June 2024

We’ve been watching the weather since getting back from our Europe holiday in mid-May.  Watching other boats in the Pacific Rally happily heading off on their adventure (although some of them later regretted being so keen), fighting that FOMO (fear of missing out) feeling (been there, done that, and it didn’t go so well).  Waiting, waiting…

The Fiji trip was to be Jenny’s first ocean crossing, and it had to go well as Terry didn’t fancy single handing AraRoa for the rest of their boating life (and we know quite a few boats for whom this is the norm).

As part of our preparation, we had decided to join the ‘Pacific Rally’ of the ‘Island Cruising and Down Under Rally’ (No wonder Viki has recently changed the name to just ‘Island Cruising’ https://www.islandcruising.nz/home).  It is not a rally in the sense that most people would understand; there is no set schedule or timetable, but the amount of information, training and real-time support is worth the cost.  Having said that, being in the steadily dwindling group of rally boats sitting in Opua was a bit disheartening – but we knew what we were waiting for, good weather!

Finally on the 10^th June we checked-out of Opua to head north (ish).  The Mothers watching us on PredictWind commented about the amount of red on the screen, but it was moving through to the east and we planned to head out behind it.  They had seen us sitting behind the red before, following cyclones down the east coast of Queensland, so the armchair meteorologists approved.  Eight other boats at the marina thought the same (always reassuring – depending on your view of crowd psychology/herd mentality).  Our trip should be five days to Minerva Reef, two days relaxing, and then three days to check-in at Savusavu in Fiji.  The other rally boats leaving were heading to Tonga, SavuSavu in Fiji, Nadi in Fiji, and New Caledonia.

The Furry crew seems to be happy with his new seasickness medication and has settled in for a five-day nap.

Back to pretty sunsets from the boat.

We were expecting it to be fairly choppy behind the passing Low, but it should settle down soon. In the meantime, Taz has been ill again and has put up a Do Not Disturb sign (I would join him, but I am on watch).  The boat and Captain are choogling along well.  We send out quite a few sunset photos, as there is not a lot else to take photos of at the moment.

It looks a wee bit gloomy, but the seas have smooth off by Tuesday afternoon.  Three days in with 2 ½ to go and the weather has improved greatly.  Both Taz and I are tentatively feeling better, but the weather conditions will deteriorate over Thursday night and Friday before easing up as we approach Minerva Reef on Saturday.

The up side of a bit of rain is often a stunning rainbow.  And this one was nearly a double.  I swear the end of the rainbow was half way across the water trying to reach us.

Peter doing his part in our Citizen Scientist project.  Together with 23 other boats, we volunteered to collect DNA from the ocean by towing this little hollow torpedo behind us once a day.  The photo shows Peter draining the water, before unscrewing the end piece where the filter collector is located.  I’m inside sterilizing tweezers to use in handling the filter paper we put in the rear compartment.  The filter paper and whatever it has collected, is then put into a wee tube, that is digitally logged using an app on my phone (which gives each tube a time, date and location tag) and then stored in the fridge until we hand it over in Fiji.  All up it takes about 45mins and it helps pass the time.  You can check out the program here; http://www.citizensofthesea.org/.

Me doing my bit.  Because I was still being seasick, we decided that I shouldn’t do the outside duties (Don’t let the smile deceive you, I just managed not to throw up on any of the samples, so major triumph).  We were worried that this project would take up precious sleeping time, but it ended up being a rather nice time together – usually we are just passing each other at the end of shifts.

Terry used the word ‘spicy’ to describe last night (Thursday) – it definitely had a vindaloo flavour about it and we didn’t do any sampling on Friday.  But yet again, the boats are happy-as, with Jenny and I inside chewing ginger lollies.  Jenny phoned in the wee hours of the morning to reassure herself that we were doing ok. The bow of the boat did spend a bit of time punching into the front of waves, but the boats were happy choogling along.  I told her to trust the boat and keep chewing the ginger.

Taz ate some of Peter’s chicken sandwich on Friday and I’m eating more (and it is more often staying down now) – so better all round.  I found these truly ugly Ginger chewy lollies called ‘GinGins’ (obviously not an Australian brand) and they are really good for settling a queasy stomach (not much use once you’re in full throw-up mode, but there are drugs for that). 

