We visited Chatham Island over the Christmas/New Years period 2020. Chatham Islands are located about 350 nm east of Christchurch. Even though they are east of the International Dateline (44S 176W) they are on the same day as the rest of Nee Zealand, albeit 45 minutes ahead. This conceived our idea of celebrating the New Year in the first place on earth to see the new day!

From Auckland it’s about 700 nm SE, with turning marks around the Coromandel Peninsula and East Cape. Consider it an offshore passage and have HF or satellite comms as the weather once you round East Cape comes from the Southern Ocean and you are essentially in open ocean.

Chatham Island is an incredible place – part of New Zealand but absolutely distinct (not unlike Newfoundland vis a vis the rest of Canada). Locals refer to the mainland as New Zealand and refer to themselves as Wekas, not Kiwis (same sort of bird though). Waitangi is the main town on Chatham Island and the anchorage is well protected from W, S, and E winds. Most of the island’s charter fishing and commercial crayfish fishing boats are moored there, protected by a large wharf for the infrequent supply ships. In a strong N or NW blow you can move to several protected bays on the north side of the main bay. The main anchorage beside the mooring field is in 3-5m of water in goopy sand/mud.

The anchorage at Waitangi is pretty secure with a good bottom and mostly sand if the worst were to happen. NW winds (the exposed direction) are relatively rare and as long as you keep daily track of the forecast (and talk to the local cray fishers) you probably won’t be caught out.

We stayed only 4 days at Chatham Island, but because of the wind situation left on the evening of New Years Eve – so missed the big New Year’s party and band at The Den, Waitangi’s only stand-alone part-time bar. We did our first watch change over an hour and 45 minutes early and had our own New Years celebration and bubbles.

2-3 weeks would be a reasonable amount of time to explore the main island and take the opportunity of changing weather to visit Pitt Island and other anchorages. Swimming, if you’re not deterred by the 13 degree water, is not safe due to sharks. There is a commercial diving operation and they carry rifles and underwater flares.

Waitangi has all the usual services and shops, but due to the remoteness and small population (about 600 people total live in the Chathams) supplies are short. There is no cell service, but you can buy wifi access from the Hotel Chatham. I don’t know whether water is available at the big wharf.

The Hotel Chatham is on the waterfront at Waitangi and really nice and very friendly – we were able to join an existing tour group for one day of guided touring and rented one of their 4WDs for another day. The island has a fascinating history and is completely different from anywhere else in New Zealand. The Moriori history is very interesting and a dramatic contrast to the culture of the Maori, despite both people’s having originally arrived from Raiatea.

There are several more exposed anchorages along the north and south coasts, but depend on settled weather. Most of the land is privately owned and there isn’t much traffic on the roads. People are very friendly and don’t see many yachts. Watch out for cray pots, which are set in up to 50m of water, and the entire coastline is peppered with buoys, often much further than you’d expect. We caught and moved one trap a few hundred metres before we were able to back up and drop the line off our skeg, while several 100 metres from the nearest shore.

Pitt Island is the other island with permanent population (only 20 or so people). Due to the rough weather we didn’t get an opportunity to get down there.

Definitely worth a visit if you’re in New Zealand.