The wind continued to drop overnight and was low enough to get off the
dock this morning. Unfortunately, the wind wasn’t low enough for us to
maneuver to the fuel dock, so we went on our way with a quarter tank,
and will fill up at some later date. We planned the trip for a rising
tide, and it was definitely rising. We also had the benefit of a storm
surge, so we made good time up the Hatea river. There was plenty of
water even in the shallow parts and when we arrived at the marina some
of the sidewalks were flooded. Enroute we waited for the Hatea River
Bascule Bridge to open for us. At the marina the manager and some new
neighbors were waiting to catch lines. The docking went smoothly. When I
was introduced to the neighbors, it turns out they’re Swedes from
Gothenburg, (not related).

We celebrated with showers then burgers and beer for lunch in a local
bar. Mark and Grant are starting their abbreviated New Zealand vacation
tomorrow so we’ll have dinner together tonight then sing the “goodbye
song”. Thanks to Mark, Todd and Grant for making this leg of the voyage
possible and thanks to all the other crew who helped me bring Rover
across the Pacific.

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If all goes according to plan, and the wind gods smile favorably upon
us, tomorrow morning we’ll move the boat to its final resting place at
the marina and we’ll be able to finally disembark! It’s much less time
exploring New Zealand than we had hoped, but that just means we’ll have
to make the best of it. Dad has already booked us an excursion into some
caves, where we’ll be suited up in rubber boots and helmets and tubing
about in waist-deep water in caverns lit by glow worms! Beyond that,
plans are less concrete, as we can’t be positive the wind will let us
off the boat tomorrow, but there are a handful of other things we’d like
to try in the three-and-a-half days we have. I’d love to visit the
Hobbiton set from the Lord of the Rings. The coziness of the Shire has
always been one of my favorite parts of that series, and I’ve been
listening to the audiobooks as read by Andy Serkis on this trip. It
would also be fun to go to a zoo or wildlife sanctuary and see some
actual kiwi birds, if we have time! But otherwise, I’ll be happy just
for the chance to wander about New Zealand and appreciate the culture
and nature. Especially after spending two weeks on this boat, I’d be
happy to wander about and appreciate the culture and nature of a parking
lot.

Ultimately, though, despite the occasional rough weather, the bouts of
light seasickness, not ever getting a full night’s sleep, and the
reduced leisure time, I’m still glad we came on this trip. I’m always
happy to do something I’ve never done before, and this was certainly
that! There were even some moments where I was alone on watch at night
with the starry sky above, the wind in my hair, and the waves gently
rocking us forward, that I really enjoyed. I probably won’t be in any
hurry to sail across the sea again any time soon, but I still love the
ocean and am looking forward to doing more small sails on Dad’s boat in
the Puget Sound, with land always well within sight and easy access to
fresh vegetables and ice cream.

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The weather fought us all the way into Whangarei Harbor. As we
approached on Saturday, 10/28, we made a tack and put the south east
wind on our beam. The rain got stronger and visibility closed in to the
point where we could only intermittently see Bream Head a mile to our
right and Hen and Chicken islands a couple of miles to our left. Mark
turned the boat into the wind and Todd and I took down the stays’l and
tied it to the deck. I hadn’t purchased detailed charts for New Zealand
for the chart plotter, so we used detailed charts on the iPad (in a
waterproof case, mounted at the helm) and the paper charts Peter had
delivered to the boat back in April. (This was the only time we used
paper charts on the whole journey). We followed the well-marked channel
into Whangarei harbor and were helped by a 2 knot current up the river
to the Marsden Cove marina entrance. We turned into the wind and current
and brought the triple reefed main down for the last time for a while.
The dredged channel to the marina was narrow but well-marked. The
customs dock was oriented into the 15-20 knot breeze, there were no
other boats tied up, so docking was easy. We were finally tied up at
1830 on Saturday, 10/29. We were well outside of customs working hours
and were told to expect them Sunday around noon. The customs dock is
gated from the rest of the marina, so we were restricted to the boat and
the customs dock

Despite being restricted to the customs dock, we were happy to be tied
up and not still at sea. The wind continued to build, as was forecast,
and the rain became heavy. Wind was expected to build over the next
couple of days to a steady 30 knots with gusts to 50 knots, so we opened
the beer we’d brought from Fiji and had dinner and all hands were
sleeping by “cruiser’s midnight”, 9 PM.

Sunday morning the wind and rain continued strong. We had breakfast and
Todd packed for departure while we waited for Customs and Biosecurity.
Mike from Biosecurity arrived first. We expected biosecurity to be
strict in New Zealand and they were. We’d eaten all the vegetables and
fruit except some ginger root, which he confiscated. He also took our
honey, which we’d purchased in Tonga and was actually honey syrup, and
not very good. A large Swiss flagged cat had arrived at the customs dock
after us, so Mike went to chat with them while Brittany from customs
came onto Rover. The customs clearance went smoothly.

The strong winds had a component of the wind vector pushing us onto the
dock, so we wouldn’t be able to get Rover off the dock. No boats were
expected until Tuesday, so Mike and Brittney allowed us to stay at the
customs dock until the winds abated. They opened the gate and Todd took
the opportunity to jump ship to connect with his wife and friends who
had a rental car and were planning a vacation in New Zealand before
heading to Australia. Before departure he got a couple of bottles of
wine for the boat. The Swiss tied the gate to the customs dock open, so
Grant took the opportunity to get some beer and a few groceries at the
marina store. This morning the gate is locked again, so we’re restricted
to the dock until we can move the boat.

In high winds we leave the wind instrument on and it records the peak
wind. We expected 50 knots overnight, with 30 knots today (Monday).
Current high score is 44.8 knots, but the winds have come down to around
20 knots with gusts to 30.

