It is a beautiful area with many possibilities for anchoring. The Harbour Authority have closed the area for all boating activities, except live aboards. Today it’s raining so the buckets are out for collecting water. We've got to stay self-sufficient!

We sailed round from Nelson on the 19th March taking the short cut through French Pass, a narrow passage with currents of up to 8 kts and therefore imperative to get the tide timings correct.

The slope above is camera angle not tide, although they do say that you CAN see the slope in the water when the tide is at full chat. After two more overnight anchorages (Punt Rails and Ruakaka Bay) we dropped the hook in Waikawa Bay (the next bay to Picton).

Cold weather clothes as we anchor in the 'Punt Rails' anchorage inside Alligator Head (a strange name as there are no dangerous species of mammal, insect or reptile in New Zealand)

Two days later it had become clear we needed to stock up ready for isolation when New Zealand's 4 week virus lockdown came into effect.

During all the preparation for isolation, we enjoyed an excellent "2 metres apart" lunch with Jeremy and Sue (Jeremy is my ex-flatmate circa 1971) who has a lovely hideaway house here in Onahau Bay. We had great fun without the hugs and kisses!

Blue Hound at Jeremy's:

Below there are a few photos of some wildlife we've enjoyed in the last few weeks (and some we've eaten). The albatrosses circle the boat for hours out at sea with their effortless gliding, and there were many common dolphins to entertain. The Noddy sat on the solar panel long enough to be identified. The Sulphur-crested Cockatoos and the long beaked Corella we saw ashore with Anna. We were surrounded by millions of large jellyfish in Pittwater, which were difficult to negotiate in the dinghy. A long necked turtle gave me a surprise while out walking near Port Hacking.  I thought I was about to step on elephant dung. Finally the Kawahai is the biggest fish I have caught to date and in spite Phil's sceptisim it made excellent eating with texture and taste similar to a mackerel.

KAHAWAI BEFORE

 AFTER

 ALBATROSS

DOLPHINS

Small squid found on deck. We also found a few flying fish - these were bigger than we had seen in Atlantic and Pacific (no photo).

CORELLA

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

NODDY

LONG NECKED TURTLE

JELLYFISH

We have no jigsaws, but plenty of crosswords and playing cards - and a pile of paperbooks. Also handy is a book of card games (and rules which saves endless arguments). We downloaded some more books to the Kindle today (the internet service is good in our present anchorage). That's all for now - the gin and whisky bottles have just appeared! We hope you all stay safe and well in these difficult times.