A Milestone Achieved

Our First Sighting of Land - New Zealand!

 
Sunday evening just as the sun was setting, Calypso tied up to the quarantine dock in Opua, New Zealand. We're here! From the very beginning, we had always dreamt of the day we'd reach New Zealand and now we've achieved that milestone.

Rounding Cape Brett into Bay of Islands

We can't claim to have had an easy passage. The first few days were beating into the wind and heavy seas. Maybe, one day I just might get to understand why the wind is ALWAYS on the nose in such conditions or too far up the backside to fly the gennaker in calm conditions. Whatever happened to a nice fast beam reach?

The rough conditions must have been to blame as while we were having our breakfast on Thursday morning, "George", our beloved auto pilot system, gave up the ghost. Now, the demise of George might not mean much to most landlubbers, but it is a major dilemma in our lives especially on a long passage. Paul pulled the system apart, cleaned everything and reassembled again, all in tossing seas, but to no avail. George would not reawaken. 

Foot Steering (Hands were too cold)

We had less than 200 nautical miles to our destination which meant that we should be arriving some time on Friday afternoon, however now, we were forced to hand steer the entire time. As we'd already had four nights of watches, we simply couldn't contemplate non-stop at the helm. After a full day of it taking turns every hour or two, (and you've got to know just how damned cold it was out in the cockpit), we gave up and decided to heave to for the night. This enabled us to get a bit of a rest but the downside was that we lost 17nm in the wrong direction and it took us half the morning to get back to the starting block. The winds and currents against us made it impractical to motor against them so we spent the next day tacking back and forth, only managing to progress a mere 35nm before we hove to again that night. Not exactly an impressive distance.

Paul's Catch of the Day

To make an overly long story short, eventually conditions improved so it really was rather pleasant out there. We were entertained by dolphins playing in the wake of our bow and the comical activities of all the albatross and petrels trying to catch our dragging lures or diving for the fishy guts of a tuna we had caught. In total, we hove to for three nights and made good time on our last day when we thought we'd have to go on for a fourth, so all's well that ends well.

Wonderful sights of Albatross

Opua is not really a town from what we can see, it is a marina and official entry port set in the back of the Bay of Islands. The Bay of Islands can only be described as magnificent. A beautiful entrance to what we've always known to be a beautiful country. And we even had a welcoming dolphin escort just before pulling up to the quarantine dock.

And officialdom here? What an absolute pleasure it all was. Friendly, efficient, welcoming and just ever so painless. We knew that they would confiscate certain food items but it wasn't nearly as bad as anticipated and they were just so very nice about it all. 

Now comes the time for some serious boat work. Poor Calypso is feeling somewhat bedraggled and she is suffering from leaks in every quarter. What needs to be done and what we can afford to do are two separate issues but we know we have to haul out for bottom work and try to address some of the more serious items. At the same time, we didn't come all the way to New Zealand to labour solely on the boat; we are really hoping that we can tour around to see some of the sights of these beautiful islands.

It is possible to buy a second hand car here on a buy back basis so we'll be looking into that as an option once we've had a chance to investigate. As today is our first day, we'll find our feet a bit first before making any major decisions.

Wednesday Night Racing Through the Anchorage

As a PS to the Minerva Reef issue, it appears that things have been happening during our trip down here. Firstly, the news went out to Tonga and New Zealand. Tonga is reportedly irate and New Zealand actually sent out a plane to investigate, communicating with one of the other boats affected. It is rumoured that the issue will now be taken up at the United Nations. All this over a circle of reef that doesn't even stick up above sea level! I personally think that the Fijian patrol boat was out on a training exercise and, as it was full moon and the reef is full of lobster, they wanted it all to themselves to reap the rewards. If that is the case, they were extremely stupid to have made an issue of us being there. They could have anchored away from us, said nothing and still collected the lobster without any repercussions. It seems that we'll be following this little saga for a while yet.

Now for some catch up sleep.

En Route to New Zealand

Minerva Reef proved to be a rather interesting stopover. As we were preparing to leave the following morning, two other sailboats arrived in the lagoon. No sooner had they settled in when we were called on the radio by a military-looking vessel sitting just off the entrance to the pass. Without identifying themselves, we were questioned as to who we were, where we were from, where we had most recently checked out and where we were headed etc etc. 

We were then informed that we were in Fijian territory and were anchored illegally and must, therefore, leave immediately. Before long, a second vessel appeared outside the reef. When we had checked out of Tonga, we had been told that Minerva Reef was in Tongaan waters so we were now a little confused. They finally identified themselves as the Fijian Coast Guard and as this was their territory, we must leave or be arrested. As we were leaving anyway, it wasn't so much of an issue but we felt for the other two boats who had obviously looked forward to a night of rest. 

