Nelson

Saturday, we separated to pursue our different goals. Debbie set off for a day of shopping at a market square they have set up, followed by a walk around the art-y shops of Nelson. I did the same, only delayed by a couple of hours as I worked up some blog entries on our in-room internet connection (sweet!).


The art market sets up for a few hours every Saturday in a large parking lot in the middle of town. In addition to fine art, crafty crap, furniture, and antiques, there are also a number of vendors selling foodstuffs, both fresh and prepared. The market was busy and the day was warm, so a pleasant time was had wandering around. I only bought a piece of nummy cheese, but Debbie bought a number of trinkets and baubles during her independent investigation.

I left the market, wandered the streets, and stopped for a Thai stir fry at a streetside cafe. I then explored some of the side streets and shops, and eventually ended up at restaurant row. I had barely established myself with a fortification when Debbie walked past and so she stopped to join me. When I had finished my drink, I left Debbie there to enjoy some lunch, while I headed off to see a bit more of Nelson. I found the jeweller's shop where the "Lord Of The Rings" rings had been crafted, but it had just closed (it's that 1:00 closing on Saturday thing, even in busy tourist towns) so I took a couple of pictures instead.


Next door to that is a glass artist's shop which had also just closed. The workshop doors were wide open, however, and I took some pics of the large quite impressive glass work in progress.


I wandered around a bit more, but the majority of shops were closed or closing, so I eventually gave up and walked back to the motel room. Debbie arrived shortly after me and we spent the rest of the day relaxing. The waterfront room did, however, turn into a waterfront room. The tidal rise runs right up the river, apparently, so twice a day the river floods enough to satisfy the motel's claims.


Off to Greymouth tomorrow.

Don

Off To Nelson

We drove one last time out to the marina at Waikawa bay to drop off the keys for the sailboat. We set out immediately from there for Nelson, an hour and a half drive away.

We missed the turnoff for the shortcut to Nelson, and instead ended driving to Blenheim. Making the most of our unintended detour, we stopped for lunch and a walk around the Blenheim downtown.

We then set out on the direct route from Blenheim to Nelson. These roads are in good condition and follow the wide flat valleys between the mountains. As a result, most of the trip was made in relative calm, with only a few sections having switchback turns and narrow roads.


We stopped at a roadside rest stop to use the ever-so-fancy facilities.


The last few kilometers of the drive into Nelson follow the coastline closely. There is a very large tidal floodplain on this section of the coast, and as we were at low tide, we had an opportunity to see the extent of the shallows, including a few boats that were sitting high and dry, awaiting the return of the ocean to float again.


A short few blocks from the coastal highway led us to the street towards downtown, and we espied a motel offering waterfront rooms. We stopped in and booked a room for two nights. The waterfront rooms were nicely appointed, and here is a picture of the lovely waterfront (riverfront, actually).


After settling in, we set off on foot for the restaurant district, and after a short while were not disappointed. The day was sunny and in the sun it was quite warm. In the shade, it was too cool, actually, so one had to find a spot with a mix to be comfortable. We did so, and after a while had a tasty italian themed dinner.


Here's an only-slightly-broken-down oldie found on the streets of Nelson standing beside some car.


This is looking down Trafalgar Street from Restaurant row towards our hotel (not visible)


We then headed back to our room to finish the day with a bath, some TV, and a book.

Sightseeing and shopping tomorrow.

Don

Back to Southern Endurance

We woke at 8:30 and quickly cleaned and did our final packing in preparation for an exchange for Southern Endurance. At 9:00 Graham of Compass Charters met us at the dock and he and I drove over to the slip holding Southern Endurance. Apparently some work had been required to repair the extraction pump on the toilet and the head area had been painted.

Upon entering, it was clear that the porta-potti smell was much reduced but not absent. Layered on top of that smell was the smell of fresh paint that masked the smell somewhat. I discussed the situation with Graham, and it came down to a difference of opinion as to the level of smelliness, and in that argument I had no fallback. As there were no other boats for us to substitute, I agreed we would give Southern Endurance a try.

Debbie and I packed up our stuff into the car, and after opening all the hatches on Southern Endurance and a quick shower for Debbie, we drove into Picton for some breakfast. We discussed our options, and decided that we would not be able to sleep aboard, but we could still use Southern Endurance for day sails, and as we had only two full days left, we were not too much worse off as we probably wouldn't have done an overnight trip farther out in the sound in any case.

We booked a motel room in Picton with a second floor balcony overlooking the busy main street. We then drove back out towards the marina, stopping to pick up some supplies. As we were stopped, some very dark clouds moved in very quickly over the nearby mountains. Between the time we entered the liquor store and when we returned to the car, the weather had gone from sunny and warm to dark, very windy, and quite a bit cooler.

