S/V ORCA III

Orca III May Longweekend Adventure!

2010-06-07T08:11:00.000-07:00

Well , I have had lots of people wanting me to continue with Orca III and our adventures. And Liam really wanted to be on our blog! So here it is:

We took 3 extra kids and my sister out for the long weekend in May. Kyle, Maya and Emma each brought a friend and my sister, Dana, was feeling daring to join along. We headed out of the creek early Sat morning - our desination being Plumper Cove ( which by the way is the oldest Marine Park in BC) I chose this place because there is also a dock we could tie up to if need be. Also they have trails to hike , and campsite so we could have a fire. Litlle did I remember that this is also the busiest weekend for boaters and campers. So needless to say , the dock was full, as well as the campsite - so anchored we did ( that was fine) and it poured rain!! Oh how a campfire would be so nice to have.

The first day was fine, cloudy and sunny spots - some of the kids felt queezy on the ride over ( that took us longer than expected - wind and tide) poor Atlin was not well on the trip over. Anyway, it rain like the dickens that night and the following morning. We decided to pull up anchor , go around the other side of Keets Island to see our friends Bud and Maria - they have a place there. so we got the tour- had a fire and weenie roast . then headed on our way to our favorite spot - Center Bay!! ( which in hindsight would have been the better choice) had the whole beach area to ourselves , and a fantastic fire which carried into the late evening. Singing songs, roasting marshmallows, who could ask for a better time. The next day the sun was out, kids learned how to drive the dingy, a whole lot of fishing going on, Of course Kyle being the king of that - crab catching and we even got a bunch of prawns!
we had a great time! on the way home , no one felt queezy!

Kyle teaching Liam how to drive the dingy

Emma's turn to show how its done!

Emma and Atlin - best buddies!

Orca III anchored in her favorite spot - Center Bay

HOME!! in Spruce Harbour Marina

2009-08-10T13:01:00.001-07:00

Well, we made it home! What a fantastic welcome for us, my mom and Joe on the boat launching ramp, my sisters, brother in law, niece and nephew and friends on the bridge with the fantastic banner! and on the dock, my dad, steve's mom and lots of neighbors and friends, what a treat~
and to complete our 2 yr journey , we sailed into English Bay with our cruising buddies on Malachi - the 2 boats side by side!

This will be our final post........... the offshore adventure of Orca III and us family of Tremblay's has come to an end , until the next time !

And yes , there will be a next time. We have already been talking about going to the Marqueses & Tonga again! and I really want to see Samoa -

Thank you to everyone who has been following our great adventure! And to all of you who helped get us there! We loved reading all the comments on the blog and all the emails !

Orca III and her Trembaly family of Steve, Dionne , Kyle , Maya, and Emma sailed approximately 18,000 nautical miles , over 10 countries, and many ,many islands in the last 2 years. It was an experience we will not forget.

Vancouver! and HOME - that's the Burrard Bridge in the background, with our marina in behind!our "BANNER" and that's my sisters and other family up there!!! The Tremblay's of Orca III - HOMEDionne with the Planatarium behind

a dock full of greaters, all waiting to help tie us up - This is our "home"

Orca III and Malachi arriving in English Bay together, completion of a great 2 yr trip

SV MALACHI~ coming home

Pirates Cove - the kids still love the treasure chest!! only they are too big to be put in it now!!

Mom and her children sitting on the logs at Pirates Cove - one of the last days of the tripFather and son time

Orca III anchored in the middle of Pirates Cove, it's amazing how all the other boats look so under geared!

Cowichan Bay

2009-08-06T20:21:00.000-07:00

ORCA III anchored in Cowichan Bay

Well its been a heap of fun here!! We arrived yesterday morning to seeing Malachi and Maryka Violet rafted together and anchored . We tied to them for a short visit before they headed out - we'll see them again.

Then Dave Ego , connection with the Blue Street Band Steve played in, came down to the docks and we picked him up by dingy for a visit. We went to Dave and Pat's place for dinner and saw how Dave had been following our route. He had the atlas open and yellow stickies marking significant events ( even the long and lat of where we lost our spinnaker!) and all the emails I had been sending. What a treat to see that!! We had a great dinner , and he plays the alto sax. So Kyle played it , first time in almost 2 years!! it sure was great to hear him again! We sure enjoyed ourselves. They are wonderful wonderful people and what a nice welcome to Cowichan Bay!Maya, Dave, Steve, Kyle, Pat Emma - dinner at their house

Dave and his wonderful collection of our trip - see the yellow stickies! and the emails, I love this!!

The kids just hanging around Cowichan Bay Village

We also gave a call to Gordon and Sandy Rutherford - the builder and first owner of Orca III, they came on aboard too!!

We had a great time with them, talking about Orca III's adventures, showing pictures and talking about all the changes we did. They are absolutely lovely people! We went and saw them after dinner at Dave and Pat's . I had burned a DVD for them of Orca III sailing in the big waves in the Tuamotus ( Remember that Dave H?! thanks for filming us!!!) They were thrilled!! Nice to see Orca III sail!!Wooden Model of ORCA III - done by Sandy's brother!

picking plums in Gordon's yard. We even had raspberries! and we picked blackberries where ever we saw them - oooh how we missed those!!

