The Waiheke Island Wine Trail, Auckland: Let’s Take the Superyacht!

Standing on the city docks in Auckland, I’m here with four U.S. and Canada meeting planners preparing to transfer to Waiheke Island, locally referred to as “The Martha’s Vineyard of New Zealand.” Originally I had thought a nice, well-proportioned sailboat would be a great way to cross the Hauraki Gulf, something with generous Ivy League lines and weathered teak decks. But that’s not going to happen because Tourism New Zealand has other plans. This trip is designed to showcase the city for corporate executives, and there’s no better way to showcase a city than with a 105-foot luxury superyacht.

The gleaming white, 4-stateroom Pacific Mermaid has hosted Sir Sean Connery, England’s PM Gordon Brown and the Royal Family of Bahrain. I’m a little overwhelmed at the super-wattage wealth factor for five people and hosts. For 45 minutes. Walking up the gangplank to board a blinged-out boat that rents for over $2,000/hour is rather cool. This is my first sail aboard a superyacht and we’re dutifully welcomed with champagne, Stilton blue cheese and smoked salmon canapés with a zingy lemon dill and itty bitty chile bits.

We chat around the baby grand piano sipping bubbly while the diesels rumble to life and make way out of the harbor. For the short ride across the Gulf, we take in the sun on the upper decks with the fresh spring breeze blowing lightly off the South Pacific. This is one of those moments when you get a glimpse of life among the one percenters. It’s a pretty life and I’m appreciative, but I clearly need to visit a Paul Smith men’s section before my next superyacht passage. I mean, there are rules.

Pacific Mermaid can host up to 80 passengers and the totally over-the-top voyage has everyone feeling pretty content. When you work out the per person rate for a full boat, this is really something any planner should consider for their international VIPs.

ISLAND IDYLL
Waiheke Island is about 100 square miles with a number of postcard beach coves scalloped into the leafy, low mountain coastline. It’s both the weekend retreat for New Zealand’s upper crusts and full time home for eclectic middle age men and women who spend a lot of time in modern art galleries and herb gardens.

Steve Robinson is one of the latter, approaching 50 in shorts and flip flops with an easy smile and genuine way about him. A tour guide with Ananda Tours, he picks us up at the dock for an abbreviated version of “The Premium Waiheke Wine & Food Experience.” Waiheke has over 30 wineries, but first Steve provides a little background info about the island. He says it’s the last permanently inhabited real estate in the world, outside of the poles, due to the geographic location.

“We have less than 1,000 years of human history on Waiheke, which is understandable since we’re pretty much hanging off the bottom of the map,” he laughs. “Whaling and sealing were really the first industries. Then the British came for our kauri trees. They’re free of knots and some of the strongest trees in the world, so they were especially good for wooden masts on boats.”