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Smokehouse Bay: A Cruisers Paradise

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Smokehouse Bay is loved by all boaters, cruisers, and locals.  It is a spot where we can go to cook out, bathe, do laundry, and congregate with each other.  

It is a very large bay with room for loads of boats to anchor in.  

The photo on the right is Sugar Shack and our friends Jim and Pam on Roam (Catana 472).  We also had our friends Midnight, Chaos, Fundango, and Zipper here.

The land was purchased by the Finn Brothers, built by their nephew Eric, and donated into a trust to remain a public spot. 

All of the facilities have been donated and are free for all to use including:

  • (2) grills
  • (1) Smokehouse
  • (1) Pizza Oven with pots, pans and accessories
  • (1) Toilet
  • (1) Hot shower and inside bathtub
  • (1) Outside bathtub 
  • Hand wash laundry machines and drying lines
  • Book exchange
  • Tons of Seating

There is an informative welcome board giving you the history of Smokehouse Bay.  Below are photos of the smokehouse, grills, laundry, and seating areas.

In February, we met Dan and Lexi and enjoyed some BBQ.

There was a fairly large gathering here during our visit but we scored a table and a spot on the grill just in time for dinner.

Pizza Making

Matt and decided it was time to to try out the pizza oven.  We brought all of our pizza making ingredients (dough, black olives, chorizo salmi, green bell peppers, mushrooms, cheese, and sauce).

The pizza oven come stocked with pizza scoopers, pans, and all sorts of stuff.

It took a while to get the fire going.  Most of the sticks and pieces of wood we found were wet from the previous rain storm.  

But, after about an hour we got it going.

Of course the rain came while we were heating up the pizza oven.  We hid by the oven to keep dry and warm.

Feast Time

Over the weekend, the good weather brought out all the cruisers at Smokehouse Bay.  It was feast time!

One of the cruisers was celebrating her birthday and she and her family hosted a massive pizza and cake extravaganza.  It was great fun with loads of kids, pets, and cruisers enjoying the nice weather.

The next morning we had unusually calm and glassy conditions. 

It was so beautiful to see the sky reflected on the water.

Everyone loves stopping in for a visit at Smokehouse Bay!

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual live events. 

We were at Smokehouse twice.  Once in February and once at the end of March 2026.

Great Barrier Becomes Great Again

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We were anxious to get off the boat after the massive storm.  We needed to stretch our legs, enjoy the sunshine, and find gratitude in nature.  Several cruiser friends of ours were anchored near by so we enjoyed a few hikes on Great Barrier Island and a huge feast.

Glenfern Sanctuary Loop

We did this loop with our friends Dan and Lexi a month ago.  However, it is so very pretty that it is worth doing multiple times over.  The Glenfern Sanctuary Loop is an easy hike/walk that takes about 1-1.5hrs.

There were 8 of us from 4 different boats.  Roam: Jim and Pam, Chaos: Mark and Karen, Fundango: Scott and Joanne, and Sugar Shack.

Warrens Loop and Waterfall

The day after the massive storm we hiked Warrens Loop to a waterfall.  We figured the waterfall would be massive with all of the extra rain and it did not disappoint.

I thought the trail would be totally muddy, but it actually was not too bad.  This is another easy hike/walk that takes about 1hour.  Well marked trail through a super lush forest.

The waterfall was gushing with tons of water pouring out over the rocks.  It was stunning.

There was so much water that it was spilling over making multiple falls.

We took a different route on the way back.  We followed the river for about 100-200 yards, crossed over the river and came to another trail.  

We ended up crossing the river 3 times.

Port Frizroy

We moved to Port Fritzroy because we needed a change of scenery.  We were not planning on staying long as this is typically not a great anchorage. 

We had a super foggy morning that sure made everything look beautiful.

Matt went for a paddle board while I met our friends for breakfast.

Our friend boats were planning on doing dinner at the Port Fritzroy Boat Club.  It is a simple affair, but pretty tasty food.  

