Seems like there are a lot of those 😉

But, that’s the reality of living in a boat that really sails. There is a lot of wear and tear. I’m fairly convinced that a month of cruising takes about a year’s toll of regular day sailing (the kind where you sail on weekends) on a boat.

Anyway…today we did the following:

-Ann took out all the cushions and laundered the covers and washed the foam. They all had saltwater on them and would never dry out unless we could remove the salt. Unfortunately the sun decided to hide behind some clouds so the cushions are not completely dry – here’s hoping for a sunny day tomorrow! -Ann cleaned all of the shelves on the port side of the boat. This is the side where the chainplate keeps leaking so mold and mildew can be a problem. So all shelves and the shuttered doors got a good scrubbing. -Ann did laundry -I bought some boat parts that we haven’t been able to find. Fairly trivial but very important stuff that we haven’t been able to source in Polynesia like clevis pins and cotter pins. -Had a rigger down and he did an end for end on the main and jib halyards and put new splices in them. I can splice, but for such an important splice I wanted a pro job -I re-did the tag line on the yankee jib. There was a 3/16 wire. It was fraying and I didn’t like how it chaffed the headfoil when it furled, so I changed over to Dyneema which I spent a couple hours putting two splices in (Ann says they look very professional and she watched the do-it-yourself YouTube video so she should know). It’s much softer and won’t damage the headfoil as much. -The rigger and I took off the backstay adjuster. We have a Harken mechanical adjuster and about the time we left Mexico it jammed. I’m guessing the grease inside mixed with salt and just created a glue, but will know tomorrow after the rigger takes it apart. I would have done it, but it takes a specialized tool that I didn’t want to have to fabricate for just one use when for 30 bucks (the cost in time he’ll spend opening it) I can get him to do it.

I think we did a couple other things but they escape me for now. More stuff for tomorrow. The dinghy motor is getting a new prop and I’m getting a block and tackle rig so I can haul myself up the mast. I need to change the steaming light and in general want to be able to go aloft when need be. I’m also going to have the rigger do a “one hour inspection” of the rig. They were offering this for $30. I’m going to get him to go to the top and come down inspecting all the swage fittings to make sure none are failing.

OK, enough techie boat talk for now. I WILL at some point write up a “what works/doesn’t work” bit, but for later.

Ta ta for now.

Yesterday was a rainy, cold day. Today the sun shone brightly. Seems appropriate here in Opua as we await the arrival of the sailing vessel Adventure Bound. Adventure Bound is the sailboat that went to the rescue of Windigo, the boat that rolled in the storm coming from Tonga. To go to their rescue Adventure Bound had to turn into 50 knot winds and bash back north. No easy task in that storm.

They stayed nearby Windigo until the large container ship and ultimately the New Zealand Navy could rescue them. The detour cost not only time, but equipment failure too. We hear that their wind vane was damaged in the high winds and waves. The cruisers gathering in Opua have patiently tracked Adventure Bound’s progress (through two more gales!) and are very excited about their arrival. We have just heard Adventure Bound on the VHF making their way to the Q dock. Cruisers are family and very supportive of each other. A welcome card was signed and donations were gathered from cruisers as well as local merchants to help Adventure Bound with repairs as well as to tell them how proud we are of them. The boat yard has offered a free slip for a week. The local grocery store has a bag full of goodies. There are boat cleaning services and even two nights at a local hotel awaiting them.

Our job: present the gift to Bruce and Marcelle on behalf of the cruisers. This has kept us near the marina all day. The local TV station has had a camera man nearby ready for the big arrival. We hope to be able to go to Q dock and pull in their lines. Time will tell. A quick side note: Adventure Bound is also a Tayana 37. Bruce, from Adventure Bound, says he wants to change their name. He told us that the very first time we met them in Papeete. He thinks it is a ridiculous sounding name and when he can afford to, he intends to change it. On the radio a few days after the storm, he reaffirmed this stand acknowledging that who wouldn’t want to be rescued by ADVENTURE BOUND?!?!? Perhaps if they had been named Tinkerbell their services would not have been requested. I think we should come up with the top ten new names for Adventure Bound! Evening update:

Adventure Bound has arrived in New Zealand to the loud cheers of many fans at the yacht club. Bob took the TV camera man and rowed over to the Q (Quarantine) Dock with the champagne and bag full of good wishes and donations. Many people were concerned that this “infraction” of Q dock rules (only Customs officials are to have access to the boats on the Q dock) would land Bob in trouble with the local authorities. Bob was confident that an apology to customs officials (if any could be found on a Sunday) for pushing the rules after the fact would be appropriate. As of this moment no apology is needed. Customs are no-where to be seen until Monday morning. Bruce and Marcelle were thrilled with the goodies and happy for the welcoming hug that Bob represented.

Now the heroes sleep comfortably tied up to a dock for the first time in 19 days.

Entering the cave

Town of Pahia near our marina

Today we got away from the boat for a while and took a road trip inland to our first real sightseeing trip. We went to the “Glow Worm” cave. Sounds cheesy, yes? But, it was a fantastic tour.

