Our original plan was to head off towards the Marlborough Sounds as soon as we were all settled on the boat, but there was an “extra-tropical cyclone” forecast for Thursday which sounded pretty nasty so we decided to be in the Nelson marina when that hit.
We took advantage of a few days warmth and light winds to make a quick dash over to the famous golden sandy beaches of the Abel Tasman National Park, about 20nm across the bay from the busy port of Nelson.
We sailed through the Astrolabe Roadstead between the mainland and Adele Island. It was very crowded with kayaks, water taxis and pleasure boats, but it looked a very pleasant place to play. We continued on to The Anchorage, on the eastern side of Torrent Bay and tucked into a very sheltered nook along with a handful of other boats. I think this would be very busy on a weekend!
We dinghied ashore and had to drag it a long way up the beach to allow for the 3.8m tidal range.
Andrew and Judy went for a hike and Alex and I went for wander amongst the trees. A very bold chicken sized Weka crossed the path in front of us.
The next day we stopped at Fisherman Island for lunch and a swim in delightfully warm water before heading back to Nelson.
