Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

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  • A day in Parua Bay

    The day started off quite windy and the bay was choppy so we stayed aboard the morning generally relaxing. Around lunchtime we got busy (Helen before I did) sealing a leaky window, cleaning the winches, a bit of varnishing and a few other bits and pieces.

    By mid afternoon the bay had settled so we lowered the dinghy, pumped a bit of air in and took off to the shore. We walked along the road a way then came back along the shore rock hopping our way around. We then headed in the opposite direction towards a pub where we thought we may go for an evening meal. In the end we decided to stop for a beer and return to the boat eating aboard.

    The easterly winds have set in and are forecast to remain there for some time. This puts Great Barrier Island out of reach for a bit. But tomorrow (Thursday) the seas are forecast to have calmed and the winds will be quite light. That may give us a chance to motor sail down to Kawau Island which is supposed to be quite nice. We’ll probably move the boat this afternoon nearer the mouth of the river to reduce the journey, if we go, on Thursday.

    We have a few niggling issues to resolve. The head (toilet) in our side of the boat is playing up. The joker valve (it’s no joke changing it) is failing to hold stuff back so the bowl slowly refills. Looks like a messy job there. Also, every now and then, the water pressure pump goes off suggesting a leak somewhere. We found a bit of water beneath the immersion tank but that could have happened while we’re on the dock so we mopped it up and will look again later.

    I’m continuing to enjoy the boosted range on our AIS. A couple of days ago I picked up a vessel 28nm away – far better then we ever had before. From our current anchorage, still with hills around us, we can see more of the vessels out at sea. I’m looking forward to getting out there and seeing what we can see from there.

  • Parua Bay

    As you can tell from the title of this blog there is no suspense regarding our outboard parts and whether or not we escaped Whangarei. We made it out but here’s our day in a little more detail.

    Early morning, Brendan from the Palmer Canvas came round to adjust the straps for our blinds. They had been made a little too long and needed an extra attachment to keep the straps tidy when the blind is rolled down.

    Steve from True Companions took me out to sell off the power tools the French techs had bought and to fill up our propane tank. I got a few $$$ for the tools but nothing exciting. They were all bottom of the range and at best could be sold half price. And the store needed to make a profit so we got enough for an evening meal. Without wine.

    The propane store was a little more picky than usual about our non standard propane tank. But they filled it anyway so we were set.

    Upon my return I called the outboard shop to see if our part had arrived. Not only had it arrived but the outboard had been fixed. Yay. I lowered the somewhat flaccid dinghy and paddled over to the outboard workshop on the other side of the river. I paid the bill and we manhandled the motor onto the dinghy. The engine fired up, the throttle moved easily. Things were looking up.

    Back on the boat Helen was busy washing the deck knowing that we were fast running out of time to use the dock water. I paid up our dock bill and handed in the keys.

    Helen took a break from the washing to do a last minute shop. While she was out I sorted out our vodafone dongle so we had ways to access the internet once out of the harbour.

    I then headed off to Palmer canvas to pay our bill. I was delighted to find the work came in under 30% below the quoted price. Full praise to Palmer for a job well done and at a great price.

    After some last minute rinsing we were ready to go. Alene from Migration was passing by and offered to throw lines for us. Just at that point Dan and his kids from Division II arrived in their dinghy. Paige told us not to go. They had drawn some pictures for us to say thanks for letting them play on the XBox. That was very nice.

    With the kids helping, Alene threw off the lines and we backed out of our slip, turned around then headed down the river.

    We soon learned how sheltered it is in the town basin as further down the river we were encountering 20-25 knot winds and choppy water. Once we made a turn and had the wind on our beam I put out the head sail and turned off the engines. We kept going this way until we approached the entrance to Parua Bay. The entrance was tight with shallows to navigate and a dog leg off to the right into ‘The Nook’ before entering the bay proper. In 25 knot winds we picked a spot to anchor, dropped the hook and were comforted to feel it bite and set immediately.

