How big is your boat mate? makes a difference in some places.
Rangitoto - lighthouse end, Mckenzie bay, has a sandy beach and great fishing in the reefs just off the beachThere is also two more north east.Can beach my 4.7 safely. At the other end of rangitoto is Islington bay,its a good safe harbour in rough stuff.Plenty of water at all tides.Abel tasman sailed his ship tween Rangi and motutapu so the creek must have been a little deeper then. The bay on the other side of Gardiners gap is just mudflat at low tide. Most of the rest of the island is very hazardous to your boat and just exposed rock. Has 7 lava caves that ive found,one of which goes under the sea for about 500 metres towards north head.It has dozens of Batches on the island.
Motutapu island - Joined to Rangitoto by a bridge. Home bay has a reasonable beach and a campground with water etc.The island has multiple bays with sandy beaches that you can beach a 4.7 on.Mullet bay is a quiet bay and sandy bay is a nice spot for a picnic.Emu bay has a 20ft strip ancient footprints preserved in the ash from Rangitoto if you explore a little.
Browns island - the north western side has a sandy beach and good acces at hightide abut has exposed rocks/reefs at low tide. There is an awesome little cove with a sandy beach on te north eastern side facign islington bay.Has a small rock exposed at mid tide smack in the middle of the bay.best to anchor off the beach as it shelves the last 5 ft steeply when the tides out Awesome beach,great sheltered swimming off the beach and a reef system about 50 metres off the beach to the right holds snapper all year round.
Motuihe -A real gem when the weathers right.Safe anchorages all over, dependant on the wind direction, except for the cliffs at both ends of the island.The bay with the wharf will be standing room only during sumer at times with yahcts anchored within reach of each other. Awesome fishing off the wharf at night,and off the rocks tween the cliffs and crusoe island as the channel comes right in close.Has a camping ground with water,toilets and showers. Can be tropical warm in summer.Was a world war1 prisoner of war camp and has a bit of history.The big old Olive tree at the bottleneck of the beaches is 170 years old and most of the olive trees in NZ come from cuttings of this tree.
It has recently had 15 spotted kiwi and sixty tuatara released on the island.
Rakino - a lot more poofy than it was when i was a kid.Sandy bay is somewhat protected by sandybay island and is where the ferry docks.It has a shop or two for supplies and icecreams.Homebay and Woody bays are very nice to anchor up and go ashore from. Its an awesome place to kayak around with more than a few sea caves and rockgardens. Swimming in most beaches is pretty safe and clear.
The Noises - used to kayak out here or take the 12ft tinny powered by a 7hp back when i was 14/15/16. An awesome place to get away from it all, i used to spend weeks out here on my own at xmas holidays when i was still at school. The biggest island ,Otata, has a lighthouse on it and a hut to sleep in. The hut has a gas cooker and is maintained by the Auckalnd Canoe club which has custodianship of it.There also used to be a vege garden reasonably maintained during summer. If your out this far in a smallish boat and the weather packs in,just pull the boat up on the beach till the weather clears rather than chancing a hazardous trip home. 20 feet off the beach near the hut used to be the best scollop place i knew of. There are penguins that live under the hut at night. The other island Motuhoropapa doesnt really have a boat safe place to go ashore but you can if you have a yak. About 100 metres north east of Motuhoropapa is a huge rock that has nearly been split in half by the sea.At high tide its just a rock but at low tide you can kayak or even take a 12 foot tinny into the gap and head north as the northern part of the island is hollow.It is also massively deep as well as my 50 metre anchor rope could never touch bottom. The water out here is very clear and you can often see Cetaceans.
They must have updated Google earth as you can now zoom in and see the hut at the southern end of Otata.Used to be just a blur.
Though Tiritiri Matangi is well worth a visit or 3 and has bunk accomodation. Ponui,pakatoa and Rotoroa islands can be awesome to explore as well if you ask the owners nicely. (Just off Ponui island is tiny Karamuramu Island. This is the sole place where McCullums chip comes from, since 1908.As a kid just about every footpath and a lot of driveways used to be made of this small red stone in Auckland.)
If you think you are too small to make a difference,try sleeping with a mosquito in your tent.