Woke this morning to see the light from 3 Kings Island off the northern tip of NZ and we were abeam of North Cape by early morning being welcomed by a pod of 10 dolphins.
Our Iridium Go satellite system has been great for emails. As well as being able to do text updates to our blog, we have been getting daily AIS Satellite tracking screen shots of MarineTraffic.com from Ann's brother Matthew showing a picture of the boats within a couple of hundred miles of us. Not that we are racing but it is good to know what other vessels are around us. Another thing happened where the satellite system was a great help. I broke a tooth 3 days out from NZ. The side wall of a mollar broke off. I wasn't suffering from hot or cold sensitivity but was concerned what might develop from that. We were able to email a photo of the broken tooth to our dentist, Ros Shaw, with a description of the situation and an hour later we had a reply from Ros. She had checked her records of the work she's done on that tooth over the years and the latest x-rays taken just before we left and was able to advise that it should be stable to leave until we see her in March. So on Ros's advice I used some 400 grit wet & dry sandpaper to smooth the rough edges and all is good. A dental consultation in the middle of the Tasman Sea via satellite - how good is that? Technology has come a long way in the 9 years we have been cruising.
We have had a good trip considering the reputation of this passage heading into the southern waters of NZ. The last 2 days we have had very favourable winds. Great angle for our boat and strong enough to keep us moving along at a good pace. Our expected arrival at Opua is this evening and at present John is busy trimming the sails to get the most out of the boat so we have a chance of getting to the Quarantine Dock before dark. It's not that we are afraid of the dark, the channel is well lit and our electronic charts every detailed, but like most sailors we would prefer to arrive in a port for the first time while there was some daylight or twilight. Especially after a 6 and a half day passage.
No matter what time we arrive, once we are tied up at the Q dock it will be time for a celebratory drink. We run a dry ship on passage i.e. no alcohol until the anchor is down or we are safely at dock. This trip has been quite an achievement for us and it's a milestone in our cruising adventures that calls for a celebration, plus it's Friday night. Need we say anything more than "Bubbles night"...!
Friday, November 4, 2016
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Heading For New Zealand
We are on our way to New Zealand. A bit earlier than we thought we would go but everything came together for a departure on Saturday 29 Oct. A sailing friend, John Newton arrived Thursday night from Yeppoon to crew with us. We cleared Customs and Immigration Friday morning with a view of departing early the following week (Customs had extended the number of days you had to leave by due to public holidays Monday & Tuesday) but a weather window looked good for a Saturday departure so we took it.
The earlier than planned departure meant there were some planned things that didn't happen. Ann didn't get a chance to cook some meals for the passage in case conditions made it difficult while underway and we didn't do an update of this blog with spectacular photos of our last few weeks in New Caledonia. The photo update will happen once we establish full internet access in NZ but there is no Plan B for the prepared meals other than cooking underway as needed. Unfortunately conditions were quite lively on Sunday evening but Ann still managed to put together a great hot meal.
Our time in New Caledonia has been brief but very enjoyable. A taster for when we come back next year at the end of the Pacific circuit from New Zealand.
While we have been in Noumea, friends from SA off the yacht Calista, Colin & Cookie, returned to Noumea from Vanuatu. We knew they would be coming but weren't sure if our timelines would overlap. Fortunately it did so we had the opportunity spend time with them over the last 2 weeks and for them to share tales of their Vanuatu adventures with us over meals and many sundowner drinks.
At the same time Neale & Robyn joined us for 10 days. It was great to explore Noumea and the surrounding islets, reef and bays with them. We had mixed weather but that didn't impact on having a great time and presented opportunities for different experiences, having a good supply of French wines helped.
Today we hit the half way point of the trip and were back in Australian waters briefly when we sailed 12Nm to the south of Norfolk Is. It was a treat to see the twin peaks of Norfolk and Phillip Island appear on the horizon this morning. If we had passed them at night it would have been a totally different experience.
Iridium Go, the new satellite communications system we installed just before we left Brisbane, paired with the PredictWind Offshore weather forecasting system has been great. We get updated weather models every 12 hrs so we can continually modify our course on passage to make the best of the developing weather patterns and try and avoid the worst of it. The Iridium Go also gives us phone call capability and email acces, mainly text only due to the limited data download speeds. The satellite download speed is the same speed I had in the 1980's on my dial up modem. At that time I thought it was great being able to log on to the university computer from home to do assessments rather than having to go on campus and queue for a computer terminal. In today's broadband internet world these speeds seem very slow but when you are hundeds of kilometers offshore on a stormy night, getting access to the latest comprehensive weather models is fantastic and being able to email and talk to family and friends from anywhere allows you to stay in touch and for them to be part of your journey. Plus the live tracking map that comes with the package is a great bonus.
The earlier than planned departure meant there were some planned things that didn't happen. Ann didn't get a chance to cook some meals for the passage in case conditions made it difficult while underway and we didn't do an update of this blog with spectacular photos of our last few weeks in New Caledonia. The photo update will happen once we establish full internet access in NZ but there is no Plan B for the prepared meals other than cooking underway as needed. Unfortunately conditions were quite lively on Sunday evening but Ann still managed to put together a great hot meal.
Our time in New Caledonia has been brief but very enjoyable. A taster for when we come back next year at the end of the Pacific circuit from New Zealand.
While we have been in Noumea, friends from SA off the yacht Calista, Colin & Cookie, returned to Noumea from Vanuatu. We knew they would be coming but weren't sure if our timelines would overlap. Fortunately it did so we had the opportunity spend time with them over the last 2 weeks and for them to share tales of their Vanuatu adventures with us over meals and many sundowner drinks.
At the same time Neale & Robyn joined us for 10 days. It was great to explore Noumea and the surrounding islets, reef and bays with them. We had mixed weather but that didn't impact on having a great time and presented opportunities for different experiences, having a good supply of French wines helped.
Today we hit the half way point of the trip and were back in Australian waters briefly when we sailed 12Nm to the south of Norfolk Is. It was a treat to see the twin peaks of Norfolk and Phillip Island appear on the horizon this morning. If we had passed them at night it would have been a totally different experience.
Iridium Go, the new satellite communications system we installed just before we left Brisbane, paired with the PredictWind Offshore weather forecasting system has been great. We get updated weather models every 12 hrs so we can continually modify our course on passage to make the best of the developing weather patterns and try and avoid the worst of it. The Iridium Go also gives us phone call capability and email acces, mainly text only due to the limited data download speeds. The satellite download speed is the same speed I had in the 1980's on my dial up modem. At that time I thought it was great being able to log on to the university computer from home to do assessments rather than having to go on campus and queue for a computer terminal. In today's broadband internet world these speeds seem very slow but when you are hundeds of kilometers offshore on a stormy night, getting access to the latest comprehensive weather models is fantastic and being able to email and talk to family and friends from anywhere allows you to stay in touch and for them to be part of your journey. Plus the live tracking map that comes with the package is a great bonus.
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