December 10-13, 2014
Logbook – Wednesday December 10, 2014 (Deep Water Cove to Urupukapuka)
Passage Log
- 1036 Engines on
- 1042 Depart
- 1147 Engines off Urupkapuka Bay
Daily Notes
- Move to Urupukapuka
- D/Boys explore on shore.
- T/Jack – swim with dolphins & scalloping
Logbook – Thursday December 11, 2014 (Urupukapuka)
Daily Notes
- T/B/Jack – Scalloping – Alex in the dinghy 80 scallops
- Tim perfects cleaning – 2 scallops/minute
Email to family and friends dated December 11, 2014
Subject: Exodus – Urupukapuka bay
We moved from Deep Water Cove to Urupukapuka bay yesterday morning. Urupukapuka bay is on a small island called Urupukapuka island. The Bay of Islands is reminiscent of Vava’u with many anchorages close together so you have your pick for a blow from any direction. The bay itself isn’t as pretty, but the shore is more versatile in that there is a beach, lots of walking tracks (trails) around the island of varying levels, and grassy areas where Tim and Alex are going to go play catch today if it ever stops raining. I think the last time I wrote I said that Tim and Jack were going to out redeem themselves, and boy did they ever. They came back with two 30 lb Kingfish (Yellowtail) and two huge lobsters. We had quite a feast that night. And then to top it off yesterday after we moved here they went out and got a bunch of scallops. There is a 20 scallop per person limit, so if Tim can’t get the boys to go, I have volunteered to suit up and just sit in the dinghy. That counts, right?
Love and miss you all,
-D.
P.S. We are slowly learning the Kiwi lingo. Jandals = Flip-flops & Trundle = Shopping Cart. And the one you really want to know ahead of time is Tomato Sauce = Ketchup. Learned this the hard way.
Logbook – Friday December 12, 2014 (Urupukapuka)
Daily Notes
- Rain, rain, go away
- Tim helped Jack fix the carburetor for his dive compressor
Email to family and friends dated December 12, 2014
Subject: Exodus – Tour boats and dolphins
It rained most of the day yesterday, and there’s neverending rain in the forecast. We think we are going to head back to Opua today because 1) our freezer is broken and we want to see if the part is here before the weekend and 2) We left the car parked on the street. Next time we will leave the keys with one of our friends to let them use it and look after it while we are out. Anyway, I’d like to back up a bit and share some of Tim’s stories from the past couple days. I’m sure I won’t tell them quite as good as he would, but I’ll give it a go.
When they were out spearfishing at Cape Brett, the day they got the two huge yellowtail and lobsters, there were a couple tourboats out visiting the “hole in the rock,” which is basically a huge hole in the side of the island off the tip of cape brett. It’s a big tourist destination, and apparently it’s big enough for boats to transit through. Not sailboats, because of the mast, but all the big motor tour boats go through it. Except this time one of them missed their mark a bit and hit the top of the hole and snapped off their VHF antenna. I guess it was quite a sound and a sight. One of the guides on this same boat had Tim and Jack hold up their catches for the tourists as they all snapped a bunch of photos. I wonder how many facebook pages they will show up on (unidentified, of course.) Then, yesterday after we got here to Urupukapuka and Tim and Jack were heading out to get scallops a pod of dolphins showed up. They were swimming around the dinghy when that same tourboat showed up. Well, at least the same guide, not sure about the boat, and probably not the same driver. Tim thought for sure they were going to get yelled at for being too close to the dolphins or something (and as the boys and I were watching from Exodus we were thinking the same thing.) But no, the guide recognized them and came over to them and started telling the guests about how they are two “expert spearfishermen” and maybe they would go in the water with the dolphins for them. Tim was the first one in the water, and the dolphins were really playful and swimming circles around him, and the next thing he knew there were about 20 people in the water off the tourboat with him. I guess the dolphins were huge, and we’ve seen them several times here in this bay. Twice we’ve seen them go up to an anchored boat and start jumping around and slapping their tails on the water. It’s almost like they’re saying, “c’mon…c’mon…c’mon you little human…c’mon and play with us.”
Yesterday I didn’t have to go out in the dinghy to go scalloping because Alex and Brenden did. Brenden actually got in the water with two wetsuits on, but he still got cold pretty quick. So, they brought back a huge haul. The scallops here are just laying on the bottom in about 10-15 ft of water so the toughest thing is spotting them, once you spot them you just have to pick them up. So, apparently it’s easier than clams because you don’t have to dig them out. Although, Brenden points out that they went clamming in warm water, and that makes a big difference.
Love and miss you all,
-D.
Logbook – Saturday December 13, 2014 (Urupukapuka to Paradise Bay)
Passage Log
- 1429 – SB engine on for hot water
- 1613 P engine on
- 1624 Depart
- 1701 Engines off – Paradise Bay
Daily Notes
- D – shore excursion solo. Lots of sheep and seep poo. Caught in the rain.
- T/Jack – spearfishing at Cape Brett w/ a couple kiwis – Huge yellowtail
Email to family and friends dated December 13, 2014
Subject: Exodus – Staying put
We decided not to go back to Opua yesterday, because Jack met a local spearfisherman online and he’s invited the two of them out to Cape Brett today. So, they’ll be leaving in about a half hour. We are probably going to move to a bay around the corner for more East protection this afternoon because a low is approaching and winds are supposed to howl out of the east for a couple days. Yes, there is not only online dating but online spearfishing. And some of you might remember it was from the Lagoon owners chat room that Tim found Exodus, not even for sale. The internet is good, but we don’t have it here in this anchorage. Hopefully we can pick up a tower when we move this afternoon, because tomorrow is an important day (day after tomorrow for those of you on the other side of the dateline) and I will need to do some face-timing.
Love and miss you all,
-D.
Gresham Family Exodus 