Day 1 Date: Thursday, November 1st 2018 Time: 23:00 UTC (12pm local) Location: 20° 47.49′ S, 176° 13.84′ W COG: 230°T SOG: 5.5kts Distance to the New Zealand: 1147 nm Distance covered since departure (19 hrs) : 86nm
Happy Halloween from Banyan! I first have to say that we LOVE reading your comments. We always read them allowed to the girls to share what you all have to say. We love hearing your own boat stories and dreams and memories. Keep all the comments coming; they add fuel to our tank! We are looking forward to hitting NZ to be able to add some photos!
We had the loveliest stay in Nomuka Iki. We never got off the boat except to swim, but where we anchored was just picture perfect with good holding, lovely sunsets and calm water. The low palm tree studded island with a white sandy beach was a lovely backdrop for some rest and lots of weather checking as we prepared for the passage to NZ.
I say “rest” which really just amounts to a regular full night’s sleep. Cameron decided to install our secondary automatic bilge pump and relocate the switches from the primary bilge pump which was two full days of work. The floor boards were constantly up and much of that time he was laying on the floor with his head in the bilge muttering to himself. I had to strong arm him to get our sundowners in before the sun went down each evening. The first day was all mechanical, mounting the pump, fitting the hoses and plumbing them in, the second day was all electrical, with panels open, installing new switches, running wire, routing the alarm and testing. After it is all said and done, it appears to be working and in good order. Now, we have two automatic bilge pumps and two manual. Oh yes, Cameron also got in the water and cleaned the bottom again as we have to arrive in NZ with a clean bottom.
While Cameron was busy the girls and I tackled three great days of schooling and also cooked and baked up a huge storm. New Zealand is very strict about what foodstuffs enter their country. No meat, veg, fruit, dairy, seeds, honey and “stored products”… which pretty much means anything that they find they don’t want in the country. Since we have only heard tall tales from other boaters about the entry process, we are eager to use up anything that might be confiscated. So it’s time to eat the pate, use up the dried and canned fruit, drink lots of milk and bake up those baking mixes. Add this to the bread making, yogurt making, granola making and pre made dinner making that usually happens before a passage and we had a busy boat…especially with Cameron at our feet with the floor boards up! But we all made it work and everyone was in very good spirits.
Yesterday we celebrated Halloween. When I informed the girls about a week ago that we would likely be on passage on Halloween there was lots of sulking and sadness. They were very sad not to be with old friends and were also concerned with how they would possibly get their trick-or-treating in. In the hopes of having a memorable (in a good way) Halloween, Cameron and I dressed up first thing before the girls were even awake. They woke to me as the Green Knight from the Old English poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight which we have been reading (never let an opportunity to teach pass you by), and Cameron had an atoll on his head (aka Mohawk). This set the tone and the girls promptly dressed up and got faces painted. Adelaide was a cat and Isa a geisha. We even decorated a pumpkin and Cameron and I simulated Trick-or-Treating for them – Cameron behind the door of the head and me in the aft cabin. We topped the day off by watching Coco, a great movie centered on Dia de los Muertos. So, all in all, it wasn’t a total bomb…which is all you can hope for when you don’t have dear friends to go prowling around the neighborhood with.
The first 19 hours of the passage have been just fine. We are beating into the wind so with the less comfortable motion we are trying to keep things very simple and mellow. School amounts to only math and reading, meals are whatever is easy to warm up and personal priorities are hydration and sleep. This is SV Banyan, clear.