Sue's birthday cruise

Windy sky in the Kenepuru

Bex and Ryan were going to come, but the earthquake closed the road through Kaikoura. It would have been a long drive via Nelson. The isobars were a tad close together for a serious fishing trip, so we spent a windy afternoon at Raetihi and then woke to an idyllic Sunday morning, the day of Sue's birthday. Pottered back late morning and into the early afternoon. The first hot day in a long while. We were warned of driftwood everywhere after the flood, and while there was some it was not so much. There is a very large piece lodged on the bank east of the Johnson transit marks.

Very HW Havelock

Pat Copp took this picture. The super moon created king tides, plus floodwater after an extraordinary weather event brought the water level up to within an inch of the top. See the colour of the water too. At the bridge over the Wairau the river was bank to bank and flowing strongly. Crystal was on board Lucy on the night of the quake and said it felt as if a giant was shaking the boat.

Havelock Channel

The blue pin marks the position of a large tree with several big branches that has grounded on the bank. It maybe this tree is stuck forever until it eventually rots. If it's ever missing then it has floated off somewhere and could be a real hazard to navigation. We were keeping a very good lookout for timber as we transited the channel on the weekend. Bob tells us it takes four days for the driftwood to clear after a big event. We saw some, but it was mostly small debris floating in long ribbons along lines of tide. 

Testing Christmas tech

Christmas tech

We believe that thorough preparation and rigorous testing lead to successful missions. So here we are testing our Christmas tech in heavy rain and failing light.

Welcome visit

Richard, Maree, and Janice Rowley

No trip out, but a night's stay on board and a chance to recover their equilibrium after a friend's funeral. Haste ye back in summer.

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