A Hidden Bay at Mercury Island

Leave a reply

We had a beautiful day on our trip from Great Barrier Island to Mercury Island.  We had hoped to sail, but alas Mother Nature had other plans.  With less than 5kts of wind we could not fill the sails so we ended up motoring.

But the day was so pretty, the waters calm, and the skies clear. Nothing else mattered.

A Hidden Bay 

A few years ago our friend Leigh took us on a helicopter ride over Mercury Island (read blog post).  Matt spotted this gorgeous bay that could fit 1-2 boats.  We marked the location of the bay and told ourselves that we would come anchor there someday.  

Fast forward to today!  We happened to pull up to the very same anchorage  with no boats. 

This is a shallow bay so we cautiously nosed our boat into the bay using our forward sonar, Project X, and satellite charts.

Absolutely as stunning from the water as it was from the sky!

We had this beautiful bay all to ourselves for a few days.  It was so beautiful that we decided to stay longer.

What did we do?

However, when Saturday arrived so did the Auckland launches.  The day trippers arrived in full force to enjoy the beautiful weather and pretty sandy beaches.

Then our friends on Moon Shadow, Leigh and Linda Hopper, came in their 70′ Maritimo. 

Leigh expertly maneuvered his yacht next to us.  And to our surprise he wanted to raft up.  His magnificent Maritimo 70′ yacht to our 47′ catamaran.  

Ok…we dug out the fenders and tied up.

Not 30 minutes later their friends on a 60′ Maritimo arrived and rafted up next to them. 

So, we now have a 70′ Martimo and a 60′ Maritimo rafted up to Sugar Shack.  

All I can say is our 30kg Spade anchor is AMAZING!  Granted we had little wind, but still we had two gigantic boats rafted up to us!

Yes, the smallest boat, Sugar Shack is holding the two larger boats 🙂

While we were here we had our friend John stopped by with some snapper on Friday.

Then Leigh and Linda served up some delicious pack horse lobster on Saturday.

Yes, we are living like royalty.

After our early lobster dinner both Maritimos left to a larger anchorage where they could drop the hook safely.

A Return to Mercury Island

We left Tauranga with two buddy boats: Purr and Go Baby Go.  John on Go Baby Go captured a few shots of Sugar Shack as we were underway.

And then John took a drone shot of all three of us at South Bay on Slipper Island.

We left Slipper Island and headed to Mercury Island again.  While our friends headed to Great Barrier Island. 

We wanted to go back to Little Bay but \a launch anchored right in the middle of the bay preventing us from anchoring  So we went next door to Mamona Bay which was almost as beautiful!

Sugar Shack had this beautiful spot all to ourselves.

Matt got the drone out and captured the beauty from the sky.  Check out the gorgeous waters!

Our blog posts run 4-5 weeks behind actual live events. 

We were at the Mercury Island in early March 2026 and returned mid-March 2026.

Find this bay on No Foreign Land.

Great Barrier Island

Leave a reply

Matt and I were very excited to leave the dock and get out into the blue waters.  We were so ready to move after 3.5 months on the hard at Norsand and then a week at Port Nikau Marina. 

Despite having super light winds we raised our sails.  Mostly to dry them out and give the impression we are a sailboat.  In the end, we motored the entire way.

Did not matter to us as we were out on the water enjoying a beautiful sunny day!

Kiwiriki Bay

Our first anchorage at Great Barrier was called Kiwiriki Bay.  We were tucked in all by ourselves.  However, by the end of the day a dozen launches dropped the hook in the bay’s surrounding areas.  Evidently, there was a fishing tournament happening the same weekend we visited.

Sugar Shack at Kiwiriki Bay with her new arch.

We took the dinghy over to Port Fitzroy (about 2.5nm) to stretch our legs.

Glenfern Sanctuary Loop Track

We went on a lovely 2hr return loop trek at the Glenfern Sanctuary with our friends Dan & Lexi on the boat “Amok”.  It was an overcast day with the sun making random appearances.  The track was shaded and very well marked.  

