Hurrah for Nuie!

Winya_wynah
Sat 29 Aug 2009 00:56
Well we have found yet another Paradise!
This one is called Nuie.
It really is very different from anywhere else we have stopped and we are
so grateful to those other yachtie's who thought to put it in their blogs,
and helped make our decision to stop off here.
We arrived yesterday very early in the morning, after our worse crossing
to date!! We had about four days of heavy rain, two days with next to no
wind, we kept having cups of tea, always praying the gas wouldn't run out
as it was sooooooooo low! We had been unable to have it refilled in French
Polynesia because we had the 'wrong' kind of gas bottles! Then just as we
settled down for another night of bobbing along at about 2 miles per hour,
the wind suddenly picked up and blew with all its might, from the wrong
direction, the one into which we were headed! Not only does this mean that
the sailing is very uncomfortable, but it also meant we might not be able
to make Nuie our next port of call. A quick call to our weather girl in
the US gave us the good news that we needed to hear, the weather would
turn round in the next 24 hours and we would be on course again. The last
12 hours were spent trying to slow Winny down so we didn't arrive in the
dark!
Once Nuie was in sight we contacted Nuie radio who organised customs for
us, then the Yacht club for our Mooring buoy.
Nuie Yacht Club is exactly what all yacht clubs should be like!
It is run by the most helpful and lovely 3 old boys from New Zealand.
Keith the Commordore has looked after us from the start, giving us a mini
tour to show us where everything is,& sorting out our hire car for this
afternoon, so we can get to the Fete tomorrow on the other side of the
Island. We are both now proud owners of Nuie driving licences, the most
colourful license you could ever own! Keith also took off yesterday with
our gas bottle, and returned this morning to the wharf with it all filled
up, and the other one is now off being filled - so there will be baking
again on the next passage, and endless cups of tea.
Nuie is a limestone 'lump' that sticks out of the sea, all the rain water
filters down through the rock, and therefore there is no sediment or run
off going into the sea. We can clearly see the bottom at 80 feet!
We came ashore this morning for the market at 6am, and went back to the
boat with fresh baked bread buns for our breakfast on the back of Winny,
to be eaten whilst watching the humpback whales lying in the water around
us. Last night we drifted off to sleep to the sounds of them blowing.