Day 411, Year 1: The V-Berth
Date: Sunday, December 3, 2006
Weather: Sunny and Windy
Location: Whangarei, New Zealand

Yesterday was spent cleaning out the anchor chain locker and today we moved to the adjacent v-berth. This is our “guest bedroom” but it has secret compartments. Underneath the v-berth beds there is a big storage area. Because it is always closed up tightly, it is the one place on the boat that gets damp and mildewy. So today we dug into that area taking everything out on deck to be cleaned and dried. We didn’t find a way to get to the local country fair, so we just worked all day. Mark keeps his tubes of charts in the v-berth, and they needed to be totally reorganized. That job alone took about over three hours.

We started early today by moving the boat to the slip we will be in for the season. We had lots of help and we really needed it. We had to back into the narrow space and Windbird is just not a “backer”. But with all of the help, we made it in without any major issues. We are much closer to the ramp leading into the marina now which means we are closer to the bathrooms. This is a good thing. Our neighbors to starboard are Marie and Paul on Ranger, a fairly new Island Packet. They are leaving for the States tomorrow, so we won’t see them again until we return in February. To port our neighbor is Maggie Drum. Cindy flew to Colorado this past week where she will be working in Denver until April. Joe will be leaving this week to join her. Bob of White Swan flew home today, as did Ron on Rontu. His wife, Cynthia, went home a couple of weeks ago. Diane on White Swan is staying here to work on the boat while Bob is visiting with his brother who is ill. Slowly everyone is headed home for the holidays.

We stopped working at 5:30 so we could attend the Marina Sunday night barbeque. Most of the people here attend, so it was a great time to get to know people a little better. We met Roger on Wings and Strings. He has a Tayana that looks just like ours-same green stripe, same anchor, same wind generator, same black docklines, etc. Since we have so many things that are the same, we figure we must have other things in common as well. He and his wife have been here since this time last season. She taught in the school system last year and he teaches paramedic classes. His wife is already back in Florida for the holidays and he is flying home on the 14th, the same as us. He has offered us a ride to the airport, so that will be great.

Tomorrow morning Calibre Sails arrive at 8:00 to take down all three sails for repairs. And then the v-berth cleaning will continue. Fun, fun, and more fun.

061203 Day 411 New Zealand–Sunday Night Barbie