We have a berth reserved at Whangarei Town Marina. It’s about 9 miles
away, up a tidal river. Between us and the Town Marina there are a few
obstacles. First, we need to get off the dock and around the large
catamaran docked ahead of us. Second, we need to get to the fuel dock at
this marina, successfully dock, fill up and get off that dock. To
surmount the first two obstacles, the wind needs to drop into the teens,
and/or be in a favorable direction. Third, we need to negotiate the
river which is tidal, has a narrow channel and is dredged to one meter
(3 feet). Since Rover has a draft of six feet, we can negotiate the
river when the tide is 4 feet or greater and rising. We want a rising
tide so if we get stuck in the mud the rising tide will float us off.
The fourth obstacle is a bascule bridge (draw bridge) that only operates
from 9 am to 4 pm. The tidal and bridge windows combined meant we could
have left today between 5 am and 9 am, but the wind was still in the
30s, pinning us to the dock. Our next combined tide and bridge window is
tomorrow (Tuesday) between 6:15 am and 9 am. The wind is expected to
have abated by then, so we’re hoping for an early morning departure.

Grant and Mark are hoping to do some sightseeing in New Zealand before
their return to the US, and every day pinned to the dock is one less day
of sightseeing. They understand the weather limitations, but sitting at
the dock listening to the wind howl is frustrating for them. They’ve
agreed to help move the boat to Whangarei Marina, and I couldn’t do it
singlehanded, so I’m glad they’re staying aboard to help.

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Since yesterday the wind steadily increased. We started with the
drifter, which is appropriate for light air, As the wind increased we
changed headsails; drifter to jib to reefed jib and then no jib and just
the stays’l. In parallel we reefed the main in steps down to the third
reef. That was the sail plan overnight, and has continued today. As the
wind stayed constant in magnitude but clocked around from the west to
the south, so we’ve gone from a broad reach with following seas
(comfortable and fast) to beating into the wind and confused seas
(uncomfortable and slow). Our weather forecast has been amazingly
accurate and the luckgrib weather router has worked well. We expect to
beat into the wind until midnight, tack and then beat into the wind some
more. We’re hoping to clear into New Zealand sometime on Saturday.

We’re all looking forward to the end of the passage, and what it will
bring. Everyone is looking forward to ice cream, beer, fresh vegetables
and a nice meal in a restaurant. Some of the crew is REALLY looking
forward to dry land, and an end to the incessant motion of the boat.

Some of the crew will be meeting family in New Zealand, while for the
rest of us it’s a step toward a reunion with loved ones.

For me, the end of the trip will be bittersweet. It’s the end of a
journey that started in April, and could be the end of the relationship
with Rover that started 10 years ago. The future of Rover is up in the
air; we’re hoping to sell her in New Zealand. My immediate plan is to
put the boat to bed in Whangarei, NZ, so I can head back home for
Christmas. Prepping for a sale will be a lot of work, and will start in
earnest in February. If she doesn’t sell, the tentative plan is another
season (March to November) cruising in New Zealand and the South
Pacific, ending in Australia, and trying to sell her there.

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Today we motored for some of the morning, then the wind came up so we
put up the drifter and mainsail. We moved along nicely with the wind on
our quarter.Once the engine cooled down Eric went to work on the
alternator.He did some diagnosing and determined the old alternator
needed to come out and be replaced with the spare I brought from
Seattle.After several hours of hard work in a hot and cramped engine
room, the new unit was in and running.We now have the power!Batteries
are being charged and the refrigerator is back on.The water maker is
making water.We all enjoyed a shower on the side deck on this a very
pleasant afternoon.A few dolphins came by to play in our bow wave for a
few minutes.We are anticipating spaghetti with corned beef for dinner.

Thanks to Eric and his extensive supply of spare connectors, tools and
equipment for making the replacement happen.

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This has been the most eventful day yet! For starters, I think we
crossed some sort of ancient leyline of dark energy in the nighttime,
because all sorts of things broke at the same time. My Hydroflask’s
cap’s carrying handle snapped, one of the straps came loose from the
sole of my sandal…oh, and the boat’s alternator went kaput. What that
means for us is running the engine no longer charges the batteries. We
still get power from the solar panels, but we can’t rely on those at,
well, night. We’ve also come to an expected lull in the wind, so we’ve
been motoring for 24 hours straight to push through the quiet patch.
Since the autopilot used while motoring draws a decent amount of power,
we aren’t using it for this period, and instead whoever’s on watch has
to actually steer! With our hands, and a big wheel! Like we’re living in
pirate times! Honestly, it made my first night watch in this system fly
by, since I had to actually focus on maintaining a heading. Once the
wind picks up again, and the engine’s not running constantly, Eric will
dig around in the engine room and try to get the alternator up and
running again. Preserving electricity also means no using the water
maker at the moment, so I washed tonight’s dishes with some saltwater
scooped up with a bucket on a rope (and then rinsed with fresh water at
the end).

In other exciting news, Dad saw a large splash of some sort in the
distance. He didn’t see the beast that made the splash, but our best
guess is that a big tuna chasing something upwards didn’t realize it had
run out of ocean and breached. We’ve also made visual contact with two
different sailboats, or possibly the same sailboat twice, for the first
time since we left Fiji. They were both on the distant horizon, so we
got nowhere near them, but the second one was named Rumpus according to
the scanning system, which is in my professional opinion a great name
for a boat.

As we tiptoe closer to the end of our cross-ocean voyage, I find my
thoughts drifting more and more often to the great non-can-based meals
I’m going to eat, and eagerly await the sensation of the ground staying
perfectly still beneath my feet.

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