March 16 – 19, 2013
When Saturday morning brought gray skies with squalls visible on the horizon, we knew we’d better get going for Opua. We pulled anchor and left Paradise Bay, checking out a few bays on the mainland as we passed to see what they were like.
I felt a little silly returning to Opua after our triumphant exit little more than a week earlier, and it wasn’t like the weather was going to be so bad we couldn’t have stayed in a sheltered bay. But the idea of what we could get accomplished at the marina while the winds blew made it easy to swallow my pride as we motored into a slip.
We made the best of our 3 days in Opua. We re-provisioned at the farmer’s market, the supermarket and the chocolate shop, did laundry, downloaded another round of TV shows, and enjoyed some pizza. We also got some boat work done: Rich rebuilt our saltwater pump, had a part welded, and picked up and installed the Iridium Satellite phone he ordered from Cater Marine after we decided to return to Opua. I’d resisted getting this phone as calls are so expensive and unreliable, but the idea of being able to pick up a phone and talk to our weather router on passages to and from New Zealand was a big comfort.
It was definitely three days well spent, and when it came time to head out again, we did so with clean laundry, a full fridge, and an expensive-but-hopefully worthwhile phone. –Cyndi
