if you happen to be transiting the coast on a calm day with a couple hours to spare. If birds aren't your thing, or if it is blowing, I would recommend giving it a pass.