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Whangaroa Harbor - A Holiday from our Vacation
February 21, 2007
by Michel & Jane DeRidder

To escape the crowds that the Bay of Islands attracts for the Silly Season, we oozed up Cavalli Passage, past Flat Rock and on into Whangaroa Harbour a few hours up the coast from the Nine Pin, guardian to the northeast entrance of the Bay of Islands. We have always enjoyed this spectacular harbor, more than a little reminiscent of the Marquesas Islands because of its volcanic outcroppings: huge stone chimneys, immense rocky knobs, and sheer cliffs with undercut cave-like overhangs. So just before the post-Christmas influx from Auckland and points south, we entered the many-lobed harbour through its narrow entrance between rocky promontories in time to celebrate the New Year. We were ready for a bit of a rest. I had passed out in New World supermarket — we know not why — just before Xmas so it was a treat to have a couple of knowledgeable younger hands with us for nine days — particularly ones that could coax fish from the depleted stocks of Whangaroa Harbour and Stephenson Island, its outlier. Frequent fish meals are healing.

Whangaroa has a colorful history. In 1809 an English ship, The Boyd, was burned to the waterline and sunk inside the harbor just off Red Island, its seventy occupants slaughtered with few exceptions, apparently for Utu — revenge. Eventually missionaries appeared. Settlers bought land from the Maori. Ships were built here, kauri logs cut and milled. Lanes Mill in Totara North finally closed not many years ago. The once denuded slopes are today once again covered with regenerating forest and bush.

Today, Whangaroa is a relaxing place to be, with good anchorages sheltered from most any wind. There are places to anchor more or less on your own, but also a few bars and restaurants for those who can’t do without. We were glad of Boyd Gallery, the small shop in Whangaroa township where we could buy fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, bread, cheese, and so on. (The shop on the Totara North side is no more, so petrol is no longer available, though diesel fuel can be had either at the Totara North Wharf, or on the other side of the harbour at the Whangaroa Game Fishing Club, once upon a time a hangout for Zane Gray.)

The most spectacular and therefore popular anchorage of all is Rere Bay in the West Arm. There were forty boats there for New Year’s Eve though many left shortly afterwards to head back home again. From Lane Cove visitors can walk or go by dinghy at high tide up the river to swim in a pool of fresh water, visit what’s left of Moses’ Cottage, or even continue by foot past spectacular waterfalls all the way to Totara North and back (Some choose to have a boat meet them at the other end) Or they climb the Duke’s Nose Track to enjoy the view from the top of his pate, or even — we are told — from the bridge of his nose. Count me out!

While in the Western Arm we were out of cell phone contact, though text messages got through. We had to hoist our Vodem Dongle into the rigging to send a story to SetSail. This anchorage can be gusty in high winds as a South African cruiser discovered when years ago his yacht was forced spreaders in the water first on one side, then on the other, in fierce gusts from several directions. We were in another part of the harbour at the time where the estimated 70-plus knots from a passing Tropical Cyclone was constant in direction.

A high-tide expedition up the river, heading for a fresh water pool.

We awoke one morning amazed to find a cruise ship Clipper Odyssey anchored in Whangaroa Harbour, lit up by the rising sun. We had no idea it was possible for such a vessel to enter the relatively narrow entrance. Turns out it is an extremely manoeuvrable vessel. And it was not the only one; a smaller eco-cruise ship was there at the same time, though not visible from where we were anchored in one of the eastern arms. Buses took the several hundred passengers to Ninety Mile Beach, Cape Reinga, and other tourist musts. These cruise ships plan to make Whangaroa a regular stopover. Because the entrance is of limited width, swells scarcely get inside — unlike the wide open Bay of Islands where easterly swells roll in to such an extent that visiting cruise ships are occasionally unable to unload their passengers for sightseeing.

So sheltered is the harbor that those anchored inside may be unaware of the state of outside sea and swell. Some years back a Canadian fifty-foot cruising yacht ventured out unprepared into a maelstrom, suffering more turbulence in the ensuing few hours than in any of their previous years of cruising. A lidless pressure cooker of soup leapt out of the sink, bottles and dishes flew and shattered. The first mate was not amused. In the late 1970s, a yacht returning from overseas was wrecked on rocky fangs just outside the harbor entrance when attempting to shelter in the difficult-to-find, constricted passage to Whangaroa Harbour at night in an onshore storm. Someone had arranged to have a light showing at the entrance. Several of those aboard were lost in the tragedy.

After the better part of a month in Whangaroa Harbour we had run out of a few basics unobtainable there (outboard petrol and baking powder, to name two). Out we motored into a profound calm after several days of offshore winds. We powered on a satiny sea past the occasional little blue penguin popping up, and flocks of little shearwaters sitting on the gently heaving sea, until a sea breeze came up to waft us down to the BOI.

The scene brought to mind a new book we had both read in Whangaroa. The book is about Ranger, a 60-foot kauri yacht — the boat to beat in the A Class Auckland racing circuit for more than a quarter of a century from the time of its launching in 1938. At one point, Ranger was becalmed in large rolling swells for a full day off the entrance to this very harbour, an incident that persuaded the legendary Lou Tercel, its designer/builder/owner/skipper, to adapt and install a used Ford 100E petrol car engine in the tenth year of Ranger’s action-filled life. In its hey-dey many would-be "Ranger beaters" were designed and built and raced, which has had a long-lasting stimulating effect on the Kiwi racing scene. This not-to-be-missed book helps to explain to us what makes Kiwis the exceptional sailors that they are: their tackle-anything, do-it-yourself attitude, their many skills, their dedication, their mateship, their teamwork.