The Unbelievable Mokohinau Islands

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The Mokohinau Islands are a small group of islands located 60nm northeast from Auckland.  There are three large islands and about 10-12 smaller islands that make up this island chain.

The islands are volcanic stacks sitting at the edge of the continental shelf. Scientists estimate that the Mokohinau Islands formed between 10 and 8.5 million years ago.

Most of the islands in the Mokohinau Island chain are nature preserves and wildlife sanctuaries. The only island we can visit is Burgess Island.

This island chain is free of mammalian pests and has been left to naturally regenerate.

The Mokohinau Islands are home to a number of New Zealand’s smallest endangered species, such as the Mokohinau skink, the Mokohinau gecko, the robust skink and the Mokohinau stag beetle as well as a number of endangered plant species.

They are barely a spec on the average map.  You have to zoom in really far to make them show up.

There are no ferries and no planes that come to this group of islands. 

The only way you can visit is by charter boat or private yacht.  Lucky us!

We approached from the south (coming from Great Barrier Island).  

On the way to the islands we encountered a large pod of giant dolphins.  They played with us for about 20 minutes!

Atihau Island

There are not many “protected” anchorages in the Mokohinaus. 

You can only come here in fairly calm conditions as there are not many places to hide from adverse weather.

Lucky for us the conditions were good enough for us to try to find a anchor spot. 

Unlucky for us was that there was a boat in the main anchor spot north of Hokoromea Island.  But that is ok, we found another great spot.

We pulled into the north pass of Atihau Island. 

This bay is almost surrounded by beautiful rocky cliffs and rock mounds.

We anchored in 9m of good holding with strong easterly winds that wrapped into almost a southerly direction.

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

We were in the Mokohinau Islands during the early part of April 2026.

Find the Mokohinau Islands on No Foreign Land.

In our last blog post we enjoy a private anchorage off Green Island, Great Barrier.

Green Island at Great Barrier

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Matt and I found a little bay tucked up near the hillside with a small mountain behind us.  Green Island Bay offered us good protection from the strong easterly winds.

We were not sure this would be a good anchorage as there was no “anchorage” mark on Navionics or No Foreign Land.  But we nosed in to 5 meters depth and dropped the hook. 

We are so glad we came here.  It is a really pretty bay, very calm, and relaxing.

We’ve had a lot of rain lately which has made the hillsides and Green Island very green.

Our own private bay.

Ashore there are 3 sections of beach.  One small section on the left is soft sand and beautiful.  We landed the dinghy here and went exploring.

Unfortunately, the other two sections of beach are rocks.  With shoes they are navigable, but not comfortable on the feet.

But we made the most of the little 3/4 of a mile walk from end to end.

Cool Drone Shots

It is hard to picture how pretty this bay is until you see the drone shots.  

Matt took one photo shooting out of the bay (top) and into the bay (bottom).

Be sure to check out our amazing smoke out at Smokehouse Bay.

Green Island Bay on No Foreign Land.

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

We were at Green Island Bay at the beginning of April 2026.

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.