Whangaroa
Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Thu 14 Apr 2016 02:58
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35:02.81S 173:44.09E Whangaroa
Harbour
We took an easy 35 nm ride up the coast to Whangaroa – a deep inlet with a small marina and lots of oyster farms. Its a very quiet place, but we enjoyed looking through the local fishing club, with its many trophies on display. The one below, is world record 268kg Pacific Blue Fin Tuna caught on 60kg line.   All the shallow areas of this “harbour” have oyster farms that are service
by various boats – some more derelict than others. There are thousands of wild
oysters for the rocks, but the cultivated ones have one straight edge, grown on
a board, so are obviously easier to collect and shuck.
  The weather turned and we moved into one of the coves (Waitepipi Bay) with
high cliffs, that felt like being in a fjord. We were soon joined by the
magnificent Nordhavn 76 Sports fishing boat, called Lady Grey. The next
morning the owner, Jim Speedy invited us over for a coffee and a tour of
the yacht. Now THAT is a boat!
 By now we are settling into the slow calm pace of boating in New Zealand,
and getting used to colder weather. We hauled out our sweatshirts and are
now using windbreakers every day. I am also trying to get my tongue around
the different pronunciation here – and by that, I do not mean saying SUX instead
of SIX! Most of the places around here have Maori names – with lots
of vowels , strange stresses and pronouncing WH as FF. More practice is
needed
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