Nydia Bay Trip

The northwesterly was still blowing as Jo and I headed out of Moetapu Bay thinking, were we ever going to make Nydia Bay before night fall if at all. Our first goal was to make it to Putanui camp site for a brew, about an hour’s paddling away. It’s a beautiful camp site nestled amongst the Nikau Palms. Next would be Pipi Beach for lunch. Well we made it to Pipi Beach surprisingly enough We managed to dodge the worst of the wind. As we rounded the point into Nydia Bay the wind seemed to have settled a little.   It had taken us more than 5 hours, that’s including plenty of rest and recovery time, we were quite happy with that.

Nydia Bay is also a lovely spot nestled in the native bush, almost like a movie set. We pitched camp, had tea and headed off to bed. Unfortunately I was crook in the night and still recovering on the Saturday.     I did manage a paddle to Nydia Lodge where I have been a couple times on school camps.  Jo had left about 10ish, she wanted to go for a hike up to the Kaiuma Saddle. There is still a lot of beautiful native forest, and it’s worth a visit just to see that.

Sunday morning arrived fine but overcast. We were keen to get on the water before the wind came up, however that wasn’t to be. It too was up bright and early. Looking out into the main channel we could see white caps, water spouts, water being sucked up in the air in huge white clouds at frightening speeds, swirling and eventually dispersing.  Who would be so crazy enough to paddle in those conditions? Maybe if we were to hug the shore like we did on the way there we could miss a lot of that, and we did even to the extent of sailing back, as it was a tail wind. The worst of it seems to stay in the central part of the channel, or were we just lucky.

To make sailing more comfortable and safer we rafted up, and if it blow too hard we would let the sail out and spill the wind. While the wind was manageable and going with us we carried on to have a late lunch at Moetapu.

Even though I was crook for a day, the trip was enjoyable. It is one of many beautiful parts of Marlborough Sounds.

Marty