Morpheus

South Pacific Cruise,  2002 – 2003

April 2002

4/3/02

Today is our first day of home schooling. It is really awkward, but today is just to work out the bugs. It’s has been kind of fun so far, except for the whole up-at-eight thing. The good thing about home schooling is that it is only 4 hours long. The whole reason I’m having home schooling is that my family and I are going to go on an 18 month cruise through the tropics. For those of you who are just starting at the sport of sailing, I will provide as much information as possible. For those of you who are “old salts,” just bear with me.

I’ll start this off with a description of myself. I’m a thirteen-year-old boy, have wavy brown hair (much to my chagrin), and have absolutely no taste in clothes whatsoever.

I love to fish, so you can count on a bunch of info on that subject. I’ll include ratings of one star to ten, judging on food and location, and I’ll let you in on a few tricks or quirks of every place we’re going to go.

As I’m writing this, I’m a mere month away from our cruise. I’m very excited to be able to do this, and if you’re planning something similar, good luck! My Mom, Dad, and brother are going to come with me, but the rest of my family is not. That’s one of the downsides. I’m going to keep in touch through e-mail though. The same goes with my friends.

As far as preparation goes, my parents have handled it so far. I’ve helped a bit, but not with the organization. I’m sure that you’ll agree with me when I say that we kids aren’t all that great at the organization part. I mean, lockers? O.K.  Binders? That’s a given. But organizing the construction of the forward bulkhead that might be the only thing between you and death?! I don’t think so! By the way, if you don’t know what a forward bulkhead is, it’s a fiberglass “wall” that keeps you from sinking if the bow (forward tip of the boat) gets crushed.

4/8/02

I have successfully gotten through my first week of home schooling. It wasn’t really all that bad. My parents are great teachers, and we only have to go to school 4 hours a day, but then again, those 4 hours are all homework, with no classes… Oh well, this week looks like it’s going to be a fun one. I live in Danville, California, a small town outside San Francisco. The sun is shining, and the birds…well, they’re not chirping right now, but they were earlier.

I still haven’t done much to prepare, except run some errands for my parents. It’s just the beginning of spring here, but it is warm enough to be early summer! I hope the weather holds out for our journey.

Just yesterday I went to my friends’ birthday party. They’re twins, so it was kind of like being at two birthdays at once. Most of my other friends were there, and one person I didn’t really know. Some of them are kind of jealous, but most of them were frankly disbelieving. Well I’ll show them…

We’ve still got a month before we go, but we’re already far into our packing. As I look around my room I’m amazed by the empty space. Usually, my room is as cluttered as every other 13 year olds. Now I can actually see the floor! I’m not sure that I really want to… 

I don’t imagine that this week should be any worse than last week. I doubt if I’ll have to do very much.

4/15/02

 WAHOO! This week has been an EXCELLENT week. Two days ago we had our Bon Voyage party. The three days working up to that were pure, unmitigated torture. My brother and I had so many chores to do that they carried over to the next day, where even more chores were immediately piled upon us! It all paid off, though, at the party.

The first arrivals were my cousins Kekoa (kay coh ah) and Laua’e (La why ee), my Aunt Sally, and my Uncle Jerry. Kekoa and Laua’e at first were a little shy, because they don’t get to see us much. Pretty soon, though, they warmed right up to our house and us. Patrick went with Jerry, Kekoa, and Laua’e to the pool, and I stayed up to help with the preparations.

The next arrival was Grandma Lois. She lived in Santa Barbara, and had driven up just to help us. After that, the doorbell never stopped ringing…

Practically everyone I had ever known, know now, or will know when my dad bothers to introduce me, was there! It was AWESOME!!! Have you ever had one of those days that you want to have last forever, but it seems to slip by in a moment? This was one of those days.

The truly excellent part about the party was that Kip, a long time friend of the family, brought me 10 custom-made trolling feathers!! For those of you who are not-so-wise-in-the-ways-of-fishing, 10 custom lures is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, I raked in a couple of squid patterns and cedar plugs. (Not-so-professional advice- ALWAYS HAVE OUT A CEDAR PLUG IF YOU WANT TO CATCH FISH!) After that, nothing could have made me happier. I have packed it all away, and it is on its way to New Zealand. One of them has a big fish’s name on it, heh heh heh…

The coolest part of this week came after the party. My cousins, Laua’e and Kekoa, stayed after the party, and the next day we all went out for a sail on my dad’s Etchells. For those of you not familiar with Etchells, they are some of the most fun boats around, and I highly recommend them. Well, Laua’e is only 4, and Kekoa is 2, so the Etchells is a “bi bote” in the immortal words of Kekoa. I had decided to let out one of the custom lures, and 20 seconds after I had pulled it in, a fish jumped right behind the boat. That was the first time the entire cosmos has looked at me and said “ha ha!” Unfortunately, it probably won’t be the last.

4/23/02

This week started out being another fun week. On Tuesday, I got to drop out of home schooling for the day and go to the boat show! Imagine this, three huge tents crammed absolutely full of awesome stuff, such as hanging chairs, GPS stations, and depth finders. It sounds really lame second hand, but it was awesome there. Also, Dad and I saw two Americas cup boats, and Swans, and even a Santa Cruz 52!

