What?! Back At It - Again?

 What!?! Back at it again?!

Just summited Rinjani ( so that project done, finally) almost done with a long long session of getting Whakaari ready to go again, and so looking forward to pushing off, sailing once again! Whakaari hasnt yet forgiven me for over two years of Covid abandonment but she is straining at her moorings, saying we are good to go- having removed a hideous collection of growth above and below water, replaced the entire battery bank, rewired and replaced endless amounts, including controllers, breakers, etc, rebuilt the dinghy, taped up UV damaged bimini, dodger, furling UV layers, blah blah. And every single zipper or zip is ruined! Meaning lots of Speedy Stitcher hours. The compressors for the reefer and the hookah systems both corroded and now in the bin, no cooler til Oz, and its 32 degrees minimum here every single day. Anyway, too many sad stories , can’t wait to leave this place and head for Home! After Covid Everyone is money hungry and its depressing

Tonite I just fired up the IridiumGo system so comms, tracking, weather via PredictWind all available again aboard, and here: https://predictwind.intercom-clicks.com/via/e?ob=uKvJPP5LVXRuZfDV3Z9fsRdNOupDwAWXbNhHaThKDSzby%2FupwvLjjtqFoYTmhDLz%2BDNP4H9LF%2Beed1S%2BJtJuQg%3D%3D&h=dde2de0b535655e8c82632ed8b634479cd9d350e-smve6uws_130546617281138

Back in the Saddle

Having come to the successful conclusion of my 10 month brain trauma recovery, and given the big "thumbs-up", I am posting my plans here for the forthcoming passage to bring Whakaari to New Zealand.

I fly out 1st November to Koh Samui, Thailand, allowing two very full weeks to prepare for my departure. The marine growth encountered when Carol and I when returning to secure Whakaari (so many months back) after only 2-3 months in Koh Samui was alarmingly thick. and Carol spent a good two days with the surface dive system cleaning the hull in challenging conditions
So I expecting more time on boat prep!

The 15th will come round fast, by then Damian(one of my new crew for this trip) will be aboard, and we will make way south heading first to Palau Batam to clear into Indonesia.
Visas in place for two months with extensions permitted, its time to explore, dive, hike and soak up Indonesia, working east toward Timor Leste where we pick up Romain, another new crew member for the rest of the passage home.

By Jan/Feb its a push further east across the top of Australia out to the Pacific, hoping for time and good conditions staying close to the Australian east coast to enjoy Great Barrier Reef, Hamilton Island, and the WhitSundays.
My aim is to be ready for crossing the ditch , probably from near Coffs Harbour, NSW in March with a stopover at Lord Howe. Clearance into New Zealand, a first for Whakaari, in the Bay of Islands, at Opua. The total passage distance will have been some 5,500nm.

Long range forecasts are predicting a very turbulent season (hopefully not). But I'm much happier to be anticipating the South Pacific passage to New Zealand than the typhoon season I experienced in Japan.

Tale of a cunning fox

Once in possession of my latest cruising permit, which included permission to land and explore in the Alaskan peninsula, and with some time before my new crew arrived in Dutch Harbor from the lower 48, Roberto and I had departed Dutch and sailed east. The conditions were remarkably settled, just a 15-20 knot northerly off the Bering Sea, a slight swell, and a good forecast.  Its early May 2018, coming into the best cruising season for the Alaskan Peninsula. Fog is usually the trade off for easier seas and longer days, though always there is the risk of squally weather and big swells. Local fishermen have regaled me with stories of large vessels being knocked down and pinned down for long periods by sudden squalls out of nowhere.
We are fortunate and have easy conditions that allow us to enjoy the coastal scenery in close. Much of the coastline is dramatic eroded lava, with sea caves and arches where the incoming swells smash and rebound, creating stunning explosions of water and sound. (Always an eye ahead for massive rafts of seaweed that would stop a sailboat dead on a floating platform)

We anchored overnight in a very tight and shallow bay of Unimak Island in the lee of a moderate wind,  in order to make a timely approach to the infamous False Pass, only a few miles east.
On the nearby beach we could see a female grizzly taking her two cubs along the beach, looking for food. There was nothing to do but lower the dinghy from the davits, grab our cameras, and head towards the beach for a closer encounter.

