Passage to New Zealand: Day 3

31. Oct. 2015
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New Zealand, Passages
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4 Comments

Author: Pete

Location: 21°35.573S’ 175°13.900E’

Date: 10.31.15

Day 3 at sea.

Happy Halloween! We’re celebrating All Hallow’s Eve aboard with a big bag of candy corn smuggled to us by Miranda’s buddy Teri. Surprisingly, we haven’t had many Trick-or-Treaters out tonight. Miranda doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, so I have a feeling that I’m going to be eating the whole bag myself. Jacked up blood sugar is a really great way to break up the monotony of cruising. TIME TO GO RIDE BIKES! TIME TO SWAB THE DECKS! WHO WANTS TO GO UP THE MAST?! Haven’t figured out a good costume yet. Possibly a sailor? A pirate? Or maybe a mermaid? Not much else in the costume department ’round these parts. I wanted to go as a ghost this year but Miranda said we need the sails intact. She doesn’t feel the need for a costume, saying, “I pretty much resemble a hobo right about now.” We’ll have to find her a stick and a handkerchief.

You’d think the open ocean would be a spooky place on Halloween, what with the web-footed sea monsters, shipwrecked souls lost to the deep, and devious merfolk all floating about. In actuality, it’s another beautiful moonlit night. The only scary thing out here is our hygiene and diet. We’re pushing canned meat since it will be confiscated in New Zealand. BLTs have been on the lunch menu with crispy Spam instead of bacon! We still have ghoul-green lettuce and blood-red tomatoes to go on the sandwiches. They’re horrifyingly good! No pumpkins floating about, and we’re out of coconuts, so we made a dozen zombie eggs for fun! It’s tough to draw on a round object on a bucking boat.

Time to go howl at the moon.

Passage to New Zealand: Day 1-2

29. Oct. 2015
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New Zealand, Passages
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Author: Pete

Location: 20°00.000S’ 175°31.251E’

Date: 10.30.15

Leaving Fiji we encountered fair winds and flat sailing for a few hours inside the barrier reef. We were welcomed back to the high seas outside the pass by 25 knot winds on the beam and 2 meters seas. It got pretty raucous with foam blasting our bows and the dishes rattling in the cupboard as if by juggling poltergeists. A bright moon lighting up the sea helped ease us back into our night watches. We’re sailing as close to the wind as possible, and still not quite pointing at our waypoint. We put on Scopolamine patches right out of the chute and have felt pretty darn good even below in the heavy seas. The medication gives the impression that one has been chewing on cotton balls and sawdust though. Mlehth…

Winds moderated through the night and into the afternoon. Tonight we are motoring through the forecasted lull with mirror seas with only a whisper of breeze. We are deviating from our intended course to head more directly to a point 500 miles north of Cape North in New Zealand. Will have to wait to see how the wind fills in as the cycle of highs and lows progresses farther south.

Landfall in Fiji

15. Aug. 2015
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Fiji, Passages
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2 Comments

Author: Pete

Location: Navula Pass, Fiji

As night fell we sailed south of the island of Beqa and through the straits between the low Vatulele and the main island, Viti Levu. The wind swung from north directly behind us as we made the slow turn around the island and for the first time in what feels like ages we were on a starboard tack. You could hear the port shrouds sigh with relief. In the dark we dodged a fishing boat lit up like Las Vegas and an odd blinking tracking buoy of some kind.

As Tayrona pulled near the Navula Pass we had slacking winds and calming seas. There was no moon and full cloud cover, but the channel marker lights and range lights were clear and unmistakable. The channel is marked by a red light on the left, a green light on the right, and two red lights right in the center that line up when you’re in the middle of the channel. You just have to keep between green and red, and keep the range markers lined up. The radar picks up the shore and the channel marker buoys. It’s easy, just don’t screw up.

We were all hands on deck for the pass. The more eyes the better. Once we were through without event Miranda went off watch and I took us north along the coast towards Lautoka. The navigation lights were easy to follow even in the dark, but soon the black turned to purple then rose and orange. We were exhausted after four rowdy days at sea and some tense night maneuvers; the sunrise over the hills of Fiji were a welcomed sight. I sat on the deck with a mug of tea and watched it unfold. Yes, I was cold. Leave me alone.

We anchored off Vuda Point in sixteen meters of water and waited a few hours for customs to come out to the boat. They confiscated four coconuts, telling me that Fijian coconuts were better anyway, but left all our other stores alone. Even the aloe plant got to stay. We tied up next to an inner concrete wall temporarily while they waited for a more permanent spot to open up.

That night we went out to eat at the marina’s restaurant to celebrate. They must have heard because there were fireworks and music. Somehow Miranda suckered the musicians into letting me play a little too. “So glad we made it… Look how far we’ve come now baby…”