The reason we were there, though, was to sell Etchells to people passing by, or at least show them the cool parts of the boat. The Etchells is a 30-foot long, streamlined beauty. In addition, it sails like a dream and goes very fast under a breeze. The new boat will be hard pressed to beat the Etchells.

Then we began to get packed. Finally I was beginning to do something! I had to fit all my clothes into two bags, and that was easy, I could probably bring them all in one. Then came the hard part. I had to fit all the things I wanted to bring on to the boat on a 3’ by 3’ board!  I had books, CDs, more books, bigger books, and have I mentioned books? This proved easier than I thought, but still…

Then things took a turn for the worse. Dad has been under a lot of stress getting the boat done, all of us ready to go, and he’s had to solve several small crises. Also, I’m afraid that I have been a bit sharp as well, and Dad has taken to sending me to my room for very little reason.

May 2002

5/03/02

This week has been fun for several reasons, and not so fun for others. My best friend Geoffrey and I got to play for almost 2 days straight, and that was a ton of fun! We broke 3 swords each, and I made a metal Billy club that is as yet undefeated. WOOHOO!

My homework this week has been pretty easy, seeing as how I finished it 2 days early. The weather has been really crummy, and with the impending voyage, we’ve had a ton to do. Our builder has been sending us pictures almost every other day, and we are all very excited.

Most of my fishing gear is making its way in a gigantic cardboard box down to NZ, where we will start our voyage. Those few things that aren’t in that huge box are lying on my backpack practically screaming “PUT ME IN THE WATER, DROP ME IN THE SEA…” I only hope that I’ll have the chance to oblige them soon.

Then things turn nasty (DUN DUN DUHHHHH…) I CATCH A COLD!!!! NOOOOOO! This officially puts me out of commission for a while. At the time of this writing I am already feeling much better, but it was terrible while it lasted.  I have read four books in 2 days. Woohoo. L

5/12/02

Due to a fortunate series of coincidences, (namely, that I’M ON VACATION!!!) I was able to skive off a whole week of work. We are just now resuming our work, and I have 2 weeks to cover in one essay. Can I do it? Yes.

We took off, flying freely through the air, taking a long, last look at the San Francisco Bay. It was a moment of mixed feelings, sadness and excitement foremost. The flight was long and tedious, but it was made bearable by the fact that I slept through a full 2/3 of it. 3 movies, all of them pretty bad, made up the bulk of my time awake.

Finally, after 12 hours of heart-rending inactivity, I saw light. In my excitement, I believe that everybody on the plane knew about it. After a while, the few dots of light formed themselves into the islands, one of which grew to a brilliance to rival San Francisco, although it was much smaller.  This was our landing port, Auckland.

I won’t tell you anything about the landing, because I’ll be prone to swear. I’ll put it this way, OUCH!!!

Then we went to our hotel.  It was a very nice Hilton, and instead of the 2 beds, one bathroom thing, we basically got our very own (nice) apartment.  The first words out of my mouth were, “Dad, did you rent a hotel room or a condo?!”

I enjoyed walking around Auckland with my family, and we ran into very few problems. I found my fishing store the very first day, and immediately fell in love with the place. It had some of the best advice I had ever gotten, and I ended up buying a reel, a Penn 50 W to be exact. Dad says that we’ll buy a rod when we get to Christchurch, but that’s another story.

I liked the restaurants in Auckland, and I’ll list a few of my favorites:

-The Loaded Hog

-All the Irish pubs.

A word of not-so-professional advice, Try the green lipped mussels, they have a rich flavor, and are renowned as the best mussels in the world.

Today was a good day in many respects. Yesterday, we went to the rugby game between Canterbury and the Highlanders. That was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. It’s good to have someone to help you understand the rules if you don’t already know them.

Today we have just sailed in our first ever race in this boat. And…WE WON!!! Yeah, for those of you who don’t know the rules in boat racing, I suggest you learn, it is sooooo much fun. Nothing much else happened today, but chilling is always good, especially after such a busy week.

New Zealand is very...interesting in that you drive on the wrong side of the road, the wrong side of the car, and, instead of 6/19/02, they put 19/6/02. Crazy when you first see it. ("There is no 19th month!!!!")  Pat bungee jumped in Rotorua, where we are going to go soon, and I'm sorry to say that I chickened out. Don't laugh at me until you've tried. I'll do it next time, though. We also went zorbing. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, a zorb is a big plastic inflatable balloon type thing. Imagine a clear inflatable mattress rolled into a sphere. You are strapped in and then are pushed down the mountain. Good fun, to use an NZ expression. After Rotorua we head up to Auckland where a third of the population lives. There are more sheep than people in NZ, by the way. It is a beautiful drive, and on the way down I counted 27 sheep before I fell asleep. I guess that old saying really does work.

We are currently in Gisborn, on the east coast of the North Island.  We have been here for about 11 days, waiting for the wind and weather to cooperate.  It looks like it will be turning into a Southerly today, so Davie, the only person other than Noah who has ever built a boat on time, and some of his friends are going to try again to get the boat around  the East Cape for us.  They have already tried once earlier this week, but got turned around by bad waves and a loose steering wheel.   Since Dad is sailing the Bermuda race, a race he committed to 2 years ago, we have to drive to Auckland.

