by Judy Handley | Nov 18, 2006 | New Zealand, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 396, Year 1: Rainy, Rainy Day in New Zealand
Date: Saturday, November 18, 2006
Weather: Rainy and Windy
Location: Opua, New Zealand
One thing is for sure. The weather here has been consistent since our arrival. Today it rained all day and wind howled. We tuned into the local marine forecasts and there were gale warnings for many locations today. But the forecast is for one more day of partially cloudy weather and then three days that they describe as “fine”. We will certainly be looking forward to exploring the area in sunshine.
I am still not on the uphill side of this cold, so I have spent the day reading and relaxing. I really am looking forward to feeling better and having some decent weather so we can start exploring the area. Actually at this very moment, it looks like clouds have decided to go away and the sun has decided to shine. In the last few minutes the sky has gone from totally overcast to blue. Amazing. Maybe the good weather will come one day sooner than expected. That will certainly be a welcome change.
by Judy Handley | Nov 17, 2006 | New Zealand, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 395, Year 1: Saddened and Shocked Over News from Tonga
Date: Friday, November 17, 2006
Weather: Still Overcast and Windy
Location: Opua, New Zealand
On our way back from Paihia today, we heard about the riots in Nuku’alofa last night. The Tongan government announcement today that democratic elections will be held in 2008 came a date late to save most of the city of Nuku’alofa from destruction. Fiji has been on the verge of rioting for the past couple of weeks, but those of us who just came from Tonga had no idea that things were so tentative there. Rioters looted the stores and set fire to many buildings. There was a little bakery across from the Immigration Office that had been in business there since the 1800’s. We understand it was burned to the ground along with the internet café we used. The paper here did not have complete details so I’m not sure what else was destroyed, but estimates were that two-thirds of the city was set on fire. We can only hope that some good can come out of this for the good people of Tonga.
Mark and I took the courtesy van into the town of Paihia today. It is a nice little town, but it appears to exist only for the purpose of tourism. We’ve never seen so many tour guide businesses in one little place. We wondered through town, walked out to the Woolworth’s grocery store and did some food shopping, and then walked back into town for lunch. The Tourist Information Center had more tourist information that anyplace we have ever been. Most everything was free for the taking, so we now have more tour information than we will be able to read in the next few months.
Tonight we are going out to dinner with Doug and Sylvie of Windcastle and Monica and Felix of Makani. We look forward to sharing stories of our passage here and catching up on the travels of Makani since we last saw them in Bora Bora.
by Judy Handley | Nov 16, 2006 | New Zealand, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 394, Year 1: 3 R’s–Reorganizing, Repairing, and Recovering
Date: Thursday, November 16, 2006
Weather: Overcast, Windy, and Rainy, Warmer Than Expected
Location: Opua, New Zealand
We spent the entire day aboard Windbird with no trips to land. We are both in different stages of recovery, but hopefully we will both be healthy once again. Mark spent the day doing repairs-a light that had gone out and a head that was leaking. I had very little energy, but I managed to start rearranging the food stores. Once we reach Whangarei, we will be preparing to leave the boat for two months, and I want to make sure everything is secure. In the middle of the afternoon, we had visitors. Laura and Susan from the boat moored next to us came over to visit. Their boat is Mystic Traveler. Laura is from Newburyport, Massachusetts, and even though she has not lived in the Boston area for a few years, she said she will always think of herself as a Bostonian. I think Susan is also from New England, but not sure about that. Before leaving on their round the world trip, both women worked in Delaware. This is the end of their second season in the South Pacific and we discovered that during our journey we have met some cruisers that they know from last season. They were a wealth of information about New Zealand and it was a delightful visit. As they said, it is rare to find cruisers out here from the East Coast of the US, and even rarer to find cruisers from New England.
Tomorrow morning we hope to feel up to a trip to the nearby town of Paihia. A shuttle leaves the marina at 10 am and will bring us back by 2 pm. We will do some food shopping and just take time to breathe in the local culture. Tomorrow night we hope to have dinner with Doug and Sylvie on Windcastle and Felix and Monica on Makani when we will celebrate our successful arrivals here in New Zealand. We will stay here through the weekend and decide early in the week when it is time to move on. We are looking forward to visiting the town on Russell on our way out of here and then making a few stops in the Bay of Islands before heading south to Whangarei.
