Get Lost On Purpose

Category: New Zealand

  • Arrival in Opua, NZ

    After nine days at sea we are finally sitting still again. It feels very, very nice. I have officially completed my first 1000+ mile passage. We arrived at the customs dock around 7:30 this morning. I cooked up the last pound of bacon we had on board, as well as the rest of our eggs, as they would have just been confiscated by quarantine otherwise. Confiscated bacon!? There is no room for that phrase anywhere in Drew’s vocabulary. He took much pleasure in being able to devour almost the entire pound without me being able to scold him or tell him he had had enough. The quarantine official was very nice, yet very thorough. She got a few goods off of us…some mayo, wild rice, fresh cucumbers & onions. Nothing that can’t be replaced very inexpensively. Then it was time for the customs officials as well as the drug and bomb dogs. With a cup of bacon grease sitting on the counter, neither pup seemed too interested in their job at hand! By 9 we were done and by 9:30 we were safely in a slip. Ahh, fresh hot showers…

    A quick lunch with our buds Alan & Rina and we’re back on board so Drew can get some sleep. He’s seen very little in the past 48 hours. Naturally, the last two days of the passage had to give us a little run for our money but we made it. We’ll start making some decisions on our route to Whangarei, which is where Dosia will stay while we head home for the holidays! That’s all in due time though. Right now…that other couch is looking pretty good…

  • Passage to NZ, Day 9

    Had a pretty rough night last night which entailed absolutely no sleep for Drew. Throughout a twelve hour time frame which started about 8 p.m., we only went about 12 miles. Can you say frustrating? The winds shifted, Drew adjusted. As soon as he was adjusted, they’d switch again. He was none too happy when I finally came to about 5:30 this morning. After about seven more hours of the same battle things finally started getting back on track a little after noon today. Although I can’t technically see it, I can envision the finish line not far away. We found the angle against these southerly winds we’d been fighting for the past 30 hours and although it’s still bumpy, we’re glad to be making progress again. 68 more miles to go. One more night, obviously assuming all goes well this evening. I’m gonna go ahead and take the high road on this assumption and say that between the hours of four and six in the morning we will be arriving at the entrance to the Bay of Islands. When our parents break from their daily routines and schedules tomorrow for lunch they will be able to breathe a little easier knowing that we are safe. So will I. New Zealand. Neither of us can even begin to believe it…

  • Passage to New Zealand – Day 25

    Well at least it feels like day 25. Currently we’re beating into a 20 knot southwesterly that’s pushing us farther and farther to the west and completely away from our intended destination. Nothing is more frustrating in sailing than not being able to go in a straight line. It will definitely be Tuesday before we get in now. I was counting on those southeasterly winds to blow more than a few hours. I was using them for a nice southwesterly ride to prepare for the upcoming windshift. Then it would have been a simple beam reach straight to Opua with the North Island blocking the biggest of the seas. But as usual, the wind turned sooner than expected and here we are…stuck out in the middle of nowhere. We’re 137 miles due north of the Bay of Islands and sailing more towards Sydney. Typical.

    Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

  • Passage to NZ, Day 7

    Well we finally found those winds we had been looking and longing for. Strong gusts of about 15 to 20 knots have filled the sails from the Southeast and the ol’ Perkins is finally getting a break after about 60 hours of nonstop motoring. I had every intention of cooking up a nice pot of spaghetti tonight and figured I’d have no problems doing so seeing how it’s been calm as a cucumber out here up until this point. But we’re back to the sailing I’m accustomed to and instead Drew got a can of instant soup. Ha! In many previous blogs I’ve stressed my discomfort for boiling pots of water that appear to be flying at my head. Watching me boil pasta underway hands Drew one of the biggest laughs of his adult life as I reach to stir from as far away as my extended handle spoon allows me before high tailing it around to the safe side of the galley. I’ll cook all day, everyday at anchor. Just please, please don’t make me do much cooking when the stove looks like it’s about to do a somersault.

    Glad to be making some good headway, scooting along at well over six knots average. Drew says the winds are going to wrap around and be on the nose for the last day of the trip and we’ll have to beat our way into Opua. We’re thankful for the fuel conservation we’re getting out of these winds right now. We thought we might be lucky enough to get there on Monday but now Drew’s saying probably Tuesday. Tack on that extra night of worrying for my mom.

    Let’s see today we slept, read books, ate canned soup, and were visited by a rather large pod of dolphins. First time I’ve seen any in my entire time being on this trip! It was the largest pod Drew’s ever seen and while we’d hoped they come and play around and chase alongside the boat, it was pretty obvious they were feeding and they were gone just as quickly as they appeared. A little excitement, nonetheless! You take whatever entertainment you can get out here. If we come across a talking sea gull we’ll be sure to let you know. For right now we’ll just have to consider not much of any news as good news.