Along the way we will stop at the aforementioned Rotorua, and stay in a nice hotel. The cool part about this hotel is that it has a thermal pool in every room as a bathtub. There are several of these in Rotorua. There are also a ton of fun places to go and see. After Rotorua, we’ll head up to Auckland.

 June 2002

The sun is…uhhhhh…never mind. This is supposed to be a TROPICAL vacation! I was thinking more along the lines of grass skirts, nice beaches, cheeseburgers, and WARM WEATHER!! But nooooo! I get winter in San Francisco temperatures, and 50 knot winds. Wahoo. I’ve just recovered from our 2^nd passage. The first had a crew of 7, Hamish, Davie (the boat builder), Doug Jorgenson, Dad, Mom, Patrick, and me.

I let out a lure on my Penn 50 W reel, but didn’t catch anything. The lures I used, for those of you who care, are these:

Fruit-salad (pink, yellow, green, white) plastic squid, 8 in

Cedar plug, 6 in

Black and purple plastic squid, 8 in

Rappala Magnum, 7 in

The wind averaged about 25 knots, and we averaged 8. For those of you potential cruisers who don’t already know what a knot is (and no, I don’t mean like a Bolin or a Half-hitch) it is a nautical miles per hour, and I’d find out how many knots are to a regular mile. In fact, I’d better take my own advice…

Our second passage was much more…violent than the first.  Stupidly, I had a ten inch dark blue and black and purple lure out, and something hit it…hard.  When I got out, I found that it was either a marlin or a shark.   It’s too bad that it broke the line. If anybody catches a big arse marlin with a hook like the one above in it’s mouth please send it to 451 Montcrest Place, Danville CA, USA.

We were going fast, 17 knots in 50 knot breeze to be precise, with just a storm trysail.  It was not cool.

July 2002

7/8/02

Wow, I haven’t had time to do a log in a long time, so I’ll have to make this an extra long one. When I last left off we were in Gisborne, a small, isolated town that was none the less very interesting. We got to know it pretty well in the month we spent in it. Davie Norris, the builder of Morpheus, tried three times to get her around East Cape, a notorious area. On a brighter side, we got to see Rotorua (Rotovegas) 3 times, so it was alright.

Finally Dad got home from the Bermuda race, and we sailed it up to Auckland. It wasn’t too bad, but it definitely wasn’t good. Darkness got DARK!! But finally we got to Auckland. It was generally very interesting, only the laundry was boring. At the time I didn’t appreciate their showers as much as I should, but now I do. Man, what I would give for a hot shower… Anyway, we left Auckland after a month of repairs, and finally set off again. The trip to Tonga was, well…the devils idea of a good time. Sleep, read, watch, sleep, read, watch, endlessly repeated in a cycle. It soon got hard to count the days. The last 2 days were pretty nice, and during that time I caught a small yellowfin tuna on a green and yellow Hex Head. Best sushi I’ve had in a long time. For those of you who have never tried sushi, GO FOR IT! If you don’t, you’re missing out.

Well, we finally got to Nufalofa, and it’s not that big a whoop, let me tell you. Try the anchorage out on the Island that you can see from the customs station. The customs station is a concrete dock with lots of cargo, and rubber blockers off the side. Hard to imagine, I know. You’ll probably have to come back over 2 days, one to get Quarantined, and one to get cleared by customs.

Attention all those who are from America (and maybe other countries) DON’T DRINK THE WATER!! This includes ice, salads, glasses of water, etc. Drink only bottled water and water-maker water. Also, soak all agricultural produce in ocean, to get rid of cockroach, tarantula, and other eggs. Trust me. Also, if you need a cab, look for Lee, in a dark bluish van. He knows where things are, and he’s very nice. See if he remembers us (The people who gave him the blue pitcher.)

After a while, we headed off to Vava’u (va-va-OO) I caught a Mahi Mahi and a Rainbow Runner, both on a blue-and-pink 4 inch plastic squid. The stars were beautiful, and for the first time we had a clear sky all the way. Vava’u is infinitely better than Nufalofa, but is still third world. If you stay in #7 anchorage, you’ll find lots of cool stuff. Also, try the Friday night race. Ana’s café has a really cool display afterwards. As it is now the beginning of August, we’ve decided to go whale watching. The humpbacks are MARVELOUS! Ask a whale watching boat where to find the whales, and they’ll tell you. Also, try Whale-watch Vava’u, Lolly’s a great character.

August 2003

8/27/02

Right now I am sitting at the table staring at the beautiful Shangra la Fijian resort in, guess where, you got it…FIJI!! We took off from Vava’u about a week ago, and we after 3 days of pretty good sailing we came to Suva. On the trip over we didn’t have any rain, just some big swells. Clear skys, beautiful sunsets, even nicer sunrises. This is, actually, the only time I’ve ever watched the sun rise. I’m a late sleeper as a rule. So after a while we got to Suva.

