February 13, 2010 – Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand

After being docked in Nelson for most of the last two months (our longest anywhere), we threw off the docklines and sailed toward the Marlborough Sounds.  We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Nelson and we are so glad that we made the decision to sail to the S. Island. Before leaving Nelson, we had to say good bye to our good friends, Neil and Erica who had been crewing for Tyrone on Gillaroo for almost 2 years.  We first met Neil and Erica in Bonaire and had become great friends over the many months and miles all the way to Nelson.  We spent many birthdays and holidays and pizza nights together….and many SSB calls over long passages.  Although it was so hard to say good bye, we are excited as Neil and Erica go back to the Med to start their own cruising lifestyle.  We wish them success and happiness and we can’t wait to see them when we reach the Med….caio, caio!

Although, we were excited to get back in the swing of cruising, I think that we all felt a little rusty. You’d think that after sailing almost15K miles, that wouldn’t happen but I have to admit it was strange to get back into the routine of listening to weather, checking the equipment, and preparing the boat for passage.  But the short 40 mile sail (not exactly a passage) to D’urville Island was the perfect way to get our sea legs back.

D’urville Island and the Marlborough Sounds make up the jagged coastline on the northeast part of the S. Island.  Encompassing one-sixth of New Zealand’s total coastline, the convoluted waters of the sounds are a maze of deep bays, beautiful islands, coves, and waterways that are surrounded by native forest and unspoiled wilderness.  We found it a delightful place to get back into the groove of our cruising lifestyle of fishing (although we didn’t catch anything large enough to eat), swimming (although it was so cold we had to wear our wetsuits), and best of all relaxing without the distractions of a marina in the city.

We visited a few lovely bays in D’Urville and the Sounds and especially enjoyed Ship’s Cove where there is a memorial to Captain James Cook.  Although, Captain Cook was not the first European (see Caroline’s blog for more info), he is the man who is truly recognized as first really exploring New Zealand.  Cook sailed right around the coast of New Zealand on three voyages altogether, mapping as he went, and many places still bear the names he gave them.  He spent much time in the Marlborough Sounds and one of his favorite anchorages, Ship’s Cove, recognizes his travels with a memorial. 

After being docked in Nelson for most of the last two months (our longest anywhere), we threw off the docklines and sailed toward the Marlborough Sounds.  We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Nelson and we are so glad that we made the decision to sail to the S. Island. Before leaving Nelson, we had to say good bye to our good friends, Neil and Erica who had been crewing for Tyrone on Gillaroo for almost 2 years.  We first met Neil and Erica in Bonaire and had become great friends over the many months and miles all the way to Nelson.  We spent many birthdays and holidays and pizza nights together….and many SSB calls over long passages.  Although it was so hard to say good bye, we are excited as Neil and Erica go back to the Med to start their own cruising lifestyle.  We wish them success and happiness and we can’t wait to see them when we reach the Med….caio, caio!

Although, we were excited to get back in the swing of cruising, I think that we all felt a little rusty. You’d think that after sailing almost15K miles, that wouldn’t happen but I have to admit it was strange to get back into the routine of listening to weather, checking the equipment, and preparing the boat for passage.  But the short 40 mile sail (not exactly a passage) to D’urville Island was the perfect way to get our sea legs back.

D’urville Island and the Marlborough Sounds make up the jagged coastline on the northeast part of the S. Island.  Encompassing one-sixth of New Zealand’s total coastline, the convoluted waters of the sounds are a maze of deep bays, beautiful islands, coves, and waterways that are surrounded by native forest and unspoiled wilderness.  We found it a delightful place to get back into the groove of our cruising lifestyle of fishing (although we didn’t catch anything large enough to eat), swimming (although it was so cold we had to wear our wetsuits), and best of all relaxing without the distractions of a marina in the city.

We visited a few lovely bays in D’Urville and the Sounds and especially enjoyed Ship’s Cove where there is a memorial to Captain James Cook.  Although, Captain Cook was not the first European (see Caroline’s blog for more info), he is the man who is truly recognized as first really exploring New Zealand.  Cook sailed right around the coast of New Zealand on three voyages altogether, mapping as he went, and many places still bear the names he gave them.  He spent much time in the Marlborough Sounds and one of his favorite anchorages, Ship’s Cove, recognizes his travels with a memorial. 

One of our best experiences in the Marlborough Sounds was our chance meeting with some of our cruising friends, Whisper.  They just happened to be hiking the Queen Charlotte track which wound along the coves where we anchored.  We met a German kayaking couple who had met Whisper and told us where they we hiking.  We sailed to the anchorage by the track and surprised them by shouting Whisper as we saw them tramping.  We were so excited to see Scott, Mary, Tim, and Fin and had a lot of fun catching up.  What a small world!

Although, the beauty and protection of the Sounds made us understand why it was one of Cook’s favorite areas, the crew of Imagine couldn’t stay quite as long as he did.  Now that we are on the move again, we are on a mission to cross the Cook Strait and start our sail up the east coast of the North Island.  But, of course, as always we’ve got to wait for the good weather window.

