After provisioning at Paihia we had an exhilarating downwind sail through the Bay of Islands to Oke Bay, with gusts up to 43 knots and maximum boat speed of 9 knots! Arriving there in a rain squall, Oke Bay proved to have very hard sand with rather poor holding, but we managed to dig the anchor in on the 3rd attempt and decided to stay there overnight rather than round Cape Brett in poor conditions - fortunately the gale eased overnight and the following morning we had a lovely walk on the beautiful white sand beach and up the cliffs. 
