Holiday traffic

Cullen Point inward

Sometimes boats are just like cars. We're stuck behind the slow moving cruiser, three fizz boats shot past us, one got ahead of the cruiser and two got stuck behind. Labour Day mayhem in the Havelock Channel.

Long Bay, Kenepuru

On a more tranquil note, here we are in Long Bay. We spent Labour Weekend loafing about, very busy doing nothing. On the Monday we went exploring up the top of the Kenepuru on the other side of Portage. It's very pretty up there, and less visited. But then Long Bay is nice, too. Note the boom, we now have a derrick for launching and recovering the dinghy.

Moutapu Bay

Passing Grape Escape in the Havelock Channel

We pinched the one nice night, the Friday, of an otherwise wet weekend. Here we are on the Saturday morning, passing No. 1 buoy inward and Grape Escape is outward on a short cruise with a shipload of friends. The sun doesn't always have to be shining, who would miss these softer tones in light rain?

Stocks under pressure

Big illuminated sign at the slipway

There'll be mixed opinion, of course. But the scallops are closed for the year. It will be interesting to see the effect this has on the trailer park and the campsite. I have an opinion, of course. I think that rather than close it for a year and then open it again, you might do better to say divers only. Divers don't disturb the sea bed the way dredges do. Fewer people are prepared to go to the trouble of buying the gear and learning to scuba dive than will buy a dredge and throw it off the back of the boat. Just a thought.

Big tides

The creek at Havelock marina

Saturday high water was predicted at 3.1 metres and low water at 0.4 metres. A high barometer 1030 mb likely pushed the water down that bit more. Sunday was more again with a range of 3 metres. On the flood tide, when the sill is covered that's when we know we have enough water to transit the channel.

Dolphins up Kenepuru Sound

Dolphins at Raetihi

They were like a band of marauders, we couldn't count them there were so many. They came heaping it down from St Omer to where we were moored at Raetihi, hung around for a while fishing, and after about fifteen minutes they were off. Made Poppy's day! The video below (1 minute) kind of captures the moment without the feeling of awe and peace that comes with a visitation from marine mammals.

Winter projects

Brass fiddle in main cabin

Eberspächer 4kW

Heating control in main cabin

New freezer compressor and bits

New sounds and bilge pumps rewired

The diesel heater was installed by Phil Martin, along with some other electrical work. Phil's standard of work is excellent and we would recommend him to anybody. Thank you Phil!

The freezer repair was done by John Dey. John went through the system from end to end, paying attention to every small detail. He made a number of changes and the system now runs efficiently again. Thank you John.

Now all that remains is for the light to return to the southern hemisphere and for us to load some friends and go and get it all wet!

QBW16

Fog lifting in Mahau Sound

Sue on the wheel

Poppy drying off after an unscheduled swim

Water taxi taking Bex ashore

Autumn

Early morning fog

It's pretty quiet around here now. A few diehards still make it down to their boats at the weekends. The main interest is the fog which rolls down the Pelorus River valley and hangs around until the sun gets up and burns it off. Poppy had a friend on gangway duty with her today.

Gangway duty

The weather has been a bit muddly and has curtailed trips out. But we've been using the time to do maintenance and renewal. Phil Martin fitted a diesel heater (4kW Eberspacher) and John Dey is going through the main freezer system, making it a bit more reliable: new compressor, fitting a receiver, changing the flexible hose for copper.

Raetihi

Raetihi in autumn

Rudds and Rowles and Poppy row to shore at Raetihi Lodge, Double Bay, Kenepuru. It's sheltered, and the buoy is positioned in deep water well out from the shore. Raetihi Lodge was closed, but we enjoyed landing at the splendid jetty. Fish were driven into the bay in the evening, about one hour after low water.

Back in Havelock, we were just tying up and Lionel Jeffcoat was there watching Orion berth. He came on board and we had a good long talk about wood and boats and other stuff. If you don't know, Lionel is one of the legendary boatbuilders; he has built some fifty-odd boats in his lifetime, some of them not unlike Orion. He was interested to see Harold's workmanship, and was impressed. And all this in the same month as we met with Harold and talked about the yard at Paremata and the boats his father, he, and his brothers built there.

We've fitted a diesel heater (Eberspacher 4kw) and that's going to extend the season right into winter. For just a few litres of diesel a day it pumps warm air into the fore and main cabins, and the warm air rises up the staircase into the wheelhouse reducing condensation.

Easter

Easter at Havelock

Big tides and the Pelorus River in flood meant timber floating everywhere. That, and a hundred and twenty odd trailers in the car parks caused us to stay in the harbour and do some painting. Looking pretty smart right now. Monday we moved onto the fueller and took 376 litres, so now we're topped right up the better to prevent condensation with the warm days and cool nights. Alison Rudduck stayed aboard a couple of nights, enjoying the slow pace of life aboard Orion.