Home at last
Zepher
Chris & Lyn Darch
Fri 14 Nov 2008 08:21
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Hi Folks,
We have arrived at last , it wasn't an easy last
few days as the blow didn't abate , but as I sit here in the cockpit with a
sun rising this morning I feel real thankful that we went when we did, a lot of
other boats are still in Tonga waiting for the weather window ! but I don't
think it exists, this a very Biscay like area with weather conditions changing
by the day and a lot of unstable shifting lows and highs, the last two days of
the trip were right into the teeth of the wind , we motor sailed the last 24 hrs
as it would have meant another night at sea with the possibility of the winds
getting up to 40 knts so on went the iron headsail and "Geoff" did us proud , we
sighted land at 10:30 morning of the 12 the land of the long white cloud in view
at last , and we pounded to windward until we got into the lee of Cape Brett ,
the swells eased and the wind lessened and then we realized that it was nearly
all over , 13,000 nm after leaving the Hamble on the 9th of July 07 we were in
sight of our goal, it was a bit surreal and even when we got along side at the
customs berth we were still in shock and couldn't believe we were
here.
Customs were really efferent and we were cleared in
20 minutes,all the meats from Tonga were disposed of along with some Tongan
tinned meats, you even get a welcome wicker bag with all the info you need to
get around this part of the world, what a pleasant surprise after some of the
countries we have visited along the way even customs made you feel
welcome! we then called the marina to find out were our berth was
located, the girls in the office who I have been in contact with for over a year
now even had our curry house address waiting for us, we found our berth but
guess what this marina is located in a wide river mouth and as per the Hamble
there is quite a vicious cross current , just like our old berth on the
Hamble , we were all tired from the trip and the thought of getting it
wrong going in there was a not present , fortunately they have long waiting
pontoons so we pulled alongside for the night, blew up the dingy and went ashore
to the club house for a beer, on entering the club house some old familiar
faces were there to greet us , Sam from Rampasat,Christine and Dave from
Timorous and Rod and Lou from Skylax , we all swapped stories of our crossing
experience, sank a few ales and relaxed for the first time in a few
days, incidentally on my way to the club house I stop at the Pohutakawa
tree and kissed the base of it , photo graphic evidence was take and it was
pointed out to me that probably a dog had recently urinated there , it tasted
allright so the dog must have been on the Tui ale prior to his swamp ...
anyway I fulfilled my dream of kissing the ground of my new home land
..
On our return to the boat we had a really good
nights sleep and awoke to grey skies , the start of our new life had begun with
a visit to the customs regarding the boat importation , don't worry folks the
blogg will continue so this is not the end ....
A dream realised at last ....
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