February 14, 2010 – Wellington, New Zealand

We did it!  We crossed the Cook’s Strait.  Now if you are not a sailor or even not familiar with New Zealand, you may be looking at the map right now and say, “So, what’s the big deal, it’s only 35 miles?”  Well it’s not the distance that excites us; it’s the winds, the waves, the weather, and the currents that make it so interesting.    The Cook’s Strait (named after guess who) is the narrow bit of water that separates the N and S Islands of New Zealand.  Although narrow, it can be a very treacherous body of water in the wrong circumstances.  The strait acts as a natural wind tunnel with high land masses on either side.  It is also the only opening in a 1200 mile land mass that blocks the movement of the waves as they journey across the Southern Ocean.  Hence, the straits geography automatically means strong winds, tides, and currents.   We spoke to many local sailors, who all said that on one day you can cross the strait and its perfect and the next day it can be horrendous.  Many ships have been lost in the small body of water most recently the large inter island ferry, Wahini, which sank in 1968.  So, in our usual form we spent hours analyzing the weather.  We made the decision to cross on a day when they were calling for SE 20knots.  For the first couple of hours that is exactly what we had and it was actually pretty nice but just as we were getting a little cocky, the wind started to shift and for the last few hours we had 35 knots on the nose.  The trusty Volvo was getting a work out and we were only going 2.5 knots.  Gotta love those forecasts!   The more we listened to the weather, we learned that this was standard fair for the strait…..30 knots out of the N switching to 40 out of the S for a day and then back to 30 out of the N that very night…absolutely crazy weather. 

Although, the last few hours weren’t fun, we made it safely into Wellington Harbor and we are excited to start enjoying New Zealand’s capital city.

February 19, 2010 – “Windy” Wellington, New Zealand

Happy 7^th Birthday, Noah!  We had a great day at the Wellington Zoo celebrating Noah’s birthday.  Although it wasn’t a large zoo, it was totally hands on, and was tons of fun.  We actually got to feed giraffes by hand, watch as the zoo keepers fed the tigers by hand, watch blue penguins get their daily medicine, and we even see our first kiwi, NZ’s national bird.  After a full day at the zoo, we came back to Imagine for Noah’s favorite meal of homemade pizza and his new favorite cake, Pavlova.  For all of our non-kiwi readers, Pavlova is a NZ favorite which is similar to angel food cake but even sweeter if that’s possible.  Instead of icing, you whip up some good old fashioned cream (no cool whip here) and layer it on the top.  Low cal, huh?  But that’s OK, because Noah loves it and Caroline loves to make it for him.

While we were here, we also visited New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa which we all agreed was one of the best museums we have ever been to, including our beloved Chicago museums and the museums in DC.   It was free, we could walk to it from the marina, and the kids loved it so much we went back a second day.  Now that’s a museum.  We have enjoyed our time in Wellington and have been in awe of the weather system.  Since we are from Chicago, we know our wind (and not just the windy politicians), and I don’t think that it can even compare to the wind in Wellington.  As I mentioned in my discussion on the Cook’s Strait, it is nothing to have more than 30 knot winds, in fact that is common.  What’s uncommon is a nice, sunny, calm day. 

So with all of this in mind, we never stopped listening to the weather forecasts, ready to make a run for it the minute it calmed enough to allow for a safe and somewhat comfortable passage.  The manager at the marina told us to look for doable weather, not perfect weather; if we want perfect we could be here for six weeks.  So, it looks like the crew Imagine will be heading out of Windy Wellington this afternoon and sailing up the east coast to Auckland.

February 26, 2010 – Gisborne, New Zealand

Well we had a little detour in the plans to sail directly to Auckland.  From the moment we left Wellington Harbor, the wind was directly on the nose.  It didn’t matter what direction we were sailing, S, E, or N the wind followed us.  It was almost as if we had a wind magnet right on Imagine’s bow.  So after almost three days of beating into it, we made the decision to duck into Gisborne.   Although it was miserable, this passage did provide one moment of pride for the teacher of School Imagine.  As we were nearing Gisborne, the kids were on watch for a couple of hours.  All of sudden, they started to yell, “Young Nick’s Head, Young Nick’s Head.”  Several months ago, when we arrived in November, the teacher decided that it was important for the students to learn about NZ history.  We learned that a cabin boy, named Nick Young, was the first member of Capt. Cook’s crew to sight NZ and Cook recognized the boy by naming a nearby white cliff, Young Nick’s Head.  The kids loved the story because it showed how important everyone is on a crew, even on the Endeavor.  By the kids, identifying Young Nick’s Head without any assistance from an adult, it was like a practical test in a lot of ways.  It showed that the kids have learned how to read the electronic charts, how to bay attention during watch to the charts, and actually tie to it to the history that we have been learning.  Pretty cool….

Although Gisborne was an unplanned stop, we actually had a lot of fun here.  It was a nice marina with a very friendly and helpful marina manager.  There was a great beach close by where the water was finally warm enough for a nice swim.  And we even went to a fun water park where our admission was free because the ticket taker loved Oprah (our fellow Chicago native). 

Although we had only planned to stay a day or two to wait for weather, we ended up staying for five days.  We waited for the wind to shift to the south and help us get around East Cape.  This can be another exciting passage with strong currents and big seas in the wrong weather.  Are you seeing a pattern here?  The wind has shifted and there is a good southerly blow forecasted for today.  We’ve talked to the local fisherman and they agreed with us that it’s a good day to make a run for it.  So after a not so quick pit stop we’ll resume the quest for Auckland hoping to reach NZ’s largest city in two days.