I can say only one thing about Suva. Not cool. Big letdown. There is, however, a McDonalds, which almost makes up for the nasty water, rude people, and crazy Taxi drivers. The yacht club is a very nice place for a few drinks, and internet is cheap. Also, for those of you who need a haircut, there area few places.

Also, a word on dangers. The sea snakes ARE poisonous, no matter what people tell you. It’s just that their teeth are very far back. And don’t go swimming. You’ll see what I mean when you get there.

Anyway, we soon left Suva, and are now in much clearer water and just outside a nice hotel. The Fijian resort is very nice with an all native staff, a pool, and some very diverting activities, such as ping pong, movies, pool, video games, Bache ball, and golf.

September 2003

9/3/02

This week we left the Shangra La Resort and sailed across to Musket Cove. Musket cove is a very interesting place, with lots of fun places to go and things to do. There is great snorkeling, and they have windsurfing, kayaking, Hobe Cats, and a few nice bars.

In a few more days, our friend Mike and his wife Judy will be joining us. We have met a lot of new people here, and we are looking forward to the annual race week. Especially the putt the coconut and the throw the coconut log competitions. Should be fun!

Mike and Judy are bringing us a few things we may need, (birthday presents, books, movies, and miscellaneous junk that we were unable to bring ourselves) in addition to their (or at least Mike’s) prior sailing experience.

Mari Cha III has joined us for the race, as well as Kialoa III. For those of you unfamiliar with these names, Mari Cha III holds the record for fastest circumnavigation of the globe, and Kialoa III also held many formidable titles in the 80’s.

Our boat has never before seemed small, but compared to the 80 foot Kialoa and the monstrous 150 foot Mari Cha, our boat seems like a dwarf!! Still a very good lookin’ dwarf, though. If they race we could be in trouble. Also, another new NZ boat named Rubino has sailed in. 60 feet of sleek sailing machine. We could be in trouble…NAH!!!!

9/18/02

I’ve got to cover 2 weeks in this one log because I’ve just had my summer vacation. 2 weeks ago, the Musket Cove regatta week started. This race week is a series of pre planned events that all add up to one excellent party. Some of the events that we went to were- Golf Tournament, Hobie Cat racing, Round the Island race, and the Pirate Island race. We missed a few of the sillier events, such as Putting the Coconut, Throwing the Coconut Log, and the rally itself.

The rally, incidentally, is not what you’d really call a race. A few of the rules are: Must Motor 2 Hours a Day, Fishing is Mandatory, The First Person Into Port Vila will Not Necessarily Be the Winner, and The Winner Must Prove Beyond Doubt That He Cheated.

All in all we had a great time with Mike and Judy, and for the first time we had beautiful sunny weather all week.

Mike and Judy left a week ago today. Every day since then it has rained. This officially STINKS!!! COME BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!! Today, though, the clouds seem to be clearing slightly.

A few days ago I had the most awesome experience of this trip. Wind was 20 knots, gusting 25, and we had the 2 fastest Hobie Cats out. Pat and Paul (from Altair) vs. Dad and me, blasting along faster than the wind (seriously) over tiny white caps!

One time, I went up on them so that Dad could board them, but Pat jumped over onto our boat, wreaking havoc all the way. In the end we got up to Paul’s Cat and let him jump back on. Then, with 5 minutes to go, Pat and Paul put the perfect end to our ride. First, we saw them roll up onto one pontoon, and stay there for 20 seconds before pitch-poling and sending Pat 15 yards through the air!

They couldn’t get the Cat righted, so they had to tow it in. Still, it was perfect!!

Also, I’ve caught two fish in this time. One Spanish Mackerel (excellent grilled or BBQ-ed, but not all that great sushi) and one Mackerel Tuna (Bonito). We released the Bonito, and gave the Mackerel to our fellow seafarers.

Both were caught on a green and yellow hex head. Yesterday it got munched, and I have now lost my best lure. Not cool…very not cool.

9/24/02

This week we have left Musket Cove and are in Waya, a beautiful if remote area of Fiji. The ralliers left Musket a few days ago, and are now in port Vila. We think we made the right decision in staying behind. They were hit with 50 knot winds and one boat got knocked down twice (serves them right, they cut across our bow during a race, missing us by six inches) and lost everything on deck.

Anyway, we left Musket two days ago, and yesterday sailed to Latoka. After 6 hours of shopping, we headed for Sweney (Swee-nee) bay. On the way I caught a weird fish. It was very skinny, silver on the belly, with irridescent scales on the back, a blunt head, big eye and HUGE teeth, which mauled my poor, brand new Rappala Sliver. We let it go, as it didn’t look at all appetizing.

By the way, watch out for those Rappala Slivers, they really twist your line. If you just let your line out w/o any lure after pulling in the lure, it should take out any twists.

Today we tried to go to Navandra, a group of three beautiful little uninhabited islands, but found the one anchorage already occupied by the makers of the New Zealand Survivor crew. We were very politely asked to move, and very unhappily did so. The water was so clear you could see the bottom at 75 feet of depth.

So we now find ourselves in Waya, one Snake Mackerel later. We decided that that one didn’t look too good either, so didn’t keep it. Here, in Waya, we have just had our first savusavu, or kava ceremony thing, as we kids like to call it. We didn’t give it late enough to drink it, but they seemed very thankful and were very nice to us. The people seemed very nice, and the villiage was a collection of very well maintained houses.

