Over a year on land...

After a year on land, with Moonwalker out of the water for almost 5 months and a new crew member waiting to come onboard (Ilha Maria Carlyon DOB 24/09/2013) we are finally floating again....

We should have our mast up again in the next few days and hopefully be able to cruise for a wee while before getting this year started and all the new projects we have planned.

Its all very promising with the Offshore Cruising Tenders already in motion but no prototype to show as of yet, we will keep you all informed.

Moonwalker will be on the market this new year and ready to go for a good home. I am looking forward and dreading the day she goes... such a mixed bag of feelings.

Russ has done a marvelous job repainting hulls and deck, logos are updated and color scheme a bit changed but very very classy.

Final touches will be done before we do the full photo shoot but here is a few recent photos.

Merry Christmas and Happy New 2014 - BRING IT ON!!!

Hauling Out 

Moonwalker's tent! 

Getting ready to get back in the water, tent is gone...

Beauty... Russ you are amazing... 

Going back in the water, check this truck guys, its amazing!

Just love this shot, had to share....

Moonwalker back in New Zealand

Moonwalker has been back in New Zealand since 22nd of November 2012 after a very boring 8 days at sea. It was a slow trip, on which we managed even to score a couple of full night asleep just drifting around. We had to motor loads eventhough our motoring capability was seriously diminished after bending the shaft when we were on the rocks in Pangai.

We had the most amazing surprise as we approached the Bay of Islands in the wee hours of the morning, when Relax, a power boat belonging to the ex-owner of Moonwalker Trevor Grass came hooning on us with Russ' mum, sister and two nieces onboard... what a magnificent present! It was a classic winter NZ day,  cold, grey and rainy, but they were out in force to see us! The next boat to give us the salute was our beloved Undine with Peter Richards and a very pregnant Catherine onboard! How cool was that! Then we saw Dan, out on the kayak just to say hello to us! The radio was on full blast on with a few mates calling their welcome home on the VHF.

But Moonwalker didn't seem to want to come home. The engine died, along with most of the wind, so we had to sail upwind with whatever wind was left all the way to Opua. This was an easy task until we got into the Opua area which was obviously crowded and left us with very little space to manouver. Russ decided to check the Quarentine berth and saw a big gap along the outside but thought we were sailing too fast, so I didn't get anything ready... but as we passed by, he changed his mind as he realised there was no way we would have been able to manouver amongst all the boats so we threw a line to some austounded but keen cruisers, and headed to the berth without fenders or proper lines tied up!

Oh my what a stressful time!, I managed to squeeze a few fenders as we scraped the rubber rails of the pontoon, and got another line ashore and our land hands managed to slow us down a bit more and more and more until we stopped just before the Quarantine berth was finished. Puff... Oh my, I really didn't need that bit of adrenaline to finish my cruising time!

We had many friends on the land, but they are unable to come to the Quarantine pontoon so the whole welcoming party was quite of non event as until we got cleared we could not go anywhere.

But we were home, with long black marks on the side of the boat which thankfully came of with little effort, wet and cold but OH SO VERY HAPPY!

We are now into our 5th month on land, moved back into our house in the last month and are not getting Moonwalker ready for his so needed haul out.

Brisa and I are loving our life ashore, Russ is still trying to find his footing, missing the simplicity and cheap life onboard, but nothing another exciting project won't fix. He is being kept busy by doing up our house and now getting the boat sorted.

Now the big news is that now we are expecting our second child! I am already 17 weeks and the due date is  around the 20th of September! We are very happy and so looking forward to meeting our new future crew member.

We will keep you all posted on our adventures, meanwhile I am still putting photos up on the Picasa photo Albuns you can access on the link on the left side of the screen.

Moonwalker's adventures may have stopped for now but it is not finished! Keep tuned!

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Tonga

Arriving back in Tonga was like coming home. We received many congratulations for completing our circumnavigation but it felt a bit wrong, we still needed to return to NZ but we nonetheless allowed ourselves a bit of celebration with a nice botle of bubbly we received as best dancers in the fund raiser in Niue!!!

Tonga has changed much and as far as we could see the infrastructure for the better. With the huge exception of the roads in Vava'u  which used to be very good and now are riddle with pot holes thanks to the gigantic chinese trucks going over it.

Not quite sure what to say about all the chinese presence in the islands but people seem a bit upset to say the least. Especially in Nukulofa, we heard many complains.

