Mana

Tuesday – 25/01/11


Up at 5.00 to listen to the weather forecast and then left Coopers Bay after a peaceful night. Before going to bed we watched the phosphorescence in the water which was really bright with small water bugs skimming around causing bright green swirls in the dark water.

Cook Strait was benevolent this day and after rounding Cape Komaru and motoring past the Brothers Islands we put up a sail and had a quick crossing back to Mana Island where we picked up a mooring to wait for the tide to increase before going in across the bar.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning up the boat, washing out dive gear and washing clothes.

Mana Cruising Club

Astrolabe - (the blue boat is one that Ron,Chris and I used to own)

Wednesday 26/01– Sunday 30/01/11

A busy few days preparing the boat for the trip from here. Have taken the dive tanks into the shop as they have to have their annual check; took the lump of lead into a scrap dealer and Pete happy as he got $60 for it!; went round second hand shops looking for old bone handle knives as they are good for getting the scallops out of their shells (haven’t found any yet); buying containers to store extra flour, sugar, etc. in and going to engineering shops to get bits made up.

On Thursday we spent a good few hours stocking up in the supermarket and then tearing our hair out trying to find places to store everything. There are plenty of areas for storage on the boat but not all are that easily accessible so it is essential to make an inventory of what is on the boat and where it is stored. 

Monday - 31/01/2011

It has been blowing 45+ knots overnight and this morning the wind is still shrieking through the rigging of boats here in the marina. The boat is getting rocked around a fair bit so I am very pleased to be tied up in the marina rather than out at sea.

We are watching the weather and looking for a good 3 day forecast for the west coast. The plan is to leave here for Tarakohe in Golden Bay where we can top up the diesel tanks and then leave when the weather is right for us. Yesterdays prediction was that we would go to Tarakohe on Tuesday and leave there early Thursday morning getting in to Milford on Saturday morning.

Of course the weather gods may have different plans so we will wait, watch and let you know.

Around the Sounds

Sunday – 16/01/2011

After a slow start Enid and I got dropped ashore so we could go for a walk from Resolution Bay to Ship Cove which is about 4.5km.

This track is part of the Queen Charlotte Sound walking track which runs the length of the peninsula between QC and Pelorous Sound. The entire track takes about 4 days.

The section from Resolution Bay climbs gradually up to a lookout point at about 200metres which gives a fantastic view of both sides of the point looking south towards Blumine Island and North East to Ship Cove and Motuara Island and on a clear day (this was not one of those days) you can see right across to Kapiti Island some 60km away.

The bush and trees change from tree ferns (pungas) and lots of ground ferns to the large beech, rimu, and kahikatea trees as you climb up to the ridge.

From the lookout it is all downhill to Ship Cove and we came out onto the wharf in Ship Cove to see Gunner just tying up.

Also on the wharf was a family waiting for a water taxi however it seemed that the boats were not coming in that day so we gave Inga, Rinke, Jitse and Ibby a lift back to Punga Cove in Endeavour Inlet. They are living in NZ for a year and were taking a camping holiday and trying a bit of hiking with the children. Five year old Ibby was very cute in her pink fairy dress, never stopping still for a moment ..




After dropping them off we continued on towards Picton but as it was blowing pretty hard by this stage we decided to go into Hitau Bay instead. We picked up a mooring there and I went for a swim – quite chilly. Great location with deep water right close to the shore.

Monday – 17/01/2011

Wind had dropped of during the night and it was a magnificent hot, windless day which was quite a contrast to the previous day.

We arrived into Picton which is where the Cook Strait ferries depart from for Wellington. The town centre has recently had a facelift and is now looking very smart and we were allocated a berth on a wharf located right at the bottom of town. The one disadvantage of this is that it was close to the new public toilets that talk to you, and play piped music (only two tunes) which became a little boring after a day or so!

Wendy, Peter’s sister came down to the boat for a visit after which we went for a walk uptown to buy me a birthday present. Found an Irish pub for a very good fish and chip dinner and great live music which kept us there until nearly midnight.

Tuesday – 18/01/2011

A wet day but we still decided a walk would be good so we headed off to Waikawa. Decided to wear our wet weather jackets which seemed like a good idea except that it was pretty hot and humid and while they were keeping us dry we were also steaming inside them. Had a walk around the Waikawa marina and then headed over to Wendy’s.

We borrowed her car and went to find Dennis and Marka. Dennis is an old friend from our days at Mana and now owns an old ex tug boat. They are also heading down to Fiordland and Stewart Island and so it was good to catch up and exchange notes. We will probably be leaving at a similar time and so will no doubt be seeing more of them further down the track.