Also, today we have made a very important discovery. We have finally found out what breadfruit looks like. Think a large avocado, pale green all over, and with lots of little conical spikes sticking out all over the place. We still haven’t tried it, though.

 9/25/02

Today we caught another mackerel (same lure [Rappala Sliver]) on our way to Navara. That island is famous for its manta rays. There are supposed to be several swimming around there. The snorkeling was good, and we saw a spotted stingray. I don’t know the type, but it was yellowish and had purple spots. We had a lot of wind though, and went back to Waya and a more protected anchorage.

 9/26/02

Today it was a dogtooth tuna, on the same lure. So far it’s 4 for 4. We are going to give it to the chief tomorrow, during Sevusevu. We are in Blue Lagoon right now, and have just weaved our way through a huge reef. It was actually kind of fun, but it was also very tense. Being from San Francisco, we are used to somewhat opaque water. The water here is so clear, that we started to get worried at 32 feet. We hear that the chief here is a woman, and that she does a very brief Sevusevu.

 9/27/02

Today we did indeed have Sevusevu with Va, the female chief of the village. I also presented her with my dogtooth tuna, as we already had some frozen. We then took a long walk around the island with some of our fellow yachties. We were going to have a bonfire tonight but it got too windy, so we didn’t get to go in.

 9/28/02

Today my family took another huge walk, but I couldn’t find my shoes! I contented myself with skipping rocks, and I think I got one that was 18 skips or more! Tonight we had a huge bonfire, and ate cooked coconuts. You roll the de-husked coconuts in the embers until they crack and light on fire at least twice. Then you roll them into the sea and the shell should crack off without major problems. The cooked meat tastes like popcorn.

9/29/02

Today we are still in Blue Lagoon and have just gone to Church in a Fijian church. I enjoyed it a lot, and learned a lot in the process about how the Fijians live. If someone invites you to come into their house with them, it’ll be up to you to keep the conversation going. If someone offers you a Sulu (long skirt) for church, go ahead and take it. They stare more at people not wearing them than at those wearing them. You will get stared at, though.

 9/30/02

Today we took a walk through the island, looking for shells. It’s been a very nice, highly relaxing day. Somehow, I don’t get many of these…

October 2002

 10/1/02

Today we’ve decided to just laze about, but we did take another walk with our friends from Altair. After the storms and squalls, I find that I like that even better than being idle. Doing anything on a boat is a challenge, and is fun in retrospect, even if it isn’t at the time. Now don’t get me wrong, a day of lazing about is great, but a week of it is pushin’ it.

Chris’s Log for 10/2/02

 10/2/02

Today we find ourselves in blank island. Nobody will tell me the name. We sailed from Blue Lagoon early today, and we’ve had a great time just snorkeling around. Tomorrow we are going into “the Caves,” a series of underwater caverns. They’re supposed to be even cooler than Mariner’s cave, and easier to get into and out of.

 10/3/02

The caves were incredible! They are not in the least like Mariner’s Cave. These are much darker and scarier. Also, the entrance is much shorter than Mariners. The one problem is…sea lice. They just bite you, but it hurts. They don’t get to you if you don’t stand still for a long time, and their favorite hiding space is in the waistbands of your bathing suit. I didn’t get bitten, but Mom says she got MUNCHED!

 10/4/02

Today we spent the day Kayaking with some other kids from a boat and taking high speed rides in the dinghy down a curvy path through the mangroves. Not much else happened.

 10/5/02

Tonight we watched the island burn. We borrowed Unbreakable from some friends, and got our other friends to come over and watch it with us. Just before dusk, a garbage fire got out of control and started expanding until it honestly looked like a mile wide ring of fire. This got even bigger as the night passed on, and by morning 2/3 of the island was pure black ash.

 10/6/02

Today I got up at the crack of dawn (at least for me) and brought back the movie. We left Nameless Island at about 10:00 and headed off for Musket cove (again.)  It felt a lot like coming home, in some strange way. We knew all the natives, and all our friends were there. No fish L.

 10/7/02

We have arrived! We met all our friends at the 3 dollar bar last night, and they told us that we had come just in time to go to a talk by Scott and Wendy Banerott. For those of you who have never heard of Scott and Wendy, allow me to enlighten you. They are the writers of A Cruisers Handbook of Fishing, published by Bantam books. For those of you who have never heard of the book, it is my bible. The ultimate book for cruising fishermen.

 10/8/02

Today I have had the best experience of my life. I talked to Scott for about an hour after his talk, and he wasn’t bothered (much). He turns out to be an incredibly nice guy.

 10/9-12/02

Just a few more days in paradise. Petanque, sodas, beautiful sunsets… this is the life.

10/13/02

Today we have decided to sail to New Zealand. It will probably take 6 days (ish) and hopefully it will be more successful than our venture upwards. If you remember, it was stormy practically the whole way. Dad has become much more proficient in predicting the weather, though, so we should have relatively smooth sailing. I will write my next article from Opua, New Zealand.

