Opua Arrival

 Hi everyone,

We arrived in Opua at 0630 on Wednesday 5th, making it a 7 day passage.  We'll post a passage summary soon.  We docked at the Bay of Islands Marina Q (for Quarantine) dock.  It was fairly crowded but we found a spot.

Bay of Islands Marina

Tuesday afternoon saw us reaching towards the Bay of Islands in a slowly fading breeze.  By 2100 we were losing steerage way and the sails were slatting in the low swell so the engine went on.  We slowly motored the 35nm to Opua.  On entering the Bay of Islands we were enveloped in fog which made it an interesting arrival.  Visibility wasn't too bad at 100-200m.  We did one 'circuit' to delay our arrival until after dawn.

Into the foggy Bay of Islands

Approaching Opua

At the Q dock

At about 0800 officials started to visit all the waiting yachts, building a queue based on their arrival times.  Very fair but we were well down the queue.  A few hours later we were searched by a NZ Navy guy on loan to Customs.  Then we were interviewed by a very friendly and efficient Customs lady.  Then in the early afternoon we were interviewed by an equally friendly and efficient Biosecurity lady.  She had seen our Biosecurity document and asked to see our video taken after the most recent hull cleaning.  She then used a GoPro to inspect the hull herself.  All good thank goodness!  The many hours of hull cleaning paid off.

By mid-afternoon we were in a pen on E dock of the marina.  At 1700 we joined an OCC get-together on an Amel 56, then dinner at the Opua Cruising Club.  The beer was good, as were the sausages.

In the marina

Opua sunset

On Thursday we did our laundry then joined the crew of OCC sv Wild Iris to taxi into the nearby town of Paihia.  There we got fresh fruit & veg at the farmer's market, followed by a great lunch at Charlotte's Kitchen.

Marina office with great facillties including laundry

Laundry time!

Lunch!

After lunch we walked the 2km to the Woolworths supermarket in Waitangi.  The town is famous for the treaty signed there between the British and Maoris.  The supermarket is pretty good.  We taxied back to the marina from there.

 

Heading home with booty

Back on board we filled our water tanks and jerries, and washed off the salt on deck.

Today we filled our fuel tank and jerries, did the remaining laundry and started spending at the two on-site chandleries.  Busy busy busy but fun too.

Trust all's well where you are!