Tag: Pacific Puddle Jump 2018

New Zealand

The Unexpected

Well, this is our last night of passage before we arrive in Tonga. I guess technically we are already in Tongan waters but we’ve still got a little over 60 NM to go to our anchorage. We’re looking forward to seeing Ana and Earle, the owners of Big Mama Yacht Club, and having some of their delicious fish and chips.

It was a beautiful day on the water with sunshine and blue skies. It feels so nice to be back in the routine of sailing. Land life just isn’t nearly as homey for us. Yes, the weather, sleepless nights and bruises from bouncing off the walls, stairs and whatever else is nearby is home for us! This is what we love to do and it’s this that makes us truly happy. It’s so good to be back.

You never know what you’re going to see out here either. Today, after almost eight days without seeing a ship or land or anything of the sort, we came across an island. About 100 NM south of Nuku’alofa is a small island called ‘Ata. We’d seen it on the chart but didn’t know just what to expect. I was down below when Dan called out… “Hey, there’s an island in front of us.” Of course when you’ve seen nothing but water for days on end this is sort of exciting so I immediately ran up to check it out. It was still about 20 miles away so I took a quick glance and told him to call me when we got closer. Then I went back below to continue practicing my tin whistle.

A couple of hours later we were nearly on top of it. It’s less than a mile square but stands quite tall above the ice blue waters of the Pacific. It’s covered in lush green foliage and has sheer brownish colored rock faces hundreds of feet above the ocean. There doesn’t appear to be much in the way of beach here….just a huge rock rising up from the water.

Dan decided to put some hand lines in to see if we could catch a fish. After all, a place like this where the water comes up to 200 feet should be a good spot to catch something. We haven’t had much luck fishing from the boat in the South Pacific so when we see a good spot we have to at least try.
As we neared ‘Ata Island we were surrounded by birds. There were Boobies and Frigates and Gulls of all kinds. I was on the foredeck taking pictures and video. This spectacular place reminded me of Isla Isabel in México with all the birds flying about and the large pinnacle rock guarding the shore. It was so beautiful and was a wonderful interruption to our day.

After about an hour of fishing Dan looked back and said he had something on the hook. He looked again and said it was a bird. “What? A bird?” I exclaimed! “Oh no! You have to save it.” Dan slowed the boat down and began to pull in the line. I was holding my breath every time I saw the little guy’s head come out of the water as he gasped for air. I just knew he was going to be drowned before Dan got him to the boat. It seemed like time was in slow motion and I kept yelling at Dan to hurry. Finally he got him to the boat. He was still alive! Thank God!

Apparently he dove on our lure and it hooked on his wing so Dan pulled him up to the side of the boat. He grabbed his little head and wrestled the hook from his wing then dropped him back in the water. I watched as he floated away. He was visibly shaken and exhausted. Just before he got out of sight I saw him fly up from the water. Hooray! Captain Save-A-Hoe rescues another soul! He’s my hero!

We soon passed by the island and it was nearing time for the Pacific Seafarers Net. We check in with them when we are on passage. I started working on dinner and Dan began gathering the information he needed for our report. He went up to the cockpit and within a minute or two he yelled below that we had something on the line again.

I came up with my camera ready to film our big catch. Oh no! Not another one! Yep, another bird had hooked itself on our lure. How, is beyond us as this was a deep diving lure unlike the floating one the other bird had latched onto. As Dan got him closer to the boat we could see that this Boobie wasn’t going to be as lucky as the last. He was bloated and full of water. We didn’t see it in time and the poor fellow drowned.

Dan removed the hook and dropped the lost soul back into the water and headed below to check in on the Net. I watched with tears streaming down my face as he floated away. Almost instantly five other birds swooped down and landed in the water around the drowned bird. They floated with him until I could see them no longer. It was as if they were mourning the loss of their friend. I sat in the cockpit for a while looking back toward the island with such sadness. I said a prayer for the little guy and finally went below.

We ate dinner and Dan could see I was still very upset. He hugged me and apologized for not being able to save the bird. Of course he also reminded me that sometimes things like this happen and there’s nothing we can do about it. He made some jokes and did his best to make me smile again. Then we both went up into the cockpit and watched a beautiful sunset where we saw two Albatross fly by. On this trip I saw my first Albatross a few days ago and now two more. These were Dan’s first. They are truly magnificent creatures and hopefully as lucky as they say.

