Stacy
02/Nov/2011, Russell, Bay of Islands, NZ

A morningÂ's adventure, and relocation (November 2nd ) Â- The goal was to leave Wetnose before 8am. As one might expect, coffee was downed, sunglasses found, shoes and hats abound, and into the dinghy Â- time 07:56. Mission accomplished! First stop, flat whites and a bite at the yachtieÂ's café down the way. As Jim poured over the chart on his ipad (how modern!), we sipped our brews and looked out over the marina with that knowing look of many miles traveled. We saw John, the rallye leader, who asked why we missed the pot luck. When he heard, he played the smallest of violins and said with a gleam in his eye that we missed a grand party. With a new bergie in hand from Windflower, we jumped into the car and rounded the bend (look right, stay left) to the ferry terminal where we rolled across the bay to Russell.

Russell, better known as the Â"gateway to hellÂ" is the home of the second oldest sport fishing club, the Swordfish Club. To the right of the front door is an even more important landmark, Russell Radio, home of the mysterious voices that make mariners feel safe for miles around. So, what were they curious about? Avalon and the Tuna Club (the oldest sport fishing club). Walking through Russell is like a stroll into history. The ficus tree adjoining the policemanÂ's residence was 130 years old; the buildings are white-washed; the walking streets lined with flowers and moss-covered, shade-bearing trees are opposite the Marlborough Hotel that screams, Â"come have a gin and tonicÂ". Birds donÂ't bother to move when you walk up to them; garage doors open to the side Â- like a roll-top desk; and IÂ'm thinking it must be early because the streets are so quiet IÂ'm encouraged to whisper as I walk. I was struck by the memorial to war veterans (WWI and II) and the canon that still looks out to sea, Â"just in case.Â"

We meandered both sides of the strand and I found myself thinking about how people must have walked up and down that path in white frocks and parasols. During the high season, IÂ'm sure this place rocks Â- why else would the head of police be given a home in the middle of the block?!

Inside the Russell Museum, thereÂ's a 1:5 scale replica of CookÂ's Endeavor. Never mind that thereÂ's no anchor, and some of the lines donÂ't go anywhere, itÂ's still a great model. Who knew it drew greater depth than Wetnose?! With no opening ports and no fresh water showers, I donÂ't think IÂ'd want to stay below decks for long, but the captainÂ's cabin did look to have nice windows looking aft. We werenÂ't allowed to take any photos, as the artifacts came from the community and Â'folks donÂ't want to see their family artifacts on the Internet,Â' said the curator. The shark jaws and the greenstone weapons were quite startling in quality.

We wondered uphill to Flagstaff, where there is a flag poleÂ... thatÂ's been cut down 4 times. WeÂ're told all that nasty misunderstanding is far behind the town and the Maori, so it should be safe to visit now. The views of the bay are breathtaking! Just opposite is an amazing sundial with a map of the bay done in mosaic. I could almost pick out Wetnose in the distance!

Wait, whatÂ's that under my feet making a crunching sound. ItÂ's not just any shells used to make that drivewayÂ... there are oysters in Russell! One MUST explore this further! Come on, Jim, take that right turn down the narrow path and letÂ's see what we can find. Ah, the briny scent of oysters and the fine energy of men at work shucking. Can you say Â"lunch?!Â" Throw a few dozen on ice and letÂ's catch the ferry. Through the down pour Â- I didnÂ't see the rain coming - and back onto the ferry we hustled, to return the car on time. Oops, had to run back through Paihia to find gas, then, back for a flat white or soda. IÂ'm loving the local brews Â- sparkling lemon, lime and bitters; and some fruit that I canÂ't remember. Thirst quenching and delicious!

Back on board, we realized that we couldnÂ't shove off without some sustenance. With a delightful salad on the side (so we look like weÂ're being healthy) we had the oysters and a Number One (local brew from Noumea). So having oysters requires some explanation. First we took out all the hot sauce options on board. Then Jim had to show Dave and Joel how Â'itÂ's really done.Â' The meaty morsels were flavorful and yearned for the lime and lemon juice to perfectly accentuate their deliciousness. I knew that to keep the peace on board, the last should be left to the captain. Good thing, and just in time, as the last little oyster was trying to tear itself in two or is it four?

Now weÂ're ready to lift anchor and meander off to Rangihoua Bay where we dropped anchor for the night. Â'Quick,Â' said Jim, splash the dinghy in the water for a little RECON. But wait, the BBQ needs to be taken apart and put back together. Joel? Of course, the magician is left to his whily ways and Â'poof!Â'

Leaving Joel to his magic (which should always be done behind a secret curtain), our fearless captain, Dave and I jumped into the dinghy and off we went to Te Pahi Islands. The first stop had a welcoming sign saying, Â"private property, do not land.Â" The lava outcroppings made for wonderful tidal pools, oysters clinging to the underside of each crevice, periwinkle snails slowly crawling from one pool to another. Away we go to island #2, and this has a hill Â- and what must we do Â- climb it of course! Up the grassy cliffÂ... but watch that last step on the backside of the tree as the first step down is a doozy!

