Sellixs Set Sail

Greetings from Indonesia. I think the last time I wrote we were waiting out storm season in New Zealand and completing the work after our 2018 dismasting. Putting Pied-a-Mer back together again seemed to be almost as difficult as “All the kings horses and all the kings men”, trying to fix Humpty Dumpty! The dismasting set our sailing plan back over a year and involved parts, parcels, pieces and advice from friends, chandleries, electronic companies, etc. in 5 countries. However, there is no better community for helping each other than the cruising community.

On May 15, after 7 months in The Bay of Islands, New Zealand, we set sail for New Caledonia, arriving in Nouméa on May 23. This was our first Ocean Passage with the new portion of our mast and all of the new pieces and parts needed to make us again seaworthy. Our passage was a typical mix of reefing, motor sailing, addressing a chaffing reef line and hailing ships that were coming our way. We left New Caledonia on June 13 and arrived in Papua New Guiana on June 25, clearing into the country at The Royal Papua Yacht Club. July 10 saw us on the move again as we set sail for Indonesia and its 18,307 islands. We arrived on July 18, clearing into the country in Saumlaki, Gateway to the Tanimbar Islands. We then island hopped to our current location of Marina Del Ray on the very small island of Gili Gede which is on the southwest corner of the island of Lombok. As a point of reference, Lombok is close to Bali. In another newsletter, we'll talk about how we got to Gili Gede, the people we met and the things we did.

We arrived at Marina Del Ray with an outboard that didn't work and needing a part for our Honda 2000 Generator. We ordered the Honda part from the US and much to our surprise it arrived on the scheduled date (a lengthy piece could be written about receiving or not receiving packages mailed to remote locations). We now have a working generator which means we can use our watermaker! Our outboard is working thanks to the marina engineer.
The popular cruiser phrase, “Plans are made in the sand at low tide” is so very true. Much of our time at Gili Gede has been associated with major changes to our navigation planâ€�"â€�"stay tuned!



Sent from my iPad

What have we been doing? Well, I know one thing that we have not been doing! For many reasons, none of them really sound, I have not paid any attention to our blog. Must remedy that!

I am going to do a very condensed version. My last posting was in December when we motored to the big wharf in Opua New Zealand to have our mast removed. Tempo Spars in Sydney had made a new bottom half for our mast, shipped it to New Zealand and J.B Marine in Opua did the work of putting us back together.

The day before yesterday we motored out of slip H10, tootled around a bit in the bay and then tied up to the wharf where a crane was waiting to remove the mast. This was double excitement as we were moving under engine power, something we hadn't done since half way through our last passage from Savusavu to New Zealand.

We left early in the morning, calm water in the marina and brilliant sunshine. Pied-a-Mer was smiling even though she was under motor power. It didn't take long for Rob (NSR) to climb the mast and to attach it to the crane. With guidance from 2 NSR staff and Eric the mast was guided off the boat, up over the wharf and onto the cement for transport to NSR. We motored back to slip H10.

Here we are, one week into December. The last word we had on our mast was that it was shipped on the cargo ship, ANL WARRNAMBOO (that's not a typo), expected to arrive in Tauranga on December 7th. The mast will travel by train to the main inland terminal in Auckland, the container unpacked, checked by customs and should be in Opua on the 17th. We're crossing fingers and toes.

Our routine on Pied-a-Mer III changes with the location, season and weather. We are in New Zealand for cyclone season and, at the moment we are in the Bay Of Islands Marina. We are still dealing with issues from our dismasting last May and new problems that occurred on our passage from SavuSavu to New Zealand.

Our days begin around 0530 or 0600. The bathrooms and showers are a short walk from our slip. The facilities are very new and modern. One $2.00 NZ coin gives you a 5 minute hot shower.
Back at the boat by 0700 for breakfast and,on weekdays, the 0800
VHF Cruisers Net. Tuesday I am the Net Host which means I open the net and use the following script: "Good morning and Welcome to the (in this case), Opua Cruisers Net on Tuesday December 5, 2018." The following categories are covered:
1. Is there any medical or emergency traffic? Come now.
2. It's time for check-ins. Who is out there this morning? Please give us your name and boat name.
3. Weather. ( A brief synopsis of the day's forecast with tide information.) Any comments on the weather?
4. Announcements, social, educational, anything?
5. Rides. Anyone needing a ride or offering a ride?
6. Services needed or wanted?
7. Treasures of the bilge. Swap, trade or sell.
8. Crew wanted or wanting to crew?
9. Anything about anything?, come now. If nothing heard after "anything about anything" the net is closed.

Now it’s time for a second cup of coffee and reviewing what we need or want to do the rest of the day. Eric is in charge of repairs, which at the moment are monumental. There seem to always be a few phone calls....Australia, U.S. and local New Zealand. In each country we visit we get a SIM card for our phone. The phone plus Skype allows us to pretty much talk to all of the people we need advice from, order parts from or general information. Our phone plan in New Zealand is called “Skinny” and through it we can call the US for six cents a minute and no charge for New Zealand or Australia. So, Eric works on all that is needed to get us back out sailing and I go about my day.

Marina life allows me the ability to walk off the boat whenever I please. This makes a big difference in almost everything that I do.
A good example is grocery shopping, I feel like a “kid in a candy store” when I shop in New Zealand. I can buy almost any ingredient or food item that I want and don’t have to provision for several days at a time. There is no “waiting for the supply ship” to bring flour, apples, cabbage, cheese, etc. as we have found in some of the South Pacific. I can walk to the Opua Grocery (tho something’s are quite expensive) or catch a ride into Pahia or KeriKeri. This allows me to have all of the fresh produce that I want. There is no need for powdered eggs, powdered milk and New Zealand has wonderful whole grain breads.
TO BE CONTINUED. WORK IN PROGRESS.

One of the many nice things about living for 6 months in the Southern Hemisphere is celebrating holidays. We get to celebrate twice! Our New Zealand Thanksgiving was last Thursday, November 22-Thanksgiving On The Green. We celebrated with our "Cruising Family", a tailgate potluck.

As our "family" is comprised of folks from many different countries, an explanation of a "tailgate potluck" was in order.

The next day we celebrated Thanksgiving in the US by phoning our kids/grandkids and messages to friends. We saw many Thanksgiving tables and smiling faces on Face Book. We are thankful for continuing good health, wonderful family and friends and the opportunity to live this unique lifestyle.