Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Day 5 in the Southern Ocean

385 miles to go and we are motor sailing! The southern ocean is flat and a deep, rich color of blue. The horizon looks miles away. The only thing we can see other than blue sky and blue ocean is the bright white sail of Sarah Jean II about three miles off of our beam. The temperature got down last night to 59 degrees! Haven't felt that cool since last December! It made for a wonderful night of sleeping and Corie had to wake me up for my watch! She generously allowed me an extra 15 minutes of sleep! The stars were brilliant and Jupiter cast a glow on the water. I can't believe we are having such benign weather! It is really unusual to have a ten day stretch where there are no "lows" in this part of the world! I don't even care about motoring for the next two days (even with diesel being about $8.00 per gallon)! I was just looking at the weather gribs and next week (just after we arrive) there are a series of lows that are coming across the Tasman Sea from Australia and there are lots of arrows on the gribs with little feathers in bright red and orange colors! We are hoping to arrive in Opua late Friday afternoon before the pubs close! The boats that left Tonga three days after we did are going to have some serious weather decisions to make. They can always stop in Minerva Reef and let the weather pass (hopefully to the south), but the reef is two feet under the surface of the ocean and only provides so much protection from the swells.

It is a real bummer not having a fridge! The freezer is not a big deal, but we were not able to make any meals ahead of leaving Tonga (except for brownies)so our mealtime has not been the high point of the day as it usually is on a passage! However today, since the seas are so flat, Corie said she would make pizza! Whatever we make we have to finish eating entirely or throw out the leftovers! I had to throw out (or rather overboard) a bunch of stuff yesterday- salsa, cream cheese (there was a bug inside the cardboard carton..... it had never been opened....) carrots, parsley, pesto, milk, hard boiled eggs and leftover salmon loaf! Fortunately we still have a bunch of apples (which we need to eat because we cannot take them into NZ- even though they are NZ apples!). Maybe I will make apple sauce or apple pie with whatever are left over! The first thing we are going to buy in NZ is a chilly box and ice until we decide what route to take for refrig repair!

We are spending our days reading YOUR emails, reading novels and of course, our NZ Travel Guides! We are very excited about doing some land travel, some tramping, visiting our Kiwi friends, watching rugby (go All Blacks!) and of course, sailing the islands! The Land of the Long White Cloud beckons and promises a whole new chapter in this amazing adventure.

Ta,
R of Rutea
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At 10/25/2011 6:52 PM (utc) Rutea's position was 29°37.45'S 178°09.20'E

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