We then went out today with Gord - he gave us a tour of Cowichan. Saw the tressel bridge and the suspension bridge and then he lent us a van to go and check out the BC Discovery Forest Museum. that was fun!checking out the info on the Kinsol Trestle bridge.

US!!!Next we were off to the Suspension Bridge at Bright Angel Park! We had lots of these in the south island of NZ - remember?!yes that would be the monkey man Kyle in his tree! I love me BC trees!

At the BC forest museum. Gordon gave us his pass and we had a blast! got to ride the steam train too! We have been there before in the old cars during a rally years ago. When we got home we stopped at the best ice cream place ever. "Udder Guys" - they make homemade ice cream! We said our good byes to both Dave/Pat and Gord/Sandy and wil stay the night here , leaving in the am for Pirate's Cove.

We dropped 2 crab traps today, first time in 2 years , hope we get some!! Oh and I forgot to mention - poor Steve has had to rebuild the head - nice that it broke down here and not on a passage! Never had to fix that the whole 2 yrs!!

BCA Rendezvous Photo time

2009-08-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

here you go! I promised you pictures , enjoy!!!!!!!!!!
Robert, and the kids having fun in the hammock, Kyle took this from the crows nest

Steve and Dionne - after a great weekend at the BCA rendezvous, we were tired - can you believe I got worn out of talking?!

Bryn and Kyle going for a ride

Our dear friends, Carol and Bryn on their boat, they also were in Montague Harbour

Steve and Bryn , playing again! harmonica and wash tub base!

Jam night on Orca III - after the BCA events. Fun Fun Fun - Bud, Robert and Rose
water fight time, the kids filled a pile of water balloons and then resorted to buckets1

dingy tug - o -war!! Row Kyle Row!!!

Kyle rowing with the kids to the races! they got there in time for the big water fight

Kyle fishing with all the kids. Ethan, Lily, Lucas and Aiden - fun ,fun fun

The gang from the marina - Tim, Heather, Pierre , Jennifer, Maria and Bud, what a welcome home ! Great to be at the BCA Rendezvous with them!!

Captain Highliner?! hahaha Robert from Tillicum, they joined us on the Rendezvous
The stick game! taught to us by Carol and Bryn, love the game - here we are playing with Malachi

Malachi and Orca III Sidney Spit

yep that's me ! in the water in BC - Sidney Spit

the boys having fun in Sidney Spit

the girls of Malachi and Orca III - Sidney Spit, Gulf Island BC

Hanging around Gulf Islands!

2009-08-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
we just had the best weekend with BCA Rendezvous! Friends from home there as well, ! We took our buddies from Tillicum - Robert and Rose - I will post pictures later.

We will be home on Sunday August 9 at 2pm , in our own slip in Spruce Harbour Marina, come on down!

pictures to follow of the Rendezvous, we are just visiting Robert and Rose's place in Sidney ( doing laundry , having baths, I forgot my portable hard drive for the pictures)

off to Sydney Spit

2009-07-31T12:17:00.001-07:00

we are heading off, leaving Victoria and heading up to Sydney Spit. Malachi is joining us -

here are a few pictures around Victoria:

Trivia: Who is this? and Who's loved this picture?

Steve meets the Law!!

Emma and her friends!

walking around Victoria with Nathaniel on our way to White Spot

guess it must get real cold here if they are putting sweaters on bikes?!

now that's a copper tan!

Land Ho!!!! Orca III home in BC waters again

2009-07-30T19:07:00.001-07:00

Well we made it. 21 days at sea and we are finally in BC - actually we had a total 65 days at sea since we left NZ! that's a lot of sailing!! think I did enough for a while. hahaha

Steve checking in with Customs in Victoria Harbour!

the kids with Jenny from Malachi - everyone so happy to be on land and in BC!!
we are in Victoria, and getting ready to head to the Bluewater Cruising Rendezvous "farewell to the Fleet" . this will be fun!! Robert and Rose from " Tillicum" met us at the customs dock and welcomed us home!!!! What a lovely treat - they drove up from California ( that's where left Tillicum) they came and hung out on Orca III with the crew from Malachi and we had another surprise - ....................

Robert and Rose from Tillicum

Someone was calling my name from behind the gate at the marina....... who could that be?

Tamara and her girls Lidia and Isabella - friends of Maya's from False Creek Elementary !! they happened to be in Victoria, wow, we loved that!! so they came aboard and we chatted away and the kids played. Kyle , Maya and Emma all went for a swim at their hotel today! What a treat to see them!! Thanks Tamara for finding us!!!Lidia, Maya and Isabella - what a great surprise!!

