Opua Photo Log

November 27 – December 6, 2014

Logbook – November 27, 2014 (Opua)

Passage Log

1150 Engines on- depart Q dock
1221 Engines off – anchorage

The serenity of the Q dock early in the morning. Boats kept arriving: we were there with Silhouette and Ika

It is called “The Bay of Islands” after all (behind that little island would become our go-to anchor location)

Yes, the foul weather gear made it out of storage for this passage to New Zealand. Weather was calm, so we didn’t need it to stay dry, just to stay warm.

Logbook – November 28, 2014 (Opua)

Passage Log

0955 Engines on (1)
1025 Engines off

Daily Notes

(1) To the fuel dock to fill water tanks
D – road trip to Kerikeri with Tusitala & Rigel
T/Boys – reanchor Exodus. Gusty winds – almost collision w/ Iguana at anchor. Move Exodus
Boys play on shore all day. Fluenta’s here.
Resistance night w/ Iguana and Tusitala

Our friends with a broken outboard hitched a two when we were taking Exodus to the dock to get water

Logbook – November 29, 2014 (Opua)

Passage Log

1127 Engines on – move to marina
1202 Arrived at marina

Daily Notes

Move to Manrina
D – run/hike along waterfront trail
Boat chores!!
“Thanksgiving dinner”
T – socialize at Danny’s (s/v Lumbaz) birthday

Exodus at the marina. Well, not the marina exactly, they don’t have many spots for catamarans, so we are on the boatyard dock.

Email to family and friends dated November 29, 2014

Subject: Exodus – No Thanksgiving (yet)

So, we still haven’t celebrated Thanksgiving yet on Exodus, but we have reasons to be thankful everyday. The night before last we all of a sudden ran out of water, and we only realized it when the water pump started sounding funny. Our first reaction was, “Boys, check the bilges!” because we could just imagine a leak had occurred and the contents of our fresh water tank were now in the bottom of our boat. Nope. They were dry. It was almost dark, and we are anchored near the mouth of a river, so we REALLY didn’t want to run our water maker in here. So, we went the night without water. I joked that we still have all the pouches of water in our ditch bag that Marsha gave us for Xmas before we left in case we got desperate. The next morning we went to the fuel dock to fill our tank with shore water, and it seems everything is working fine. I guess for the first time ever we mismanaged our water supply. But it all turned out great, because while we were raising anchor to go to the fuel dock our friends on s/v Tusitala, whose dinghy outboard engine isn’t working, rowed over and very sneaky like tied their dinghy to exodus to get a tow to the dock. It was comical. Anyway, they were borrowing someone’s car to go into town and they invited me to go. What a great day! We went to the main town of Kerikeri about 20 km away, and it has a quaint downtown area that is jam packed full of nice coffee shops, restaurants, and stores. We walked around for hours and then as a last stop hit the HUGE grocery store. It was just like being at home. Not only was it huge but it had everything you could ever want. Mexico and French Polynesia had huge grocery stores, but it was still often a challenge trying to find the things you are used to and if you did they were insanely expensive. But not here. I almost wept over the bulk food aisle. Anyway, I bought all the fixins to make steak, mashed potatoes, and asparagus (asparagus!) for our own little Thanksgiving dinner, but we got back kind of late, and we didn’t even stop at the winery on the way back (winery!) Upon my return we had a decision to make: go ahead and cook and have a late dinner OR make something quick and then play Resistance with Iguana and Tusitala. Resistance won and we had sandwiches for dinner. So…. Thanksgiving will be tonight on Exodus.

Love and miss you all,
-D.

Logbook – Sunday November 30, 2014 (Opua)

Daily Notes

More boat chores (Laundry, mattresses, etc.)
Kid (boy) movie night on Exodus. Girls on Fluenta

Look how patriotic we are…. OK, the real story is our US flag is faded and tattered, and a guy on the dock told Tim he should be embarrassed and gave him this one. It’s HUGE, 4×6 ft, but we feel obligated to fly it.

Laundry Days! Do it yourself coin operated machines, and every machine worked. (It’s laundry “days” instead of “day” because I spent the better part of 3 days in here. I think I washed every piece of fabric on the boat.)

Logbook – Monday December 1, 2014 (Opua)

Daily Notes

Even more boat chores
D – run along the bike track south
No pizza 😦 Emergency bean & cheese burritos

My running trail. A railway line turned bike track.

Logbook – Tuesday December 2, 2014 (Opua)

Daily Notes

T – Auckland to buy a car
D – Paihia to open a bank account

Our new wheels. It’s a used car from Japan, so it says “konnichiwa” when you start it up (It became affectionately known as The Ex-Wagon)

The boys have a lounge (just like Andrew used to)

Email to family and friends dated December 3, 2014

Subject: Exodus – In the marina

We’ve been busy in the marina, and I haven’t had much to write about, but in general, since we have internet, these emails will probably be less frequent. Just to catch you up… we’ve been crazy busy doing boat chores and laundry while in the marina. We are supposed to check out today, but we are going to ask for 2 more days so Tim can service the dinghy outboard. We’ve also opened a bank account and bought a car. Yes, that’s right, Tim went to Auckland yesterday and came back with a car. I haven’t even seen it yet, but it’s a big Toyota thing that seats 8 and is big enough we could sleep in it. I’m so excited for the freedom of having a car! We also learned that we can get our iPhones unlocked by AT&T (it’s the law they have to do it), so then we would be able to buy new sim cards here and then have data and phone service right from our phone. Can you even imagine! (oh yeah, most of you have that all the time…)
The boys have done their share of boat work, but they’ve also been part of the kid pack that roams the marina. It’s mostly the same group of kids we were with in Tongatapu and Minerva, they have just picked up where they left off. It’s mostly girls and younger boys, and I think Alex might be the oldest of the bunch. It was 52 deg F in our salon when I got up at 6am this morning, and I’m still bundled up even though it’s warmed up all the way to 56 deg. I made a trip into Paihia yesterday, which is the closest town to Opua, and I was a bit disappointed to find myself amongst the entire population of a cruise ship. And apparently the library had free wifi, and you could tell this from far away, because of all the people loitering outside on their smartphones and iPads. The crowd of the ruiseshippers aside, it was WAY more touristy than Kerikeri. I think every other shop was a souvenir shop, and the cafes and coffee shops were bland and generic, like they belonged in an airport or something. I think we are going there for dinner tonight with another family (they helped Tim with the car buying process since they had already blazed that trail) and they know of a good place, so maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. I know I’ve talked to a few of you about skyping, but our internet is mostly still very spotty during the day. I think it’s just due to the load of users on the wifi hotspots, because early in the morning it’s great, but by the time the boys get up, not so much. But we’ll keep trying.
Love and miss you all,
-D.

Logbook – Wednesday December 3, 2014 (Opua)

Daily Notes