Tag: Covid-19

Covid, New Zealand

2020 A Strangely Wonderful Year

I guess it goes without saying that 2020 has been an odd year at best with Covid, lockdowns and all that came along with the pandemic. Of course if you’re from the US as we are there’s the rioting and election issues that only added to the chaos of 2020. Here on Dazzler, however, we’ve chosen to reflect upon the positive things that happened because we believe there truly is a silver lining to every cloud. Here’s a review of how 2020 treated us and the blessing we found in each moment.

January 5th started the strange events of 2020 when at 1500 in the afternoon we looked outside and saw the most bizarre sight. In the span of twenty minutes or so the sky changed from a brilliant blue with puffs of white to the most extraordinary shades of orange and red. It felt eerie and surreal and even somewhat apocalyptic. The air was thick with tiny bits of ash falling from the sky landing on the deck of Dazzler. We closed her up to keep the smoke and ash from coming inside. I put a t-shirt over my nose and mouth when outside so as not to breathe in the particulates as I knew they would not play well with my asthma.

The source you ask? A giant plume of smoke traveled the 4000 km (2485 miles) from Australia to New Zealand. Australia had been suffering calamitous wildfires since September and the smoke was so thick that it finally drifted across the Tasman sea to the our shores. A reminder of the devastation happening in Australia, it did create a beautiful, even if a bit ominous, sky that day.

None of the photos here have been altered. This is exactly what we saw that day.

At the end of January we put Dazzler on the hard at Harbourside Boat Works so that we could go back to the States to see our family for five weeks. We spent three fabulous weeks in Florida visiting Jilly’s family and friends. Then it was back to California for a couple of weeks to see Dan’s terrific crew. As always there were too many people to see and not enough time to see them all but we had a wonderful time and enjoyed every second.

Fun times in Florida where Jilly saw fit to actually put a baby alligator on her head. Apparently you’ll only understand if you’re from Florida.

More fun times with our California family and friends!

We arrived back in New Zealand at the end of February and promptly began working on getting Dazzler’s bottom painted. We also picked up Sparkle after she had new tubes put on by Seafarers Inflatables. Our plan….spend the next two months preparing to head back to the islands. We’d finish up the bottom paint, do a few other maintenance items, sell the car and sail back to Fiji where we’d spend a month visiting small villages and handing out some of the 2000+ books we amassed for the children. After that we’d take some time to do a little more sailing in the Yasawas, head on to New Caledonia and Vanuatu and then end the cruising season in Australia where we’d spend New Year’s Eve watching the fireworks in Sydney Harbor. Oh yes, we had a banner year planned. But, as they say, “If you want to see God laugh, just tell him your plans.”

Less than two weeks after putting Dazzler back in the water and getting set up at the Whangerie Town Basin Marina New Zealand went into stage four lockdown. We now look back and remember how all us cruisers were talking about what would happen if we went into lockdown but no one really thought it would happen. Oh how wrong we were about that.

One day into the lockdown and I tore my calf muscle simply walking up the gangway to do laundry. Of course there is a bonus here….I did get out of doing laundry that day and for several weeks afterward! Just ten days later on my first day off of crutches I slipped in the marina shower and fractured several vertebrae. And while most people would look at this and think it’s awful, I choose to look at it completely differently. These two things could have happened to me anywhere, especially out at sea. Instead, they happened in a first world country where I have access to excellent doctors and facilities to help me. I learned through the process that I have Osteopororis and need to be on medication for it. And, since these issues were accidents that happened in New Zealand the vast majority of my treatment was covered under their ACC plan even though I am not a citizen. I literally received thousands of dollars in care for a few hundred US dollars. Now there’s definitely something good to be found in that.

New Zealand graciously extended all the visitor visas so we weren’t required to fly back to the states and leave our home behind. They were extended until the end of September. Not knowing if they’d do another blanket extension, in July we set about making a formal application to be sure we would be allowed to stay here until the end of cyclone season which ends on 30 April each year. 

This required that we both get complete physicals, chest X-rays and bloodwork. It’s not a cheap process to be sure but one that ended up being well worth it. We learned that Dan’s blood pressure is a tad high and he is in need of maintenance medication. Once again being  here and learning this while on land, not after he suffered a major medical event at sea, is a blessing. Just one more thing to be thankful for this year.