But out in the water things seem great. We had an amazing time, snorkelling the coral gardens and just exploring the lovely anchorages and people. The shelling was incredible. We saw no sharks in Vava'u eventhough a lady got bitten right in the bum while we were there. We did see some rather big sharks in the Haapais though.

The Haapais kept their reputation of wild weather patterns and showed us a very thrilling time to put it mildly. We ended up on the rocks in Pangai harbour after a mini tornado ( as the locals put it) passed through bringing 60 knots plus which hit us sideways without much warning. It was mayhem and our anchor got picked up by our mates that had just managed to avoid a T bone collision with us and we dragged to the rocks. The same friends saved the day by pulling their anchor in, very much attached to ours and pulling us off enough for us to turn on the engine and re-anchoring. It was a nerve shattering experience and the closest we have ever been to losing Moonwalker.

Brisa watched her Tablet and played inside the entire time, we did not hear a peep from our lovely daughter. What a blessing.

Nukulofa didn't fare too bad in the adrenaline side... there while at anchor by Big Mamas we saw up to 74 knots dying to nill then back to 40 for a 12 hour period while the same cyclonic weather greated havoc with the boats on passage to New Zealand.

Brisa Dressed up for a feast

Trevort, Gill, Dee and Coco where our visitors to Tonga and the previous owners of Moonwalker!

Moonwalker and Radiance at anchor in Pangai harbor after spending a good  while on the rocks shown  during a 60 knot  tornado!

The only whale we saw in Tonga this time round as it was very late in the season.

 Brisa with her Halloween trick or treat mates

Coconut trees during a 40 knot - 12 hour long session

The unamed but very much cyclonic weather we endured in Nukulofa. We are on the top baloon just above the arrow.

After the blow this was the view of the beach.

Massive swell created by the passing low.

So Tonga will not be forgotten anytime soon, if ever not only for its amazing scenery and people but by its share of adrenaline fulled moments just before the big crossing home.

Niue

Leaving Suvarrow was hard, we knew and know, we will not see a place like that anytime soon. But we were going to Tonga and all was looking up. Catching up with sailing and land friends, and Tonga itself its a "not too bad" (I never quite got this kiwi expression... seems so negative when it actually means the exactly opposite!) place to be.

But alas, it was not be, we had no wind and no desire to use our engine so we decided to vear a bit further south and call into Niue.

What a great unexpected surprise! First it was like being home, without actually being home. Everyone was so NICE. The local yacht club offered great service with the mooring balls which we totally believe need to be used as the holding would be pretty difficult with such a rocky terrain.

The clarity of the water was the most incredible thing I have ever seen anywhere in the world. You could easily see 40 to 45 meters. We could see the coral clearly from our boat, 15 meters down, even when we swung to the deeper side at 30 meters we could still make out the little fish around!

Sea snakes are abundant and after our experience in Sumatra (where one came into the galley after the beans I was cooking in the pressure cooker) we stayed away from beans and kept the hatch well closed.

The weather was not fantastic but good enough to allow us to go for a swim in one of the many crevasses around the island and explore some of the lovely caves.

We attended a local fund raiser that loaded us with lovely bubbly and delicious local feast/hangi. It was a great night and Brisa danced the entire time!

One of the hints we were getting closer to home, was when we walked into the yacht club in Niue and Russell bumped into his primary school mate, Fiona Tarlton! We had a great time with her and her son Tane

The only down side was having to hoist your dinghy onto the dock everytime we went ashore. It was quite a mission everytime, but well worth it.

But it was time to move on to Tonga as we had Trevor and Gill (the previous owners of Moonwalker) coming and we were really looking forward to catching up with them and being in Tonga!

Suvarrow

After an amazing week in Maupiti we had a very benign but uncomfortable sail to Suvarrow in the Cook Islands. With the wind right on your stern we decided to use the wing on wing/ butterfly approach to sail dead downwind for the first time.

We used the genoa to one side and the storm jib to the other. It worked really well. We had about 20 knots most days but the motion onboard wasn't very pleasant and for the first two days I wasn't much help (Russ by now is getting used to that) and Brisa wasn't too flash either on the first day.

It took us about 5.5 days to get to Suvarrow and we arrived in the morning with bring sunshine and quite a bit of wind.

How can I describe paradise? Suvarrow was everything we expected and more. It was Chagos all over again with added benefits.

Snorkelling was great, shelling, fishing, mantas, sharks you name it it was there for us. The bird life on the islands of the atol was amazing. What was so incredible about it was the variety of birds species. In one little bush you would see a Tropical Bird nesting on the ground, a tern in a branch, a Booby on another branch, and further on a Frigate bird. It was such a mix match os species, nesting side by side it was the most ecletic environment I have ever visited!

