Sailing in The Abel Tasman

A Couple of Explorers

My partner and I had always wanted to experience as much of the Abel Tasman National Park as we could, so during our stay at The Barn we booked a tour with Abel Tasman Sailing Adventures. Martin and Jane-Maree have been showing off the Abel Tasman for over 20 years on their luxury catamarans and had a few different options of tours to choose from. We wanted to sail in the morning to Anchorage and walk part of the trackback to Marahau in the afternoon, so we decided on the ‘Sail, seals & walk’ tour.

Getting collected from The Barn in the Abel Tasman Sailing Adventures free shuttle, we began the 15min drive around the coast to Kaiteriteri, where our Catamaran was eagerly awaiting us, all while the morning sun shined in over the golden sand bay. Our skipper today was Martin, a local guide, who knew the coastline and these waters like the back of his hand.

We boarded and got acquainted with the yacht and on-board facilities, including a toilet, got comfortable on the trampoline decking, and took in the view of the Kaiteriteri coastline.

Off into the Abel Tasman

Martin, the skipper leapt into action, the sails were up, and we began our adventure for the day. Cruising around the coast, we stopped off at the famous and stunning Split Apple Rock. We then sailed past Marahau and into the Astrolabe at which point we opened a couple of drinks and a little bit of cheese! The Astrolabe was a bit calmer and had many little beaches tucked away. We went out to the Islands and found a few seals sunning themselves on the rocks at Adele!

There has been alot of effort to remove pests from the Islands. You can day visit but no one is allowed to overnight here. The Captain dropped the sails so we could just sit and listen to the bird song. From the Islands, we continued towards Anchorage. It was Awesome rounding the final point, we could see down the National Park to the Marine reserve as well as the Anchorage and Torrent Bays.

Martin was a natural guide and gave interesting insights to all the locations we visited. Taking in the sheer beauty of the Abel Tasman Coastline we arrived at Anchorage to abandon ship and have lunch (you can order lunch if needed). Swims and super blue water were a must before waving farewell to Martin and beginning our land part of the adventure.

The Afternoon Hike back to Marahau

Being dropped in Anchorage meant we could easily do the 20 min walk to Cleopatra’s Pools and even explore the Pitt Head. We decided to walk up the Torrent river to Cleopratras pools and had a swim on the rock slide!

We decided to start heading back down the Bay and gave the Pitt Head a miss this time, although we have heard it is wonderful out at Te Pukatea Bay. The Hike back down the coast to Marahau was around 4 hours although we did take our time stopping in lots of the bays on the way. It was a great way to do it as when we finished the Abel Tasman, we just walked another 100m and we were back at our accommodation at The Barn!

Overall, we saw as much of the Abel Tasman as we could from the ocean and land in the time we had and had a great time doing it. Totally unreal, especially the seals and birdsong. See you again soon!