Very cool sunrise on our way North
With my alarm ringing in my ear, I awoke in Akaroa at 5:15am so it was straight in the shower and get ready for a long day on the water. The weather was perfect again today, so no chance of a bad beat-up today, or at least I hoped not. I had a lot of calls to make today to arrange berths and fuel at various locations, so that was to take priority once I had cell phone coverage again. This turned out to be north of Christchurch, with the track we were taking to Wellington being 001 degrees magnetic.
I called the Chaffers Marina in Wellington and talked with a very customer focused Victoria who was very helpful and had a nice manner about her. We were seeking fuel and she up sold us a berth for the night. We needed a double for our length. She gave us a contact number for Chris (one of their team) who had the fuel card and could help out. Only one small problem, we needed 2100 litres and they only had 2500L left in the tank! No problem I thought, we need fuel and they have fuel, but apparently they needed to be able to fuel other customers such as the Police Boat. Again no problem, I am more important than them! Anyway, I conceded that we could get by with 1000L and fuel up again in Napier if necessary. We left it at that and continued on our way. I then contacted Napier as we wanted to stay there for 3 or 4 days if possible. On paper they couldn’t accomodate a boat of our length, same as Chaffers but apparently they have done an upgrade and we can have a berth right alongside the Hotel on the waterfront. Again, very customer focused person (Jenny) on the end of the phone, she was very pleased to be able help us out, so we are all booked in!
Our trip right up to Wellington entrance was pretty uneventful with it getting expectedly rougher as we crossed the Cook Straight. One hour out I contacted Wellington Harbour radio to get cleared to enter and find out about traffic that we would encounter on the way in. The guy on the radio was very helpful and asked us to listen out as we approached, for more details. Once near the entrance he radioed and put the leading lights on for us to follow in on the correct track avoiding any outgoing ferry traffic. We proceeded in with him giving further instructions as we went. The next instruction was to take a heading shift to 005 but when we complied we found ourselves going off track. I took 25degrees off and found the course he wanted us to take. He then directed us to pass a mark on the starboard side, but I figured out he actually meant to say pass with our starboard side to the mark. Getting very confusing now! We were given another heading to change to once we were further in and I said to Robin I will deduct the 25 degrees and go to that heading, and sure enough, that worked! Finally the penny dropped later when I realised he was giving me true headings not magnetic! One would expect an instruction of this nature would include the word, true or Magnetic. Variation in Wellington was around 22 degrees. Boat instruments are magnetic so I assumed that they would be given as magnetic or advised otherwise. Lesson off the day - if in doubt - ask! He was a great guy though and very helpful, keeping a close watch as we entered, so no complaints from me, it was ‘all good’. We approached the marina and I phoned our Chaffers Marina fuel contact, Chris, who met us at the jetty. First question was’, “how much fuel can I have”? He hesitated and eventually said 2000L, so we were sweet, we would leave Wellington with a full tank! After fuelling he directed us to C pier we telling us to use either of the two berths. Once we reversed in there, it was clear we were going to occupy both, which is exactly what we did. If we were party animals we were in the dead right place to party down town, however we had to have an even earlier start to make our way to Napier in the morning. Instead we checked the engines, ready for the following morning, to ensure oil & water were good, then Robin washed down the boat for me while I went in to cook dinner. We later had tea and reflected on our trip up from Akaroa and the smooth crossing of Cook Straight - far better than the last crossing seven or eight weeks ago.
Snow was already on the ranges north of Christchurch. As you can see the conditions were outstanding!