Author Archives: Captain & First Mate

Farewell

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Sunday 18th September

Last night we slept for ten hours uninterrupted. This morning Tony and Andrew went ashore into Paihia for a look around and to get fresh veggies. On the way back they stopped off at an island. Their own private beach on a deserted island. After taking a few photos they headed back to Imagine.

We all played a few games of cards before lunch, then it was time for Tony to pack and get ready for his long trek back to Australia.

After Tony was dropped ashore to catch his taxi to the airport, We headed for a bay to get shelter from the storm that had been following us across the Tasman.

Officially here

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Saturday 17th September

First, thank you to everyone that has left comments. We couldn’t get back to you until now. We now have internet.

It seemed to take forever to get past Cape Reinga simply because now we have a point to fixate on. We made good time coming down the coast dodging the boats. It was strange seeing boats after 8 days of only seeing waves. It was daybreak by the time we had arrived in the Bay of Islands and tied up at the customs wharf at Opua.

Customs/ MPI didn’t arrive till 10am. They were very efficient checking everything sorting what food had to be disposed of etc.

As soon as they left we refuelled. That was a mission. It was very tight in the marina, with a slight breeze blowing one way and the tide running the other.

Once fuelled we went across to Russell for an early lunch and then moved and anchored opposite Paihia. Tony spent the afternoon organising his flights back to Australia, while Andrew spent the afternoon getting a sim card connected.

Smell of bread

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Saturday 04 June Saturday was another day in paradise. Blue sky, no wind and no swell. But not all was well in paradise! As everyone took their morning turn at emptying their bowels, the odour increased to fill Imagine. Jack and Toni kayaked to shore and Liz swam. They went for a walk and explored more of the island while Andrew tended to the smell coming from the toilet and holding tank.
By the time everyone returned Andrew had replaced the air breather filter which was causing the problem.
We thought it would be rude not to attend the sundowners with the other boaties, so off to shore with more wine, sausages and a freshly baked loaf of bread.
Once again we fired up the fire pit and the bbq for the sausages as other boaties arrived. This time as the wine and tales flowed and we made our sausage sandwiches we noticed the others started drooling over the smell of fresh bread. We thought it was prudent the we offer a slice to the others before we were attacked.
Being Saturday night we stayed up and partied and this time were the last to leave at the late hour of 8.30pm. We boaties really know how to party.

BBQ at Percy

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Friday 3rd June
After a relatively peaceful night, we set off early to continue our trek to Percy. We stopped at South Percy Thursday night before heading on to Middle Percy.
For once West bay was calm and no roll. First up were swims off the back of Imagine. Jack and Toni went ashore in the kayak and Sue and Andrew went in the dinghy while Liz stayed onboard for a while then swam ashore to join us.
Once ashore we checked out the A frame, checking that our sign was still there. We returned to Imagine to get ready for the obligatory sundowners back at the A frame.
We returned to shore along with most of the other boaties in the bay. Andrew and Jack lit the fire for the BBQ, then while Andrew cooked the steaks and potatoes Jack started the fire in the fire pit.
Throughout the evening the stories flowing as much as the wine and rum. We were the first group to leave the fire and head back to our boat ready for bed at the late hour of 7.30pm.

What a day

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Wednesday 1st June
We left Keppel early in the morning heading to Percy. The weather was forecast for 15knt to 20knt winds. After leaving the bay we did have 10knts for about ten minutes, before it dropped to 5knts. So we put up the Gennaker. That lasted three minutes when the wind got back up so we dropped that sail and went back to the headsail. After about 20 minutes it died again.
Ok, time to try again. This time it lasted most of the day. Eventually the wind went down to 2knts, so it was motor time.
Just then the steering went. Imagine did a 180 degree turn, the gennaker back filled and we needed to do something quick. Andrew raced downstairs into the back cabin and pulled the mattress off the bed and dropped the emergency tiller into position. To steer you need to stand on the bed boards, one foot on the tiller and poke up through the hatch like a meerkat so you can see where you’re going! Back on course Jack took over on the tiller while Andrew, Toni and Liz tried to pull the gennaker down. The gennaker jammed and Andrew had to go up the mast and free it.
Once that was sorted, it was time to look at what went wrong with the steering. Andrew and Liz started on ripping the floor up in the back cabin to get to the steering shaft. That part of the floor had been screwed, glued and fibreglassed. A couple of minutes with the angle grinder and the floor was up, revealing the shaft was a pipe that has rusted though.
Jack and Liz swapped jobs. Jack and Andrew found some hardwood and bolted it through the pipe to hold it together. An hour later we had steering. We have been lucky that the swell and wind were low and in the right direction that made fixing the problems a lot easier than it could have been.
Just to be on the safe side we headed to Pearl Bay for the night, and will recommence our sail to Percy in the morning.

Restock

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Tuesday 31st May
The last three days on Great Keppel the weather has been good. Sunday we went around to Monkey beach for a snorkel. Monday Liz caught the ferry from Keppel to Yepoon (the mainland) for more supplies. She returned in the afternoon with a backpack full of only the essentials (booze), oh and broccoli and capsicum.
Tuesday we moved around to Wreck Bay to get out of the swell.

Flying Lydia

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Today started out raining but cleared after lunch. Lydia had to get in the water. We had told her about how we swung off the halyard and into the water on our old boat. She was eager to be the first to do it on Imagine.

It wasn’t the most graceful thing. Ending in a belly flop. But it was amusing.

We have got Imagine ready for our sail to the next islands, South Percy and Middle Percy. We will set off about 6am to catch the wind and tide.

This will probably be the last blog for a week or so as we will not have reception until we get to Goldsmith Island.

S & S Day

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Today was an S&S day. That meant swimming and snorkelling. After yesterday and the kayak we decided that we fit better in the dinghy.

We went across to the the reef and anchored the dinghy while we snorkelled around finding some turtles stingrays and a shark.

Tonight Lydia made a yummy stir-fry for dinner.

We have Water!

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Yesterday we moved to Monkey bay to get more shelter. Surprisingly we had the bay to ourselves. As the day went on the wind died down. That meant Lydia had to go check out the reef. Lydia took the dinghy to the edge of the reef where she was going to swim.

It was the first time she had taken the dinghy on her own. It took a few goes to point it in the right direction but eventually made it to the reef. A couple of big turtles were chilling right near the dinghy. No wetsuit, we thought she would be back in a few minutes as the water temperature was 18 degrees. But no, she was out there for about 1 and a 1/2 hours.

When she did get back she was frozen so she rugged up while having something to eat.

Today was a good day. Andrew spent all morning working on the watermaker and it’s now working! We can make 2ltrs a minute.

After lunch some silly person (Andrew) decided we should go kayaking across the bay. So we all fell / piled into the one 2.5 person kayak. We went around in a few circles while we seemed to drift in the general direction of the reef. Once at the reef Lydia had the bright idea that she would go for a swim.

Now we were all wet. Sue and Andrew still managed to stay in the kayak. Lydia swam the reef while Sue and Andrew were tempted to head back to Imagine and leave her behind. But we needed someone to call “stroke” so we could paddle in the same direction, so we waited for her. Getting Lydia back in the kayak was just as drenching as she very lady-like and gracefully struggled to get in the kayak.

As you can tell, we did manage to get back to Imagine somehow.