Mills Bay - a hidden anchorage with great beaches

Mills Bay, deep into the Kenepuru Sounds, within the wider Pelorus Sound, became one of our go to spots for our first summer on the boat. Safe anchorage with protection from north and south winds, an epic native forest and great low tide beach.

GPS: 41°18'74.12"S - 173°99'74.91"E
Depth at anchor : 5 metres
Moorings : No
Ocean Floor : Sticky mud
Holding : Excellent 8/10
Sheltered : Northern end - Northerlies through to South Westerlies
                   Southern End - South Easterlies through to Northerlies
On anchor : moderate mussel boat traffic
Cellphone Signal : weak intermittent 4G 
Beach : Fine shell, quartz and sand
View : facing east means great sunrise, excellent native forest and long views across the bay
Fresh Water : small streams
Bugs : minimal

Mills Bay was the first place we anchored in the Kenepuru Sound. The main bay is full of mussel farms but there are a couple of beautiful little coves tucked in at the Southern end. There are no club moorings but it has excellent anchorage and lovely beaches appear at low tide, surrounded by native bush. Tucked into this part of the bay offers good shelter from Southerly, Northerly and North Westerly winds. We stayed in calm conditions only.
It was very quiet and peaceful. We encountered stingrays and jellyfish mid-summer and Weka with chicks walking along the beach. The views towards Portage kept us entertained with all the busy activity that summer has to offer - holiday makers jet skiing, water skiing and biscuiting. Vodafone cell phone coverage was intermittent but a short row out into the sound beyond the headlands on the tender offered enough coverage for a video meeting.

"Mum look at the stingrays - they are huge and so awesome!!!!."

If you are looking for privacy this is a great location to stay. Each little cove has its own beach and they are really only big enough for one boat so it feels like you have a private beach while anchored there. Its relatively shallow so great swimming to and from the beach. There are lots of shells so bring aqua shoes. We have been back to Mills Bay several times and feel confident anchoring in the thick sticky mud that makes up the sea floor here. Although shallow, we can tuck right into the bay, be protected from wind, and still have about 1.5m of water beneath our 1.5m draft boat at low tide.

Photograph: Rowing to shore to explore the beach at Mills Bay

One of the most stunning features of this bay is the beautiful emerald green water. You can see the sea floor metres out from the shore which makes stingray spotting easy! The sheltered aspect also provides great paddle boarding conditions - but keep in mind the mussel boats that go past quite close, day and night, create some waves! The water in summer was very warm and clean here but the sea floor is sticky mud, so when you are swimming in or snorkeling be prepared for gooey mud a metre from the shore. It gets quite sandy on the actual beach with very fine quartz stones and finely ground shells so the actual beach is quite nice at low tide to throw down a towel and get stuck into a good book!