Teach a man to fish

by Tim · Published April 24, 2025 · Updated April 24, 2025

It was getting late. By this time in New Zealand seasons it was nearing Fall. We still had beautiful weather, but that would soon change so we took advantage of a brisk breeze to sail another 25 miles north, getting closer to our northern precipice and eventual turn-around point. The day at sail was pleasant, as are most sails during the summer in NZ. Not much bad weather to speak of to be honest. Just a gentle afternoon breeze to get us from point A to B.

Point B was the small tourist-town of Mangonui. Protected from the ocean by a short inlet, the waters of Mangonui Harbor was nearly completely filled with either private mooring balls or too shallow for Meriwether’s belly. We opted to drop anchor in the middle of the inlet itself, away from all the moored boats but close enough to dinghy into the town itself.

The town consisted of a half-dozen restaurants, a small grocery store, and an ice cream shop. Pretty much all we needed for the time being. I went to town immediately for a late afternoon cone, and grabbed a few items from the store to pretend to be somewhat productive as well. Kerri and I both returned in the evening for a restaurant meal. The chosen location had an hour-plus wait, so we moved on to the only other restaurant open for business. Thai food is rarely ever put down this throat, but I took one for the team. I am now convinced she tricked me into Thai, which I paid for dearly by the time we made it back to Meriwether.

A quick revisit to the grocery in the morning filled our stores once again and with little else to do in town, we picked up anchor and set out further North. The wind had reversed overnight, but we would still be able to sail the majority of the distance – 17 miles in total – close-hauled in calm waters until we rounded Otamatiti Point where Waikato Bay beckoned us in for a stay. Hiding behind a small island from the ocean swell was the only other boat we have seen this far North. Beautiful sandy beaches surrounded us which we got out to enjoy right away.

Our new neighbor was one of the same couples we were anchored with back on Motukawanui Island and we got to know them a bit more during this stay. They had introduced us to a hike out to a viewpoint of the other side of the Point, overlooking a span of waters 30 miles or more that would bring us to North Cape; the north-eastern tip of New Zealand. The hike itself took us along the beach to a campground where we caught a paved road through pristine farmland straight out of a book. The final quarter mile or so brought us down a dirt road to the viewpoint. We didn’t know it at the time, but this would be as far North as we would go.

This little bay in the far North has been an idyllic stop. It’s pretty much the things I liked about the South Pacific — crystal clear turquoise waters, sandy beaches (but actually soft sand, not just bashed up shells) — but more diversity of flora and intertidal life, the perfect temperature and humidity, and a relative break from the ocean swell. (This anchorage may just be the swelliest anchorage we’ve stayed in NZ, but it’s got nothing on the South Pacific swell — aside from inside the atolls)! We’ve been aiming at heading to the very north tip of Northland, but the wind and swell forecasts are going to make it a time consuming effort that may be quite uncomfortable in the end. And we’ve got just over a month to make it down to Whangarei for our scheduled haul-out. It’s only 120 miles from where we are now, but after almost 8,000 miles through the course of last year, we’re still reveling in this reallllly slow pace, and there are still so many stops along the way back South we’re looking forward to. But it’s a shame to get this far North and not just do it. We’ll see. – Kerri

We ended up staying a full week here, during which time I whipped out the ol’ fishing pole and tried my hand at it. Now, I’ve fished before through out my life, and have never caught anything (but for that one time in Alaska). Every other attempt has simply left me underwhelmed with the activity. Nevertheless, I was looking to do something other than sit around in front of a screen all the day so I would take the dinghy out at sunrise each morning. Starting with a set of tiny lures and casting near some rocks noted on the charting software as a good fishing area, I started reeling in a few small snappers. Oddly enough, I was enjoying this!

After a couple days catching small fish with my small lure, I tried a larger lure towed a hundred feet or so behind the dinghy at a mild speed. Surprising everyone in the galaxy, I was actually catching some proper sized fish with this lure. First a yellowfin, or Kingfish, who put up a hell of a fight. I reeled him in, snapped a photo, and tossed him back into the water. To keep one of these it needed to be three times this size, or so I found out. Next, on the following morning, was a huge (to me) snapper. Since there was no size limit on this fish, I brought it back to the boat and learned to gut, descale, and filet my first ever fish. We ate it for dinner that night… yes, even this seafood hater ate fish. If I’m going to kill a creature I damn well better be willing to consume it. Surprisingly, I was very much enjoying the act of fishing and the thrill of fighting the fish on the pole. I caught one more fish that we kept – a Australian Salmon – during our week at this anchorage. This one being about the same size as the Kingfish, but had no size limit. In the end it was not as good as the snapper, but I *was* having fun doing something I never enjoyed before in my life. Whodathunk?