The bears were ambling along when they encountered a large skeleton to paw at. We thought -that doesn't look like a whale skeleton- we had seen many Gray Whales on our voyage in the area and were discussing this when huge upwellings of bubbles appeared all around the dinghy and then a pair of walrus rose very near, their long tusks luminous in the twilight.

I had heard there have been several incidents in the Alaskan peninsula where walrus have upturned and sank small boats, or even punctured inflatables,  so we sensibly retreated in the failing light back to the boat as the density to anxious animals quickly increased as had their apparent warning activity of bubble blowing all around and beneath us.










We woke early to a fantastic sunrise, the sky crystal clear and showing the perfect summit (2857m) of Shishaldon rising above us in all it's glory. This was definitely the best view we had been graced with, in this region where clear skies in summer are extremely rare due to prevailing fog, and poor weather.

Excited to see if there might be a walrus haulout nearby, we motored around the headland to be amazed, seeing hundreds of walrus crammed into a small pocket beach. Their sounds and smells almost overwhelming in such an isolated place,  we moved back to a find a suitable landing on the rocky shore where we could haul the dinghy above the swell surge.



Complete with bear protection - a 40 magnum rifle,  expired flares, bear spray and an air horn (A necessary kit anywhere here on the island of Unimak that boasts the highest concentration of grizzly bears at 2 per kilometer) we started to move along the shore where we were joined by an Arctic fox, seemingly unafraid,  and as interested in us as we were in him.







Almost as if we were out for a walk with our pet, our trio moved along the boulder beach towards a sandy outcrop where, alarmingly noting the number and size of freshly made bear prints in the sand at the high watermark, we realized we may even be joined by grizzlies not just a friendly fox.
Once above the beach and moving along the terrace it was soon evident we were on a well-used bear trail, so we cautiously made our way towards the haulout and as soon as possible we clambered down off the bear path to a great view point straight across from the walrus haulout, only 50 metres away.

There were possibly 350-400 walrus jam-packed into this tiny cove. A great many were out in the water some seemingly conducting mating rituals  A few came closer to check us out as we clicked away on our cameras. Our companion the fox looked on inquisitively,  to see what we're doing climbing down off the track,  then soon moved on towards the walrus cove. Once safely off the bear trail we enjoyed the scene, soaking up the raucous sounds and the pungent hormonal smells, belching, farting and growling and the strong fishy smell of many huge sea mammals.

Suddenly the fox re-appeared - he was making a mad dash along the waters edge close to the walrus, and he almost was flattened by a large male clambering over the others. He spun around and retreated the way he had come and soon we noticed he had climbed up above the walrus haul-out, high up on the cliff and there he had to negotiate another dangerous encounter when he came close to what appeared to be a Bald Eagle Nest,  the adult birds homing in on him with alarmed calls and dive bombing him, trying to drive him away from their nest. He very smartly moved away and continued making his way to the next cove. A very smart, very cunning Fox.

Our presence had been accepted by the massive seals (walrus being the largest of the seal family, often an individual male being upto 3,6 metres long, 1 tonne in weight, bearing fearsome tusks a metre long) as they went about their mating attempts or play-fighting. They use their tusks mainly for fighting, breaking out breathing holes in the ice, hauling their bodies along, and raking out molluscs.

I have since found out that these northern pacific marine mammals are being threatened by climate change, due to global warming reducing the extent of ice packs that they need for their usual haul outs. Land based haulouts can lead to crushing injuries, stampedes due to surprise by grizzlies, polar bears, humans, and so on, resulting in trampling,  and cliff collapse under their overwhelming weight.

Eventually we tear ourselves away, and return to Whakaari, as tide times determine we need to be in position to make the run through False Pass, a notorious narrow and shallow passage between Unimak Island and the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. Our objective is False Pass port and village where we will start our overland trek to attempt a climb of Shishaldin, the highest and most dramatic of The Aleutian Island’s volcanic peaks. Underway, we are recounting our experience ashore, Roberto saying now that he has seen walrus, he only has Orca on his wish list left to check off. Well, guess what we encountered next?