10/19/02

The passage from Musket cove to Opua New Zealand was relatively uneventful. A wahoo on a Yo-Zuri gold and green plug with a #8 single strand wire leader, only one thunderstorm, moderate waves… yeah, a pretty boring passage. There happened to be a whole lot of nothing in the middle of the ocean. Every night the stars would come out brilliantly, and it slowly got colder. The thunderstorm was exciting, and instead of bolts of lightning, it was more like a strobe light and a car exploding next to your ear. Anyway, here we are in Opua, and I fully intend to sleep away the day. Maybe tomorrow I’ll do something constructive. Maybe.

 10/20/02

Today I met some other kids from a boat named Syren. I have also gone over Opua pretty thoroughly. It’s not as hard as it sounds, the town consists of a boat store, a few other small shops, a post office, and a general store, all crammed into a quarter mile area. I really liked it.

 10/21/02

I spent the day with the kids on Syren today. It’s getting way too cold for comfort.

 10/22/02

Ditto plus I did some homework.

 10/23/02

Today we got a car. A used 9 seater diesel van, and for those of you who don’t believe in destiny, we got it off the people on Syren. Mom and Pat are going to drive it down to Auckland while Dad and I sail the boat down.

 10/24/02

Today Dad and I are sailing the boat down to Auckland. The weather is nice, but what little wind there is is coming from directly in front of us. We should arrive at about 11:00 tonight.

 10/25/02

This morning Dad and I went up to visit his new Etchells, a thirty foot boat sailed just for racing. They are beautiful in and out of the water. His is very nice, newly made in Australia. Then we worked on getting everything perfect on it for the rest of the day.

10/26/02

Today we went out and watched the Americas cup challengers race. We only saw the finishes, but it was fun anyway. As Dad pointed out, “It doesn’t get much better than this.”

 10/27/02

Today we went out and saw our friends from the race committee and went to a movie. It was absolutely awesome. After being Cinema deprived for 3 months, this was a great experience. Today we’ve seen our first rain-shower in Auckland. There will be many more…

 10/28/02

 Nothing much really happened today, besides a lot of cleaning and general chore-doing. Also, we saw to our new Etchells, waxing the hull and cleaning the decks. I’m starting to get good at this whole cleaning thing, but it is still absolutely and totally BORING. No rain today.

 10/28/02

Pat and I spent the morning doing homework, then I helped Dad with the Etchells. The rest of the day was pretty boring. There isn’t much to do around here if you don’t have a car. It rained.

 10/29/03

 Today the tents for the Etchells worlds started going up right across from our dock, and a few port-a-potties arrived. I’ve never been so happy at the sight of one. The walk from our boat to the public bathrooms was unbearable!! Also, the weather has begun to squall.

 10/30/02

We went to a nice Italian restaurant down the road for dinner tonight. The pizza, like all New Zealand pizza, was piled with toppings, so Pat and I opted for two custom-ordered pepperoni pizzas. The waiter looked at us as if we were crazy and said “Just pepperoni?” like he couldn’t believe it. The pizza was good, though. The restaurant shared the name of an adjoining bar, and you can find it inside the lodge. No rain (thank goodness!)

 10/31/02

Tonight is Halloween, and not one person came down and knocked on the side of our boat. Oh well, can’t let all that perfectly good candy go to waste… Actually, we had dinner with a few San Franciscans that came down for the Etchells worlds. The party was fun, and meeting some old friends was even better. The weather actually seems to be clearing (I hope I hope I hope!)

November 2002

11/7/02

Today we went to the zoo with a friend of ours. The Auckland Zoo caters to children, adults, and teenagers alike. The unique animals are incredible, as they aren’t found in zoos anywhere else. Two examples of this are the Tuatara and the famous Kiwi. The show at 2:00 is definitely worth the time. The Tuatara is cool because of it’s third eye (the only animal that has it).

 11/1/02

Uncle Bob and Pops arrived today. They have come down to crew with Dad in the regatta. Bob said that he had totally missed Halloween, and Pops had about 45 minutes of it. The flight attendants hadn’t served candy, though. It was pretty sunny all today.

 11/2/02

Today I made 20 bucks cleaning the hull of a friends’ Etchells. Dad, Bob, and Pops didn’t get theirs in the water because of the high wind, and guess what, IT’S RAINING AGAIN!!!

 11/3/02

Today the tent finally finished coming up. It made a nice dry hiding place from the incessant rain. We also got our sails measured and the boat in the water. Right now, Mom is trying to get T-shirts made with the name of our Etchells, Lanza La Carne, printed on the back. Lanza La Carne means “Throw the Meat.” Don’t ask how we came up with that name.

 11/4/02

Today the race committee ran a practice race. Nobody actually finished, as it’s bad luck, but Dad said they did pretty well. The party tonight was kind of boring, but the food was good, and tomorrow should be good. They are doing a traditional Maori welcome ceremony, with a Haka and everything.

 11/5/02

Today was the first day of racing. Dad finished 25^th in the first race and 46^th in the second. Out of 100 boats, most professional sailors, that is NOT bad. The welcoming ceremony was very good, and it was almost all preformed by kids.

 11/6/02

Dad didn’t do quite as well today, but would have if he hadn’t been over early. The second race got called off.

