The Wrong Way Across the Pacific, Chapter 1, Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand.

I want to tell you a story that is at once profoundly sad and also profoundly memorable.  

I first met Andrea when I sailed into the South Pacific paradise of the  Port of Refuge, the Kingdom of Tonga.  She was at the cafe looking over the pretty sailboats and I asked if she would like to go sailing and search for whales.

And  she has stayed aboard since then.

Alas she got a bad cancer and she’s gone. But not forgotten.  I want to share some memories with you that Andrea was happy to record and happy to share.

We got married aboard Island Prism in Auckland.  Then we went on a 2 year honeymoon sailing from Auckland to Vanuatu to Komodo to Borneo to Singapore to Thailand.  We ran out of money and good sailing options.    Andrea was welcome back at her old job, so she flew back to work in Auckland.  I  brought Prism back to Auckland via the bottom of Tasmania to the excellent boatyard just a 15 minute bike ride from Andrea's apartment. I did bottom work and sail work and replaced all the bearings in the windvane. Andrea was working well as a teacher and she had a good cruising kitty.  She wanted to dive Tahiti.  I wanted two new free Canadian ankle transplants, and New Zealand Immigration had caught up with me. No more free extensions of a tourist visa, Mr Shortreed, and, do you have health insurance, Mr Shortreed.

We decided to leave New Zealand and sail for Canada.

Andrea had just acquired a set of paints, brushes, pens and paper from her mother and here began her sketchbooks.  Andrea had already been declared Captain in Thailand by the port authorities and she was a better captain than sailing master. I am the sailing master. I relinquished the difficult decisions and relished the sailing.  She became the Ship's Artist as well as Captain of the voyage of Island Prism, ‘The Wrong Way Across the Pacific ‘.

It’s known to the cruising community as the Wrong Way Across the Pacific because there is no easy sailing involved. I read that conventional west to east Pacific passages sailed south to 40 degrees, the northern edge of the Roaring Forties, and then rode before the westerly winds, and gales,  dodging bergy bits, until your exit, north to Destination Tahiti. OK, says I, what's wrong with that?

However Andrea thought otherwise and hired Met Service Bob of Auckland to weather route. He advised to cross west to east at 31 degrees south. This is below the tropical storms and horse latitudes and above the Antarctic gales and bergy bits. Here the highs and lows flow west to east You will always have wind, but it will always be changing in speed and direction. Well OK, says I, whats wrong with that?  Met Bob said wait to May 1 to avoid the last of the tropical storms that curve down to New Zealand.

And so began Andrea’s first Sailing Art Adventure.  We had from the end of December to the 1st of May, the entire Austral Summer,  to sail the Hauraki Gulf.  This is one of the premier sailing destinations in all the world.  There’s Auckland, then Rangitoto, Waiheke Island, Coromandel, Great Barrier Island, Bay of Islands, Tutukaka, Whangarei, Poor Knight Islands, Russell, these are all gorgeous, the waters are clear and warm, the mussels and fishing great and the sketching limitless.   We were free to explore, sketch, fish, visit friends, provision, test the wind vane, check the emergency gear.  Andrea set out with a blank sketch book and I assumed my positions; adventure enabler, sketching enabler, sailing master, wine taster.

Andrea picks up the sketchbook and paints and pens and inks and puts down her thoughts on Port Fitzroy, Great Barrier Island, Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand.  Quion Island is on the left, just past the end of the road.

Quion Island,  Hauraki Gulf.  This island was the most circular of islands, round by row boat and round up and over as well.  It is said to be a Maori Burial Island.  The steps go up so lovely, the path curves around and up into the inside, and there the path simply fades into the trees and shrubs.  There it is immensely peaceful.

Poor Knights Island, Hauraki Gulf.  This is a Marine Protected Area, there is no fishing or harvest within 800 meters of the shoreline.  Andrea firmly believed in Marine Protected Areas, she learned to dive in the Goat Island Marine Protected Area.  The Poor Knights was one of our favourite sails, straight out from Tutukaka for 3 hours, and the snorkelling was absolutely spectacular, as you can see from above.  We also dove there. The fishermen fished the 800 meter line on the GPS and caught good size fish.  I saw big tuna when snorkelling so you know big tuna stray across the 800 meter line.

The Hauraki Gulf is a world class destination for sailors. We had an ocean passage coming up but a complete summer for Gunkholing the Gulf.