M/Y Iron Lady

After Great Barrier we traveled on to Kowou Island which deserves more treatment then I have time for now. After Kowou, we moved north to Marsden Cove (about 5 hours) and tomorrow we move back to Whangarei for a bit more outfitting before heading north to the Pacific Islands.

Marsden was also kind of a work day after arriving – vacuum the interior, dust, polish up the outside stainless, etc.

Late in the day, a friend from Whangarei stopped by and gave us a big Cray (lobster to you non-Kiwis). He is just coming out of the pot as an entree – great end to a great day.

Tomorrow, Deb has arranged a Maori blessing for the boat as we prepare for our journey north to the islands.

The Cray is ready – the wine is chilled – and smooth jazz is on the stereo.

Cheers

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The old saw is that “a red sky in the morning means sailors take warning”. It means that high pressure is to the east of you (good weather) and low pressure is moving in (bad weather). The weather charts that we are downloading all indicate really bad weather for the next 3 days or so. A series of cold fronts are forecast to move in from the south and the wind is supposed to come up from 35 to 45 knots. Deb took this picture at sunrise confirming same.

In the southern hemisphere, the wind goes north before a cold front and south after it passes bringing cold air up from the antarctic Just the opposite from home. Hence a projected blow from the southwest with rain squalls.

On the way to a more protected anchorage, we were outside and Deb had a friend come and visit. He held just outside of the reach of her hand for about 10 minutes. He is a black petrel.

Once there, the snotty weather called for a change of plans and Deb and I dinked in to Port Fitzroy (one store, one dock, a clinic and a Dept of Conservation Office) and rented a car to tour the island landside.

We toured a marvelous beach, many great overlooks, and Windy Conyon – absolutely stunning stuff, but my Nikon blew a memory card and we lost most of it (Yes Ron – you did warn me). Windy Canyon was almost too spectacular for words and more then a bit scary – once on top, Deb and I looked back down and were terrified. We ended up coming down the top part on our bums.

The following are some shots that Deb took on her Canon.

View off the eastern side of Great Barrier

This small church has no permanent clergy – every week, clergy from a different denomination not from the island or a local person conducts a service.

This is an endangered parrot the Deb caught a picture of.

After Windy Canyon (unfortunately no pictures), we stopped at a small cafe for lunch.

Our intent was to visit some hot springs near Whangaparapara Bay, but is would have taken 3 hours (2 of which were walking) and we were running out of time. The other option was a 2 hour bush walk near Port Fitzroy to a waterfall.

As we were running out of daylight and storms were moving in again, there was no time for swimming. That will come, however, as such places are numerous in New Zealand.

Back to the boat for a wild night at anchor with the winds just howling – but Iron Lady did just fine and with all of the exercise, Deb and slept well.

Next destination is Kowou Island after the winds die.

April 7

We had a great trip down from Whangarei and caught 2 tuna enroute. After suitably being marinated, they were cooked on the barbee for dinner at Katherine’s Bay. The next morning we moved on to Port Fitzroy also on Great Barrier, but not before trying our hand for some red snapper. The fish cooperated and in short order we had boated 3 nice fish in around 175 feet of water.

Anchored up near Smokehouse Bay, Deb and Steve prepared same sauteed in Panko bread crumbs and white wine. Next morning, Deb challenged us to catch some more Kawa in the bay. In about 5 minutes, we had boated the following.

Not sure I get it – we purchased all this meat and we haven’t used any of it. Oh well. The decision was to smoke same the next day at – you guessed it – Smokehouse Bay.

Smokehouse has full facilities for the visiting yachtsmen – although a bit primitive. Bath with heated water.

Indoor plumbing and shower.

Outdoor bath and shower for the more adventuresome – looks like a cialis commercial.

Laundry facilities.

Drying facilities in operation.

All of this is courtesy of a small fresh water stream – a friendly Kiwi demonstrates the output in a style that only a Kiwi can.

Then of course there is the necessary room.

Not to mention the reason we came – the smokehouse.

Freshly smoked over Manuka wood which is like a more fragarant version of mesquite, we enjoyed a bit for lunch and Debby and Steve made a Shepard’s Pie with the rest for dinner.

The weather is going to kick up for the next 3 days (winds up to 45 knots) so we will be hiding out around Port Fitzroy and doing some island touring by rental car.

April 5, 2011

Our plan is to head back to Great Barrier Island – we only saw a small part of the island over the 2 nights we were there. Tomorrow’s destination is Catherine’s Bay. Supposed to have great mussels and snapper. The weather is supposed to be settled so it should be a relaxed journey.

The following is a shot of iron Lady’s helm station. You might notice there is no wheel. We do have one for emergencies only, but the bulk of the steering is done by the autopilot or the small rheostat in the white module in the center – we are essentially fly by wire. More about that another day.

The left screen is presently set up to display camera images from 3 cameras – it can also display a variety of other content. The right screen is set up to display radar. The center screen is displaying a chart with our intended course.

This is a closer shot showing our planned route from Whangarei to Great Barrier.

The computer age has come to boating but we still have sight reduction tables and a sextant on board just in case.

We will probably be offline for a bit since there is no internet (or much other service for that matter) on Great Barrier.

Best to All