After arriving in the Bay of Islands in the early hours of Wednesday morning, everyone went to bed. It was a slow day. Just relaxing and a swim.
Thursday we went into Russel to stretch our legs. The last time for weeks. The ladies did a bit of shopping as we walked around the town. It was a quiet evening with the final game of cards before we set off.
With no apparent weather window taking shape for French Polynesian from Auckland, we decided to head north for the Bay of Islands where it’s looking like something just may be opening up on Friday.
We were all woken up by an early morning tap on the hull.. Darren had noticed we had left the hand cart I had used to get the batteries. So he delivered it by kayak. The whole bay was calm so I took the opportunity to go up the mast to repair a light. After breakfast we left the comfort of our Tindalls Bay anchorage around 10am Tuesday into a comfortable 22 knot southeastern breeze with following seas off the rear quarter. Not only would the 18-20 hour journey put us in good position for what may come, it also meant the first chance for crew to practice the “2 hours on/8 hours off” helm shift rotation intended for the passage to French Polynesia.
After tucking into Whangerei for a quick examination of a leaky hatch and a quick bite to eat, we made good time on our northward journey with winds reaching 35 knots as we rounded Cape Brett. Luckily only one crew member was taken down by sea sickness, with others stepping in to cover shifts as required.
We arrived at Paradise Bay to a beautiful sunrise, where a bright and day allowed for rest and relaxation alongside completion of necessary tasks before the next leg of the adventure.
We were ready … we went ashore to get the last few things from the shops and thought we would have a good weather window to leave Auckland on Tuesday (tomorrow) to head to French Polynesia.
We passed our CAT1 safety certification, which we had to have before going offshore. As Connie and Pauline had never inflated a lifejacket, we had them jump overboard in keeping with our safety training. Once they inflated their jackets, we had them swim the length of Imagine with the other pretending to be injured.
Darren and Chrissy invited us all to a ” Bon Voyage” dinner on what was supposed to be our second to last night in NZ. Roger and Rawyn were also invited which give us opportunity to say thank you again to everybody who helped us with the refit of Imagine. A particular big Thank You to Darren and Chrissy for their hospitality and support during the last 6 months. We couldn’t make it without you! Not to mention that our Dad was there too. Thanks to Darren for the 2-hour drive to pick him up. That was very thoughtful.
Everything seemed to be perfect, except that while checking the weather on Monday morning it was a different story: a big low came on the screen and made us think that it would be wiser to change our plan.
We hope to report our departure to French Polynesia later this week. Stand by.
We are just about ready to go to French Polynesia. We have stocked the boat. We had all hands repacking the meat so it all fits in the freezer. We will do a final laundry wash, a little more shopping and we will be ready to go. Unfortunately the weather isn’t ready for us. We are watching the weather forecasts intensely, waiting for the weather window alowing us to go.
We have all the crew onboard. Pauline joined us the night before last and is getting to know the boat.
We spent a night at Moturekareka then went to Kauwau Island. We tried our luck at fishing, but nothing for dinner. B caught a couple of small snapper , too small to keep. John and Connie went for a hike on Kauwau while B and I did some more little work on Imagine.
Today was a beautifully day. We stopped at Bostaquet bay for lunch on the way back to Tindalls bay. Connie helmed all the way back and she is now assisting John preparing dinner.
After months of work Imagine is almost ready to set off on a new adventure. John and Connie a Canadian couple have joined us to do their first blue water crossing and travel around French Polynesia. We still have a few things to do before going. We deserve a break after the hot water pipe burst and folded 100 liters of water into the bilge and soaking the carpet. Then the shower mixer split leaking water down the inside of the wall.
Connie ventured into the water for her first morning swim this morning. John wasn’t so adventurous. We did a little shopping this morning then we sailed to Moturekareka Island for the weekend.
We haven’t written anything lately, because we are doing the same thing. Working on the boat! We have bought a new stove and oven. Updated the galley. Painted the cockpit. Covered the walls and roof of our cabin and the port cabin with vinyl. Change the hatch in our cabin for a biger one so we also did a wood reconstruction around it .Lots of varnishing everywhere (entrance stairs, saloon table, bits on winches, wood around the hatch and trim) and we had to replace the thermostats on the fridge and freezers. Replaced the up switch on the anchor winch. And lots of other little jobs.
Working on the boat always takes longer. You have to start by cleaning the bird shit off everything. The birds have got use to us and now come and roost on the boat at night.
Also we were happy to receive awsome little videos from Fabian and Silke they made them of their time on Imagine. Check out!
Since Fabian and Silke left us we have been working hard on the boat, with the ongoing painting on deck and the cosmetic refit of the interior.
The last two weekends we have been doing refresher courses to be CAT1 compliant.The Sea Survival course was about Man Over Board procedures, use of lifejackets and liferafts…How to survive at sea! We made it!
The Off Shore Medic course was about high level first aid including injections and suturing but also CPR and broken bones management. We definitely hope that we won’t have to use those skills.
After the last day of course today, we headed to Kawau Island to sheltered from a strong northerly wind announced for Monday and Tuesday.As we arrived in the evening Bostaquet Bay was already busy with 4 other boats but we found a spot on the west corner of the Bay and enjoyed a drink and the magical colors of the sunset setteling behind the cliffs.
Tomorrow it’s Monday and believe it or not, like most of you we are going back to work…hoping that we will finish the refit of the back cabin by the end of the week. Boat life!
Yesterday, after some hiking in Shakespeare park, meeting the cows and taking pictures of Imagine from the height, we chilled out. After lunch time we moved to Arkles Bay only 1 mile away. Then it was time to chill some more. Silke thought Fabian should look a little more civilized, so she gave him a hair cut. In the evening we took the dinghy ashore and walked up the hill to the Thai restaurant for dinner. We had a beautiful view of Imagine out in the bay from our table. We got back to Imagine in time to see another wonderful sunset.
This morning we all went ashore and walked up the hill to the bus stop,Fabian and Silke with their heavy backpacks and B and I with our trolley full of laundry (boat life!). Arrived at the bus stop it was time to say goodbye, Fabian and Silke flying to LA for some ofher new adventures and B and I walked to the laundromat.
After returning to Imagine and having lunch we set off to round the peninsular to anticipate the southwest winds and make water on the way . By 3:30 pm we anchored in Tindalls, and already started to plan work on Imagine again. No more holiday for us!
We left two house bay, did a little fishing and ended up in Farmers Bay. It’s a nice little bay that we had to ourselves.
Friday once again we tried fishing with no luck. This time we anchored at Motuketekete island. This island is privately-owned and is currently up for sale. We swam ashore and check out the beach and little house on the island. After the swim back it was relax time. By this time the tide was out and B had seen the oysters on the rocks so while Fabian and Silke prepared dinner, we went ashore and harvested a few oysters. I don’t like them but B couldn’t get enough.
This morning the sea was like a mirror reflecting the sky. We motored to Shakespeare Bay on Whangaparao Peninsula. We stopped several times to fish but still nothing for dinner. B took the opportunity to take a swim with the little penguins,in the clear turquoise color, still ocean water.
Being a weekend Shakespeare bay has plenty of boats and jetskiis making it noisy and choppy. But we can’t always have a bay to ourselves. This afternoon B sketched the view while the rest of us just chilled. After dinner we sat and watched the sunset.