And there are more wonderful things that came in 2020. Once the lockdowns were over we took advantage of the extra time to explore the North Island of New Zealand by car. We took dozens of day trips from Whangerie to Opua over to Dargaville and down to Auckland. We visited some of the most beautiful parks and waterfalls we’ve ever seen and along the way we found some great restaurants and met some really wonderful people. (Be sure to check back as we upload photo galleries of our day trips. New Zealand is a truly beautiful place.)

We never cease to be amazing by the stunning beauty of New Zealand!

Speaking of people…being here for this long has allowed us to spend time really getting to know the locals. Traveling and meeting the locals is something we love but so often times we don’t get an opportunity to really know them. This year, however, we got our chance. We’ve actually made some very great friends here in New Zealand and for that we are truly grateful. One of our new friends, Jeff, a mate we met at our local watering hole, even shot three turkeys and delivered some wonderfully fresh turkey breasts to us. YUMMY! And, we even got to spend a more time with our Kiwi family. Being a part of their life which included a new baby, birthdays and a wonderful Thanksgiving there this year was such a treat. Had we left in May we would have missed all of these fabulous family moments. 

We took advantage of the great travel prices after lockdown and spent ten days in Queenstown with our dear friends from SV SuAn during the winter months. Even though we really don’t like the cold we did enjoy the chance to see snow and relax by some cozy, warm fires with a glass of mulled wine. 

Whangerie Falls

In July we were aboard Dazzler one evening as a terrible rainstorm went on outside. Low and behold it turned out to be what they called, “The 500 Year Flood of 2020“. We received 220 mm of rain in a 24 hour period. Even as the storm began to dissipate there was 40-60 mm of rain coming down an hour! It was crazy and yet here we were down below and never thought it was anymore than just a bad rainstorm.

We woke in the morning to find debris covering the top of the water in the marina and began to learn of the destruction. All across Northland trees were down, roads were undermined, mountainsides had slipped onto roads, farms, houses and businesses were flooded. It was absolutely crazy! And to think we never realized what was happening. What good came from that? Well, we looked out that morning and saw yachties from all over the marina gathering together in their dinghies to help remove the debris from the water so it wasn’t banging up on other people’s boats. People across North Island were helping each other. Everyone came together to help each other. And….the waterfalls around North Island were simply spectacular after the storm so Mother Nature turned devastation into beauty.

Farms were completely underwater meaning cattle had to be moved from low ground to high ground. Here you can see the tops of the fence posts which gives you an idea of how much water fell. Note that these photos of the farms were taken several days AFTER the storm went through.

A wonderful first happened for me this year. Dan took me to the Great Moscow Circus. Yes, I grew up in Bradenton, Florida just a hop, skip and a jump from Sarasota which is home to Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey Circus yet I never ever went to the circus. Dan made sure that was rectified here in 2020 when the circus came to town. What a wonderful treat this was for me!

Being here longer also allowed us to do some upgrades to Dazzler including the new cushions in the saloon and a brand new mainsail. Dan went into maintenance mode varnishing down below including the galley and nav station. We got new intermediate shrouds made and Dan installed them. He also serviced the mast, boom and line clutches. He rebuilt the head, rerouted the foredeck halyards, built shelves for my locker and reworked all the scarf joints on the cap rails. My man even dug deep into a few sewing projects as well. He sewed dinghy chaps, made two purses from our old mainsail and replaced a large section of our awning. Oh yes, he had a chance to do some deck work too. Being here longer has definitely turned out to be a blessing for us and for Dazzler.

As for me, I’ve spent months reworking our DazzlersWatch website adding lots of great stuff for cruisers and travelers who come behind us. There’s maps, charts, cruising guides, business information and hundreds of new photos. Currently I’m working on Phase II where I’ll be adding information on car travel New Zealand and cruising Fiji as well language pages with the common phrases that will help you get by in any of the countries we’ve visited. Seems there’s always something to work on even though we’re retired.

One of the greatest things to happen in 2020 is that some cruisers who actually did head out to Fiji took boxes of books with them and close to 1000 books did actually make it into the hands of children there. When the first set of photos came in to us I was in tears for hours. Just seeing how happy something as seemingly insignificant as a book could be to a child is beyond humbling. The books, distributed by SV Pogeyan and SV Archer made it from the Lau Group to the Yasawas bringing smiles to the faces of the grateful children of Fiji.

