We left the marina taking John from sv Scarlett O'Hara with us. He and Renee had sailed down from up north to meet us at the mouth of the river, and along the way they lost their engine and had to sail in and anchor at one o'clock in the morning. John had taken the dinghy up to our marina to look for a fuel pump. The marine store did not have any, but Steve did, so we headed back down to Uquharts Cove to anchor for the night. John worked most of that night but could not get the engine running, and because a gale was forecast to begin late that afternoon Scarlett got into a slip at Marsden Cove Marina just across the bay. As there was nothing else we could do to help, we left in the morning to sail to Kawau Island.
Our sail was on the beam and down wind with winds between 10 and 15 knots--a lovely sailing day but a bit rolly. We arrived at North Bay and picked up a mooring ball in front of Lin and Larry Pardey's home. We put the boat in order, launched the dinghy, and went ashore to join them for Happy Hour. Darren and Melinda from sv Mischief were there, as well as a local named Dave. They had been working on rebuilding the sea wall with Larry for several days, and it was hard, muddy work. We all enjoyed wine and hors d'oeuvres, and then Steve and I stayed for dinner. It was a beautiful evening, and their property has a lovely view of the bay.
We spent Wednesday on the boat reading books and relaxing--it was wonderful! I baked some Snickerdoodles in the afternoon, and we took them ashore around 3 p.m. At this time the guys were trying to hoist 500 kilogram bags filled with rock so that they could dump them behind the sea wall for drainage. They were using lines and pullies, and it was quite a feat. As they moved along the wall, they had to get more creative, and Steve really enjoyed helping to working out a system. I helped by relaying information to Larry, who was running the windlass to control the lines. When they got to the 800 kilogram bag, things became too difficult, so they quit and enjoyed beer and cookies. We returned to the boat to have dinner and enjoy some more reading.
The weather has been unsettled. We have had gusts of wind up to 30 knots and rain squalls come through regularly, but our mooring is quite secure. Tomorrow the weather should settle down, and we will move down to the larger cove and anchor there. On Saturday there is a Regatta that we plan to participate in. Then on Sunday we plan to head down to Auckland where we have a slip reserved for Monday.
I plan to post blogs more regularly now that we are on the move again and I have more interesting things to write about.
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