I mentioned in our previous post that we were driven out of Signal (Te Ndo) Island due to wind conditions which made the anchorage uncomfortable. The wind was blowing about 20 knots by the time we left Signal around noon which made for a quick sail North to Baie Maa about 5-6 nautical miles away. Baie Maa has some nice protection from all winds except Westerly and good holding, so makes for a comfortable anchorage though the snorkeling isn’t as good here.
The Rocket Guide talks about the animals around the bay. There are suppose to be some deer, turkey, sheep and local birds, however, they are not wild. They are owned by the extended family which descended from a German man who swan ashore there from a shipwreck last century. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any deer, turkeys, or sheep. Though to our surprise, later in the afternoon, we saw a Unicorn!!!
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| Unicorn Sophia |
This beautiful Unicorn, named Sophia from the boat Kailani, came by Gypsea Heart trick or treating. What a wonderful surprise!! Unicorn, Sophia, was our first trick or treat guest to visit Gypsea Heart ever, and to our dismay, we didn’t have ANY candy aboard. We did give Sophia, the Unicorn, a granola bar for her halloween basket, and she graciously and happily accepted it. Thank goodness otherwise Rankin would have been obligated to perform a trick or something. Sophia was the best unicorn we have ever seen. We were really sad to see her gallop off to the next boat, but understand there was more trick or treating to do for the night was young.
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| Unicorn Sophia onto her next boat |
We stayed in Baie Maa for about a week. Though we had beautiful sunny skies, the winds were up, and this bay provided us with great shelter. Being in one place for a week, gave us a chance to catch up on boat chores like waxing the topside. UGH!! We put it off long enough it was time. I think I’ve mentioned there are times when Gypsea Heart, 47 foot catamaran, feels like a 94 foot boat. It seems like lately there have been MANY of times (i.e bottom cleaning, marina fees, topside waxing, etc.). Rankin did most of the waxing work though we did "team up" for part of the job in the beginning. While he was finishing up the waxing, I was polishing all the hatches and the strataglass (and we have a lot of hatches and strataglass) . If anyone has a way of cleaning strataglass without streaks and without scratching it I am ALL ears. I was doing the “wax on, wax off” thing for quite a while. I think it took us two or three days to wax and clean the boat. Finally, it was time to have some fun.
We were invited over to Kailani (Harley, Jennifer and Sophia) for happy hour along with Astarte (Michael and Barbara). It was our first visit aboard Kailani, a beautiful Deerfoot 63, nice, sleek, go fast boat. It looks like a wonderful boat for a family too with Sophia having her own cabin aboard containing all her books and stuffed animals (she gave us a very good tour). We had a really nice time getting to know Harley, Jennifer and Sophia. It was hard to leave, but we made an early exit knowing that children have a little earlier bed time than us though not much earlier. If you want to check out Kailani’s blog go to
www.laughterjourney.com . I’ll also list it on this site too.
The next day Astarte organized a bocce ball game ashore and invited us, Kailani and another family from the sailboat Rapaki. Pete, Shell and LeRoy (just turned 5 on Nov 4th) from New Zealand live aboard Rapaki. Everyone had a great time though I can’t tell you who won all the games, I know that Barbara and Jennifer kicked the guys butts.
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| LeRoy |
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| Pete & Harley |
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| Sophia showing us how it's done |
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| Jennifer, Shell & Rankin |
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| Michael & Rankin |
One morning before the wind kicked up, I kayaked around the bay. In the northern portion of the bay, there’s a camping area. I didn’t walk ashore, but watched some teenage boys skipping rocks on the water and then bury their friend in the sand up to his armpits. It looked like another great camp site.
Besides just having fun, I did a little work helping out Pete (Rapaki). Just to add a little boring part, his computer was suddenly unable to receive weather faxes. With our Single Side Band (SSB) radio, we have the ability to download weather faxes from New Zealand while we are under way (no internet). So it was important for us to get this working again before his departure to New Zealand. We spent a little time one morning and got it working again then Rapaki was off for Noumea. First they were celebrating LeRoy's birthday with cake (we are so sorry we missed it) and then a few days later Shell and LeRoy were flying home to New Zealand. Pete will be sailing the boat to New Zealand with his nephew.
Speaking of New Zealand, it's that time again where we start to get ready for our sail down to New Zealand. We’ll keep you posted when we make the departure, but for now our next move is to sail back to Noumea. Until then …
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