It began to rain as we drove back to Waikawa Bay marina, and we hurried to get the hatches closed on Southern Endurance. We then retired to the marina restaurant to watch the storm pass over the marina. An hour later, the storm had mostly passed but the day remained cloudy and quite cool. We didn't consider this appealing sailing weather, so we drove back to Picton and settled into our motel room. We headed to the Picon Library where we took over the two internet enabled terminals and did some catching up on the news and mail. A heavy rain pounded the library skylights, and we felt quite vindicated to have avoided setting out for a sail.

Debbie left for some shopping and browsing of the Picton art shops while I got caught up on news and comics. We met later for a late lunch and then went for a walk around Picton. A cruise boat had tied up to a dock next to the interisland ferry docks and we went down to get a closer look.



While not quite as flowery looking as the caribbean cruise ships, it's still not as no-nonsense as the QE2. This one stopped in Picton en route to Sydny Australia from Auckland.

We also checked out the railway station to inquire about the two scenic train trips. Armed with itineraries we headed back to the main drag and our little room. Here are a couple of shots of the Picton waterfront.



We then finished the day with our books on the balcony overlooking Picton.



This is the view from our balcony looking down the street toward the ferry docks.

Late in the evening we walked down to a little pub-like restored older home for an excellent dinner of indian food. They offered a range of spicy hotness to your curry, and Debbie opted for hot, while I opted for hot plus. The hot plus was about as hot as I can stand and still enjoy the taste which was also outstanding. For those of you who've seen me eat hot food, you know that this was damn hot. Debbie enjoyed the heat in her butter chicken as well, claiming it to be her limit for heat.

Because of the cool temperatures, we decided to abandon the rest of our sailing adventure, and instead head south to explore Nelson and the west coast of the south island. Our plan was to spend a day in Nelson, and then drive down to Greymouth from which we could catch the TransAlpine train trip over the southern alps to Christchurch. We would then spend Monday in Christchurch, and on Tuesday catch the TransAlpine back to Greymouth, and finish the day driving back north from Greymouth to Picton in anticipation of catching the Wednesday morning ferry back to Wellington and the north island.

Let's see how that all turns out ...

Don

Steaming For Home

We set off at around 9:30 for our home port of the harbour at Waikawa Bay. We motored out of Endeavour Inlet to top up the batteries and also, as before, to make forward progress as the water was glassy and the wind nonexistant.

The calm air persisted for quite a while. After a couple of hours of motoring, the wind finally picked up sufficiently to give us headway, so we furled out the jib and bobbed our way home. The wind was was conveniently from our port side as we aimed for the harbour, so we made decent headway. Debbie helmed


while I sat on the foredeck enjoying the sun with a beer and some music for much of this part of the journey.


The wind continued to freshen and eventually shifted such that it was heading directly down the sound from the direction we wanted to go.

We spent an hour or so tacking our way up with moderate results, but the wind continued to get stronger, and we decided that getting back before it got too strong would be wise. We rolled up the jib and set to motoring the rest of the way.

The waves on the sound grew in size with the increasing wind speed, and after a while we were driving through some fairly large swells.


Thanks to the handheld GPS navigator Richard had loaned to us (thanks Rich!) we were able to keep close tabs on our forward motion. The Zachary Hicks in calm waters is able to do a little better than 4 knots. In the headwinds and chop we were facing, we were between 2 and 3 knots. I felt that as long as our forward motion did not diminish, we were safe, and our speed did, in fact, remain pretty constant the entire journey.

We eventually made our way to the marina, and after only one abortive attempt to drive the boat into her slip (it was, after all, pretty windy) we were home and safely tied up. We made the below and above decks tidy and then headed to the marina restaurant for a cocktail and some dinner.


In the evening Debbie watched a little more Alias while I did the preliminary packing in preparation for an early morning handover of Zachary Hicks (she got cleaning duties in the morning to even things out for those who keep such tallies).

Thursday will see us back aboard Southern Endurance. Here's to hoping.

Don

Punga Cove

We slept until around 9:30. After the surreal chopper invasion of the middle of the night, it was a little re-assuring to find everything as expected in the morning.

The ship's stove produced a passable coffee, and that combined with my Coke (it's the holidays - these calories don't count) out in the cockpit overlooking the stunning mountain views of the Bay of Many Coves made for a perfect beginning to the day.

This is a couple of sleepyheads showing the interior of Zachary Hicks.



We set off around noon for Endeavour Inlet, which was not very far from Bay of Many Coves. The hope was that we would arrive reasonable early and we would have time and energy for a swim.

The trip to Endeavour Inlet proved to be more arduous than expected as the wind was not particularly cooperative.