We made many friends, amongst them the two care takers of the island in front of the only authorized anchorage in the atol. They provided us with an excellent venue everynight for our pot lucks and general entertainment

It costed us US$50 for the park fees which we gladly paid. Visiting other islands (apart from the anchorage Island) required a presence of a caretaker, which they were happy to oblige us with in exchange for fuel as the Cook Government sent them there with half the supply they had organized promissing another supply ship within 2 weeks. Well the supply ship never materialized and they had to fend for themselves. Yachties are pretty good and generous people by nature and Harry and Ants got all they needed and more from us all as they were wonderful hosts.

Brisa once again was in ecstasy! Lovely calm beaches (if you didn't mind sharks which she didn't), swing, hammocks, many friendly people, a cat, loads of shells to play and did I say swing-slaves? Yes she had many of those ready at hand to swing her to her heart's content. Her first swing slave was her Grandpa in the USA. Any chance she had she would drag him to the local playground and they would be there for hours.

3 weeks passed in Suvarrow without us even noticing. We loved our time there, made many friends and have vowed to come back in a near future. I will let the photos from the link bellow talk for themselves!

https://picasaweb.google.com/108718390294505747992/Suvarrow?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNOd6Li08ZnR0AE&feat=directlink

Maupiti days...

Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa & Bora Bora

With our new rudder made we were ready to carry on visiting the French Polynesian Islands. We set for Huahine on an uneventful overnight sail.

Huahine was lovely but strong winds aborted our plan of seeing the easter side so we stayed between Fare and Avea Bay, being the later and Teapaa Bay our favourites by far. Good snorkeling and shells, lovely walks and sand beaches. Asher, Turia and Kirahu from Moorea where in Huahine visiting some family so we were lucky to have a car to tour the island! We saw the sacred eels, the beautifully maintained Maraes and collected cockles with Turia's family in the northern Lagoon. It was quite the experience! We saw the century old fish traps still in use.

Then we were off again to Raiatea to collect Claudia, Casey and Nicolas coming from NZ for a week of fun.But it wasn't to be, a total tragedy in New Plymonth with one of Claudia's brazilian students being taken by a gigantic swell of the rocks during an outdoor pursuits group excursion, meant Claudia was in for an incredible amount of work and emotional stress. The poor girl stayed in New Plymonth for 2 weeks of much hope, sadness and frustration. But Casey came and we made sure he had a good time so he could send out love back to Claudia.

We toured Raiatea and Tahaa with Casey, and loved the twin islands. By far our favourites, right there with Moorea. Surf, shells, sand beaches, lovely hikes, there was something to please all onboard. Especially Brisa whom got her own personal entertainer in Casey!

The highlights were the river Faaroa, where we got to pickf fruits from Andreas garden and only payed him after much convincing after all he had 2 kids to feed as well; Marae Taputapuatea where as good Kiwis we paid out respects to the launching place of the Maori Canoes bound to New Zealand millenia ago; NaoNao Motu and Pass, a snorkel & shell paradise hardly visited by the cruising fleet. Our surf point of choice was Tetoora where the boys got some good waves and it was mellow enough at times for a visit from Brisa even! Uturoa was a love village with great crafts, I dropped a bit of cash there I must confess...

Then it was off to Bora Bora... well, it is beautiful, especially on the eastern side, but with the wind it was very hard to take the boat there so we got stuck on the western side with all the tourists. Unfortunatelly we could see what bad tourism can do to the island (it was by far the dirtiest, untided, area we have ever seen in French Polynesia), and the people seemed to have lost the genuine smile and friendlyness.

But it is still beautiful, Matira had an amazing turquoise lagoon we anchored in 2 meters of lovely white sand and looked like we were flying. Brisa loved playing on the beach with the local boys and the odd tourist. We walked around the thousand dollars a night hotels and I strongly believe we had the best bed in town! Russ loved the Bloody Mary's Bar, a Bora Bora Institution and one of the best themed bars we have seen. Everything had been thought of. And it was a pretty reasonable price for what was in offer. Russ thought the penis shaped flush cord was hilarious. They had awesome carvings everywhere and the bloody mary was good as far as bloody marys go. Not my thing really.

Having had enough we decided to carry on and are now in Maupiti, where we knew we would be pinned down as there is some fronts coming across the entire week. But it is a nicer place to be stuck than Bora Bora that we know already. Check the videos with the Mantas and drool on our prison paradise!