At one point in the day, we heard Jonah from Araby calling another boat. We had no idea that Araby was here in port, so we called back to say hello. That led to another call. Judy and Roger of Hanoah, a boat from Brunswick, Maine, that was anchored next to us in Nuku’alofa overheard our conversation with Jonah and called us afterward. We were so excited to hear from them. They had a great eight day trip down from Tonga and are now out in the Bay of Islands. We hope to catch up with them in Whangarei. Jonah on Araby has decided to leave his boat here for the next couple of months while he goes back to the US to visit family and then return to do some land explorations. He wants to check out the South Island and see if he wants to take his boat there.
So even on a quiet day in the anchorage, the wonderful people connections continue. Cruising gives us a chance to become intimate with some very isolated parts of the world and a chance to meet and continue friendships with cruisers from all over the globe. It is a good life out here.
by Judy Handley | Nov 15, 2006 | New Zealand, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 393, Year 1: Arrival in Opua, New Zealand
Date: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Weather: Overcast, Windy, and Rainy, But Warmer Than Expected
Air Temperature: 64 degrees F
Water Temperature at Surface: 62 degrees F
Latitude: 35 degrees 19 minutes S
Longitude: 174 degrees 08 minutes E
Miles Traveled: 13,011.1 Miles from Boston to New Zealand
As our daughter Heather would say, “Woohoo!” We made it to New Zealand-all 13,011.1 miles from Boston. Our passage from Tonga took us about seven and a half days. Seven of those days were sunny and beautiful, but last night New Zealand decided to greet us with a little taste of what her weather can be like. She certainly didn’t throw us her worst, but it was bad enough that we couldn’t see land when we arrived. Thank goodness for electronic charting! The charts are not always accurate, but they were right on for Opua and it was comforting to be able to see on the computer screen exactly where the boat was at any moment. What could Captain Cook have accomplished if he had had modern technology?
During the night we had winds from 20 knots to the low 30’s, clouds and fog, and some rain. In the very early hours, we called into Taupo Marine Radio to alert them of our arrival. Shortly after, Felix and Monica of Makani, called us on the VHF. They are a German couple that we first met via radio on the long passage from the Galapagos to the Marquesas. We were in the middle of nowhere when we saw a sail on the horizon behind us. By midday they were beside us, and by evening they sailed into the sunset. We met in person in Fatu Hiva and then again in Bora Bora, but we haven’t heard from them since. Felix called because he thought it was interesting that we once again find ourselves on passage together. We left from Tonga and they left from Fiji, but we arrived at the same time. We talked with them once we arrived on the Q Dock (Q stands for Quarantine) and hope to have dinner with them tomorrow night. But back to the weather saga . . . everything intensified just as we approached the coast and stayed that way until we went up the river to Opua. I have a much greater appreciation for those Polynesians who sailed here in double-hulled canoes. If I ever have a death wish, I’ll try that. At exactly 0830, we tied up to the Q Dock to wait for Customs and Immigration to check us in. We looked for Windcastle, but they were no where in sight. Mark walked down the dock and inquired about their location. He found out that they had reached the entrance late last night but decided that a nighttime entry look too dangerous, so they went back out to sea to wait for daylight. They arrived mid-morning.
Our boat is considerably lighter after Customs went through our food supply. They took all of the dried beans, among those my precious pinto beans which I have not seen out here, all fresh fruits and veggies, all non-New Zealand dairy products, all meats, and on and on. We filled two good-sized trash bags. But I must say, the officials here are very professional and helpful. We knew to expect the purging of some foods, but otherwise, we entered unscathed.
Most boats that arrive go into the Opua Marina and take a slip, but we decided that we are not quite ready for life dockside. We did take a marina mooring and will have to travel to and from shore by dinghy. It is hilly and green and lovely here. After getting settled, we went into the marina to check in with them and found a most impressive operation. The marina is clean and well-maintained, and the staff are very helpful and friendly. There is a real laundromat that I will take advantage of and not far away there is the Opua Yacht Club and a little store with basic provisions. Every morning at 10 am a van takes people into Paihia, a nearby town where there are grocery stores and few other amenities. It was described to us as a very tiny little town, but we shall see.
