Hi everyone,
Our second cruise from Opua took us to two islands in the Bay - Motuarohia and Moturua. Initially however we borrowed a mooring just off the marina from local sv Sam.
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| Sunset in Awaawaroa Bay |
Here's our track for the cruise...
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| Cruise 2 Itinerary |
While on the mooring we did a few more boat jobs. One was to install a new ScanStrut Rokk tablet holder. It mounts very nicely and holds our iPad Minis securely. Perfect for both navigating inshore using the Navionics Boating app and reading Kindle books at sea. We also spliced eyes into the ends of our shore lines and repacked them in readily accessible locations. One of the three 100m shore lines was split into several lengths for use as anchor trip lines.
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| Tablet holder installed under the dodger |
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| Zen Again on the mooring off the marina |
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| Bay of Islands Marina dinghy dock |
After two nights on the mooring we headed out to Motuarohia Island. Captain Cook anchored S of the island when he first visited the Bay of Islands. We met Kiwi sv LaVida there. The last time we'd met Rosco was in Linton Bay, Panama several years ago. Also aboard LaVida were John and Glenda of sv Roulette. They briefed us on cruising Fiordland and loaned us a set of South Island cruising guides.
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| Heading out from Opua |
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| Penguin off Motuarohia Island |
That afternoon we all dinked ashore to walk to the top of the hill. This is a very popular island with a well-maintained track. Nice views.
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| Crew of LaVida, Roulette and Zen Again ashore |
At Motuarohia Island we tried out our newly installed stern anchor. It worked very well. We found a few gotchas during the testing so feel ready for use 'in anger'.
The following day we moved on to Awaawaroa Bay on Moturua Island. Initially we were outside the small bay but still well protected from the light to moderate W to N winds. After a couple of nights we moved further into the bay itself when a gap opened up. It's a lovely little bay with lots of birds in the trees plus dolphins, penguins, rays, fish and apparently sharks in the water.
LaVida came and went a couple of times during our four night stay. And we met up with friends on Turkish sv Deriska who were here too. We joined them in their dink to go around to the other side of the island to a track which circles the island. Good exercise in great company.
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| Zen Again and Deriska |
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| Dolphins passing by |
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| On the track |
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| Post-walk sundowner with sv Deriska crew |
During our stay we did two long sessions cleaning Zen Again's hull. The growth in the Bay of Islands Marina was pretty bad so it was good to clean her up. The water was about 20C which starts to feel cold after a while!
Back in the marina on Tuesday we finally collected our DHL package from Perth. It contained our warranty replacement Starlink Mini, 12 to 24V converters for the Mini and various computer accessories. We had hoped to ship the package to French Poly or Tonga but the costs, including import duty, were excessive. With our New Zealand TIE (Temporary Import Exemption) we can buy and import goods to NZ GST/duty free.
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| The package |
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| Goodies! |
The old Starlink Gen2 system was removed and the new Mini system installed in a few hours. We re-used the mount on the goalpost. The voltage converters were mounted in the navstation with the spare mounted ready for rapid connection. We have redundant engine, solar and Starlink power controllers since they almost guarantee against even a single failure!
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| Mini mounted |
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| 12 to 24V Converters mounted |
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| Navstation |
Most evenings we enjoy a beer at the Opua Cruising Club. Nice way to end the working day!
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| Rainbows from the Opua Cruising Club |
Trust all's well where you are.