Down But Not Out!

A short post to update you on my current circumstance after an injury aboard!

I regret there has a been a long period of no new posts. There is a reason for this.

in the last days of 2018 I was in Koh Samui, Thailand after a very fast and successful sailing passage from Japan.
After leaving Hakodate, Hokkaido I made my way (again single handed) south to Okinawa, meeting Carol in Honshu, and we then set off for the Philippines. From there we went to Malaysia and on into the Gulf of Thailand and Koh Samui where Carol had a House Sit booked, and I was looking for yards where I could make use of cheap labour and skills to deal with brightwork and other minor maintenance on my boat.
I will post more detailed blogs on the journey to this point later on.

Once in Koh Samui and on anchor in Bang Rak (above), being tourists on the island and caring for a bevvy of dogs at the house sit, I had made a paddle board trip out to the boat to list out the work needed on the boat. Nightfall came and I had not returned to the housesit, so Carol organised some friends to come and look for me. I was found just regaining conciousness having ended up injured and lying in my own blood in the saloon. To this day I have not regained any memory of the events before and after the incident. Nothing was taken from the boat, but my injuries seemed excessive for just a small fall, the boat being on anchor, flat calm, and no likely contact with the boom, etc.

Anyway, I ended up in hospital in Bangkok, Carol taking on the huge job of first emergency response and then ensuring my care, an absolute miracle worker, and then taking on the task of getting me home to New Zealand for care and treatment after a severe brain trauma, which normally takes from 6-12 months. I owe her hugely!
My family have provided wonderful and generous care and support, for which I will forever be indebted and exceedingly grateful.

Its now six months after the event, and my recovery has progressed well. I soon will be fully recovered and have every intention of completing my stuttering project to explore the Ring of Fire.
I am now working on my Passage Plan for the leg to New Zealand from Thailand, a distance of some 5,500 nm. The now familiar but more essential search for crew, funds, and resources is now getting underway. And the delayed blogs/stories will come now that I am recovered, finished with the intensive period of treatment and more readily to recall and write!


Sailing again, yay!                    Carol and I On Pete Baddeleys Yacht,  Hauraki Gulf

And my much deferred 60th birthday celebration put on by my loved ones

Pic of Carol up the mast doing the concussed skippers work!

Haida Gwaii

A story from 2016, Queen Charlottes

We are in Prince Rupert (a port city on British Columbia’s northwest coast, a gateway to wilderness areas like the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Sanctuary bear habitat) for laundry, packing, preparing for Iain Sara & Jackson to leave the boat on their return journey to New Zealand.

Carol arrives for the next leg. We explore Prince Rupert and take in the museum then provision. After bidding adieu to Iain and Sara we try to fuel up but docks were too busy. Overnight at Pillsbury Cove. We catch 4 massive Dungeness crab and toast our good fortune. Sweet white flesh compartmentalized like cloves of garlic sheathed in cartilage instead of a papery skin. We feast with abandon licking lips and throwing shells overboard.

In the morning we brace the Fuel dock fiasco and made Graham Island after 10 hours sail in time for an amazing sunset (10 pm) and a rainbow over Tow Hill. We are now in the Queen Charlotte Islands the historic lands of the Haida people.

0930 anchor up and sail to Massett under foggy conditions. Landed at the public dock,3 Native fellows sitting passing the time. They wave as we pull alongside in huge currents. They then offer us fresh picked berries for sale although theirs, in plastic bags after all day, do not rival the fresh berries everywhere . We walked around town then to Old Massett and Sarah's art gallery. We find a new pole underway and discover an old pole in a storage shed adapted for rail transport. We walk the beach exploring old boats and hitch hike back catching a ride with Sarah. Set sail at 7pm & anchor at Strial Islands inside the outer bar.

Up early, we sail around Rose Spit outside of Graham Island to Skidegate and anchor inside Jewel Island at dark. A restless night is passed with the watch commander alarm set every 90 min to check anchor.