We motored out of Bay of Many Coves, mostly to recharge our batteries and to re-cool the icebox, but also because the seas were very calm and the sails weren't going to do us much good. After about 40 minutes, the wind seemed to pick up, so we hoisted a single reefed main and furled out all of the jib.

After 20 minutes of bobbing around, we re-started the engine, and proceeded onward to Endeavour inlet. Another 10 minutes later the winds picked up again, and we shut off the motor and bobbed along a little quicker, but not very quickly. Eventually the wind picked up, but it kept diverting around a different peak surrounding the Sound, changing its direction every 5 minutes or so.

We persisted and eventually the wind settled into a gentle blow that drove us comfortably up the sound.



The wind began to pick up around the time we approached the opening Endeavour Inlet makes off of Queen Charlotte Sound. The wind went from comfortable to brisk in a big hurry, and although we kept the main at a single reef, we furled the jib back to about 20%. Even at this, we were hard pressed to keep a comfortable heel. In addition the wind shifted direction such that it was coming from exactly the direction we wished to go, and were forced to tack back and forth to make headway.

Why, one might ask, would you not switch on the engine and proceed forthwith to your destination. If you ask that question, you just don't get the sailing experience. It's not about the destination. It's about the journey.

We spent a couple of hours tacking back and forth, first to jockey ourselves through the narrow-ish entrance to Endeavour Inlet, and then up the narrow inlet to Punga Bay, our destination. By the time we got halfway up the inlet, the wind had freshened further, and we were forced to furl the jib in completely and sail on with main only.

Here are some funky clouds that accompanied the brisk winds, and a shot to illustrate the chop the brisk winds stirred up.



A radio call to the Punga Bay Resort gave us another set of ambiguous instructions, but this time we decided to wing it and picked a likely target. Despite the by-now howling wind, we hooked up to the mooring quite smoothly, and after settling in retired once again to the cockpit for a congratulatory cocktail. Needless to say, we were no longer in the mood for a swim or snorkel, but here is shot of the waves on the fairly nice, if shallow, beach at the resort.


We called in for restaurant reservations, but were told the restaurant was fully booked, but that there was a BarBQ to be held at the Beach Bar, and we agreed cheerfully to that.

Here is the beach bar.


Once again, the motorized tender arrived punctually (this time at 6:00) and we were delivered safely, though less dry, to the jetty.

Dinner was served hot and plentiful, the drinks cold and flavourful, and the view unbeatable. All in all and excellent experience.

Here is our view for dinner and a pic of Zachary Hicks on her mooring.



A motorized trip to Zachary Hicks put us back in time for a couple of episodes of Alias before Debbie faded. The laptop and I had enough energy left to do a couple of blog updates.

A gale is forecast for Wednesday, and we are expected back at Waikawa harbour to trade Zachary Hicks back in for the presumably now not-stinky Southern Endurance. We are told the gale will hold off until later in the day, so we are off early.

Until then ...

Don

Bay Of Many Coves

Our goal for Monday was to get partway down Queen Charlotte Sound and find a place to moor for the night. We drove the short road into Picton in order to do some grocery and other shopping, check and update our internet ties to home, and have some lunch. By the time all that had been done, it was past 2:00 before we were back to Zachary Hicks, and 2:30 before we were out on the water.

The wind had picked up substantially, be we felt the boat was up to the task as long as we kept the sail exposed down to a reasonable level. We started with a partial jib and found that was not sufficient, so rolled out the remainder. At this point I must admit to a lapse in judgement. I advocated the addition of a reefed main sail at this point, and Debbie agreed. I unfortunately was not as reef savvy as I might have been and it took some time to get the sail down to a reasonably small size. In the time it took to get the sail reefed, the brisk winds we were out in caused much scrambling and although all turned out well, it would have been much wiser to roll in the jib before hauling up the main.

After our sail plan had been properly executed, we had a very nice sail up the sound. Although the wind was brisk, with two reefs and about 20% of the jib showing we found we were doing a comfortable 4 to 5 knots. We sailed like this for a couple of hours until we reached the mouth of the Bay of Many Coves, our target for the night.

Here is a shot of Queen Charlotte Sound


Queen Charlotte Sound is a busy tourist destination, with numerous cottages dotting the shores of the various bays and coves. In addition, there are a few commercial resorts operating that offer moorings to drive-up traffic such as ourselves. After confirming our welcome on the VHS radio, we proceeded up the bay to the Bay Of Many Coves Resort. We had two radio instructions as to which of the 10 or so mooring balls we were to tie up to, but they were so vague and ambiguous we were still puzzled as to where they thought we should tie up. I guess we looked sufficently lost that eventually someone came out in the motorized tender to point out the mooring they had in mind.

These are of the Bay Of Many Coves, which unsurprisingly look a lot like Queen Charlotte Sound ...



