Erebus Cove
Well we got here!! Elenya is currently anchored off Erebus Cove in Port Ross, Auckland Island. I can't say either of us enjoyed the trip down. We left on Monday afternoon after our hull inspection. We had WNW winds to begin with but of course this went round to the SW. We sailed for around the first 48 plus hours until we were to leeward of the islands and then motor sailed and beat into it the rest of the way. To say it was quite rough at times is probably an understatement, Jim reckons about 4m
swells and 35 knots (I wasn't looking!). I suppose it is not called the furious fifties for nothing. We made landfall at dawn to find a cruise ship had beaten us there! The islands as may be expected are quite low and windswept with dense rata bush. Once we had slept a bit and recovered somewhat (and the cruise ship had left) we went ashore to have a look at the site of Hardwicke. This is where someone had the great idea to build a town and start a farming community! Needless to say it didn't last
long. I went ashore first as we have to go ashore one at a time as we can't leave the yacht unattended. Ashore out of the wind it was quite warm and sunny. There is not much left of Hardwicke, a few bricks and broken bottles and the cemetery which contains graves of both some of the unfortunate settlers and sailors who were wrecked on the Islands. If you don't know anything about the Auckland Islands, they are situated on the great circle sailing route to the South of NZ which was the main thoroughfare
in the days of sail and hence there have been numerous shipwrecks over the years. We have seen a couple of Hoiho next to the boat and spotted a sea lion and her pup ashore. It looked like she was trying to coax the pup down to the water but he wasn't having any of it! Today we are looking at going ashore at Terror Cove just around the corner from where we are anchored with two anchors down due to some forecast strong winds.
swells and 35 knots (I wasn't looking!). I suppose it is not called the furious fifties for nothing. We made landfall at dawn to find a cruise ship had beaten us there! The islands as may be expected are quite low and windswept with dense rata bush. Once we had slept a bit and recovered somewhat (and the cruise ship had left) we went ashore to have a look at the site of Hardwicke. This is where someone had the great idea to build a town and start a farming community! Needless to say it didn't last
long. I went ashore first as we have to go ashore one at a time as we can't leave the yacht unattended. Ashore out of the wind it was quite warm and sunny. There is not much left of Hardwicke, a few bricks and broken bottles and the cemetery which contains graves of both some of the unfortunate settlers and sailors who were wrecked on the Islands. If you don't know anything about the Auckland Islands, they are situated on the great circle sailing route to the South of NZ which was the main thoroughfare
in the days of sail and hence there have been numerous shipwrecks over the years. We have seen a couple of Hoiho next to the boat and spotted a sea lion and her pup ashore. It looked like she was trying to coax the pup down to the water but he wasn't having any of it! Today we are looking at going ashore at Terror Cove just around the corner from where we are anchored with two anchors down due to some forecast strong winds.
posted by Elenya at 5:28 pm
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