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Stacy
01/Nov/2011, Opua, Bay of Islands, NZ

Real cruisers are undeterred by a few raindrops (November 1st ) Â- Â"IÂ'm up! IÂ'm up!Â" and then I waited Â- for JimÂ's cell phone to charge, for the computer thingy to be found, for Dave to have some teaÂ.... But adventure awaits! LetÂ's go!

Finally, off the boat in between the rain drops, taking the dinghy to shore where our rent-a-wreck awaits. Hang a left and letÂ's take the scenic route to Kerikeri. To say the landscape is green is to minimize the variety of colors and shades of beauty. I know we have a goal, but I see buildingsÂ... and is that a bakery I see? Â"Quick, pull over. ThereÂ's an egg and bacon sandwich with my name on it!Â" Grabbed the sandwiches and walked down the street to the coffee shop. Flat whites and mochachino awaits. Inside, The Blacks are properly honored on EVERY wall. Well caffieneÂ'd, we doubled back by the car to find a fabulous shop, The Grass Hut. Had to go in. Turns out, this little town of Kawakawa (extra good because they named it twice) was the home of the German architect, Hundertwasser. A couple of the stores had columns designed by him out front with gardens on the roofs. How avante guarde!

Back on the road, we approached Kerikeri and Dave said we had to stop for a bio-break. The first place we came to was Makana, the chocolate factory. IÂ'm sure they have a bathroom! As we walked in the door, wouldnÂ't you know they were sharing free samples. Uh oh! Watched them make macadamia nut toffee and truffles by hand while the owner (just came over from Ireland 15 years ago) told us all about the business and his personal journey to New Zealand. Of course, Joel struck up a conversation with some of the ladies in the shop and we couldnÂ't leave without a purchase!

Next door, the Kauri Shop had amazing pieces of wood carved into everything we could want. I couldnÂ't stop touching the wood as it was sanded to the smoothest perfection. Many of the pieces were inlaid with abalone shells. If only there was a cheese board with 2 shells (for fig jam and olives) thatÂ's small enough to stow on RhiannonÂ... but my pocketbook was saved. Alas, the shopkeeper said we HAD to see the trees and theyÂ're not far from where we are. With directions in hand, we headed onward, but first to Kerikeri. The Stone Store is the oldest standing building in New Zealand. ItÂ's been the post office and a general store. Had to go in. ItÂ's now a gift shop. What? Some crew stayed behind in the carÂ... with the directions, Â"take pictures so we know what weÂ've missed.Â" Next door, the Kemp House was a lovely example of English gardening, but instead of taking the tour, we just snapped pictures of the outside and marveled at the bridge that washed away. In front, we marveled at t he large sail boats that had come up the river and anchored right off the site. Hey, I never thought of painting my boat mustard yellow!

Onward! Through the downpour, up and over the hills, by the cows and sheep, the road winds and winds again. Then the pavement turns to gravel, and we talk to a cow or two for a few minutes. Around the next bend, the Puketi Forest. This is truly a tropical rain forest. The rain is coming down hard enough that IÂ'm not sure how smart it is to take my camera out but I HAVE to take pictures. I started thinking about the story, Â"The Butterfly EffectÂ" as the walkway is raised on curving slats that slope and wind gently around the trees. The mosses and ferns create depth and layers. I can smell the green and then the Kauri, like giant columns, rise from the ground so high that they hold up the sky. These trees seem to start like any other, branching and winding to find the sunlight, but when they reach the canopy, they have no need for their lower branches and they are shed. The trunk fattens with time and the only branches are above. Kauri must have made the first explorers giggle as they thought of replacing their shipÂ's masts. The hard wood needs nothing but to take off the outer bark. The sap was prized on its own as it could be melted to create the first linoleum and varnish. I was awed by the beauty, the rain that filled my ears and the fresh scent of the forest filling my eyes and nose.

Back in the car, we retraced our path until the fork in the road. Maybe it was the fork that reminded us it was time for lunch. I suggested a winery, but Jim wanted to partake (designated driver), so we kept going. Soon, along the left of highway 11, a lovely café presented itself. I asked Amanda, the waitress, what her favorite thing was to eat, so I had the fish and chips. Crispy and hot, the batter was thicker than Jim likes, but it was so British! The dory (fish) was warm and the comfort-food I needed. Dave had a steak and onion panini and Joel had a burger that can only be described as Â'everything including the kitchen sink.Â" Apparently the Kiwi like beets on their burgers. Who would have thunk it? Loved the colors Â- carrot, beets, lettuce, thousand island dressing, tomato Â- a rainbow of tastes.