The next morning we went to Orama which is a Christian center that hosts Saturday morning breakfast.  

They had a small menu but everything was delicious!!  

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual live events.

We were at Great Barrier from mid-March to end of March 2026.

The Great Barrier Storm

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One of the most significant draw backs to living on a boat is having to deal with the increment weather.  A storm was forecasted for the entire north island, especially, the northland area.  So, we specifically selected a “protected” bay called Kiwiriki Bay at Great Barrier Island to hide from the storm.

There are loads of bays and anchorages in Great Barrier. About 50-75 boats are in this general area spread across 5nm (noted in yellow below). 

We selected Kiwiriki Bay where we’ve anchored many times and have had very good holding.

We look at multiple weather sources using a variety of weather models.  Neither looked good.  We were in for bad weather for more than 48 hours.

Blue, green, yellow, and even orange are considered good to decent weather conditions.  Red, gray, and black are not good.

Below are two models from two sources. 

We are the small white dot. 

As you can see we have winds gusting to 45kts, lots of rain, and really unfavorable conditions.

NZ Met Service weather warning.

Kiwiriki Bay

We arrived at Kiwiriki Bay in Great Barrier Island a few days before the storm to claim a good, protected spot. 

There are 10 boats well spread out in Kiwiriki Bay.

We first dropped the hook at 36°11.95S / 175°21.02E in 7m of water with 60m of chain out.  We pulled back to 2400rpm and had  a strong jerk and bounce back indicating a solid hold.

During the start of the first night of the storm we saw 20-24kt of wind and we were holding good. 

By 10:30pm, we were seeing gusts 32-35kts. 

By 11p our first anchor alarm went off.  Of course, it is pitch black outside, sheets of rain coming down, and the wind is howling.

Matt put his dry suit on and I get my foul weather gear on.  Both suits soaked through.

We let out more scope, reset the bridle and wait.  The anchor alarm went off again.  

We set a secondary, fortress anchor off the starboard bow. 

This worked for a few hours as we nervously waited and watched.  But, no, the alarm went off again.

We decided to reset both anchors so back out into the rain we go.  It is somewhere around 2:30am by the time we get settled again.

We held in place but we were both up all night. 

By first light we decided to move to a different spot within Kiwiriki Bay.

2nd Anchor Spot

This time we dropped the hook at 36° 12.27S / 175°21.22E in 6m of water.  We splayed out 70m of chain and extended our bridle. 

The boat was swirling around so we decided not to get the 2nd anchor out.

It rained all day as the winds increased from a consistent 18-22kts with gusts to 38-40kts.  We were holding good.

Until we weren’t.  It was close to 11:00pm when our anchor alarm went off.  It had been blowing a consistent 40-42kts and the last big gust kicked us back 12 meters.  We both suited up in our wet gear and got ready to either re-anchor, move, or deploy the 2nd anchor. We sat, waited, and nothing.  She was holding again – even with the strong winds.

The storm started to dissipate leaving us with 25-30kts of wind which seemed like a huge reprieve.  We both slowly crawled into bed around 2:00am.

The Day After the Great Barrier Storm

We have several anchor watches and all looked like a bowl of spaghetti.  

The exception is the bottom photo.  There are 2 red marks and the top red mark is actually the track from the boat next to us.

Matt took some drone shots which showed the muddy brown water we were left with after the storm.  The mud came down the river from the mountains and turned the entire area into muck.

We are the 2nd catamaran from the bottom of both photos.

The sun was trying so hard to clear the sky and brighten our day.  You can see pockets of blue sky reflecting off the water below.

This is the river entrance during low tide.

I guess we don’t often share this side of the cruising lifestyle as it is truly no fun. 

This situation is my absolute least favorite thing about cruising. In the end, we were fine, the boat was fine, and all was ok. 

We are short 2 nights of sleep and had loads of soaking wet clothing, but we were ok.

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual live events. 

We were in the storm at Great Barrier Island toward the end of March 2026.