Cookie, no mates, heading for Stewart Island. Note the flat sea - this is Foveaux straight!
We had received some very bad news a couple of days ago regarding the sudden death of one of our nephews. It has presented a bit of a dilemma (albeit nothing compared to what our family are dealing with right now) as we are unable to leave the boat unattended with no power connection or security. The boat will be at anchor in Stewart Island, in the absence of any marina or moorings being available. The boat will require power management and a watch during the forecasted 50 knot weather event coming Tuesday. Robin has been quite close to his nephews over the years so will fly back and leave me to look after H3. As it turned out Robin’s boat at Westhaven had been hammered by the extreme storm that passed through there which ripped his Helm covers to shreds. Fortunately Jo will be arriving in Stewart Island on Saturday to accompany us for our Stewart Island leg so I will be able to manage the boat with help from Jo. The plan is to drop Jo in Dunedin for her return flight home so at least I will have company and support to assist with taking the boat up to Dunedin from Stewart Island.
Robin and I spend a couple of evenings reflecting on the life of our nephew, who was a very talented lad particularly in the area of mechanics and stock car racing. He was a dad as well, to make it even more tragic!
We extended the use of both the berth alongside the old pier and the rental car to enable Robin to travel back to the airport in Invercargill to leave me to run across to Stewart Island at about Midday following the high winds of Thursday evening. On Friday morning after breakfast Robin and I went to have a coffee at the Oyster Cafe at the bluff Point. Unfortunately it doesn’t open until 11:00am so we cruised back to Bluff and stopped at the Art GalleryCafe and enjoyed a great coffee and tour of the Gallery courtesy of the owner. This had been extended somewhat and housed many paintings by local artists and also Oamaru Stone carvings by a very talented local sculptor.
We arrived back at the boat around 10:30am, said our goodbyes leaving Robin some messages of support for our sister. Robin then left for Invercargill airport to make his way back to Auckland. My attention then switched to the task of safely getting the boat and myself to Stewart Island. I wasn’t looking forward to anchoring with the control mechanism sensor fault meaning a reset every 3M of chain let out, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. I began by squeezing some more water into the tanks to our maximum of 1500 litres. It was now approaching high tide also, so a great time to depart Bluff Harbour. I let the ropes go one by one and, as forecast, the wind had dropped off which it made my departure easy. I contacted Bluff Harbour radio to advise of my departure plan and requesting any shipping movements I needed to be aware of. I had just been passed by the pilot vessel so guessed that something was headed into port. Sure enough they replied advising me of a ship entering port in 45 minutes so I was almost certain to meet them somewhere. I then contacted Stewart Island Maritime radio to log my trip report, channel 16. Having caught up with Meri at her home earlier today I also radioed my intentions to Bluff Fishermans Radio channel 01. With all the formalities concluded I was free to depart keeping a watch for the incoming ship.
The sea conditions were spectacularly good - the best I have seen in these parts ever! I sent Robin a pic on messenger as he was in disbelief that I was in flat seas. I negotiated the channel to exit Port (quite some distance). Sure enough there was the ship, with pilot on board, heading in my direction. The pilot vessel was heading back to Port in front. The ship was directly on my track so I needed to deviate to give him his 200 metres of clearance. Once passed the cargo ship I got back on track and cruised across the straight towards Stewart Island for the very first time in my life. In the conditions I cruised at about 15 knots, not wanting to burn too much full just for the hell of it. Meri had already advised that I should stay in Golden Bay as it is quite sheltered and is only a short walk over the hill from Oban. I arrived on the predicted time of 1:45pm and radioed Maritime to close my trip report. When trying to contact Meri I received no reply so I phoned her and advised her of my safe arrival as instructed by her earlier today. Meri has been amazing for us as she is for all other mariners, she clearly loves what she does and takes the responsibility of it very seriously indeed.
Photo of Thule Bay where I first anchored up. The Shark Tour boat is in the far left corner, a catamaran.
I entered Golden Bay and anchored up clear of other vessels and moorings. I then made myself lunch, a lovely fresh Ciabatta salad bun. Once settled and confident I was anchored up securely I made my way to shore on the tender. I saw a guy working on his boat against a pier and swung by for a chat. At first he was very cautious and didn’t say much until I asked him questions about the best way into Oban. He was doing Great White shark tours and I believe the locals are not very happy about it, hence his apprehension about me - he thought I was someone official. The locals don’t agree with the feeding of the sharks as they have concerns that it will modify behaviour towards humans and the boats as well. Apparently through tagging they have identified that they are not seeing the same sharks back year after year, just the odd one. Not having seen the activity first hand I don’t have any strong view either way. Anyway, Peter actually opened up and apologised for being stand-off with me. He was doing a filming assignment with the Discovery Channel which was to be wrapped up tomorrow, weather permitting. He offered me his berth in Port Chalmers, Dunedin as it was going to be available with him and his boat down here. I couldn’t believe the generosity of these people down here. They truely are welcoming and helpful here once the guard has been dropped.
Peter directed me to the jetty nearest the road and I was off to Oban on foot. I crested the hill and there was the township in front of me, the largest building I could see was the community hall. I wondered down the street checking out anything of interest, there was a service station with one pump for 91 fuel, a garage, Kia cart, the scenic helicopter company base, a Pounamu outlet, information Centre, Pub, Ferry terminal, a 4 square store with a little bit of everything, a church and restaurant on the hill leading out of town and a small electric cycle hire company plus a couple of very small operations on the side road. I went to the pub, recommended to me for coffee, and enjoyed a flat white while watching life, Stewart Island style, passing me by. Yes, Charlie coffee not beersies - gotta look after my figure :-)
The famous local pub-cafe-restaurant where everyone gathers. South Sea Hotel
Life can be hectic - but not today!
With an outgoing tide and the tender tied to the jetty (with plenty of slack) I decided to head back to the boat anyway, it was late afternoon by now and I was thinking about dinner already. I had a beautiful Kumara and ginger soup with toasted Ciabatta buns, I just couldn’t be bothered cooking tonight. I was Looking forward to Joanne arriving tomorrow, I would not like to be doing this trip on my own, it is definitely something to be shared. It had been a long day so I spend the evening reviewing my blog and planned to post it in the morning after taking some photos of the engine room and steering locker.