On the 27th December we loaded Tusk with provisions for 6 full days at sea. We were actually going away for 10 days but intended transferring to another boat the Whai for 4 days.
The crew was myself, Andrew (my son) and Eamon a local friend. We loaded food, dive gear and lots of drinks
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| You will note the Marina is already showing alot of empty berths. Christmas New Year is our main holiday time and it is summer. |
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| Fishing gear, sleeping gear, food and beer. Just what 3 blokes need for an extended cruise. |
Eventually fully loaded and with 10 knots Easterly wind on our nose we headed out to Tryphena Harbour 5 hours away at 9.5 knots. The weather conditions were great and the crossing uneventful. We trolled for a while but no Albacore or Skippies (Skipjack tuna).
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| The tall ship Soren Larsen, heading for Auckland. | | | | | | | | | |
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We stopped outside Tryphena harbour and caught some fresh snapper before slipping in on dark to anchor up for the evening. That night the Easterly gained some strength and brought with it rain that made the 28th December a miserable day.
Despite gusting winds we managed to dive for a sack of fresh scallops, caught some fresh Terakihi and just pottered around waiting for the wind to drop. I must remind visitors that the locals do not respect the Divers flag, they just steamed around us at full speed whilst our diver was down and we showed Flag B prominently. Some words were exchanged with a charter boat and I will say the skipper came back and apologised later when returning from his destination. The scallops were tasty and fat.
The next day the wind had dropped down leaving a slight easterly swell so we departed Great Barrier to run the 21 miles down the coast to the Mercury Islands. We had a good run down towing lures and landed some nice Albacore. We ran down the north side of Great Mercury Island. The Easterly wind forecast ruled out Coralie Bay and so we moved round to under the cliffs in Great Mercury Bay with a lot of other boats. in about 10 metres of water.
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| Entering the anchorage under the cliffs. |
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The next day was overcast, miserable and wet, but fishing prevailed so we headed out looking for prey.
We took the opportunity to slip into Whitianga (18 miles away) to top up the fuel tanks and get some fresh milk. And returned to another night anchored under the cliffs.
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| Dusk, the moon is up and anchor lights are going on. Under the cliffs, Great Mercury Is. |
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New years Eve day was excellent, unfortunately the fishing was not great, but we scored some crayfish for dinner. That evening we moved to an anchorage in Mercury Cove and the space was tight here, but Tusk just fitted in.
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| Entering the Cove on Great Mercury Island, New Years Eve 2010. |
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Mercury Cove (also called Huruhi harbour) is one of the safest anchorages in the Mercury Islands.These photos taken from the heights of Mt Cook, Great Mercury Island show the size and shelter provided by the Cove. These photos were taken on 5/1/2011 when the party boats had left.
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| The entrance to Mercury Cove with the Coromandel Peninsula in the background. We are facing 236 SW |
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| The main anchorage, the boat shed on the left. |
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| The inner harbour at the Cove at low tide, showing the mudflats. |
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| Looking almost due South to Mercury Island Bay. The Cove is on the right hand of the photographer. Stingray bay in the foreground, then the beach (of which are plenty of scallops) and the cliffs we anchored under in the background. The mainland in the distance around Kuaotunu. |
We joined all the other boaties for New Years Eve party in the tractor shed. The island is privately owned and each New Year's Eve the Fay Richwhite families host all visiting boaties for welcoming in the New Year. It was a great party and we did not need a dinghy to get ashore as plenty of them were going past so we hitched a lift!