We were supposed to go to a pot luck back at the yacht club for the rallye group, but thatÂ's not quite how the evening turned out. We got back to the boat, put some acorn squash in the oven, and then someone unzipped the clouds. About the time we were to leave, we all looked at each other and said, Â"how about making a little something to go with the squash and stay dry?Â" Spaghetti and meatballs did just fine!

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Dave
30/Oct/2011, Noumea to Opua

Crew changes were set for October 20 to 22nd in Noumea with Joel and Stacy arriving first followed by Dave arriving almost simultaneously as Pat, Sandy and Chuck departed. All this was in anticipation of the big open water passage of some 800 to 900 nautical miles from Noumea, New Caledonia to Opua, NZ. Immediately Jim and his new three crew set out for the Casino supermarket for provisioning, fortunately with a rental car to carry over $300 worth of groceries to Wetnose.

Once the gear and supplies were on board, Jim treated us to a driving tour around the Noumea area. Later we visited the local museum and aquarium. Sunday night we all met at the local yacht club to eat, drink, and watch the finals of the 2011 Rugby championship between France and New Zealand. Before the bar opened, however, the Island Cruising AssociationÂ's rally group of over 20 skippers plus crew met to discuss the weather and the ideal window of opportunity beginning Monday for passage of all the boats towards Opua.

Thus our hoped-for week of tropical snorkeling in New Caledonia and visit to the famous Isle of Pines evaporated, but as we realized during the coming week, disappointment was replaced with appreciation for the wonderfully nice weather for a safe and easy passage south and, as youÂ'll note later in this blog, a chance to cruise the North Island of New Zealand.

On Monday Jim and about half the skippers headed to customs and immigration for stamps on passports and approval to depart. Soon after return and a quick trip to the duty-free fuel dock, we headed out in 20 knot SE winds covering several miles to little Ilot Maitre. Here we found shelter from the wave action and anchored for the night.

Departing early the 25th, we sailed mostly and motored occasionally for 6 nights and 6 days. Winds were from the ESE and E and ENE with speeds from light to low 20 knots. Seas were sometimes lumpy with Wetnose bouncing a bit to fairly calm. With a desired course of 140 degrees, we were close-hauled for the most part (thus adding to the bouncy ride). With the weather window so favorable and predictions of southerly winds starting on November 2nd, we by-passed our planned Norfolk Island Australia stop.

We approached Opua below our desired course only by perhaps 20 miles in the pre-dawn morning hours of Monday October 31st. By 9am on the 31st we were free to leave the Q (quarantine) dock in Opua and we quickly headed for FLAT WHITES and the marina cafe.

A couple of highlights I should mention: Stacy caught a tuna during our passage which we quickly sashimi-ed and downed for happy hour. Several sightings of albatross were made as well as several other smaller birds. Lastly, Jim found an interesting small green squash or pumpkin in the market in New Caledonia. He must have looked puzzled while looking at it, since a nice French lady came by and explained how to cook it. We all memorize the recipe, bought several of these, and enjoyed them several times on the trip.

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Jim
15/Oct/2011, New Caledonia

I almost missed these two gorgeous little nudibranchs among some soft coral just a few feet deep at the mouth of a sea cave. Nudibranchs come in all kinds of wild colors and shapes, but at under 2 inches long you have to keep your eyes open! They're among my favorite things in the water. Half an hour after taking this picture I spotted a small school of foot-long cuttlefish that kept changing color as they swam from white sand to dark green grassy patches. They were too shy and fast for me to get a picture but were fascinating to watch.

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Jim
13/Oct/2011, Ile Ouen, New Caledonia

It's hard to believe it's been a week since we last posted a note here. Back then we had just arrived at Ile de Nemou on the SE coast of New Caledonia's big island. The night before an unexpected southerly had blown through our anchorage at Lifou's Santol Bay for a few hours, causing me some lost sleep as I watched our anchor drag a little on the hard-pan coral bottom 20 meters down. But the winds eased and I fell back to sleep, awaking at 5 am to a glassy smooth bay and ready for the 48-mile passage to Ile de Nemou.

Our first morning at Ile de Nemou Pat and I kayaked all the way around the island, checking out the reefs as we went. We had a nice snorkel and a SCUBA in the afternoon at the reef just SE of the island. Looking for more!

