DAY 3
Left at 7:00am as planned and ventured out into Doubtless Bay which was rough with strong winds 25+ knots on the Stbd beam - we were expecting smooth conditions around Cape Reinga so we were happy to tough it out. As per ‘Predict Wind’ we rounded the Cape with a flat sea and the winds were dropping off. It was exciting to be passing the lighthouse by sea (only the second time for me). We both had an ear plug in our left ear (right side for left handlers) to prevent sea sickness and it worked perfectly! It is fine on the helm but is a challenge when you are trying to relax on the couch. We rounded the Cape and had a flat sea with 10 knots only. By Hokianga Harbour I was bored ( even at 15 knots).so proceeded to polish the lacquered Timber inside the boat to pass some time. We phoned Charlie from Cinnamon who was big game fishing there and heard they had a marlin up to the boat but lost it as the line jagged the trim tab.
Robin prepared tea and I handed the helm back over again at 7pm, watched ‘Married at first sight’ (what a circus) and went to bed with my alarm set for 11:30pm ready for my second watch. Boat was running smooth and we were on track for 10:30am arrival. Robin had an uneventful leg and went to bed while I took over the ‘Graveyard Shift’. I had a good run through the night only needing to deviate for a fishing trawler off the coast between Auckland and Raglan. It was lit up like a Christmas tree so it was easy to avoid. They also had an AIS ID which brings all their details up on the GPS screen showing their speed and direction. This should be compulsory for all boats and I believe is safer than radar for this purpose!
On handing back over to Robin at 5:30am I went straight back to bed for a couple of hours. After breakfast ( cereal and fruit followed by toast and a cup of tea) we continued through to Port Taranaki, with only one stop to investigate a Pygmy Sperm Whale basking ion the morning sun (about 60nm from shore). The length to the hump was about 5-6M so we new it would be a monster! Eventually it had enough of watching us and upended to submerge only to see that there was another 5-6M in the water! The tail had a massive spand and slipped majestically back into the depths. We continued to Port arrived 2mins behind our ETA ( not bad for a novice)!
We radios the Port for permission to enter and followed their instruction to anchor up. We asked about getting fuel, but alas they don’t have fuel at the Port (WHAT). It was easily sorted that we could get fuel by waiting till the next day after making at least 20-30 phone calls! (Port Taranaki welcomes all visitors - NOT). I wont bore you with the details but we fueled at the shaft beside a massive cargo ship as a mobile fuel tanker dangled a fuel hose over the side to our waiting eager hands. It was low tide and we had no means of scaling the vertical piles. We had a good chat with the port laiason lady and the fuel delivery lady and we were out of there by 7:00am with Horizon III lightly coated in Palm Kurnal dust from another ship being unloaded (just washed the boat yesterday too) sigh.......
We hoped to leave for Tasman today after fueling but had an error come up on one engine so decided to have that checked out prior to the next leg just in case it developed into something more serious.