Back to One Tree Point – and SOL was still happily on the
mooring – not that we expected her not to be but is just very reassuring to
round that last bend and see her safely bobbing out there.
Jamie’s brother Lionel was over from Sydney and came and
spent a couple of days with us. The weather was miserable to say the least –
not a great introduction to boat life for him – as we approached the rain
looked imminent and the sea was particularly choppy and getting more so. Dark
was falling as Jamie and Lionel struggled against the outgoing tide, the trusty
Yamahama chugging through the waves, slowly making their way out to SOL. I saw
the lights go on in the cockpit and breathed a sigh of relief as soon I would
also be aboard, out of the rain and in the warm.
The inclement weather didn’t dampen Lionel’s spirits –
especially when he hooked a couple of snapper – in fact we landed the biggest
snapper caught so far on SOL that weekend. Amazing as we were on a mooring in
only about 6ft of water. So, we feasted – truth be told – we gorged ourselves
on fresh caught fish!!
It was great to see Lionel and have him see what our life
was like now, he will be able to reassure Jamie’s mum back in Australia that we
are fine and the boat is lovely. Two nights is not long and soon we had to take
him back to Auckland and it was time for our next project…
Before leaving for the Islands we wanted to haul SOL out of
the water again for a little maintenance so we booked in with Port Whangarei Marine Centre - a great place with excellent amenities not far from the Whangarei town.
On Wednesday 18th April we were once more being
lifted out of the water, wheeled across the yard and placed on blocks. We
intended this to be a short stay out of the water, but, as usual these things
never follow a set plan. We prepared the hulls and painted new antifouling on –
this will stop marine growth or at the very least slow it – the last lot of
paint had lasted really well. We reapplied some special coating to the
propellers, we had used the same product before and although we didn’t probably
need to, we decided to renew it anyway – an arduous task, but well worth the
time and trouble.
I say things don’t always go to plan, and this time was not
different – we discovered that all four of our “house” batteries had come to
the end of their lifespan. “House” batteries run everything except the starting
of the engines, hence the name. We had Lifeline AGM batteries and wanted to
replace them with the same especially as that meant no alteration to the
systems in place – just pull them out and slot the new ones in. HUH. These
batteries weighed 46kg each, and they were slotted into place like tetris
blocks – not an easy task (or cheap) – but we did it.
We have the charts - both paper and electronic, have cooked and vac packed food for passage, restocked
the larder, done everything in preparation and also bought many pairs of
reading glasses, and various other items we figure will be useful as trade or
thankyou items for the Tongan people who have been hard hit by cyclones this
season.
We were intending to have just us two on board for this
passage, however two young guys answered an ad I had forgotten I had placed on
a sailing website asking for interested crew and so this afternoon we collect
them from the bus station and load them and their gear aboard. They are sailing
up to Opua with us and then if they cope, and we are all happy with each other
they will be coming to Tonga with us.
So tomorrow, May 3rd, we splash back into the
water here at Whangarei, then sail up to Opua, refuel at the marina there and
on Friday morning we clear customs ready for departure either late Friday or
early Saturday.
Tonga here we come…Whoop whoop!!
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