We decided to go counter clockwise and went up the bazillion stairs (rather than come down them on the return). 

Everything was so lush and green.  It was a beautiful walk through the forest, and along the river.

We stopped at the iconic kauri tree which is over 600 years old! 

They built a bridge from land to the tree. Then you climb up a ladder to a little lookout over Port Fitzroy Bay.

On the way back we stopped by Sunset Rock which offered more views of the Port Fitzroy Anchorage.

Our blog posts run 6 weeks behind actual live events.  We were at Great Barrier Island the first week of March 2026.

Find the Glen Fern Trail on No Foreign Land

Did you find out why our beers were not staying cold?  If not, read here.

Why Aren’t the Beers Cold?

2 Replies

Lots of good things happening in this blog post. We leave Norsand Boatyard and finally splash in the water! We stay at Port Nikau for a few days while we discover why our beers aren’t staying cold and we do a big provisioning run.

Splashing at Norsand

We splash back into the water after what seemed like a lifetime on the hard.  In reality it was 3.5 months of living in dirt, dust, and chaos.  

It was time to ensure our boat was water tight after installing (3) new thru-hulls below the water line. It is always frightening making new holes in the bottom of the boat – but Matt did a great job and we had no issues at all!

As you know, we have keel coolers for our fridge and freezer.  Because of this set up we were not able to run our fridge or freezer while we were on the hard.  

We bought a small 3′ refrigerator for $100NZD and kept it in the cockpit.  It kept our drinks, beers, and butter cold.  

Since we were not cooking on the boat we did not need much in the fridge.  

Now that we are back in the water we have to test the refrigeration systems and see what needs some attention.

Kevin and Shane did an excellent job putting our home back in the water.  

Port Nikau Marina

We did not go far once we splashed.  We headed a few miles down the river to Port Nikau Marina.

Normally, we would not go straight from the yard to a marina, but we had some work on our refrigeration.

This two-year old marina is new to us.  It is fairly small with two piers holding about 48 yachts.  They also have a superyacht and commercial dock on either side of the private yacht piers.

The marina is run by Blaire who is absolutely wonderful!  He met us on the dock to catch our lines and gave us the details of this pretty marina.

One morning we had an absolutely beautiful sunrise.

Matt had discovered that our main fridge was not keeping his beers cold.  So, we planned to stay at Port Nikau Marina for a few days to figure out why.

We hired Big Fridge to do a quick maintenance and add freon to the fridge.

Keeping the Beers Cold

Oh no, back to tearing up the boat?  Seriously.  Luckily it was only a one day mess, 

Big Fridge came and did a basic check of our refrigeration systems.  We quickly determined that one of our connectors had a leak. Big Fridge changed four gaskets and stopped the leak.

Matt used a special wand to test for other leaks and it was going bonkers. 

Matt tore up the bead and followed the lines to our keel cooler.  The wand went crazy again. 

I was  horrified as this meant the keel cooler had to be replaced.  The only way to replace the keel cooler is to haul out again!  Oh no.

We decided to let it all sit for a few hours and went back with the wand.  This time the wand was quiet as can be.  We topped up the freon and watched the temperature drop!  It is working!

We let the fridge cool down to our standard – 4 to 6 over the next 36 hours. 

When we realized it was working normal we did a provision run.

Final Touches Before We Go

We did a quick trip to Auckland (6 hours return) to visit Costco.  Loaded up on essentials. Another trip to two grocery stores for fresh produce and few more stops.

I sold our cockpit fridge to one of the workers at Norsand.

Next, I sold our beloved Audi A6 Quatro. 

We have really enjoyed this zippy car!  But it was time for someone else to enjoy her. I sold her for what we put into her. We bought it for $5,500 NZD and had a major service done which cost $600NZD. So, she sold for $6,100 NZD ($3600 USD).  Yep, can you believe that?

Now we are off to explore New Zealand’s coast!

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

We were in Port Nikau toward the end of February 2026.