Minerva Reef – A Fijian and/or Tongan Territory (they have been arguing about it for some time). For us, it depends on which navy is nearest to us at the time.  Both countries regularly send naval vessels out to the reef to check who is out here.  We’ve heard from other boats that Fiji can be a bit more aggressive about it, but they apparently have a real ice-drug problem that they are trying to tackle, so fair call there.  I was talking to a lassie on another rally boat who said that they were boarded and searched by big Fijian dudes with guns etc. but before leaving they were asked with a big grin if they could take a selfie for their families.

We had been aiming to go into North Minerva, but as that would have seen us arriving in the middle of the night, we decided to pull into South Minerva instead, which is six hours closer at our cruising speed.  We told Ara Roa to put their foot down, so that at least one of us got inside before dark (they are faster than us).  We gunned it as well (such an incorrect term to use when referring to our Nordhavn – hehehe) and we managed to stay close enough to track their path in through the entrance (tracking another boat is a sneaky little thing that the plotters can do; it leaves a line on our screen of their path).  So, we went against our own advice and entered a reef with the sun falling fast behind us.  Peter was up the front watching the reef on either side (the frothy sea was the giveaway to the edges of the entrance), I was following Ara Roa’s path on the plotter screen closely and we had the waypoints from the Fiji App on the screen too (must send a note to Viki about WP3 – it’s in the middle of a reef!).  It ended up being a relatively straight forward entry.  Our anchor hit bottom as the last of the sun dropped below the horizon.

There is a big swell outside and we are tucked up inside the big circle that is the reef.  Both North and South Minerva reefs are formed on the top of an ancient volcano and all alone in the middle of nowhere, you wouldn’t know it was there unless you were expecting to find it. The water depth a few hundred metres outside is down at 3000m and we are anchored in 20m inside the lagoon.  The reef is so low that there is nothing to land on, no sand cays and most of the reef stays below the waters surface.  None the less it is a refuge; last year an entire block of the rally got stuck here in 40knot winds for a week. That was 26 boats; there’s a lot of room in here.  There were only three of us here this time.

Rubbish disposal on a boat can be quite problematic.  I have a big bag under the sink full of our old milk cartons (collected and washed while we were in Opua). They have a big mouth and it is amazing how much non-biodegradable stuff can be jammed into one carton.  Peter even cuts the bigger stuff into strips so that it will all fit. (The bottles, with their lids tightly screwed on to keep smell in and flies out, are then stored in our bin-box on the boat deck for disposal at the next marina.)

Opal Lady bathed in golden light at South Minerva Reef (this photo ended up on the Facebook group for the Rally)

So, here we were sitting in the middle of the ocean, inside a reef that is known for its crayfish and do you think it would stop pouring with rain or howling with wind or chopping up with swell coming over the reef – not on your life. Truth be said we didn’t mind the rain as the boat deck needed a good wash – it was covered in grey soot from our ‘high speed’ run to the reef, but we did want to get one of the drones up for a photo of the two boats in here. It was too windy (Terry nearly lost his trying) but I’m sure this is what it could have looked like.

[Minerva Reef image courtesy blog of Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, ISS, October 7 2020]

After 3 days waiting (some of us spent it happily sleeping and eating) the weather settled down and we finally had the chance to get in the water and do some snorkeling. OMG it was good. 

But first we had an unusual encounter with a local.  We had heard that the Reef Sharks here were unusually aggressive and were surprised to have this confirmed on our first snorkel on the northern side of the entrance into the lagoon.  Peter was going past a 2m Black Tip Reef Shark on his way to the reef edge and when it saw him it did a U-turn to charge straight back at him.  Usually, people and reef sharks happily ignore each other, but this guy had attitude.  Peter sprang into a vertical star-jump which scared the shark off (I nearly choked trying to laugh with a snorkel in my mouth – he looked so funny). But it did make us feel uneasy, so we moved to another spot on the southern side of the entrance.

We spent hours just floating over this section of reef and exploring the swim-throughs.  I have never seen so many clams in one spot.  Not big in size, but really densely populated.  Also the clarity of the water was spectacular with 50m visibility.

After looking at all the beautiful clams, I got distracted by the sea urchins.  So many different sizes and colours.  This was the Cruella DeVille model; a rather large black and white lassie with incredibly pointy spines.

