It’s nice to be back on the water with the sound of fish occasionally leaping out of the water. Mind you, we have no inclination to go swimming as it’s still just as murky in the river here. I reckon the fish jump merely to see where they’re going.
The countdown clock is set. Our minds are set on leaving Whangarei on Wednesday and playing it by ear as to where we’ll end up. High tide is at 9am local time so we can leave in the morning and have the benefit of the ebb to go down river. If the weather permits we’ll start heading up the coast.
All is set for Tuesday and selling the car. We’ve agreed with Phil from Cars for Cruisers to sell the car back to him on Tuesday with the chance of a loaner should we later make it to Opua and need to go into town to provision. That saves leaving the car in Opua and having to rush things at the last minute. It also helps Phil out which we don’t mind as he’s been so helpful.
Although Saturday was more relaxed than life (if you can call it that) in the yard we did manage some boat work before the bad weather set in.
After one last check of the shaft seals (all good) I reinstalled the final two house batteries. I then transferred 30 gallons of diesel purchased in the Galapagos to our main tanks. We now have enough diesel to motor to Opua if we had to (don’t want to though) where we’ll fill up with duty free fuel after clearing out.
Then we installed the 1st and 2nd reef lines running them up the boom. When they were last removed we drew through two smaller lines which we’d use to bring the reefing lines. Perhaps due to rushing to avoid bad weather coming in we managed to lose both lines in the boom necessitating using a fish line to put them back in place. This is not so hard as such but somehow the fish line always finds a way to weave in and out of the other lines inside the boom so that once the light line is in place a certain amount of keyhole surgery is required through the end of the boom to untangle them.
Next was a SSB email check. Particularly when anchored/moored in towns this can require patience as local interference and band availability can conspire against each other. Not this time. I obtained a connection to the Wellington winlink station first time and my test email went through. It is interesting to note that the unusual recent two year extended minimum in the solar cycle is now over and flux (I think that’s the right word) has shot up. I understand this bodes well for us as this will improve communications at sea.
With a new balance of power established Helen opened up on the dirt focusing on the inside of the boat allowing the anticipated rain to begin the exterior onslaught. We did a short run in the car to pick up cleaning materials from the chandlers across the river and to drop off a memory stick to the Callistos. On the way back we drove to look at some sea kayaks. We’ve often been envious of others and have been considering one for a while. There was one in the store with a little ding in it resulting in a small discount from a pretty high starting price. It’s a two person lightweight kayak which (we were told) is excellent for one man surfing. I say one ‘man’ in this case as this aspect has appeal to half the Dignity crew. Decision is yet to be made on this.
With the weather turning grim I dropped off Helen at the local supermarket for some near term provisioning while I parked the car and lugged all our old sails from the car to the boat. They have a bit of life left in them so they could act as spares. Alternatively we may just give them to the Pacific islanders which I think is better than throwing them away. A living can be made out of an old sail that we would otherwise throw away. It’s worth hanging onto them just for that reason alone.
In the afternoon I was presented with the problem of naming the metal tube with a 180 bend that sits just before the mast allowing cabling to come from within the boat without water penetration. I asked the Leu Cats and Albatross IIIs with no result bar getting a spare Vodaphone USB modem from Rob on Albatross III. That saves us picking one up in Fiji. Thanks to them for that.
Before really settling down my final accomplishment was to renew our EPIRB registration which is due every two years.
In the evening Steve and Darusha from Scream came for dinner after which we played a few games of Fluxx. Having played and enjoyed the game aboard Scream up in Tonga I’d ordered a few packs. I must have been inebriated when I did so as I ended up with 7 differently themed packs with one extra duplicate pack. We played all 7 packs separately and 2 of the favourites again: Martian and Pirates.