After all that, you would think they had a full house. In reality, we were the one and only boat on moorings that night. It's not entirely clear what their motivations were, but all was sorted out to everyone's satisfaction, so why should we care?

We radio'd in to request reservations at the resort's restaurant and were granted an 8:30 seating. We used the few hours until that time to set the boat affairs in order, and to settle ourselves down with a couple of cocktails and some pleasing music.



On schedule, a representative from the resort came out in the motorized tender to collect us and we were dropped off safe and dry on the jetty. A short walk took us to the resort restuarant where we were instantly greeted and seated at balcony edge seats overlooking the beautiful bay. As the sun set, we recieved our drinks, and in short order our excellent meals were served. Debbie had the curried chicken and I had the beef tenderloin, and I can honestly say both meals were outstanding. The desserts were at least as good if not better.

Here is a (blurry, sorry) shot of the resort. The restaurant is on the second floor of the building just to the left of the jetty.


A short tender ride later we found ourselves back abord the Zachary Hicks and we settled in to watch a little Alias on the laptop followed by a not very quiet night's sleep.

About 2:30, we heard a loud engine noise approaching. I jumped up and poked my head out the forward hatch just in time to see a rescue helicoptor cruise not 10 feet above the top of our mast. The noise was terrific as the chopper cruised the bay, the searchlight scanning the water, and then the shoreline. At last, a light flashed from one of the resort units, and the helicoptor searchlight zoned in on it.

I dropped down and headed aft and followed Debbie out the main companionway into the cockpit to watch as the pilot, performing some fairly impressive flying, set the helicopter down into what seemed like solid rainforest (although we later determined there was an area up the hill levelled out onto which the chopper was landed).

Here is an "art" shot of the helicopter landing. The exposure was long, and the boat was bobbing around, so this is what I got. The target of the searchlight is the bright foggy patch.


After setting down, the chopper idled for 5 or so minutes for shutting down completely. We waited for a while expecting a speedy exit. When no such departure happened, we retired again, only to be woken again an hour later when the helicopter left. In truth, though, the exit was substantially quieter than the entrance. I cannot account for this.

Other than the mid sleep interruption, our rest aboard Zachary Hicks swinging from her mooring was ... well ... restful.

Let's see what Tuesday has to offer ...

Don

Zachary Hicks

We woke ill rested, but not dead, and spent a short while re-packing our gear and loading it into the rental car. Interestingly enough, the new rental car smells quite a bit like the interior of Southern Endurance. I can only assume they think this masks the smell of some previous smoking renter, but frankly I'd prefer the smell of stale smoke.

The charter office was closed, so we went into Picton for breakfast and then returned to find that the office had opened.

As you might expect, we were quite anxious about approaching the charter company about our problem, but after a short talk with Crystal (a 7 day a week job for our Crystal ... and her son it seems) our fears were put to rest. Crystal was very sympathetic to our story and offered immediateley to place us in another boat.

Any question of whether the charter operators were leery of renting the 29 foot sailboat to us based on our experience with our little 22 footer was put to rest at this point. Crystal suggested that we substitute the 29 foot Southern Endurance for a 38 foot sailboat that was going to be available for the remainder of our charter. That's right ... thirty eight feet.

I am not lying when I tell you that I had to literally convince Crystal that I wouldn't feel comfortable trying to drive a boat that large through the marina. She tried to convince me that it would be easier than Southern Endurance to sail, but we were firm, and so that option was dropped.

In the end, we settled on switching to the (also) 29 foot Zachary Hicks. This boat is only available until Thursday, so we will have to switch boats again on Wednesday night.

We re-unpacked into Zachary Hicks and then set out for a test sail. Zachary Hicks is quite a bit nicer than Southern Endurance. Other than the smell issues surrounding (literally) Southern Endurance, she is an older boat, and aside from critical running gear, most of the living space and equipment is pretty run down. The running gear (engine, sails, lines, etc) is in very good condition, and the few hours we were out on the sound we found her to be a very nice boat to handle. The interior is, however, a little hurtin'.

Zachary Hicks has a less run-down feel about her. The interior is laid out differently as well, and as a result, has more usable space. All in all she offers a much more comfortable living experience. Oh. And did I mention she does't stink like a porta-john?

Our test run turned into a 5 hour sail down the sound. The wind in Queen Charlotte Sound is quite variable. As a result we got some good experience playing with the lines and winches and except for one quite alarming spot, we had a fun sail.




This is a shot looking down Queen Charlotte Sound towards the ocean.


It's not entirely clear how the rest of this week will turn out, but the weather forecast for the next two days looks good, so we're planning on heading down Queen Charlotte Sound towards the ocean and mooring overnight in one of the bays towards the end. If the weather holds, we may spend another night, but perhaps we will get the hankering for restaurant food and come back to town.

There won't be any updates until after all that, so until then ...

Don