March 6 2013
No, we didn’t dive the Titanic… this is our boat bottom after three months at a slip in Opua. I think I’ll call it Rich’s Reef. OK, it’s Cyndi’s reef too, but I liked the alliteration.
We left the marina today and could only motor at about 2000 rpm without overheating. This was because the engine water intake was a mess (see picture below). At 2000 rpm, we were only making about 3 knots when we should have been doing close to 5 knots. This was because of all the growth on the bottom (see other picture below).
So our first day of “cruising the Bay of Islands” was spent at hard labor, cleaning the bottom. And while the water isn’t freezing, it was cold enough that about an hour after getting out, I’m having a hard time typing this because my fingers are still shivering!