Then there were the smaller guys that looked for all the world like they belonged in a 1970s disco.

Look at them all – just waiting to pierce the hand or foot and some unsuspecting snorkeler (and that would not be good at all, for either of them).

There Peter goes into a swim through, and look what he found on the other side of the reef…

The marker light that is supposed to be on a reef outcrop at the entrance to let you know when to swing a hard left on the way in.  There is an ongoing dispute as to the ownership of Minerva and allegedly at some point one of the parties, Tonga or Fiji, pushed down the marker poles put in by the other country (talk about getting in a sulk and taking your marbles home).

And this is my “I am soo impressed with myself” photo of a moray eel.  We sat eyeballing each other for a good quarter of an hour while Peter, Jenny and Terry were chasing crayfish across the reef.

They were totally hilarious to watch – I think even the eel was laughing with me. But Peter wouldn’t let his tea get away.

Tea Two Ways; BBQ’d in garlic butter or simply steamed with lemon infused olive oil. YUMMY

Much as we loved being at Minerva, we were supposed to be enroute to Fiji.  So, after five days watching the weather go past, eating crayfish and the pork sausages (we have to get rid of all pork products before getting to Fiji) and relaxing, we headed off into another beautiful sunset.

The Mothers approved; the PredictWind chart had a nice blue colour and the winds were behind us.  The actual cruising was a bit more like surfing, as there was some most decent swell out there, but we weren’t thumping up and down into waves like we had been getting up here.

Two days later and we are passing the Fijian Island of Totoya.  We have to go past a lot of Fiji to get to where we check-in, and then we can go back to see them all. Boats get into a great deal of trouble for stopping at islands before being checked-in.  We read about a non-rally boat that had done just that a few weeks before we arrived. The owner was deported and the boat impounded (I think it is possibly going to be sold by the Fijian Govt.).  Unfortunately, it does make authorities look at the rest of us with suspicion.

Finally, on Sunday 23^rd June, after a pleasant couple of days, we  arrived at Nawi Marina, Savusavu, Fiji.

“Bula” from Fiji

Taz is a bit miffed in the photo because I locked him in a hot bedroom while we were berthing – he’ll come around with a bowl of real food. Now we wait for Immigration/Customs, Biosecurity etc.

TAZ TALKS:

The things I do so that Mum can keep thinking that she is keeping me healthy.

This was the “About Time” look I gave Mum when we finally arrived at some place that was not-the-end-of-the-journey, in the middle of the ocean.  AND Pea and Ham Soup isn’t even REAL cat food!!  I have to keep eating the vegie mush to get to my ham.  Mum says “It’s a neat way of keeping him un-constipated when travelling, because he won’t eat mashed pumpkin”, (which is what those fiendish Vets keep telling her to feed me just because I’d rather not use the kitty tray while the home is moving).  I’m just a hungry feline carnivore desperately trying to find my ham in here.

THE PLAYLIST:

You need to have something to pass the time on passage; a crossword addiction or a really long TV series (and unlimited download).  Jenny came up with the idea of creating a playlist, with each person nominating a song each day.  This is not the complete playlist, but can you work out what might have brought on these particular suggestions?

On The Road Again (Willy Nelson) and Far Far Away (Slade) – pretty obvious travelling pieces

Here Comes The Sun (Beatles) and Oh What A Beautiful Morning – again pretty obvious, but Thank You Terry for nominating the version with Hugh Jackman singing

You’ve Got A Friend (Carole King) – Thanks Jenny

Riders On The Storm (The Doors) – Jenny and I agreed this was totally appropriate for our 3am shift on Thursday night

I’m Back, New York Groove (Ace Freely) – Unfortunately, I was a bit optimistic about the seasickness having gone with this one

Longships (Enya), Variations in Canon (George Winston) and Pie Jesu (Andrew Lloyd Webber) – How could you not get inspired by those seas and sunrises

THE PACIFIC RALLY: What You Get For Your Membership

A handbook that is worth it’s weight in gold.  The Handbook includes checking IN/OUT of various countries, recommended anchorages and local information (which is updated from rally participants feedback so it is very current)

A support network of other boats in the general area via WhatsApp or through Viki.  Appreciated by the tiny sailboat that ran out of fuel during a long calm patch in the middle of the ocean and the boat that hit a reef but the crew was quickly picked up by another rally member.

