Cruising New Zealand 2A

Smokehouse Bay, Port Fitzroy, Great Barrier Island
We’d heard about this bay from Ray, who was anchored near us in Tutukaka Harbour. I was intrigued to find out more about the hot baths provided here. We went ashore with our towels and swimming costumes, not sure what to expect, and found an amazing facility. A local family had provided scrubbing piles on the beach, a wooden bath house, a barbeque and picnic area, 3 ovens to smoke your own fish, a fish preparation table, 3 double sinks with mangles, 3 rotary washing lines and a self-composting toilet. There were no staff and no charges, just a request for donations. In order to have a bath, we had to collect dead wood from the hill, light the stove and wait about an hour for the boiler to heat up. We felt we had earned the deep, hot bath in which we finally luxuriated, our first bath for 13 months.

We had the bay to ourselves until the evening, when some local fishermen came in with snapper to smoke. One of them gave us two fillets of fresh fish to try. It made a great starter for our supper.

The next evening, after a day stop at Forestry Bay, we were back. The guys had smoked their fish and the following morning we were given a large smoked fish for later. Jeremy decided to tie up to the scrubbing piles so he could replace some of the antifoul paint and make sure there were no barnacles hitching a ride. Because of the tide, we were up early and tying up about 6.30am. Jeremy fixed a support “leg” to SD’s bow, just in case she decided to nose dive, and we waited for the tide to go out and the boat to settle on her keels. Whilst Jeremy was thigh deep in the sea scrubbing and painting, I did the washing, making use of the mangles and the washing lines. We kept the wood stove burning and later had another deep, hot bath. Such treats are rare for travelling sailors. Cheers to the Webster family and the volunteers that made it all possible.