From Nemou the plan was to make our way south to the Isle of Pines. Pat and I had agreed to minimize overnight sailing passages, so we looked for nice stops every 35-50 miles--easily done during daylight. So we decided to head for the river mouth harbor of Yate, about 8 hours sail south, and in due time we dropped anchor mid-afternoon on Oct 6th. Visible from our anchorage was a fine, 200-meter long, single-lane highway bridge crossing the river. We took the dinghy upstream under the bridge and continued around a bend to a small, modern hydro-electric plant powered by water from a large high lake out of sight in the mountains a few miles up. The scenery at the power plant--a deep river gorge with huge bolders--was more like the Sierra-Nevada than the South Pacific! We had been looking for a grocery store to replenish our fresh vegetables and eggs, but from the dinghy didn't see any signs of a village, so we returned downstream to the bridge, where we put Chuck ashore to look for some local knowledge. What he came back with was a man who looked a bit like a Rastafarian and who apparently lived in the junk yard near the bridge. His name was Auguste (see photo--Auguste is the one on the left), and he was kind enough to hop in the dinghy and show us the gas station just up the hill from the power station that had a small store with eggs, tomatoes, garlic, beer, dish detergent...you name it. After shopping, we dropped Auguste off at the bridge and headed back to Wetnose to drop off the groceries and pick up Pat, who had stayed aboard to keep an eye on things. By then the wind had died we felt comfortable all leaving for a walk in the village of Yate proper, nearer our anchorage, where we saw construction on a new college library and sports center, and visited the tourist information center to gather pamphlets. Very pleasant stop.

Our first landfall at Ile des Pins was at the Baie d'Oro on the NE coast, which is surrounded by little islands, a reef, and lots of fish, turtles, dolphins, coral and a few small territorial reef sharks. The islands are rocky and covered with...pines! Several of the other yachts in the Pacific Circuit Rally were already anchored there, so we invited everyone over to Wetnose for sundowners. Next day we did another snorkel on the reef, and took the dinghy ashore for the walk over to a small lagoon on the other side of the island called "Piscine Naturelle", which was just filled with all kinds and sizes of colorful fish.

After 2 days at Baie d'Oro we sailed to the Baie de Kuto, on the southwest side of the Island. This was an interesting trip, as it involved sailing through a shallow channel with a rapid tidal current, causing the sea to become choppy and filled with white caps. At one point we almost ran over two large sea turtles!

In Kuto we rented a car for a day and drove all around Ile des Pins, including a visit to the old penal colony. Apparently, many of the prisoners were political exiles in the 1870s. We're told that none of their descendants still live on Ile des Pins, although there are around 1000 living in Noumea. We took some nice photos of the crumbling place...no effort at all has been expended to preserve it.

From Kuto we left the Ile des Pins and headed for Baie de Prony on the mainland (Grand Terre), but got seduced by the fine calm weather and stopped at little Ilot Moro, just a few miles west of Kuto. The protection there is primarily from reefs, at least one of which we thought must have great snorkeling. We found pretty good, but not great. The coral just did not seem very healthy.

Anyway, we decided we should stay the night and head toward Grand Terre the next day (that would be today!).

So now we're on the little passage from Isle of Pines to Baie Ire on Ile d'Ouen, near Baie de Prony, 30 miles from Noumea. We'll stop at Baie Ire for the rest of today before finishing our trip to Noumea tomorrow. About an hour ago I spotted an unmarked reef right in front of our boat, and got to the wheel just in time to change course. It looked to be awash, with no more than a few meters of water, nearly breaking in the light swell. Then, suddenly, the reef disappeared from view, and a moment later an enormous humpback whale breached clear out of the water except the tail. WOW!!! This was followed by a similarly athletic breach by little baby whale. We've never been so close to a full breach--a real thrill!

Tomorrow (Friday) we'll finish the last 30 miles into Port Moselle. We should arrive early afternoon, where we hope to catch up with our friends Steve and Portia of "Dream Caper" before they leave for Australia. In any event, we're looking forward to easing Wetnose into a marina slip for the first time since we left New Zealand in June!

Stay tuned!

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Pat
05/Oct/2011, Ile Nemou, New Caledonia

Currently we're working our way down toward Isle of Pines with Chuck and Sandi. We motor-sailed the 69 miles from Lifou SW to the little island of Nemou, right next to the main island of Grand Terre, arriving here about 4pm. It's very different from any other island we've seen in the South Pacific (maybe with the exception of New Zealand). It's a bit reminiscent of the Pacific NW or maybe Maine, with rocky shore and pines (see photo). But there are coral reefs too! Some sort of kestrel high in a pine tree greeted us as we dropped anchor in emerald green water. Kayaking, swimming and snorkeling on nearby reefs will be the activities of the day. The weather looks good for the next three days.

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