Tonight Mark and I are staying here aboard Windbird. The Yacht Club is having a race and a “barbie”, but I finally succumbed to whatever it is that hit Mark a few days ago. If you know me, you know I don’t feel good when I pass up a Yacht Club barbeque and a chance to celebrate our arrival with fellow cruisers. That will just have to wait a day or two until both of us have recovered. I think this feels more like the flu than just a common cold, but whatever, I just hope we are both better after a good night’s sleep.
As I started writing this log, we saw all sorts of boats gathering in the harbor. The Yacht Club must be sponsoring a race this evening. It was so exciting to see the boats jockeying for their place for the start of the race. They have all sailed down river, but I’m sure they will be returning soon. We haven’t seen this sort of thing on this level since Boston, but then New Zealand is known as the sailing capitol of the world. We look forward to enjoying the NZ sailing life while we are here. One of the kings of New Zealand sailing is the late Peter Blake. His boat, Lion of New Zealand is here. We also saw it last month in Tonga. Quite a boat!
by Judy Handley | Nov 14, 2006 | Passage To New Zealand, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 392, Year 1: Passage to New Zealand, Day 5—Weather Change
Date: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Weather: Sunny with Long White Clouds on the Horizon; Winds NW18 Knots
Air Temperature: 63 degrees F
Water Temperature at Surface: 58 degrees F
Latitude: 33 degrees 47 minutes S
Longitude: 174 degrees 56 minutes E
Location: Passage from N Minerva Reef to New Zealand
Miles to Go: 88
At dawn this morning, both the air and water temperature were 58 degrees F. But it has been another beautiful sunny day so the cockpit is quite warm. We have not had the cold rains that were predicted, but that could still come tonight and in the morning. It is possible that we will have miserable weather for our arrival in Opua, but the rest of the trip has been most pleasant . . . so no complaints. We continued to motor through the high and then it was like we crossed a line in the sand. Within minutes, the winds increased to 18 to 20 knots and they have stayed steady all day. The seas have increased from flat to about 6 to 8 feet so we are doing a bit of “bobbing”, but so far it is a gentle downwind roll. The winds are on the starboard quarter as predicted and should stay that way, but it could get a little rowdy tonight.. Even if the winds increase to 30, we should be okay. Of course, the seas will increase as well, so who knows what the ride will be like by morning. The good thing is that we should arrive early in the am. We will be very thankful if we can get to New Zealand safely.
Windcastle is about 50 miles ahead of us and they plan to come in during the night tonight. Not sure I would want to do that, but they are trying to beat the strong winds. They have been sailing close to a boat named Kabuki for the past couple of days and enjoying VHF communication. The guy on Kabuki is a gold miner from Alaska, and Doug’s love of rocks has made their conversations most interesting. Mark is a little better today, but not what I would call on the road to recovery. My symptoms come and go. I started to go downhill today, so Mark took over on watch while I slept for an hour. I have been much better since, so hopefully once we are in and can get some rest, both of us will be fine.
The sun here does not go down until 8pm and rises again before 6am. We have had some moonlight helping us during the passage, but tonight the sliver of moon that is left does not rise until about 2:30 am. That won’t help me on first watch, but it will assure that the last part of the passage has light. By the time land is in sight, the sun should be up. That should make coming in a little easier, even if it is stormy. I have to say that I will really be glad when we reach Opua. This has not been our longest passage by any means, but it has been the most worrisome. Here’s hoping for New Zealand by early morning.
by Judy Handley | Nov 13, 2006 | Passage To New Zealand, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 391, Year 1: Passage to New Zealand, Day 4—Beautiful Day
Date: Monday, November 13, 2006
Weather: Sunny and Warm with Blue, Blue Skies; Winds S7 Knots On The Nose
Air Temperature: 60 degrees F and falling
Water Temperature at Surface: 62 degrees F and falling
Latitude: 31 degrees 32 minutes S
Longitude: 176 degrees 12 minutes E
Miles to Go: 250
What a beautiful day. We have absolutely flat seas, blue skies with not a hint of a cloud, and the sun is shining brightly. Even though it is 60 degrees F outside, it is 78 degrees here in the cockpit and I just had to take off my long sleeve shirt because I was so hot. But you know what they say about the calm before the storm. The forecasts say this is not going to last. The beautiful red sails in the sunrise this morning were warning of that. We are still pushing our way through this high pressure system, but late tonight or early tomorrow we will come out of the high and into rainy, cool weather. A low pressure system and a couple of troughs are headed our way, so we are enjoying the day while preparing for tomorrow. I said yesterday that unless we have a problem of some sort, we should be in Opua early on Wednesday. Well, we have a problem. We have a 1+ knot current against us that is only allowing us to move forward at about 5 knots even though we have the motor running almost full tilt. We needed to keep our average at 5.5 knots in order to be in early on Wednesday. Once we have wind again, I think we can make up for some lost time, but it looks like it will be late in the day on Wednesday when we arrive. We are going to have a period of 25 to 30 knots winds between now and then, but they will be on the back quarter, so we should be fine. The winds are predicted to build and then lesson on Wednesday as we approach Opua. Then the winds build to 35 knots and that is what we want to avoid. John Leavitt at Commanders’ Weather in New Hampshire keeps us updated on any changes. So far, all of his projections have been right on target. Thank you, John.
