Cape Karikari – in the immortal words of Queen “VERY VERY frightening”. Friend of ours lost his boat on the islands off Cape Karikari about this time last year. And according to the The Royal Akarana, 1 of 2 “bibles” we have on board for the Northland coast “only well found yachts equipped to off-shore standard, manned by experienced crew prepared to put to sea should weather conditions deteriorate” should sail the far north coast. Well Zinkwazi meets the standard – but Rob & I? We do treat any voyage that the Akarana or the Northland Boaties Atlas warns about with a great deal of caution. And wait for the weather. And make sure there enough beer in the fridge.
Today though, it was calm & beautiful when we passed Cape Karikari at about 11:00 this morning. Wind was 7-8 knots and variable so we were under engine & genoa. The good books say we should go into Houhora on a flood tide so to kill a bit of time we pulled into Waipapa Bay for lunch and to fillet the tuna we caught on the way before rounding the cape. Lunch was smoked hapuka on ryvita. We got the hapuka at the Mangonui F&C shop, but it was very disappointing. (flood tide = incoming tide).
Wind was dying and stopped completely half way across Ranganu Bay. The bay, which is open to the sea, was flat enough for water skiing. There were a lot of fish jumping & birds feeding so probably a good place to fish. 3/4 the way across the wind picked up, but from the opposite direction. A ridge must have passed over us.
Parts of Houhora have only a 3m of water at low tide – well most of Houhora is sand flats, so I mean the fairly narrow channel. Anyway, consulting the chart, chart plotter, Royal Akarana, Boating Atlas & depth sounder we very slowly nosed our way up the channel. We picked up a visitors mooring and headed ashore to the boating club for beer.
Very flash club, beer was good and it was interesting to watch the fishing boats come in with their catches. We could have stayed for buffet dinner but opted to come home for chicken. Yes chicken of the sea because we caught tuna YEE HAA at last. I am roasting vegetables – potato, onion, kumara, carrot and mushroom with haloumi, lemon zest and herbs. Smells wonderful. I’ll pan fry the tuna (well done for Rob and rare for me).
And tomorrow we’ll go explore Houhora.