Birthday dinner at The Barn in Picton. Good food, good company. The less said about turning 50, the better!

Wednesday -19/01/2011

Washing day, shopping day and then as the forecast looks like we won’t be getting back across Cook Strait until at least Monday or Tuesday we decided to get out of the marina and find a sheltered bay in the Sounds.



Superyacht 'Bliss' in Picton



Picton's "Coathanger" Bridge

After filling up with diesel – price has gone up again – we motored down to the bottom of Queen Charlotte Sound to a place called Anakiwa.

(Diesel - $1.46/Litre. One month ago when we filled up in Auckland the price was $1.30/litre.)

We spotted the Canadian yacht Inspiration Lady that we had met in Napier but after a couple of circuits of it could see there was no one home and so we went to look at another boat in Waterfall Bay.


We then heard that other friends from Mana had returned from their trip to the UK and were now on their boat in Ngakuta Bay so we joined Wray and Heather for the night.

Thursday – 20/01/2011

Weather pretty dismal so it was a lazy day. Stayed in Ngakuta Bay and visited Jan and Tony on their yacht, Foxy Lady 2. Also old friends from our days at Mana so it was a good few hours of chatting, drinking tea and catching up with news.

 

Dinner that night was for 8 – once again on board Antares and the remaining two pieces of Venison were cooked up. Enid roasting her piece and Pete opting to slow cook in a pot. Both were delicious.

Friday – 21/01/2011

Weather today even worse – grey, overcast and raining but we decided it was time for a change of scenery so we headed up the Sound to the Lochmara Café for a coffee. This is at a lodge at the top of Lochmara Bay and a great spot with accommodation, café and bush walks.



The lodges chef picking his fish direct from the fishing boat.





Large Groper



There are a number of lodges in the Sounds that offer moorings for boats to tie up to and will pick you up from your boat and take you ashore.

We then headed further up to Wharehunga Bay for a quiet night. Seems that the weather has been pretty horrible around the country and some fishing boats were having a hard time getting into Greymouth which is on the West Coast.

After watching this video I hope we never have to go in there.

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/23899171

Saturday - 22/01/11

The day not looking too bad but still windy and the forecast for Cook Strait just gets worse. Decided to go for a walk with Dick and Enid and then go for a dive to get some scallops.

We went ashore and had a nosy around a house on the shore (nobody home), and then up a DoC track for a few miles. Great views of the bay and Pattens Passage.

 

Pete had a good find which was a huge lump of molten lead. Apparently the price of lead has rocketed so there was a bit of a project to retrieve the 50 kg lump and get it onto the boat.

Dick was happy with his find of a fly sheet from a tent – not sure what he was going to use it for but fossicking around the shoreline is all part of the fun of boating.

We then took off for another bay to go scallop diving. The wind was gusting pretty hard as we crossed a large bay and while I was at the wheel I suddenly heard a yell from Pete. I looked round to see the dinghy which we had been towing was upside down and flying through the air like a helicopter. The 10mm thick painter (rope) broke like a piece of string. We turned round and went alongside to retrieve the dinghy. I managed to get the boat hook on one of the handles and pulled and was left holding the rubber handle of the boat hook, the rest of it dropping into the sea.

Grabbed the second boat hook and got alongside the dinghy again and managed to grab it only to see that one of the oars had come out but we managed to hook that out of the water. After getting the dinghy turned the right way up and tied on again, we found that the first boat hook was still floating on the other side of the boat so hooked that out and carried on our way. Not long afterwards a pod of large dolphins swam across the bay behind us.

Got to our dive spot and Enid and I were the two that were diving. I managed to squeeze into my old 7mm thick wetsuit and don all my gear as we arrived at our dive spot. I was diving with Enid and she was ready and waiting so in we went with our catch bags attached to a long string and a buoy that would float on the surface. This gives the person on the boat something to look for to indicate where the diver is and is also used to retrieve the bag full of scallops once we had finished collecting.

Visibility was not great so once on the bottom at 30-40ft Enid and I didn’t see each other again until we surfaced. Scallops are plentiful in this area (note I am not telling you the name of the bay!!) but it takes some swimming around looking for ones of a decent size. In this area the limit is 50 scallops per person per day and the divers can collect for someone on the boat who is helping or looking after the boat, meaning that we each had to collect 100 scallops. The bag gets pretty heavy towards the end but we were both successful and surfaced after about 45 minutes and used up a full tank of air.

Back at Wharehunga Bay we shucked the scallops, kept some out for dinner and froze the rest of them. Another great meal from the sea.