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    In 25 knot winds we were not going to be going ashore so we settled in for a quiet afternoon / evening generally relaxing. We ended the day watching the movie Hugo which was very entertaining. The good news is that with all this wind, the wind gen is earning it’s keep.

    The weather forecast is barely encouraging. Winds will soon switch to easterly but they’ll settle. The seas are currently rough. Around Sunday the winds are forecast to come from the northeast which may give us an opportunity to get out to Great Barrier Island. It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to make it south to the Auckland area for the departure of the Volvo race this coming weekend. Pity. But we’ll keep our eyes on the weather. It’s a fickle thing.

    On the up side the sun is having a go at shining at it’s not raining. The wind is still up but the bay feels like it’s beginning to calm. Perhaps we can go ashore later today.

  • Noisy Sunday

    The weather did clear up enough for some outside work. I dismantled the windlass. There was some dirt, which I cleared, but the clutches looked good so I refrained from regreasing them.

    We invited the Division II kids over to play on the Xbox for 3 hours. They also had a couple of friends aboard the boat next to us on the dock so we invited them too. 5 kids on the boat made for a lot of excitement and noise. The silence was deafening when they left.

    We went out for an all you can eat Mongolian for dinner and retired back on the boat to watch a rubbish movie.

    All fingers and toes are crossed for our outboard parts to arrive and for the outboard to be fixed today. Then we can leave. Unfortunately the winds and sea conditions tomorrow are not conducive for escaping the river and heading east or south so we may just end up inching our way down keeping our beady eyes on the weather forecast.

  • Will it ever stop raining?

    Perhaps not until we reach Fiji. I joke. At least I hope so. But it feels like it sometimes. Continuous on and off drizzle and rain is just so dull. At least our new shades are doing a great job of keeping our cockpit dry.

    I dropped off the car Saturday morning popping in to the propane store to fill the container that was discharged by the recent leak. Unfortunately I’d put it off too long and discovered the propane store was only open Monday to Friday. Fortunately Steve from True Companions is going to take me round on Monday.

    Most of the day was spent, under Helen’s direction, shifting things around the boat. The balance is now even better than before. Furthermore, using some arcane magic, Helen managed to find places for all the stuff scattered around the boat. Even the forward guest bunk is almost free of stored stuff. That will be needed when we head up to Fiji as it looks like Paul will be joining us again as well as Sam.

    Sunday morning we’ve had some time off but got back into things around lunchtime. Helen’s been off shopping and I’ve changed the fuel filters on the genset. I want to clean the windlass but it’s raining again.

  • Last full day in Whangarei?

    After a bit of a slow start I retested all 16 batteries. After the long equalization they all appeared fine with differences no more than 0.03V. I’ve had ads up for a week now around town for the 4 spares and had no takers. I’m not going to throw them away so we’re going to keep them. And keeping them means connecting them so the decision was made.

    There was still a lot of work to do to finish up. The inverter/charger had to be resecured. The flooring above the 12 batteries had to be put in. The 4 additional batteries had to be boxed and put in place. This was all done.

    While I was doing all this, Helen cleaned the deck which was quite grubby from the time in the yard.

    Out and about I sold off the remainder of my battery cables for a half decent amount as well as exchanging a couple of the old 8D battery boxes for some additional distilled water. We had another provisioning run but not as much as before.

    In the afternoon our new shades arrived and were installed. They look quite nice and give the outside cockpit area a kind of Bedouin tent feel. We’ll leave them up for now as they also protect the area from wind and rain to a certain extent.

    In the evening Vickie and Steve from True Companions came over for pizza and a chat. They’ve just finished a tour of the south island and have returned to their boat.

    So. Per the question in the title of this blog entry. Was this our last full day in Whangarei? That would all depend on whether or not the parts arrived for our outboard. They didn’t so it isn’t. We’re here for the weekend at least. That being said, the weather continues to be miserable so our prospects were to go down the river, stick the hook down somewhere and stay indoors for the weekend.

    Here we can get off the boat. We may go to the movies today. We have more to do but as we were aiming to escape today most of the major stuff is done.