First off the cave itself was huge and deep and beautiful. This was a guided tour, but with a twist. The cave is on private property, so the family runs the tour. They are very respectful of the land, so the tour is low key, but very informative. The cave itself has been dated to 100 million years based on the size of the stalagmites inside.

Then there were the glow worms. Little worms about 3 inches long. They live in their larval state for 10 months during which time the tip of their tail glows. Anyway, once in the cave, the highlight was the guide turning the lantern off several times as we moved through the cave whereupon the entire ceiling of the cave glowed with bluish green spots. It looked like the milky way on a clear night. Amazing.

So now we’ve done our first road trip. Our other news was we bought a car. It’s a Mitsubishi Mirage. Since we’re here for about six months, transportation is necessary, especially since we’re going to tour the countryside while we’re here. There’s a service called Cars for Cruisers that sells used cars and then guarantees to buy them back-less $2000-after the six months. So for a little over $300/month we have a car to tour the country. Nice!

So, we didn’t get up until 1000 this morning. Turns out the passage took a bit more out of us than we thought. We’ve heard that from some others too. We’re pretty close to getting back up to speed though. Our final two days coming in were with little sleep. It’s often that way on the end of a passage as you get near a coastline. This was compounded with the fact that the weather was deteriorating a second time during the trip. We ended up in a second front the last day. Rain, wind gusting to 35 knots, etc. But at this point we were nearing the coast so we had to keep alert. Neither of us were able to get much sleep as there was a lot of traffic during the day and into the night. Big ships coming down the coast and intersecting with our course, so a lot of radar work watching them and deciding how best to avoid them. Not too easy since we were intersecting at a fairly narrow angle.

Customs in NZ was fun. The folks are really nice but they take everything. NZ is very careful about what they broadly term “bio-hazard”. This includes growth on the hull as well as anything that might be able to grow and compete with native plants and animals.

Customs itself was pretty easy, although at the end of the meeting the customs guy casually asked if we had any pepper spray or other such product. We did have some bear spray (since you don’t need a license in the States) and he said we’d have to give it up. It’s illegal here. So that was our first confiscation. Then he left and said quarantine would be by the boat soon. After about 20 minutes the quarantine guy came in and went through his list with us. He was very nice, but just held a garbage bag open as he went down the list; honey (“that’s Mexican honey, in the bag”), meat (“in the bag”), vegetables, bananas (“in the bag”), eggs, onions, garlic, ginger (“bag, bag, bag and bag”). Pretty much stripped us of anything fresh. Garbanzo beans, and popcorn were the grains that were taken. We had seen rice, lentils and such on the list but he didn’t ask for those. Funny how they manage to make it seem like such a nice experience while at the same time taking all your fresh stores. The Kiwis manage to do everything with a smile. It’s a very pleasant place with wonderful people. But the one stop check in (all on the Q – Quarantine Dock) was a nice change from roaming all over new ports looking for the necessary officials to check us into their country.

New Zealand looks just like Petaluma, only farther.

We’ve only been here a few days, but we’re really enjoying the place and the people. Everyone is so nice.

It feels really strange though to be:

-Wearing long pants -Wearing a jacket -Wearing shoes -Using blankets -Turning the heater on at night before bed -Driving a car (we rented one and on the wrong side of the road!)

We’re in a beautiful area named Opua. In a week or so, we’ll be heading down to Whangerie where we’ll leave the boat when we come home for the holidays. We drove there today. It’s a pretty good size town, so a good place to work on Charisma after the last year’s wear and tear. We need to haul out and paint the bottom and then renew the varnish (much of which is peeling from the tropical heat).

In Whangerie we bought a prepaid cell phone and a wifi wireless device (both from Vodaphone) to drive internet on the boat. My iPhone is way too expensive to use. Talk about simple. It took all of ten minutes to have phone, wifi device and load both with minutes of use. AT&T could really learn a thing or two from these guys. You can reload the minutes at any store or gas station. This way we know exactly how much we’re using/paying and won’t get one of those surprise $400 phone bills.

Teaching old dogs, new tricks. Here’s a good one. One of the nav lights we use when under power went out on the last night we used it. There’s a young guy here named Falcon who has been cruising with his family literally all his life at this point. I think he’s about 23 years old. So, I asked him if I could pay him to go up the mast and change the bulb. I’m too big for the winches on Charisma and I thought I could just winch him up and get it done. Well, he asked me; “what are you going to do if you have to go up sometime when you’re in the tropics at some uninhabited island?” Me; “Er, um, ah, I don’t know?” He said he’d come over and help me rig a block and tackle so I could haul myself up. I had always thought that I would be too heavy to hoist myself up, but once he got a 6:1 block and tackle set up, I sat in the bosun’s chair and voila, I could pull myself up with one hand! So, tomorrow I go up with a new bulb. Nice to know I now have the capability. Thanks Falcon!

This evening we went to a “cultural event” as it was termed. It was a historical play created to teach the history of New Zealand from the first Polynesians who came from Tahiti through the late 1800s when British Settlers came to terms with the Maouris (more or less-it’s complicated). Anyway, it was done in a beautiful ancestral house, hand carved to represent all the dozens of tribes in New Zealand. Really well done and fun.

So we now have cultural and a new phone. “Sweet as” (which is the saying down here for “cool”).

Good on ya mate.

Position: Opua, New Zealand

At the quarantine dock. You have to wait here with your yellow "Q" flag up until customs, immigration and quarantine all check you in. Took about three hours, but there were about four boats all checking in at once.

The view from Charisma in the Marina at Opua, New Zealand

Yay! We made it all the way from California to New Zealand! Now that's worth a beer to celebrate.

This is a delightful place on the Northeast tip of the north island of New Zealand.

Last night we battled through one last weather front with several associated squalls and 25+ knot winds. It’s gotten to be “business as usual” to get up in the middle of the night to make sail changes and adjustments, so we just did it and soldiered on, but the big difference is that we never had a chance to go back to sleep since we were on plan to make landfall this morning. We got in at 0800 local, got checked in with immigration, customs and quarantine, then signed up for a slip for a few days (which includes showers!!). A little lunch and we were back on Charisma in the early afternoon for a nap. Next thing we knew it was 2000 local time and John from Orcinius (bless him) was outside the boat calling us. Turned out there was a group who were going out to dinner and he came down and got us. If he had not have woken us, we would have missed a great meal out with many of our friends.

OK, I’m rambling because I haven’t had enough sleep yet. Going now. More detail to come, but WE’RE IN NEW ZEALAND!

Position: 34 degrees, 09 minutes south; 174 degrees, 05 minutes east

We’re 59 nautical miles from our waypoint just outside of Opua, New Zealand (Ann is getting very excited). We will probably get into the main bay around sun up and then it’s a couple hours further on into the bay and back to the marina area where we can check into the country and anchor.

At 9000+ miles from Berkeley, we’ve been reminiscing about this last year and what was the most fun etc, etc. One of the things that really stands out, but which has been unexpected has been the friends we’ve made along the way. Both among other cruisers as well as locals whom we’ve met and been given such hospitality. We planned to “see” lots of stuff along the way, but the friendships we’ve made have been a surprise and a delight.

There is no better illustration of this than in the email we got yesterday from our buddies on Orcinius, John and Lisa. They said they had; “…a bottle of champagne and box of dark chocolates waiting…” to help us celebrate the end of an amazing journey. Wow! This is the kind of thoughtfulness that we’ve found in this sailing community that we’ve been fortunate enough to have been part of these many months.

Champagne and dark chocolate. Until we got the email we were just thinking of this trip as another leg in the adventure. But it’s actually a reminder that we’ve made it to New Zealand (well, in 59 more miles)! All of a sudden I realized we’ve sailed all the way across the Pacific Ocean. Pretty cool!

So thanks John and Lisa (and everyone else we’ve met along the way) for your kindness, your friendship and the reminder that tomorrow is a day to really commemorate. An adventure is completed. What next? We’ll see about that, so you’ll have to stay tuned.

And thanks to all our readers who have made this blog part of their day and especially those who have shared some comments with us along the way. The comments are our nightly entertainment and we have enjoyed them tremendously.

We’ll keep writing for a month as we continue to sail south to Whangerie. There we will tie up for a bit and fly back to the Bay Area for the holidays.

We’ll be back on December 12 through January 31st.

“

Position: 32 degrees, 00 minutes south; 173 degrees, 33 minutes east

There are six or seven other boats out here with us doing the Opua Dance right now. What’s that? Well, you move to the left, then you move to the right and try to match the moves of our capricious partner, the wind. in other words, we’re all sailing back and forth trying to be the first boat to get to the westerly winds that are forecast so we can sail into Opua. Right now we’re all scattered over about a 200 mile stretch. Who’s going to find the wind first. We tacked this morning from our position well to the northeast. Opua is now bearing 150 degrees, but the dance has us going 120 degrees. In other words, we’re going more west than we want to. Some boats are heading 230 degrees on the other tack, and others who got blown further east by the storm are just trying to get back somewhere near the original course to NZ. It’s a dance right now because the present wind is coming right from Opua which is the port we’re all trying to get to in order to clear into the country. In our case, I believe we tacked at about the right place. The wind has to only shift 30 degrees for us to be going straight in. Cross fingers. If we can the shift sometime tonight we can be in by Monday.

In the mean time we wait. Fortunately the wait is not unpleasant. Now that we’re two days removed from the storm we have had a glorious sailing day. 6 foot long period swells, 10-12 knot winds and clear blue skies. If we weren’t so anxious to get in after being out for 9 days now, we’d really be loving it. Actually we are loving it. Tonight promises a stunning display of bright stars in a clear night sky. So it’s not all bad our here doing the dance, waiting for our partner to make her next move so we can make ours and together dance into New Zealand, some 9000 miles from where we’ve come these last 12 months. It’s a dance sailors have been doing for centuries, so we’re in good company.