 11/7-11/10/02

 Dad got 58^th over all, and we all had a great time. Today is the last day of race week, and we have one last party to go to. The last few days’ have been good with good food mixed with free soda and a Michael Jackson impersonator. Austen powers also joined us. The entertainment has been great, and this worlds has definitely been worth it.

11/11/02

This morning was full of stress as we hoisted the boat out of the water, and finally laid it out on it’s trailer. The evening, on the other hand, consisted entirely of fun, fun, and more fun as we visited the Wiawera thermal pools. It is a great place, with warm water and the most fun we’ve had since Fiji. The waterslides are great, especially the Black Hole.

 11/12/02

Today we took yet another boring day as Dad took Bob and Pops up north. They got home late tonight, and said that it was beautiful.

 11/12/02

Today we took a trip around Auckland and ate at the Belgian Café again  with Lyn and Peggy. Not much else happened.

 11/13/02

Today Bob and Pops went out on the America’s cup boat run by Lyn and Peggy. We finally took Morpheus out there, and we all had a ton of fun. Pops and Bob decided to get a room out in Auckland. Pops will leave early tomorrow, without me being able to say good bye L.

December 2002

12/5/02

These past weeks have been filled with Christmas shopping and friends and general fun. Bob left on the 15^th, and we were all very sad to see him go. About a week later, my friend Geoff just “Dropped in” for a visit out of no-where. Actually my parents knew about it, and I was left in the dark until I saw him. I almost had a heart attack! Geoff, Pat, and I all had a great time exploring Gulf Harbor, learning how to make flax darts, and generally getting into more trouble than we were worth. Geoff stayed with us for about a week and a half, and for a few days our friends the Longstaffes came over. Kate and James, their 15 and 12 year old daughter and son respectively, spent the day with us, and the nights at the lodge. Both of them left only a couple of days ago, and today we’re gearing up to go to Rotorua and Lake Taupo.

12/6/02

Today we are going to go Blackwater Rafting. Basically you grab an inner tube and hike/float through a huge long underground tunnel. There are huge concentrations of glow worms, and the caves are amazing! Definitely a must for travelers to New Zealand.

 12/7/02

Today has been one of the most fun days I’ve ever had! First we went lugeing all morning, and it was ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT!!!! Totally worth the money!!! The only problem is that the food REEKS!! Everything is deep fried. The Intermediate track is actually easier and more fun than the Beginner track (Scenic /Family) but you should do the Beginner Track to get used to the cart things.

Next we went to the Agrodome.  Now, I am not stupid enough to try bungee jumping again. What we did do is we went on the skydiving simulator! It was so much fun that it transcended any word in the English language. 

After our skydiving lesson, we decided to go Zorbing again. This time, however, we went wet Zorbing. Pat and a friend of ours and I all went in the same Zorb, and I’d say it was about twice as fun as dry Zorbing.

 12/8/02

Today we relaxed and wound down from the stress of yesterday. Ahhhhhhh…

 12/9/02

Today we drove back to Gulf Harbor and we are waiting for Davie to come up. He is going to bring a couple of his men and do some touch ups to the boat.

12/11/02

Today Pat and I slaved away at our homework, and got a lot done. We are trying to catch up with our homework, but it has not been easy. We’re planning to go on like this for a while

 12/12/02

Today disaster struck! There seems to be a crack in the rudder, and we have no idea how serious it is. It may actually have fallen off if we hadn’t found it! Also, Davie is taking care of our other problems, like non skid that actually works, and latches for the cabinets.

 12/13/02

Today we found out that the company that made our rudder actually may have gone out of business. That would be bad for our repairing options, but if worst comes to worst, Davie will fix it, and that is fine.

 12/14/02

Today the rudder mystery is still not solved, but the boat is starting to look even better. Davie has been working really hard on it, and it’s paid off!

 12/15/02

Today my aunt Sandy and uncle Kevin came! They are always fun to be with, just like all my family. We’re planning on cramming as much fun into the next five days as possible. Unfortunately, we all have colds!!

 12/16/02

Today we are going to have a picnic on the beach with our boating friends and Davie’s gang. It turned out that Kevin was too ill to attend L

 12/17/02

Today we all drove up to Rotorua, and had dinner there. We saw two aracaria trees, which are very rare. These are the only two we’ve seen on our trip. You can tell the aracaria from other trees as soon as you see it’s leaf. They are spiky and very sharp. When we hit Rotorua we went to the Whakatane reserve tour, and Kevin and Sandy loved it!

 12/18/02

Today we went first to the sheep show in the Agrodome, and then on to the skydiving thing. We were much better at it this time, and it was at least as much fun! Then we began driving home, reading a good book out loud and passing it between us.

 12/19/02

Today we went out and saw The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.  That was at least as good as the first one, even though it diverged from the book a lot more. It was a ton of fun, and tonight we’re going to sleep over at Kevin’s apartment. We played all afternoon and had a GREAT time.

 12/20/02

Today Kevin and Sandy left. We put the Etchells in the water and went out for a sail, but the wind was nonexistent and we found ourselves trying to paddle in. Then the tow boat comes out just as the wind picks up! Urgh!