Sunday - 23/01/11

Heavy rain today and with the wind blowing us around and a forecast for 50 knots tonight we have moved to Endeavour Inlet. After tying up alongside Antares for a while in Bakers Bay we decided to move elsewhere as the boats were rocking around too much for comfort and likely to damage each other. We have moved to a bay a little further along and have spent the day checking stores and compiling a shopping list. We have definitely decided on the West coast route so will need to do a major stock up before leaving Wellington.

Monday – 24/01/11

Definitely a better day today but still a bit windy in Cook Strait so we went up Endeavour Inlet to Furneaux Lodge. The old house is set in park like gardens and there are various cottages providing accommodation. This lodge has been part of the Marlborough Sounds history for many years and its fortunes have come and gone with various owners.

We went for a couple of hours walk to the waterfall in the valley behind the lodge. The track warned that it was not maintained by DoC and that was obvious as it was fairly overgrown in places but was among some beautiful bush and huge old trees. Small ferns and moss covered the ground and underfoot the path was spongy from layers of leaves from the huge beech trees. Big old rimus housed all sorts of ferns and epiphytes; rata vines twisted around trees and supplejack vines threatened to trip us up especially when we lost the track for a while.

Lancewood



 The waterfall cascaded down the rocks to crystal clear pools and it reminded me of a walk we used to do to the Grotto in the Drakensberg Mountains (some of you South Africans will remember that).

On the way back we got a radio call from a boat who we didn’t know but which turned out to belong to the son of a previous owner of Gunner. They had seen us cruising past the bay they were in and wanted to take some photos.



Spent the night on Coopers mooring near to the entrance to Queen Charlotte Sound ready for an early morning getaway before the predicted 30knot northerly arrived.

Tomorrow - back across Cook Strait.

To the Marlborough Sounds

Firstly my apologies to those of you who have been logging on to this blog expectantly and have taken to texting me to give me a hurry up to add more news. In my defence – we have not had an internet connection for the last four days and there always seems to be something else to do when you are out on the water. If you would like to be emailed when a new blog is posted send me an email and I will add you to the list.

The old cliché – time flies when you’re having fun is certainly apt.

We had promised to catch up with Dick and Enid who had left on New Years Day for Nelson and were now at D’Urville Island, and our plan was to meet up with them for a few days and then head to Picton.

Tuesday - 11/01/2011

We left Mana at 7am to get across the bar before the low tide at 9 and found a yacht that obviously hadn’t left early enough that was aground. After a conversation with them and an offer of a tow which they declined we headed out into Cook Strait.



Mana Island

 Conditions were pretty good with a south easterly wind which freshened to about 20 knots as we got further towards the South Island.

The crossing from Mana to Stephens Passage is about 45 nautical miles, and six hours later we passed between Cape Stephens at the top end of D’Urville Island. and Stephens Island.

Stephens Island

Another hour took us into Port Hardy on the western side of the island.

This is a large area consisting of the East Arm and South Arm with countless bays. We had earlier spoken to Dick on the radio and we motored down to the very end of the South Arm and found Antares on a mooring along with another yacht and we rafted up alongside them.

In this incredibly scenic sheltered cove surrounded by bush it was calm and hot and we had a lazy afternoon before being very spoilt by Enid and Dick with a fantastic dinner starting with Sashimi (freshly caught Kawai) followed by a huge crayfish that Dick had caught a couple of days earlier. Delicious..

Wednesday-12/01/2011
We woke around 5am to the sound of birdsong. The “dawn chorus” of Tuis and bellbirds and the occasional morepork still out is absolutely stunning in its volume and sound and as the sky lightens the bird calls quiten.

The morning consisted of doing odd jobs around the boat but mostly it was a lazy one with Enid and I chatting and reading and contemplating going for a swim. Peter and Dick were busy making some repairs to a water pipe which comes down from the hills and is attached to a buoy in the bay allowing boats to retrieve the hose and fill their watertanks. This is the only place on the island to get fresh water.

Just after lunch which consisted of left over crayfish, bread and butter, Dick went off for a ride around in his dinghy and came back an hour or so later with a big grin on his face. Give us a hand with this he says and lifts a fresh leg of venison out of the dinghy. Dick had spotted a boat in another bay that he knew so went over to say hello. The owner, a 77 year old had shot a deer the day before and gave Dick a leg. Bit fresh for eating so we put it into a cheesecloth bag and hauled it to the top of Gunners mast (to get it out of the way of flies) but then decided it would be too hot in the sun so took it ashore and the guys managed to get a rope over a high branch in a suitable tree. Apparently there are no possums on the island so hopefully nothing will eat it before we get to it. The other thing I learned was that flies will not go above a height of about 10 metres so this is the reason for hanging the meat in a high spot.