The magnificent poles and architecture of the Haida Gwaii Heritage Center reveal themselves at dawn and we row ashore for our exploration and interpretive tour. This park Gwaii Haanas is unique in Canada and it is celebrating 20 years of joint stewardship between Parks Canada and the Haida people. The Watchman program is also unique and places Haida at the historic sites of Tanu, Windy Bay, Skedans and SGang Gwaay to welcome visitors, provide interpretation and ensure the security of these sacred sites. we try to take part in 2 planned tours but somehow miss both.

We eat salmon berries & walk to town for coffee and wx wifi. We walk the beach & old Skidegate looking for Balancing Rock, then hike the trail at Spirit Lake. Carol finds a white eagle feather after asking brother eagle for just such a gift.

Back to the Heritage Center at 9am for our Gwaii Haanas orientation. We are told the park is full till 20th which will not work for our sail plan. There are caps on the number of daily visitors as well as per site to manage traffic. We are given special permission and are able to purchase our passes allowing us to make plans to start the following day.  We set sail to Queen Charlotte for wx update & supplies leaving at 4pm making way towards Louise Island. 5kn winds and a broad reach is what was expected but winds 25 gusting to 33 and close hauled is what was experienced -we were not organized so things broke including Craig's waterproof camera.

We leave Sheldon Bay and sail to McCoy Cove where we row ashore for a beach fire & picnic.

We attempt to walk thru to the other lake but the forest is so thick we retreat back to the shore there are still no bears but a gorgeous forest setting and afternoon in the sun. We tramp around and deer greet us along the beach. Here we see heaps of the plastic detritus from the tsunami in Japan gathered and awaiting removal.
Up early we make our way to Skedans and and are again greeted by deer on the beach. We walk among the totems and are joined by Nick a young Haida Watchman. Nick is 20 something and intensely proud of the fact that his family heritage is tied to the site. He sometimes struggles with the script of dates & names but beams with pride when he puts it together. Skedans was an intensely occupied site and there are numerous poles still standing although many were taken from this site to museums like Royal BC Museum in Victoria. This is the family village of artist & carver Bill Reid who is here, marked by a simple but beautiful wood plank with his Haida name. Many poles here were righted in the 1980s but now will be allowed to fall and return to the earth.  Nick tells us that in Haida culture a mortuary pole stands in memory of a chief until it falls and releases the spirit into the seven levels of the afterlife. We see poles commemorating chiefs who have hosted as many as 13 potlatch. We collect mussels by the cliff painted by Emily Carr and return to spend a lovely afternoon drifting, fishing & watching a pod of killer whales off in the distance. We make way towards Tanu & stern anchor out at 1130pm spending the night rocking & rolling.

Across to Tanu we meet Walter who has been a Watchman since 2009 and has spent 6 years at this site. He lives here with his wife Mary & their young daughter Raven. Walter is very keen to take us thru the house sites & ancient village. It is obvious he enjoys sharing the site, interpreting and making connections. Mary invites us to the cabin to have fresh fry bread while young Raven, 3 years old, insists on being called her Haida name. This is the first time we see crowding by groups as several private boats come ashore along with 2 tour operators at essentially the same time. This is why they have a cap on the number of visitors each day in the park and a maximum of 12 at each site at one time. We leave and make way to Windy Bay home of the Legacy Pole ( carved and erected to commemorate the stand off between Haida natives and Canadian loggers, resulting in protection of Gwaii Hannas and joint management by Parks Canada and The Haida tribes.)

We meet Vince who is soft spoken, eloquent, has a twinkle in his eye and a somewhat mischievous grin. During our time together, Vince reveals bit by bit & story by story his background. He is both an international ambassador for Haida culture & an elder involved in the repatriation of his ancestors remains. He shows us the ancient forest & leads us on a forester’s holiday to “the big tree” an 800-900 year old Sitka spruce. There is a group of young people on a week long Haida program based here. The students are staying in the traditional longhouse named Blinking Eye House after the entryway. We bid adieu and after 2 hours, make way from Middlesbrough to Burnaby Narrows & anchor for the night.