Mark has been asleep all day. His cold has gotten worse and he has a hard time talking due to a raspy throat. I had to fill in for him as net controller on the Southbound Coconut Net this morning and I am doing all of the day watches so he can rest up for tonight. I’m really hoping that the extra rest will put him back on track, but this cold really hit him hard. I thought I was getting the same thing, but all the symptoms except for a tickly throat have gone away. So at least I am fine for now. I told Mark that I think just the thought of cooler weather made him sick!
All day I have been running up to the cockpit to be on watch and down to the cabin below to get things ready for entering New Zealand. There are many forms to fill out and so many items of food that they will take from us upon arrival and others that they will inspect and then decide whether they have to take it. They allow no poultry or poultry products or dairy products to enter the country. All meat in the freezer and all fresh fruits and vegetables must go. Since we thought we would be staying in Minerva Reef for a few days, we have some fresh things that are going to have to be thrown out. They inspect all spices, noodles, rice, dried fruits and vegetables, as well as wooden items and a host of other things to make sure they are acceptable. I hope this all sounds worse than it really is, but when you read the literature it sounds like we will have nothing left when they are finished. Bette Lee on Quantum Leap emailed and said the check-in was painless and very professional. Not sure what that means in terms of what we will get to keep and what has to go, but we shall soon find out.
I finally did a little New Zealand research last night on while on watch. While reading through the New Zealand Border Agencies Information packet, I was intrigued by the fact that there was a greeting in English as well as in Maori. New Zealand is also referred to as Aotearoa, the Maori name for New Zealand, or the Land of the Long White Cloud. In addition, the Maori greeting “haere mai” was used. I felt for a moment that we are not leaving Polynesia at all. I was temporarily transported back to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. I knew from my reading in the Marquesas and in French Polynesia, that the Maori of New Zealand came from there, but I wasn’t sure of all of the details. The New Zealand information I have says that sometime prior to AD 800, the great Polynesian explorer named Kupe made his way south and found the islands he named Aotearoa. He arrived in a canoe from Hawaiki (the original name of Raiatea in French Polynesia). He returned home and four centuries later seven or more ocean-going canoes carried Polynesian colonists to Aoearoa. Radiocarbon dating shows that there were multiple Polynesian Maori colonies on both the north and south islands of New Zealand by AD 1100. Oral history tells us that Kupe found no people in the new land while he was there, but Chief Toi and his grandson, Watonga, from Hawaiki, repeated Kupe’s voyage about two centuries after Kupe and when they returned home they did report that they found people living in Aotearoa. The present day Maoris living in New Zealand have tribal names that can be traced to the seven canoes that arrived around AD 1100. It was not until 1642 when Dutch explorer Abel Tasman arrived that the islands were named Nieuw Zeeland after a province in Holland. Then in 1769 Captain James Cook arrived and claimed the islands for Great Britain. The Maoris and the Europeans struggled over land ownership. In 1840 Queen Vistoria’s envoys signed the Treaty of Waitangi where the Maori gave up heir sovereignty to Britain in exchange for a guarantee of their rights over lands, forests, and fisheries. This treaty was never formally ratified and the struggles continued until 1975. In that year a Maori politician established the Waitangi Tirbunal and although this does not carry the weight of the law, by the 1990’s a significant amount of New Zealand resources were transferred to the Maori.
That is probably enough of a history lesson for today. I’ll keep reading tonight and see what I can report tomorrow.