Yes, we’ve so many things to be thankful for this year and while it could seem like 2020 was a bust because we didn’t get to go cruising the islands, it turns out it was exactly as it was meant to be and for us….it was a fabulously blessed year.

What’s on the schedule for 2021 you ask? We’re going to head out after the first of the year to do a little cruising around New Zealand. Right now we hope to go over the top of North Island and then head south all the way to Milford Sound and Invercargill before coming up the east side. Fully circumnavigating New Zealand can be tricky but we certainly hope to get it done.

And, we’re certainly hoping that we’ll get a chance to head back to Fiji and then on to Australia as cruising season approaches in at the end of April. Of course there’s no guarantees so as always, we will write our plans in the sand at low tide and wait to see what happens with the surf rolls in.

Until next time,

Jilly & Dan

Immigration, New Zealand, Visas

Stranded Sailors

If you are like us you are probably sick and tired of hearing about Covid so we are going to do our best to keep that beast out of our posts moving forward. That said, we have had several followers ask how this is affecting us as nomadic seagoing adventurers. Well the old sea hag, Covid, certainly has put a damper on our 2020 cruising season. Right now instead of wearing long sleeves, sweatpants and wool slippers we should be dangling on the hook at some tropical island in Fiji or Vanuatu doing some snorkeling or hanging out in our hammocks in the cockpit. Unfortunately, that is not the case. We, as well as several hundred other yachties are stuck here in New Zealand due to border closings.

The fact is that Fiji did open their borders to the yachting community several weeks ago with their “blue lane” process. Prior to leaving New Zealand crews must have a negative Covid test that is taken less than 48 hours prior to departure. It also requires crews to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in Fiji but they do count the time at sea as part of that quarantine. They are allowing yachties to do their quarantine on their own boats at anchor. It’s our understanding that a few additional forms need to be filled out and they have people come to your boat twice a day to ensure you are not violating the quarantine. They also have their medical people check everyone’s temperature once a day. At the end of the quarantine you are required to get a Covid test and if all goes well you are granted permission to sail the magnificent and magical islands of Fiji. The fact is, it’s not a a bad process and seems very reasonable. Obviously the entrance fees are a bit more with having to pay for your testing but as we always say, “Nothing is free or cheap in Water World.”

Some boats have already taken off from New Zealand to enjoy the winter in paradise while others, such as ourselves, have decided this year we will just stay put. Why? Why would we want to spend our days living in cold and wet conditions if we could be sipping little fruity drinks with colorful umbrellas on some sandy beach overlooking crystal clear waters? Well, I’ll tell ya Shoutie….

Getting to Fiji and enjoying it’s beauty is only part of the equation. The other part of it is that you need someplace to go when cyclone season starts on 1 November. You see, Fiji is in the cyclone belt whereas New Zealand and Australia are not. If you are not a Kiwi you will not be allowed to return to New Zealand and just this week Australia has relocked down their borders. So if you don’t have a safe harbor to sail to for the season then you are left with keeping your boat in Fiji and taking your chances that a major cyclone doesn’t come and destroy your home. Given that Fiji experienced not just one but two major cyclones last year we’re perfectly content to stay here and continue exploring this amazing country for another ten months.

There are options for putting your boat on the hard in Fiji. One option is at Vuda Marina where they actually put yachts in pits to protect them from toppling over in high winds. Of course if there’s a major storm surge then the pit just puts the boat in a position to be flooded and possibly floated out to sea. Also, if you choose to put your boat in a pit at Vuda you are required to leave it there for the entire six months of cyclone season. That certainly limited your options. And, there’s the issue of where you stay while your boat is on the hard or in the pit. Sure, you can live on the boat on the hard but having done this I can tell you it’s no picnic. You can’t use the head for starters so you have to use the marina facilities each time you have to answer Nature’s call. And even if you can deal with all of these things there is the really big issue which is that most boat insurance companies require your boat to be out of the cyclone belt which is south of 27° S, so if you stay there you have to know that you will not be covered in the event of any damage. For those of us whose boat is our only home, this simply is not an option so many, if not most of the yachties here in New Zealand have decided to stay until next year.

