We know. It's been a long time since we've posted to our blog. What can we say? We've been busy! Not all of our time has been spent sitting on the balcony in Solana Beach, watching sunsets and thinking about Moonshadow so far away over the horizon. But some was.
After so long away, there's nothing like a reunion with the people we treasure.
The grandkids are growing so fast. Soon Deb will be the shortest person in the family again.
Somehow, part of the responsibility of being a grand parent involves putting up the new house lamps while the thirty-somethings hold the beer. It's all good though...just keeping in good practice for fixing boats!
One thing keeping us away from Moonshadow after the holidays was John's scheduled eye surgery. With two weeks recovery apiece, the two surgeries consumed all of February. But the whole process was over soon and now our captain has amazing 20/20 vision and is able to read without glasses!
But when the photo above was taken, instead of joy, there was sadness. We had just gotten news that another of John's high school friends, Don Wood, was in the fight of his life. John felt blessed to be in San Diego at this moment when Don was flown from his Hawaii home to Scripps Hospital in La Jolla making it possible to visit. But Don had cancer that had gone undetected long enough there was nothing the hospital could do.
RIP Donny, and say hi to Jamie.
The only good thing to come from this was the opportunity to reunite with John's high school friends Tammi, Tom and Gary who we hadn't seen since... well, Jamie's memorial. We all vowed to keep closer in the future.
Speaking of reunions, John had an opportunity to spend an evening with some other old friends when San Diego Yacht Club held a Commodore's dinner that featured the latest edition to the San Diego Maritime Museum, San Salvador, a replica of the ship that sailed into San Diego Harbor way back in 1542.
She would have carried a crew of 80!
After cocktails aboard San Salvador at the SDYC guest dock, Ray Ashley, President of the San Diego Maritime Museum, presented a fascinating dinner slide show, speaking about the construction of this unique vessel and the various ways in which she is used as an educational tool at the museum. At the dinner was Rowena Carlson, a marine scientist, and ocean voyager aboard her Cal 40 Nozomi. The reunion part has to do with the fact that 45 years ago, Ray, Rowena and John all taught sailing at Jack Dorsee Sailboats on Harbor Island. Just some crazy kids.
That was all happening before Deb and John were married, an event that we celebrated on March 9 at the Chart House. Our 43rd. All dressed up for date night, we hardly recognized each other!
(John is the one who is no longer wearing glasses)
With departure for New Zealand fast approaching, there was just time for one more dinner, this time with John's brother Steve, his wife Wendy, and Deb's father Ed. It was our last chance to express our gratitude to all of them. Steve and Wendy agreed to watch our beloved yellow lab, Casey when we left to go cruising. It all made sense because they have a beautiful ranch with lots of room for dogs. Besides, Casey was twelve then, and we all knew big dogs don't live very long. That was five years ago! Casey turned seventeen two months ago... who knew?! And Ed provided us living quarters on his couches between house/pet sitting gigs at the beach. Ed was a great sport putting up with our luggage and comings and goings.
John arrived in New Zealand a week ahead of Debbie to do all the prep for getting Moonshadow back in the water and habitable before her arrival.
The only trouble with that plan was that it was more like three weeks' work.
But when Deb arrived she rolled up her sleeves and soon
Moonshadow was ready for her shake-down cruise.
Moonshadow was ready for her shake-down cruise.
But first we had to load some cargo...
It was our new Force 10 stove/oven. As with most marine items over 30 years old, parts were getting hard to find so we were happy to locate a brand new Force 10 with the exact same dimensions. The new oven keeps correct temperatures so we no longer ruin meals learning the correct timing.
While in Whangarei, we learned that our sweet Casey's life had come to an end. Seventeen years is a long time for any dog, but especially so for the larger breeds. Casey's second life at Steve and Wendy's ranch was dog heaven, where we knew she was happy with her new job providing unconditional love for her new family. We will always miss her.
Goodbyes are always hard, and it was time to say good bye to Whangarei, a really lovely town in northern New Zealand, about 15 miles up a tidal river.
But with goodbye comes adventure. Finally! The dock lines and fenders have been stowed. Moonshadow is under weigh!
Deb's smiling, even in her thermal underwear, fleece and foulies.
On our way to Great Barrier Island, we saw this salty old gaff-rigged schooner,
headed the other way.
headed the other way.
She has been sailing out here so long, she is plotted on the chart...
...and named Sail Rock!
...and named Sail Rock!
The grey sky and clouds eventually parted bringing on a warm sunny day.
Deb worships warmth and sunshine.
Deb worships warmth and sunshine.
With the foulies stowed away there were big smiles all around!
Anchor down in Kiwiriki Bay at Great Barrier Islands, and surrounded by stunning beauty.
One needn't look far to see some amazing natural beauty here.
Beauty everywhere!
...or stubborn.
We weren't alone. It's always a welcome sight to find porpoises sharing their home with us.
While at Great Barrier Island, urgent bulletins on our VHF radio told us of a weather anomaly some forecasters refer to as a "bolter". Cyclone Cook was determined to escape the tropical latitudes and had her sights on New Zealand where yachties come to escape cyclones.
The forecast track had her passing just east of Great Barrier (where we were) with storm force winds, but the warnings said if she were to track a bit west, we could expect 80 knots. Did they say eighty?
We relocated Moonshadow to the center of little Kiwiriki Bay and put out 300 feet of chain. We backed down on our huge Rocna anchor at 1800 RPM for 10 minutes and got the spare anchor and rode on deck flaked out and ready to go over the side. Next we braided the spinnaker halyards around the roller furling genoa; likewise with the furled staysail; tied nylon sail gaskets around the mainsail cover; stripped all the remaining canvas, cushions, and other loose items on deck. Finally we made sure the rum was within easy reach and waited.
