Mangahawea Bay, Moturua Island, Bay of Islands Marina, North Island
Sunday 4 July 2021
John joined us for breakfast around 8:15 this morning and as if two new pumps on order wasn’t enough, the ever-reliable, and over used, freshwater pump – which delivers hot and cold water to the galley, the two wash basins, the shower and also the deck shower near the port steps – decided to go on strike.
The problem started a couple of days ago, which forced us to employ the manual foot pump, back-up system. Then, every now and then, the water pump would decide to work, the water flowed through the taps … and we began to wonder whether it was when we turned the hot tap on. Then, occasionally we’d turn on the hot tap, and nothing happened – no water. So, we’d be back to foot pumping to fill the kettle. Then all of a sudden, we had flowing water through the galley flick-mixer again. The source of the problem seemed to be bordering on some mystical, supernatural influence
We had already lifted the floor to play with the motor, which would only have been around 2-3 years old – it looked brand new – very strange. I was sure I had a replacement onboard, but in thinking back, and checking all the likely storage spots, I remember that this WAS the replacement pump. I recall thinking, when the old original pump died … “these pumps last forever, I’ll install my spare and consider buying another in a few year’s time”
As it turns out, I didn’t. Fortunately, this is a 400-berth marina, and as a result, it supports two sizeable chandleries about 100 metres from where we are tied up. And “yes”, they had this exact model on the shelf … “the 12 volt one please…”
Grabbing this brief moment to finish off the job – before Matt and Cathy arrived – John’s parting “gift” was to install the new fresh water pump. Well, we both did really, but John did more bending and contorting than me, and he DID diagnose that the problem was … “definitely the pump” …
Around 10:45 we received a text from Matt and Cathy to say that they were in Paihia, a short distance away. And so Uber-John drove us up, down, over and around the nearby hills – and past the sign in a gully, out the front of a small bottle shop (and not more than 500 metres BEFORE a sign that said “Welcome to Paihia”) … and the sign said … “LAST LIQUOR STORE BEFORE PAIHIA”. Not only were we picking up Matt and Cathy, but we were also taking the opportunity to mount an assault on the supermarket in preparation for the week ahead.
It was great to see Matt and Cathy again, and to hear in detail the rigmarole they have gone through – plus Cathy’s brother Doug and wife Em – firstly, in actually getting into the country, and then complying with the COVID restrictions imposed just hours after their arrival at Auckland airport a week ago.
At one point Matt related how Doug and Em – who were supposed to be traveling to New Zealand a day or two before them – sent a photo of them sitting in their seats, excitedly waiting for their plane to be pushed back in readiness for take-off. Come morning, there was another photo showing them sitting in the Melbourne terminal, where they’d ‘slept’ all night because their plane had a faulty radio – it didn’t go anywhere. This was after having decided only three days earlier that they wouldn’t travel because of the COVID situation. After about 20 hours of sitting in the terminal they finally got on a plane, only to have the COVID travel door shut behind them about 2 hours after landing at Auckland.
The good news is that Matt and Cathy have finally made it onboard – more than a year after they … along with Linda, James and Eva were supposed to have joined us in the Bay of Islands … according to sailing PLAN “A”.
John stayed for lunch, but soon enough he stepped off Chimere for the last time to make his way back to Mountain Road in the Hokianga. As this “adventure door” closes, we were sure another will open soon enough.
It took a while to stow all the supermarket goodies … which included ice-cream … plus there was the much-needed clean-out of the fridge, but while this was happening down below, Matt and I began preparing to head out. Nothing too ambitious, after all, there was probably only 1-2 hours of daylight left, but there was no point sleeping the night in a manicured marina berth, when we could just as easily anchor-up in an isolated cove somewhere “out there”.
Getting “out there” is normally a simple task of backing out of the berth, shoving it in forward gear and then driving carefully to miss all solid and moving objects. Today, however, the wind had picked up from the south east, which had the effect of pushing us OFF the finger-wharf located on our starboard side. Normally, having the wind blow you OFF a wharf, is a useful thing when taking your leave. In our case, however, two big piles are located on the left side of our berth, which we tie our bow and stern lines to. These posts also stop us from crashing into – sorry, bumping – the boat in the next berth.
With the wind blowing onto our right side, and taking into account our large “windage” … our dilemma was that as soon as we let go our lines the wind would have us travelling sideways into the posts before we had time to back out of the berth. Added to this is the fact that we have a rather delicate wooden ladder structure on the portside that could not stand a glancing blow of a 27-ton boat against a post … no matter how slow you did it. In the big world of cargo ships, this is where tug boats come into their own.
In the end, our winning strategy was to attach long lines at the bow and stern and also in the middle of the boat, that were fed through the cleat on the dock and back to Chimere. Then, as we did our backing manoeuvrer, the three lines were fed out, but at the same time kept in tight to ensure we stayed as close to the righthand wharf as possible – at least till the point when our backing speed would win over the sideways drift, and we were sure to miss the posts.
This even called for Linda to take charge of a rope … the same Linda who is often spotted in the saloon trying to calmly read a book, at times of docking and undocking “stress”.
The long and short of it is that we got away from the wharf happily and then used the breeze to make our way down the harbour, with Paihia and Waitangi off to port, then past Tapeka Point and onto our anchorage for the night.
That’s how we ended up here in Mangahawea Bay, Motururu Island. Whilst it’s sheltered from the south east wind, in retrospect I overlooked the impact of the swell, which, whilst very slight, seems to wrap around the headland, setting up a pesky roll from time to time. Nothing we can’t handle, but you know, we’re getting fussy!
Dinner consisted of “Mummy Burgers” … complete with toasted bun, pineapple rings, beetroot and fried egg, plus all the other usual toppings. This was followed by apple crumble, topped with custard and ice-cream. Being spoilt now!
After so many late nights, I’ve resolved to catch up on some sleep, so …
Smooth seas, fair breeze and Hellos and Good-Bye
Rob Latimer
NZ2020 