Of course it’s not as easy as just saying, “Oh yeah, we’ll stay here.” For those who are not accustomed to dealing with visas and immigration let me explain. You see, when you come to New Zealand on your boat you are granted a 90 day tourist visa allowing you to stay and visit. There is a book’s worth of paperwork that has to get done for the boat but the immigration part is quite simple as this visa is automatically granted. If you leave the country for at least 30 days before that visa expires you get another 90 days when you return. This is when we plan our trips back to the states. We leave just a few days before the visa expires and when we return we get another 90 days. That gets us through cyclone season and into the beginning of the Summer cruising season when we take off for other lands.

When the old hag Covid came along hundred of yachties were just about to begin preparations to set sail to the tropics for six months but then borders starting closing and we were essentially stranded. Sure, most of us could have flown to our home countries but we’d be leaving our one and only home with no idea whatsoever when we would be able to return. For obvious reasons that simply isn’t an option for most of us. And, at the time, plane fare back to the states was running in the neighborhood of $4000-$6000 per person! OUCH!!!!

Much to the delight of us “stranded sailors” New Zealand in her typical welcoming fashion gave all of us an extension to our visas until 25 September 2020. That was much appreciated news as we learned that borders were slamming shut in early March and we all started to frantically get documents together to apply for extended visas. This automatic extension gave us all a little breathing room and allowed us to wait to see what would happen.

Fast forward to August. Here we still sit knowing that there really is no place to go and there’s been no official word as to what will happen with our visas. Many cruisers are taking the “wait and see” approach just hoping New Zealand will automatically grant another extension. That’s not really the way we do things on Dazzler. After all, it’s not New Zealand’s problem, this is our problem so we decided we would do as we do with everything and take preventative measures.

As the secretary aboard Dazzler I went online and began to fill out the forms to extend our visas until next June. The forms process is not really that big of a deal. They require updated passport photos, bank statements, explanation letters etc.. And, since we are trying to extend our visa longer than 12 months we were required to get bloodwork to be sure we don’t have HIV, Syphilis, Hepatitis, etc.., chest x-rays to be sure we don’t have Tuberculosis and a full medical exam. The cost for the application fee and all this other fun stuff, aside from a couple of days of our time, came to around $450 USD per person. No, it wasn’t cheap but it also certainly didn’t seem unreasonable either. After all, the Kiwis have a right to ensure that visitors here are not going to be an undue burden on their social systems. Hmmm…what a novel concept eh???

We got our application and medicals done and submitted last week just to be certain our application was there in plenty of time. This week we’ve learned that due to the efforts of NZ Marine Association and others within the country who understand the value of having yachties stay, that there is talk of granting yachties a 12 month extension on a case by case basis. You see, the yachting and tourism industries here obviously want us to stay. I just read an article that states yachties who come here for cyclone season spend on average of $20,000 NZD and many spend much, much more as they take advantage of the world class marine industry in making repairs and refits to our yachts. This doesn’t include the money we spend on food, clothing, marina fees, travel etc… We definitely do help to support their country and at a time when international tourism here has come to a halt it only makes sense to keep those people here who are self sufficient and spending lots of money.

So yes, this news was certainly welcome and while some may see this as something that will come free, we feel like it means they are going to require that each person go through the extension process. We’re very happy to know that all of our information is in the hands of immigration already. As it sits now we are fully expecting that our applications will be approved and we will stay until June 2021. If it is not, well, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

And, while this is not an issue for Dazzler, there are many yachties out here facing another complicating factor and that is that here in New Zealand if your boat remains in the country for 24 continuous months you are required to import it into the country. This means a yacht could incur tens of thousands of dollars in import and duty fees. Not many of us are just sitting on that type of cash so for those who are in this situation it’s an even bigger worry. Today we received excellent news for our friends and fellow sailors awaiting updates on their Temporary Import Permits. The government has offered them a one time blanket extension until July 2021. We know many who are breathing a huge sigh of relief and are probably celebrating with gusto right now. As for the visas, we expect to hear an official announcement on that in the coming days.

So as you can see the evil Covid wench has definitely created a stir in more ways than just how the virus is affects the health of people, economies and the never ending mask debates. It has many side effects for the stranded sailors, not just in New Zealand, but all over the world. As for us, we intend to make the most of our time here in New Zealand by getting out and exploring as much of the country as possible. After all, you know what they say, “When the world hands you Kiwis, blend them up with a little ice and vodka and enjoy the ride.”

Until next time,

Jilly & Dan