One of the richest intertidal areas in the world we are keen to explore in the morning. With low tide at 530am we row in and viewing is good but the light is flat. Highlights include sole, kelp crabs, massive mussels & huge urchins. Huge egg like jellyfish stream by in their thousands. Craig catches a red rock crab with his bare hands. We collect sea asparagus, 3 crabs, clams & mussels. The video shot underwater is blank & we decide to stay to next low tide. Craig paddleboards as Carol rows but with a higher tide the experience is completely different. We hike discovering huts & eagle bones then follow deer thru grassy meadows. We run the narrows aligning the markers and make way to Ikeda Bay 8km on in flaky winds.

Fresh bear scat on our forest walk











Ikeda is a beautiful bay ringed in pristine forest. Still no bears but it would be postcard perfect if there were. We set sail with 2 reefs in the main but both are shaken out in short time. We sail thru Rose Inlet enroute to Anthony Island and the SGang Gwaay site. There is a small anchorage in the north bay and we try twice to get a bite. We dingy in and are met by Harold another young Watchman from Skidegate. His family is tied to this site. Harold points out the double finned killer whale crest which belongs to his family. He is related to both Mary and Nick of the other sites. Harold is critical of Parks Canada but seems supportive of joint management. We walk the rich, dark humus paths to an open bay and the village site. The site is moss covered and lush with small diameter trees with many- strewn across the forest floor. We do not see seabirds although 40,000 nesting pairs are meant to call this home.

There is a Bald Eagle swimming, a very rare site and we are in an enchanted forest of moss and fungi. The poles are massive and numerous, especially funerary poles. Smallpox was brought to the village and killed most. Their bodies lie buried over a large area of the site, where we are asked not to walk. (Smallpox decimated the Haida, reducing their population of around 10,000 to a few hundred!)

 Departing for Woodruff Bay we hit an uncharted rock but all seems well. The miles pass quickly but we are sometimes enveloped in thick fog.  Luckily it lifts as we round the southernmost tip of Gwaii Haanas and we are able to take in the raucous Stellar sea lion colony at Cape St James as well as flocks of puffins, auklets and cormorants. There is much life here at the edge of Gwaii Haanas and all this coupled with the setting sun mark this end of land as special and special is something commonplace in Haida Gwaii. We anchor off a pristine white sand beach in Woodruff Bay, and settle in for our last night in the Queen Charlottes with a full moon rising.


Up early, the light of the moon is obscured by the fog which has settled around us. We can hear sounds coming from the beach- dogs? bears? but cannot see the short distance to shore. We make a 160 km push to Port Hardy and the majority is sailed in limited visibility, the spinnaker filling softly, the waters eerily calm for this notorious piece of water. We pass an uneventful night and have winds in the morning for a few hours but then it drops below 4kn and the diesel roars to life after 24 hours or more of silent sailing. The Queen Charlotte Strait is glassy calm as Vancouver Island come into view. We anchor out at Port Hardy just off the municipal docks where 2 tall ships are tied. We row in for provisions then tuck in for the night.

Another early start, we check out PacificGrace and Pacific Swift.Two huge and beautiful SALTS training vesselshere for provisions and to take on their new trainess. We make way to Kwatsi Bay, floating up and down by the delightful Lacy Falls for a sundowner and dinner. Kwatsi Bay is small but beautiful and as the full moon rises we settle in.

By early morning the fog has engulfed us and we cannot even see the boats in the small marina across the bay. As the sun gains strength it burns off the fog and we spend a long lovely day traversing inlets & narrows looking for bears which remain elusive. We do see majestic forests scarred by logging and pass 2 pods of dolphins as well as fur seals and of course eagles. We make Brown’s Bay at 11pm and tie up to the fuel dock in the strong current.. The morning light reveals we were tied beside a sign that says “Absolutely NO Mooring on Fuel Dock” which we did not see in the dark last night.

We leave before 7am with the moon still large as the sun comes up. Underwhelmed by Seymour Narrows crossing and then industrial areas too visible on Vancouver Island we put up the sail at Campbell River and continue down to Quadra Island where we explore the beach and having been given the OK to pass through a missile testing area, head to pick up a mooring at Ballenas Island for our last evening onboard.
Up early, we make way to Gabriola and anchor again off of Lily Island just in time for Carol to get to work.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Experiencing Haida Gwaii and its unique culture was a highlight of the 2016 sailing season.