That day, I mentioned the encounter on the radio net and it now appears to have started a bit of an international issue. Tonga are definitely laying claim to the reef but these chaps were Fijian so... We'd heard that the Tongaans and Fijians weren't exactly the friendliest of neighbours and this could well sour relations further. A fellow cruiser already in New Zealand is making enquiries so it will be interesting to follow up.

We are now just a couple of hundred miles away from our destination and having a rather torrid time of it. It's been pretty rough out here and, therefore, a tad unpleasant. Also, it's freezing! I have great similarities to an Eskimo right now and it has nothing to do with skin tone or facial features but rather in the clothing I'm wearing. For six years, we've had warm clothing buried in the bottom of the boat somewhere and this has all been brought out again: socks, hats, gloves, boots, fleecy underclothes, foul weather gear, blankets and duvets. The water temperature has dropped from our usual 28-30ºC down to about 15ºC and we've still got another 200 nautical miles to go southwards.

I saw my first albatross today. Just a juvenile but what a wingspan! Other boats ahead of us tell us that there are quite a few around now so I will keep my eyes peeled whenever I dig up enough courage to poke my head out into the cold air. 

I remember all those bumper stickers at our yacht club back home saying "I'd rather be sailing". Well, I must confess, at this stage, I'm thinking of wearing a t-shirt with the slogan "I'd rather be gardening!" Once we arrive on terra firma, I know I'll soon forget but right now, digging up weeds certainly has a certain appeal.

Tonga to New Zealand

After two months, we have finally left the Kingdom of Tonga heading southwards toward New Zealand, another major milestone in our travels.

Tonga was a terrific stop but, sadly, we now have some very tragic memories of our stay there. A wonderful young Swedish lady, Alessandra, whom we had only recently got to know very well, developed a sore which turned septic and within a few days, she died of blood poisoning. We reeled with shock while trying to come to terms with this news and, of course, her partner, Per, was absolutely devastated. Such a vibrant and beautiful person had been taken away in what must have been some of the best years of her life; far too young to even contemplate. Just a few days before, we'd been out snorkelling together, full of life, full of fun. It just didn't seem possible. They had been dubbed the Viking and the Mermaid and now the mermaid was gone.

We had actually checked out of the country that very day but stayed on in the hopes of offering some support. Otto and Lily aboard Vagabond were absolute pillars of strength for Per while desperately trying to sort out the legalities and complexities involved in having her body returned to Sweden, not an easy task. Alessandra, you were a very special person and will be very sorely missed.

After a couple of weeks, we moved out to another anchorage. The fact that we had booked out of the country meant that we shouldn't be showing our faces around town weeks later so we resorted to giving ourselves another name when calling on the radio and staying clear of any officials. We used up another week or so doing some snorkelling and the usual maintenance that seems to be forever part of our cruising life. 

It was now time to move on. An overnight sail took us down to Nomuka'iki Island in the Hai'pai group where we stayed only a couple of nights. After having been in absolutely flat calm anchorages for a couple of months, this seemed almost impossible. It was extremely rolly but the snorkelling was excellent so it was still a worthwhile stopover. We had seen a couple of humpback whales cavorting on the trip down and dozens of spinner dolphins in the anchorage: a sight which never becomes tiresome.

We decided to give the main island group of Tonga'tapu a miss and head off southwards. We were already running almost a month behind schedule and were told that there was a good weather window opening that should get us all the way down. However, true to form, there was something along the route that just HAD to be visited. 

In the middle of absolutely nowhere, miles from anything, lies a couple of atolls known as Minerva Reef. These are not like the atolls of the Tuamotus that had little (and some not so little) islands dotted around the reef. There is nothing but reef, no islands, no trees, no rocks, no nothing. Just breaking water washing over a coral reef way out in the southern Pacific. If you can, check it out on Google Earth. As I type this, we are anchored at 23º 37' 437S and 178º 53'919W in six metres of water with nothing to see but ocean for 360º around us. Quite awesome.

Despite the fact that as we get further and further south and the water is getting cooler and cooler, I was persuaded to get in to have a look around. Chilllllllyyyyyyy: but incredibly crystal clear with lots of large and beautiful fish. I have to confess that I didn't stay in very long as it was a rising tide and the current washing over the reef was a bit more than I could handle. Paul stayed in just long enough to catch us a nice grouper for dinner.

Next stop: NEW ZEALAND! And so ends the route known as "The Coconut Milk Run".