Bay of Islands Marina’s new Cruisers Welcome pairs a pōwhiri and trips to Russell and Waitangi with the first Bay of Islands Seafarers Festival, open to everyone on Saturday.
After a week or more at sea from Tonga, Fiji or New Caledonia, the first piece of New Zealand most cruising crews stand on is a pontoon at Ōpua. This week Bay of Islands Marina is making a little more of that moment. Its Bay of Islands Cruisers Welcome runs from Thursday 12 to Sunday 15 November, and the marina says it was created especially for international cruisers arriving in New Zealand for the season.
Most cruisers leave the tropics in October and November, before the cyclone season, and puts a typical passage south at around 1,100 nautical miles, or seven to ten days depending on weather and boat speed. By mid-November there are plenty of crews freshly cleared in and working out what to do with a New Zealand summer.
Four days ashore
The programme opened on Thursday with registration, an introduction to the marina, a pōwhiri and an official welcome. Crews were then scheduled to tour the marina, boatyard and marine precinct before crossing to Russell for a look around the old town and a visit to the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club, which describes itself as New Zealand’s oldest gamefish club.
Friday is given over to culture and heritage. Crews head to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds before a barbecue and social evening at Ōpua Cruising Club. Sunday winds things up with morning tea at the Ōpua Swordfish Club, a marina community gathering and a farewell.
A festival for the whole Bay
On Saturday, the inaugural Bay of Islands Seafarers Festival fills the marina with an artisan market, maritime displays and exhibits, food vendors, live entertainment and community activities. The marina describes it as a new community celebration bringing cruisers, locals, marine businesses and community groups together, and it’s open to anyone who wants to wander down to the waterfront.
Why crews stop here
Bay of Islands Marina describes itself as New Zealand’s northernmost port of entry, and its facilities page lists 400 berths, with customs and quarantine berths on the outer breakwater. Next door, Port Opua Marina Park houses travel lift and catamaran haul-out, hardstand, boatbuilders and riggers, painters, refrigeration and electronics specialists, mechanics and a chandlery. The marina says visitors have access to more than 35 marine service providers.
Marina manager Dan Alexander put it plainly in an interview published in our August feature, Ōpua, where New Zealand begins for thousands of cruising sailors. “We see the absolute bulk of the international leisure offshore cruising market make Customs and MPI clearance into the country here,” he said. The yards and trades, he added, are “all within walking distance.”
Island Cruising notes that many cruisers spend several months in New Zealand on maintenance and upgrades before sailing home or heading north again. The welcome’s boatyard and precinct tour introduces those businesses to crews on their first day of the programme, before most have decided where the boat will spend the summer.
For crews who stay on, the Bay’s next big gathering is Bay of Islands Sailing Week, from Sunday 24 to Thursday 28 January 2027. Its shore base moves this summer to the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club in Ōpua and the lawn next door, a short walk from the marina where this week’s arrivals have just tied up.
