Merry
Christmas and a Fun-Filled New Year
from
Opua, North Island, New Zealand
This
year we have sailed our catamaran 'Puddytat' to Fiji and back. This
is the first time we have visited Fiji and it's definitely not going
to be the last.
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| A Bun Starfish. |
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| A Lion Fish |
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| Coral in various stages.. |
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| A Sweetlips? |
I
can hardly believe that I'm going to start my 13th
year of cruising in January, and Sylvie's 11th. A good friend of mine
told me I'd get bored and suggested that I settled down and continued
to run my consultancy/surveying business. Well, I'm glad to say that
he was wrong. The cruising life-style is one that is going to be hard
to give up.
By
far the greatest reward of cruising is the cruising community itself.
Forever changing, but also remaining constant. We now have hundreds
of friends stretched around the planet; most still experiencing the
cruising life, and all the experiences will be different. Some that
we have lost touch with, but hope to meet again ….. or hear about
from others.
At
this time of year I get annual news letters from land based friends
who are leading radically different lifestyles to ours, but are
equally fulfilling. Reading these letters often reminds me of what my
life could have been like, making me wonder if, given the
opportunity, I would swap ….... but then the answer would simply be
'No' because I have changed.
Last
Sunday we sailed into Opua after leaving Fiji to face the ravages of
cyclone Evan at category 4 or 5 …. 110-140 knot winds. We had a
little less than one weeks warning. Other cruisers were going to stay
and 'hunker-down'. Many locals, including officials, new nothing of
the forecast cyclone …... and even when I told them, they didn't
believe that Fiji would be affected. We had an uneventful sail,
averaging about 7.5 knots. We have had little news from Fiji, but we
hope that our friends over there are well and have had little or no
damage.
Last
Christmas was a different story. We were at sea, crossing from Tonga
to Opua via Mineva North reef. Hence I wasn't able to get out a
timely newsletter of our travels. We'd stopped in Nuku'alofa to clear
out of Tonga and to obtain a NZ visa for Sylvie. Sylvie's parents had
already sailed to Minerva North in their catamaran 'Kudana'. We were
enjoying the company of our crew, Roz, who'd joined us at Palmerston
Island.
Whilst
still in Nuku'alofa we got a message that Kudana had hit Minerva
South reef and were partially disabled, but trying to make for Opua.
To cut a long story short, we managed to find Kudana at about 450
miles from Opua, towing her in for the last 100 miles on a 100ft
nylon bridal with Puddytat powered with a reefed genoa at 5.5 knots!
Kudana had suffered the loss of both keels, had only half of one
rudder, only one blade on one propeller, and had significant but
manageable seawater leak from the starboard saildrive.
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| Amazing job to sail about 800 miles before asking for a tow! |
We
spent our days in NZ meeting up with old cruiser friends and swapping
stories, drinking the local wine, and doing repairs on Puddytat and
others.
One
of the big pluses with NZ is access to good materials and parts ….
at a price. My credit card was flexed to the max: acrylic and seals
for the hatches and windows, wood for the starboard centre bunk, and
spares, spares, and more spares. We borrowed a car to get about …..
NZ public transport doesn't get to Opua.
After
Kudana had been fitted with new keels, rudders, and propellers at
Ashby's boat yard, Sylvie and I set about refurbishing her saloon. It
was my first attempt at veneering …... although I had picked up a
lot from watching my father at his marquetry, I had not actually done
any. Our friend Owen from the yacht Madrona offered some friendly
know-how, and I did some research on the internet. The result was
pretty good ….. better than most production finishes, but I've
learnt a lot too (another way of saying I'll do better next time!!).
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| David's and my work.. It was very interesting to do. |
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| My Mom and I made a cover for it :^D |
Sylvie,
her mother, and I had a break from the cruising life and hired a car
to visit Sylvie's brother in Nelson on the North coast of South
Island. We took the chance to have leisurely trip back to Opua,
staying at back-packers and B&B's. Unfortunately the weather was
wet when we got to Roturua ….. so had to pass on many of the
sights.
I
remember NZ from a visit I made back in 1992. I remember the
beautiful scenery, the colours, the waterfalls, and the clear skies.
Unfortunately this year could not match the memory, but it is still a
fine place to visit. This year we intend to do more cruising,
especially around the Bay of Islands and Northland.
Fiji
on the other hand is gorgeous. The people are very friendly, the
waters are crystal clear, the coral is vibrant, and the fruit is
sweet and tasty. Hopefully it won't be much changed when we visit
there next season. Oh, I nearly forgot, the cost of living in Fiji
must be the lowest in the South Pacific PROVIDED you eat 'in
-season', stay off alcohol and aren't tempted by imports. Coffee
beans are hard to find, even though they grow it here. Most of the
Fijians drink kava which is a sedative ….. so coffee isn't wanted.
Nescafe is fairly easy to come by though …. but I don't regard that
as coffee.
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| Male Dancers entertaining us. |
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| Beautiful female dancer ... :^D |
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Me taking kava at a ceremony at Robinson Crusoe Resort …. not very traditional, but it would not be politic to take a photo of an authentic ceremony at an island village. Sylvie decided against trying this one …. we'd recently been through an authentic ceremony at Beqa and kava isn't very pleasant.
Those mats take several weeks to make and last several years. |
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What
Fiji is famous for ….. and it is NOT an aquarium!!
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Sylvie
is busy with her fabric designing and marketing them on the internet
at:
The
photos don't do her work justice.
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| This is a photo of one of my fabric designs printed by Spoonflower. |
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| Hand Painted and up on Etsy.com |
I've
include a few photos give you some idea of our 2012. I hope you've enjoyed them.
If
you are wondering what has become of my other boat, Quoi Ca Dit, in
Trinidad; and the claim for damages ….... The case was found in my
favour, I have still received no money, I am suing my attorneys, and
the boatyard won't let me have the yacht back unless I pay them
US$36,000. The details are more interesting and painful ….. but not
for this newsletter.
Have
a wonderful 2013 and don't forget to write. We should have a guest
cabin available soon so drop us a line if you fancy dropping in.
David.