Like I said in the beginning, you just don’t know what you will see or what will happen out here. Sometimes there’s beauty beyond your wildest imagination and sometimes you encounter some of the harsher realities of life but even when the bad stuff happens, there’s still something magical about it all.
Until next time,
Jilly

New Zealand, Passage Making, PPJ 2018

Will We Need The Drogue

They say the passage between New Zealand and Tonga can be one of the more difficult passages to make around here. Why? In between these two countries is where three large bodies of water meet. The Tasman Sea, the Coral Sea and the Pacific Ocean all slam up against each other here. So what’s so bad about that you ask? Well, each one of these bodies of water has its own weather system and pattern and whenever two systems collide it can get a bit spirited but throw in a third and it can get downright dicey. This means passage planning needs to be almost perfect and since we’re dealing with Mother Nature and her unpredictablility, it’s almost impossible to find the perfect window. In fact, you are almost guaranteed that sometime during the eight to ten day crossing you are going to come up against some rough weather.


In October 2018 when we departed Nuku’alofa, Tonga headed to New Zealand our bad weather came at the start of our journey. The first day out we were battling 20-25 knot winds off the starboard beam and 3-4 meter seas, if you read about that trip you know we ended up having water come rushing through our hatch into our bunk creating a huge mess and leaving us with just one blanket and a sheet as we headed into a much colder climate. Needless to say, that was not my favorite passage of all time.


So here we are now in the middle of the same passage only in reverse. We knew when we left New Zealand that we were going to be dealing with a low pressure system several days into our passage. Here it is, the end of day three and we’re starting to see its effects. Just before sunset the winds started kicking up from 10-12 knots to 15-20. We reefed down the main in preparation for potentially higher winds.

A couple of hours after dark we had to turn on the engine because the winds had died off and started switching around on us. Around the same time, just as I was about to go down for my pre-watch nap, our auto pilot alarm started going off saying we were off course. The thing is…we were not off course so it was obviously computer error. This happened a couple of times but never again so we had to assume it was just some glitch.

Here Comes The Weather

Throughout the evening the seas became progressively worse and we were getting bounced around quite a bit. For the next 16 hours or so we had a bit of spirited weather. Winds were running 18-24 knots with some chunky seas at about 2-3 meters. It really wasn’t too bad aside from trying to sleep. There’s nothing like being bounced six inches off your bunk every few minutes. It’s sort of like sleeping on a trampoline with kids jumping all around you. One second you’re sound asleep and the next your soaring above the mattress like one of the Flying Walendas.

Thank goodness for all the pillows and cushions in the bunk. Yep…I’ve finally been given that padded room I’ve been promised all these years. But alas that’s the life of a sailor. We can sleep when we get into port. Of course that will be AFTER a couple of anchor down brewskies!

And There It Goes

There is some good news and that’s that the low pressure system we expected pretty much passed us by in that we didn’t get the projected 35 knot winds and 3-4 meter seas. I think Dan was actually bummed because he spent an entire morning preparing our Shark™ drogue for deployment. He was pretty jazzed about using it. I, on the other hand, was just fine with the fact that we didn’t need it.

Once the storm passed the weather turned out to be quite nice. We’ve got good winds and are back to sailing at 5-6 knots. That is, after all, what we really are out here to do. And, the swell has changed around and is going with us hitting at our starboard quarter. What’s that mean? Good sailing and a comfortable ride!

It’s so nice that I finally had real sleep tonight. It was so amazing… at least it was until the gallows man showed up at 2330 to roust me from my slumber for my watch. Arghhhh…Honestly, sometimes I don’t like that guy very much but I guess he deserves some good sleep too. After all he does do most of the work around here.

My dear captain informed me earlier that I miscalculated our arrival in Tonga. He said that due to the fact that we are going slower this trip than we did on the way down last October, this will take ten days. Another big arghhh! I was planning on Thursday then Friday and now Saturday. I think I may need to file a BBB complaint about this cruise line. Their brochure clearly promised an 8 day journey. And, I have yet to receive my welcome cocktail on the lido deck or see the famous Polynesian dancers.

This morning I lodged a complaint with the owner stating that I signed up for the Cocktails and Dreams cruise not the Bruises and Sleep Deprivation one. The jerk had the nerve to tell me if I didn’t like it I could get off and then he asked me to make HIM coffee. Something tells me this guy has no idea that I am a princess and expect to be treated accordingly. But, I guess you get what you pay for huh?

Well…back to my watch. The sky is crystal clear tonight so there’s tons of stars upon which to cast a gaze. And, only 4 more hours until I can crawl back into my bed. I wonder if room service will bring me my breakfast in bed later. Nahhhh, I doubt it…I don’t even get those cool towel animals left on my bed. Oh well…

Until next time,
Jilly