Bonjour Akaroa

 Left our anchorage at Opua Bay, 8am, and headed out into the Tory Channel in the calm mist.

We were well prepared for our overnight sail.  Safety briefing given to new crew of Tony and Alison, chicken curry ready in the crockpot for dinner and sandwiches all prepared and ready to toast.  Very light winds of 5 knots were right on the nose so we motored south, lumpy seas but warm temperatures.

Mid ocean knot practice!

We all did 2 hour night watches from dusk to daylight.  Put the genoa up at 5pm and motor sailed.  We had a perfect night sky with no light pollution.  We witnessed loads of dolphins playing around the boat, diving and bombing us.  Clearly outlined by the phosphorescence.  During the night the radar alarm intermittently went off showing "shallow depth 2m" but as we were in over 100m, we believe it was set off by the dolphins swimming under the boat.  The alarm however really gets the heart rate racing!

So much sea life was around us - dolphins, hector dolphins, seals basking in the sun, whale (although it could have been a chunk of kelp), albatross, sea terns, shags  ...

Sea fog came in during the early hours of the morning as well as very heavy dew.  Interestingly there was a bank of fog around us and on the horizon, but the night sky was totally clear. The fog made scanning the horizon for shipping impossible.  Although crossing the Wellington/Lyttelton shipping lane we did pick up 5 ships in the distance.

6am the NE wind got up to 12-15 knots so genoa went up again.  Sighted land at 7.45am, arrived in beautiful Akaroa 2pm.  A total distance of 192 nm.

Hearty appetites, all that fresh air!!

Arrived Akaroa on a beautiful sunny, blue sky day.  

Brrr ... the air has a distinct chill to it.

Celebratory bubbles on arrival, crew changeover and out to dinner tonight.