We were in a very safe place, anchored in a bay within a bay with high terrain on all sides, but what really saved us was the more easterly track Cyclone Cook eventually followed. We never saw more than 20 knots wind, but when she made landfall in the Bay of Plenty, gusts were clocked at 110 knots.
With that drama behind us, we moved on, passing through the narrow Man of War Passage, this time heading for Auckland, an easy day sail away.
We feel it is a good omen having these friends keeping us company.
Speaking of friends, George and Merima Backhus greeted us with champagne at the West Haven Marina in Auckland. Auckland has been very good to George. So good that George has called Auckland home for something like 20 years. And George has been very good to us. Always an email or phone call away, George has been Moonshadow's living, breathing owner's manual and knowledge base. When we get in trouble and we need to phone a friend, we call George. We were delighted to finally be reunited after nearly five years. Our short time in Auckland will always be remembered by the margaritas, lamb rack, wine, green lip muscles, and sore cheeks (from laughing and smiling) with Merima and George.
From Auckland we hired a car and embarked on a five day road trip stopping in the Hawkes Bay region famous for it's vineyards. And beautiful yachtie women!
We guessed correctly that the County Hotel in Napier would be a lovely stop for two nights. This old building was once the Hawkes Bay County administration building and one of only a handful of buildings to survive a devastating earth quake in 1931.
We were pleasantly surprised by the staff and elegant rooms, but didn't expect the many delightful touches, like the complementary tray of port and crystal glasses set out in an upstairs parlor for after dinner enjoyment.
Our mission on this road trip was to arrive in Wellington in time for a concert at the Opera House there. On stage that night, our hero Jimmy Buffet. Some time back, Jimmy had booked a performance in Auckland, but had to cancel the New Zealand tour due to injuries he sustained when he fell off a stage in Australia. Jimmy has a fascination with Mark Twain, who influenced some of his song writing, so when he learned that Mark Twain had performed on stage at the Opera House in Wellington he decided that would be the setting for his return. The concert was acoustical and intimate, unlike any previous Parrot Head gathering we'd seen. Still our hero.
As the son of a son of a sailor, Jimmy Buffet attracts yachties wherever he plays. Two of them were Kurt Boyle and his daughter Paris. When he heard we'd be attending, George encouraged us to look up Kurt, who was also attending the concert. Kurt is part of the Moo Crew, having sailed with George on three oceans, Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic. Kurt's love of Moonshadow eventually led him to buy a Deerfoot 72 named Wakaroa, which he sails out of Auckland. We had a delightful dinner with Kurt and Paris before the concert, then said goodbye as we entered the opera house. New friends we'll hope to meet in another anchorage somewhere down the road a bit. With yachtie friends you never know...
Following a different route heading north from Wellington, we stopped at the Waitomo Orchard Bed and Breakfast. Here is the view from our door.
Waitomo is famous for it's extensive limestone caves, within which can be found glow worms. The tiny worms spin sticky silk threads, like spider webs, that hang vertically from the cave ceiling. They worms glow to attract and catch insects looking for daylight to escape the caves. The stalagmites and stalactites are even more impressive when you learn that they grow about half an inch in 100 years.
Back in Auckland we had some new projects to take care of. The idea of a "shake down" cruise is to discover problems while we're around facilities that can help with repairs. We're really good at discovering problems and Auckland is very good at solving them.
But these chores are best done in a place like Auckland where at the end of the day we can reward our hard work with an excellent meal at any one of hundreds of fine restaurants, then have a lovely stroll home taking in the sights.
Finally, we found ourselves waving good bye to Auckland's amazing harbor.
Moonshadow has one more visit to the boat yard in Whangarei where we will address a leaking propeller shaft seal. This was "fixed" during our haul out there, but something wasn't right so another day on the Travel-lift is on our calendar. On our way north, we stopped at Kawau Island (pronounced cow-wow) and entered the large Bon Accord Harbour.
On our way into the bay, who do you suppose we should meet departing the anchorage? Kurt Boyle and his wife aboard Wakaroa. What are the odds of that? Pity we hadn't arrived a day sooner. No worries - another day, another bay.
Stockyard Bay, where we anchored, can get 2-300 boats on a busy weekend in the summer, but we enjoyed a quiet evening among just a hand full of visiting yachts.
On those busy summer weekends, Dave and Robin, managers of the restaurant at the Kawau Boating Club can have their hands full serving drinks and making their famous hamburgers. But this night they had time to tell us about their experience returning to NZ after living in Italy, looking for a place to live, and winding up with new careers running things here.
Looking around, we realized Robin and Dave could have done considerably worse.
The WX is forecasting northerlies 25 knots gusting 35 today and becoming 30 gusting to 45 knots tonight so we've decided to stay another day here where we are well protected. There are always chores aboard a cruising boat, but they're easier when surrounded by a beautiful setting like Kawau.
On today's list: organize the courtesy flags. Since we'll be returning to Fiji in a week or two (or three, or four - weather has a big say in this), we think we'll retire the Fiji courtesy flag we flew last year. It survived over 50 knots when a tropical depression descended upon Moonshadow in Musket Cove.
We've added a section along the right column of our blog page showing flags of the various countries and US States we've visited so far. This season we'll add these to the list. In order: New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Australia.
Soon we'll be posting pictures with lots of turquoise colored water and people in skimpy clothing.
Till then, just imagine someplace like this: