Daily Archives: March 22, 2015

On the Hard And Back to Work!

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We got the green light at about noon today…time to haul! Deft maneuvering by the captain and Charisma was in the hauling bay and hoisted out. We had errands in town so returned to find Charisma snug in her cradle in the corner of the yard. Our view has changed but is still entertaining as we can watch the entire yard and the driveway. But only for an evening Charisma because tomorrow the real work begins.


Fortunately the bottom paint from last year looks fabulous! Only touch ups are needed. What a welcome surprise.

Bring out the “To Do List” and let the party begin!

Why We Love Whangarei

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A short note to glorify a wonderful little town that we have enjoyed living in the last three summers (since we’re “down under” that would be roughly December through April).

So nice to wake up on Saturday morning, grab a quick “wake up” cup of coffee and head out to the Farmers Market.  Once there a “flat white” to further caffinate and then buy our weekly goods: artisan cheese, local butchered skirt steak for Sunday BBQ, and whatever vegetables and fruits look good.  We know most of the vendors by now, so pleasantries are exchanged and as we know a lot of the locals as well, we chat folks up while we’re selecting our produce for the week.

Then back to Charisma, but wait!  This week is the craft fair on the bridge.  We stop there for an authentic Cornish Pastie and another coffee which gives us an excuse to sit down and enjoy listening to Andy – who sang at our wedding – entertain all the craft fair goers.  His huge pit bull-like doggie lays happily snoozing on her bed at his feet and his guitar case is open for a donation or two.  His voice and guitar work are so lovely I really don’t know why he isn’t famous, but he’s very happy singing at these local events.

Walking across the bridge, we check out the crafts – always some fun stuff to look at – then 10 minutes more and we’re back to Charisma.

Once back, we can hear music on the other side of the river from where we’re docked.  Hmmm, another event?  We decide to walk down-river the other way to the south bridge and then up to where the music is coming from.  Half an hour later, we’re at the event.  It’s a celebration of the People of the South Pacific.  There’s lots of singing, dancing, drumming and fun!  We hang there for a while then decide to continue the “loop” back to Charisma as we have stuff to do.

On the way back what do we hear, but more music.  This time we’re in luck (again)!  There’s a Dixieland band playing in a gazebo right along the dock at the main marina and there’s an ice cream shop next store!!

So, ice cream in hand, we grab a nearby park bench and sit and enjoy some good Dixieland, sunshine and people-watching.

Ice cream finished, it’s time to go back to Charisma.  Today’s score: Farmer’s market, Andy’s music, craft fair, South Pacific fair, ice cream and Dixieland band combined with a beautiful blue sky warm day, all walking/no car and it’s not even noon yet.  Yeah, that’s why we like Whangarei.

Boat Work

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So, vacation is definitely over.  We’re back in Whangarei and working on Charisma.

Friday we got the reconditioned fuel injectors back – yes, they found one had a leak and hopefully fixed it this time – and I reinstalled them.  The engine works, so we’re good there.

Ann polished a bunch more of the stainless steel.  A thankless job if there ever was one.

Today, we scrubbed the cockpit teak.  It had turned that silver/grey teak color that some folks like.  We, however, prefer the honey color of freshly oiled teak, which after a good four hours of scrubbing, bleaching and oiling we now have attained once again.  It will take another coat of oil in a day or so, then a coat every month until we’re back at sea in which case entropy will take over and in six months we’ll have a grey/silver look again.  Ahhhh, boat work never ends.

We also put up new artwork on the starboard side of the main cabin.  The port side has three prints that we bought in Fiji a year ago.  In Dunedin a couple weeks ago we found some hand colored woodcuts of New Zealand birds that mirror the Fiji prints quite nicely and the combination has now been properly framed and mounted in the main cabin.  Very nice!

We had our Sunday night BBQ with all the folks around here on the dock.  Very nice.  Tomorrow (Monday) we hope to find out what day this week (hopefully) we’ll haul out to see how the bottom paint is holding up.  Probably a bunch of barnacles to scape off, but it also gives us a chance to set up some scaffolds along the side which make polishing the hull and the final varnishing of the toe-rails easier.  We also had our two anchors and all the chain re-galvanized (look it up) and it will be easier to load back on Charisma when we’re in the yard.

Lots to do – about a month to do it in, then we head east back toward the States.  Our course will be dictated by wind/weather, but generally east to Tahiti then north to Hawaii and finally a great circle route to Washington State.  More detail on why that route later – but your hint is: it’s dependent on trade winds which have a pretty constant direction during the non-cyclonic months of the year.