Puriri Bay, Tryphena Harbour, Great Barrier (Aotea) Island, NZ
Sunday, 22 March 2026, 0200 UTC, 39 18.5s, 175 29.2e, Log: 10584
All is well. We are presently anchored in Puriri Bay, Tryphena Harbour on New Zealand’s famous Great Barrier Island. We enjoyed yet another perfect spinnaker day on the run up from Great Mercury Island in light southeasterlies, 8 to 10 knots with 3 to 4-foot swells. Daggers up, no mainsail.
We caught up with our long-time cruising friends Chaos and Fundango, who’ve been sailing around New Zealand since we all got here last November.
As islands go, it’s bigger than most Caribbean islands, with only about 1,000 full-time residents. It’s also a true “dark sky” island with amazing stargazing.
We took advantage of the Churrach Irish Pub ashore, which featured a legit wood-fired pizza oven.
It’s nice to be among good friends again. Sailors with whom we crossed the Pacific. We’ll spend another day here troubleshooting the watermaker. If we succeed, we will head up to Port Fitzroy a few hours north. It’s a good spot to wait out the coming storm later this week. If not, we’ll sail to Auckland avail ourselves to the parts and expertise there.
Log: 10584 | Generator: 903 | Port: 1461 | Starboard: 1461 | Barometer: 1024.5^
Departed: Saturday 21 March 2026, 2055 UTC