Sunday, November, 28 1999, Tutukaka, NZ

Hi there cybersailors,

Caroline and I went on a kayak adventure this morning. At 6 am when everyone was still asleep, we ventured out to explore Urupukapuka Island. After beaching the kayaks we found a nice trail covered in spider webs, small flower petals and broken blue eggshells. Living on such a clean, white, shinny boat it was nice to be slipping around in the mud, getting into the elements. We still had time before DJ served breakie so we paddled over to some small islands. (Breakie means breakfast in Australian. Trevor has been teaching us some Australian sayings. He accent has been getting stronger and stronger the closer he gets to home. I fear that pretty soon I might not be able to understand him at all.) Thanks to low tide a tiny beach had opened up between the coral heads. Perfect for a kayak landing. The sun rose over Urupukapuka and STARSHIP sat quietly in the bay surrounded in the early morning light.

Climbing the hill

Michael, Caroline, Charlie and Nanna went adventuring in STARTENDER. Of course the day we promise our guests dolphins, the tricky buggers decided not to come out and play. They might be hiding out since the weather has picked up quite a bit. We are experiencing some cold 30 knots of wind. The weather map shows us sitting in the middle of a low (995hPa) that is moving across New Zealand. But that didn’t stop the exploring party from doing their job. After giving up on the dolphins they headed into Cooks Cove at Motuarohia Island (Roberton Island). Caroline, Charlie and Nanna conquered the pinnacle and enjoyed the view.

Gray sky sits over us as we motor south towards Auckland. We are going to try to make headway today just in case weather is worse tomorrow. We want to give Charlie and Nanna the STARSHIP experience but we don’t want to rock and roll them too much.

Ulli is taking her first ever watch and she has just spotted dolphins off the bow.

STARSHIP docked in Tutukaka

We are now tucked into Tutukaka harbor or Toots as the locals call it. It is a sleepy little community with one bar that “goes off” on the weekends. Since it is Sunday I think STARSHIP crew might be the only thing “going off” tonight in Toots. Trevor and Monika led the crew down to the yacht club, all except Enrico who has to stand watch ironically after a whole day free from his galley duty.

Update---

We had a fabulous dinner at the Snapper Rock Café. Alicia and Gabriela from the sailboats Attitude and Juana Lucina were there and they gave us all makeovers with tinfoil from very talented and understanding chefs at the cafe.

STARSHIP signing off,

Anne-Lise