Arrival in New Zealand

We arrived today in New Zealand, a little bedraggled, but safe and sound. Turtlebones is absolutely no worse for wear – the crew, however, could use some rest.

After eight days at sea, we completed the last leg our Pacific crossing. Pretty exciting. And also bittersweet.

As the sun began to settle in the west, after a long unsettled day at sea, the east coast of NZ came into view. Such a sight. Such a beautiful welcome sight.

But it would be another 10 hours before we would land and enjoy our first celebratory bevvie.

We sailed down along the coast for several more hours. And then, it’s a great long pass from the Whangarei Harbour entrance to the marina dock. At night, pitch black with no moon, and me at the helm – well, that’s a recipe for a slow slow super-uber-careful approach. No regrets, but it added a few hours, and hence our late arrival.

Bill took over the helm in the final stretch, when we had to nimbly make out way into the marina entrance and then find and then come along side to the Q dock, where we would wait until noon today for the various officials to come aboard and eventually welcome us into the country. It all went swimmingly. Super smooth.

Waiting at Q dock

Speaking of smooth, it is mind-blowing how calm it is in this marina – when you know how actual-blowing it is “out there”. It’s perfectly still here in the marina. This evening on Turtlebones, feels more like a small (very small) condo on land. No movement at all. Utterly no clue that we’re on a boat in the water. Feels like solid dry land.