Sailing Kingfisher

We left Bayswater around noon on a day which had been quite overcast and drizzly. Weather cleared up a bit as we departed and we had a good sail to Waiheke – even getting up to 10 knots at one point.

We rounded Hakaimango Point at the top of Oneroa Bay and decided to drop the anchor. A beautiful spot, sheltered from the wind and no swell. A bit of fun fishing after dinner with five snapper. A very peaceful night.

Did a few maintenance jobs on Saturday morning and some cleaning and polishing. Too lazy to go ashore for a walk so we played cards and the Dutch gambling game we learnt from our good friends Sharlene and Jos. Baked soda bread for lunch which we enjoyed with ham, cheese and tomatoes and a small glass of chardonnay 🙂

More night fishing. Had a squid up to the net half a dozen times, but couldn’t quite get it in. We were being extra careful as we didn’t want to get inked! We did catch quite a haul of piper and a couple of koheru. Used the koheru for bait but no takers.

Woke to lovely sunshine on Sunday morning and a big pod of dolphins cruising into the bay at around 8.30 am. They spent a lot of time swimming in near the rocky shore, and splashing about. Some swam right under the boat. The dolphins were in the bay for around two hours. Hard to get anything done apart from watching dolphins!

Later Jim jumped into the water 🥶 (full wetsuit, booties, gloves and hood) to check hull, still looking great with very little growth.

Left Waiheke at around 11.30 am. Cloudy and good wind. An exciting sail home through several gnarly squalls. Had to drop the sails a couple of times. Weather came right before we got back to Bayswater and we had a very smooth docking.