 12/24/02

These last few days have been packed with…nothing very much. We have all already done our Christmas shopping, so Pat and I did (take a guess) MORE HOMEWORK!! We moved back onto the boat yesterday, and are trying to get it ready for Christmas. I just can’t get into the spirit, as it’s actually quite warm during the day. Summer has finally come to NZ!

 12/25/02

It’s Christmas!! We had a hard time getting into the swing of things (for some reason mom and dad weren’t into getting up at 5:30. Go figure!) but around 7 got around to some serious Christmasing. At about 12:00 we set off for Great Barrier, but ended up on Kawau instead.

 12/26/02

Today we sailed all day and barely made it to Great Barrier island. Trolled the whole way and not a nibble, although I did accidentally catch a bird. It was okay, though. We saw two schools of dolphins, and had a very frustrating delayed conversation with our relatives. It really is very hard to talk to someone with a 5 second time delay.

12/27/02

Today we sailed up to a small island halfway to Russel from Great barrier. I was so tired for some reason that I just crashed after lowering the anchor.

12/28/02

Today we sailed back up to Russel to see Doug Jorgenson and his family. They had rented a Moorings boat up there and are going to spend New years with us.

12/29/02

Today we sailed with Doug and his family to a harbour renowned among cruising circles for it’s high quantity of button clams. We didn’t get to harvest them tonight, though. It was high tide.

12/30/02

This morning we went for a hike out on the Duke’s Nose, and harvested at least a hundred clams on the beach. You just grab a handful of sand/ mud/ rock and wah away the sediment until you have a handful of clam. Throw away the open ones, as they’re dead. Then you’re supposed to keep them in a bucket of salt water mixed with oat or corn meal. This causes them to spit out their sand over night. The next night, you boil them until they open. Throw away any that don’t open as they are also dead.

12/31/02

Happy  New Year!! Tonight we ate the clams, and they were excellent! The rest of the meal consisted of Rattattooie (or however the heck you spell it), lamb, potatoes, and chocolate ice-mush cake.  Also, I went fishing early today with a nice man moored beside us. We went out bottom fishing for snapper, using ½ pilchards as bait. All you have to do to rig up for snapper fishing is slide a lead weight onto your line, thread a 5/0 hook on after it, and tie another 5/0 hook on with a Uni-Knot.  To hook a pilchard head (the only one I figured out how to hook) you have to hook the tied one from head to back, so that the hook shank points toward the head. Then take the sliding hook and wrap the line around the shank 3 times before hooking the pilchard through the eyes, as shown.

After that, it’s all a matter of finding the fish. They like fouled-up bottoms, such as submerged tree trunks,  or old shipwrecks. Lower your bait to the bottom, and if you’re lucky, you’ll have dinner. Since they’re schoolfish, if you catch one you can catch many. Be sure to throw back any under 30 inches, though, or you’ll get nailed by the authorities.

January 2003

1/1/-1/10/03

The Jorgensen’s have left us, but we continued to cruise around here. We were locked in one harbor during a storm and watched our dinghy flip over and over. Luckily we had taken out the engine and tied down the fuel tank. We made a few trips back and forth to Russsel, and that’s where we are now. Dad, when we were last here,  topped off the fuel tank with water. Luckily we noticed before it did serious damage to our engine. Today we are pumping it out and refilling it.

 1/11-1/13/03

These past two days we’ve done absolutely nothing. Today, though, a couple of new friends of ours came down on their honeymoon. We had dinner in Paihia, at a place called Just Seafood… it was GREAT!

 1/14/03

Homework. Blah.

 1/15/03-1/31/03

Our friends left after a few days, and we continued to cruise Great Barrier Island and the Bay of islands. A few more friends of ours came down from San Francisco, and we taught them some of the essentials of cruising (how to play Petonque and how not to have a plan). We are also setting off on our tour of the south island. We stayed in Whanga mu mu. The next night we went to Wellington, where we went to the Lord of the Rings museum display, and it was incredible!!  Today we went down to Christchurch after a fun ferry ride. Watching landlubbers stumbling around was kinda funny, when we could stand really easily. And, oh yes, we got lost in a hotel and were stuck at the bottom of a hotel garage ramp for 20 minutes!

February 2003

2/4/03

Today, 2/4/03, I did the scariest thing I have ever done in my life. I went Mad Dog River Boarding. Armed with (crappy) fins, a wetsuit, lifejacket, and a boogie board, I was hurled into the middle of a raging river, and swam for my life. It was fun looking back on it, but if you are not a good to GREAT swimmer, I would NOT consider it. For those of you who are good swimmers, this will be fun looking BACK. If you’ve done a stormy passage, you know what I’m talking about.

 2/5-16/03

I CAUGHT FISH! Big huge 5-6 pound brown trout, all on either size 10 blue-arsed blowflies or Cicada imitations. If you go to Queenstown, go to Fishing Safaris if you want to catch fish at this time of the year! Nothing else much happened. We went river rafting as well, and that was great.

2/17/03

Today we took the ferry from Nelson to Wellington, the first time we ever did that voyage. When we arrived in Wellington we met up with some cruising friends and went to the “Sports Café” Yes, a highly original name for an actually very interesting place.