In the bush in the cove there is a beautiful stream meandering down through some huge native trees – Puriri; and Beech. The New Zealand South Island Robin is incredibly inquisitive and comes up real close to check out what you are doing. I sat down by a rotting log and two of them hopped along the log to within arms length from me.



A camp in the bush

After the leg of venison had been taken care of we headed off down the bay on Antares to get some dinner. We decided that a few buckets of mussels from the mussel farm would be a good thing for us. According to Dick, it is quite acceptable to raid a few mussels from the farms. The first few metres of the lines which hang down from rows of lines contain a mixture of black and green lip mussels and as they are only interested in harvesting the green lips the first ones would be discarded. These mussels were still quite small but were a good eating size and were delicious that night cooked two different ways by Peter and Enid.

Mussel Farm

Another bit of excitement during the day was when a helicopter came in to deliver a few supplies to a large motor yacht on the other side of South Arm. Earlier, a jetski had come across with a couple on it who were the owners of the yacht. They asked if we needed anything brought in as they had a helicopter coming in to deliver a part for an outboard engine. The helicopter came in and at first appeared to be dropping a bag to the boat but then landed on the nearby shore.


How the rich get their groceries delivered

 Thursday - 13/01/2011
Today we decided to go for a dive and we took Gunner up to an area on the western side of Cape Stephens. Dick went for a dive first as he is the expert crayfish gatherer, however due to some confusion we had put him into water that was not deep enough and he returned somewhat disgruntled and empty handed. Enid and I then decided we would go for a more leisurely scenic dive. We were enjoying the swim through rocks and kelp, spotting lots of Paua, Kinna and schools of fish when Enid spotted a crayfish. She attacked the crayfish and after a mighty struggle under a rock overhang she came out victorious with a good sized cray. We had not taken a catch bag with us so we decided to go to the surface rather than risk losing our prize. A short but very good dive and for me a good refresher after not having dived for a few years.

We headed back to our bay and once again dined on crayfish and delicious salads in the most beautiful setting.

Friday – 14/01/2011
Reluctantly we decided it was time to leave this idyllic spot and head towards Picton. We left Port Hardy in the morning after remembering to retrieve the leg of venison from the tree. Pete did a skilful skinning and butchering job, taking out the bone and cutting it up into four pieces. There were only a few maggots which got washed off!!


We stopped for some fishing around Cape Stephens and in the Passage but found that with the tide starting to turn and run fast through the area known as The Devils Cauldron it was impossible to get our lines down to the bottom. We carried on to the Rangitoto Islands where we fished on a small reef in about 5-6 metres of water.

A seal was playing in the water nearby and then clambered up on to the rocks to enjoy the sun and preen itself. It didn’t take long to catch our limit of 3 Blue Cod each and we then continued on into Port Ligar in Pelorous Sound where we once again tied up alongside Antares.


 Pelorous Sound

Dick had been diving again and so the biggest decision was whether we should have fish or crayfish for dinner. Crayfish won out with the fish being kept for breakfast.

Another magnificent anchorage, quite different from the closed in bush surrounds of Port Hardy, this bay is open to the South with a magnificent view down Pelorous Sound with layers of hills receeding into the distance.

Saturday – 15/01/2011

Today we continued on into Queen Charlotte Sound. We left Port Ligar around midday and passed through Allen Strait between Forsyth Island and the mainland and into Guards Bay.

By the time we rounded Alligator Head it was starting to blow pretty well but the sea was behind us so no problem. We headed through the passage between Cape Jackson and the lighthouse which was fairly interesting with breaking seas behind us. Plenty of room but you are never quite sure where the rock is that is under the surface. This is where the cruise ship Mikael Leumentov came to grief in 198???. The ML went into nearby Port Gore where she sank in about 30 metres.

Cape Jackson lighthouse

Once around the cape we thought it should be pretty sheltered but funny things happen with the wind in the Marlborough Sounds and with a 40knot Nor’westerly wind the gusts coming down the steep hills cause what they call “Willy-Walls”. The water smokes with spray and the wind is fierce. As we motored down the sound the boat would get hit by one of these willy walls with enough force to lean her right over.

We went down the Sound to Resolution Bay where we picked up a mooring for the night. I had prepared the venison on our way over, marinating it in oil, lots of garlic and some herbs. This went into the oven to slow roast.  Another delicious meal.