A central co-ordinator – Viki is like the Gene Kranz of the rally (Gene was the dude in the white vest during the NASA Apollo missions).  Viki replies to every WhatsApp, text and email with lightning speed.  She is also contacted by rescue authorities looking for non-rally boats (our rally has found 2 this year – usually it’s people who haven’t thought to contact loved ones about where they are), and she co-ordinates supplies and repair parts.

Access to a weather router (if there is a group of 4 or more boats leaving in the same weather window)

A network of businesses and marinas who support rally members (and you get a discount).

Access to Webinars and Training Modules that cover a true plethora of topics related to boating and especially offshore boating.  And templates and documentation for most everything related to boating.

We’ve found it to be a good investment.

NAVIGATION NOTES:

[This is a record of our experiences and is not intended as a recommendation for others. Phone reception on ‘Opal Lady’ is assisted with the use of a StarLink satellite system. Dates are in standard Australian format DD/MM/YYYY. We measure our depths from the lowest point of the hull (add 1.6m for actual water level depth).]

Checking-Out Of New Zealand: 

Information available at https://www.customs.govt.nz/personal/travel-to-and-from-nz/recreational-vessels-yachts-and-small-craft/

We found the process to be easy enough.

At least 4 days before departure, lodge the ‘Advanced Notice of Departure’ form (C2B) to yachts@customs.govt.nz or go for a walk and hand it into the Customs Office in Opua and say hello.  Include digital colour photos of the boat and the Captain’s passport (photo page).  In the subject field include the Boat name and the expected date of departure (use an estimated departure date – ours ended up being about 3 weeks early, but no-one minded, as they just want to find you in the system and have everything ready for the actual day).  The C2B form requires a lot of details about the boat.  It is handy to have a master-details-form for reference (it saves having to look behind radio units for Serial Numbers etc.).  If you join the Rally, Viki provides a booklet in which every detail about the boat can be recorded – I already have ours in a database and a hardcopy in the Boat Bible.

You have to book an appointment for your checking out – phone or email the day before (opuamarine@customs.govt.nz / +64 296021669.  Take a copy of the C2B, a completed C3B (Certificate of Clearance), boat registration document, all the passports, and the crew belonging to the passports, the TIE form we received when we first check in (Temporary Import Entry form C4G – the yellow form that means a foreign boat can buy GST free goods in New Zealand.  It probably serves a higher purpose, but that’s the one we focus on).

New Zealand will only clear you out on the actual day of departure; you walk out of the office with a Notice to Depart Immediately form (and they mean immediately – no stopping to pick up a coffee from the deli, get it on the way to the office).  You’ll also have a Certificate of Clearance – do not lose this else you’ll not be able to check into the next country! We were also given a lovely pen (funny the small things that mean you leave happy).  There is a fee to be paid and that is (rather inconveniently) emailed out later.  They are very big on the message that if you got it wrong and you need to turn around, then turn around, just let them or Maritime NZ know.  They don’t want to have to come out and rescue you because you were worried about some paperwork – sage words.

Entry into South Minerva Reef: Way Points #1 and #2 from Fiji App for the southern entrance, our WP#3 and WP#4 (to give an indication of the angle of that turn) [Update 2025: I believe Viki passed on the WP3 problem and it has been changed in Fiji App]. WP1 23^o 56.156S, 179^o 08.175W, WP2 23^o 56.246S, 179^o 08.021W, WP3 23^o 56.275S, 179^o 07.843W, WP4 23^o 56.181S, 179^o 07.687W. Distance from Opua = 786nm.

Anchored South Minerva Reef: 15/06/24, at 23^o 55.307S, 179^o 07.149E, in 14.3m water with ~0.8m tide, 60m chain, scope ratio HT 4:1, exit 180o (into middle of reef lagoon).  Winds NE 12-16knts for 3 days.  Choppy at tide changes.  Good holding. [Pacific Rally Handbook, 2024, Island Cruising and Rally Down Under] [Fiji and Tonga App, www.sailsouthpacific.com, $84] [Chart NZ14605 New Zealand to Fiji] [NoForeignLand App, free] [Navionics App]