Then Nathaniel surprised my by showing up at the grocery store in the trunk of Rose's car!! yep, family ask him about that... so we have been spending the day with him, another treat !! ( he is my cousin) Nathaniel even joined the crews from Orca III, Malachi , and Tillicum for lunch at .............. Guess where?!!!! do you know?

that be Nathaniel and Steve!!!the milk shakes! we all got one , and the burgers..... well triple "O" !!!

one of the many dolphins that welcomed us in! we even saw orcas too, all in the Straight of Juan de Fuca
My family watching the dolphins, we never get tired of them!!
Prepare for Battle!! the night we had a water fight with Malachi at sea!! they were prepared!notice the sling shot, very good!!
us getting closer for the fireworks display! notice how calm the water is!!

just hanging out at sea

that's our Kyle!

our stow a ways!! taken by Emma the photographer at sea

2 days and counting

2009-07-27T19:39:00.001-07:00

current position is 47* 30' N 131* 02' W COG 074T speed 6.6 knots

we have been sailing since dinner last night. have had 25 knots of wind ( now 18) and 4-6 ft seas. the autopilot decided to act up last night around 11 pm. so we were hand steering on and off til 4 am. Steve fiddle with it , but what a pain!! none of us got very good sleep, so today has been a real low key day with everyone getting lots of rest. Mine and Steve's bodies ache.... we are healed over 10-15 degrees, it's like climbing a mountain to go anywhere on the boat. We have been spoiled the last couple of weeks - forgot what it was like.

Sun is shining and everything else is good. Malachi is off our starboard beem 1.5 nm - spotted another sailboat this morning, first on the radar and then finally a visual, hailed them but no answer - we have long since left them behind. we think we are sailing about 2 knots faster then them.

we are at the home stretch now, looks like we will be arriving Wednesday evening before dark.

tootle loo...........

4 days and counting

2009-07-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

current position is 46* 51' N 135* 01' W COG 073T speed 7.5 knots

have been motoring since last night at dinner, however the wind has come up now and we are doing great motor sailing 7.5-8.2 knots. today was water making day, so we all got showers!!! we have been cleaning out the boat as well. dust everywhere! seems I am dusting everyday-

it was a beautiful sunny day today, now we have clouds - not long now, only 3 days - ( actually at this speed 2 days 15 hrs) caught a fish, not sure what kind but boy it tasted good, kinda like a salmon and tuna combined?!

everyone on board is great!!

hugs

4 days and counting

2009-07-24T21:11:00.001-07:00

current position is 45* 13'N 141* 42' W COG 069T speed 7.0 knots

We can see clearly now the rain is gone! sun sun mister golden sun shining down on us!!! and we are happy to see him!!

We actually passed Malachi early this morning, they are catching us - just a mile behind us now, but still we passed them!! A little friendly competition is always good. But the fact remains that they are a faster boat and will pass us again ...... we just had more sail area up last night. anyway , we expect to be in the high late tomorrow or Sunday. we will motor at that point , until then we have had a lovely sail...

all is well, just 4 days to go...........

hugs,
Orca III crew

we're still sailing, better than did before!

2009-07-23T20:07:00.001-07:00

current position is 44* 21'N 145* 15" W COG 066T speed 6.1 knotts - we just slowed down have done 155 nm so far, ( that's in last 22 hrs still have 2 hours to go)
cloudy - very rainy this morning again and all afternoon, still 100% cloud cover

still looking at being in Victoria for July 29 -

all is well, kids and I played the game rummy tiles ( we got that from Dorothy Marie for Xmas) loads of fun!!! like that game.

we have stopped fishing as we are very full!! they kept biting like crazy yesterday and we threw most of them back, we were trying to put the lines away and they kept biting!!!

we are excited that we are almost there!! countdown............5 days 10 hrs 36 minutes to go - that of course is with the current speed, hoping not to slow down too much

we are again in VHF range with Malachi, we caught up last night - they were 20 miles ahead but now only 8 - well done Orca III ! we just kept our speed up last night , nice sail.

tttttttttttttttttttthat's all folks!!!!!!!

man are we sailing!

2009-07-22T21:25:00.001-07:00

current position is 43 13 N 148 47 W COG 059T speed 7.5 knotts -
cloudy - very rainy this morning, no rain this afternoon but still 100% cloud cover

still wing on wing, wind is behind us. wind speed is 18-20 knots, and we have been surfing the waves at top speed of 9.5!!

at this speed we will be in Victoria July 29 - 6 days and some hours!!

have been catching albacore tuna, kept only one - the other 3 we felt were to small, yesterday morning around 5:30 am I had about 30 dolphins all around the boat during my watch!! jumping and swimming along- loved it!

our radar has been glitching, shutting its self off - Steve changed the fuse , lets hope thats the problem. Saw a freighter today, first one since Hawaii.

everyone is doing well. we have been doing suduko puzzles, word searches and codex's - and of course lots of reading. I finished " the Host" and Twilight - both by Stephany Meyer , I liked " the Host" way better. Steve has been cleaning up the files on the computer. something we really needed to do!!

We have been out of VHF range with Malachi for a few days now. so we check in with each other in the morning and in the evening.

nothing much else, oh ya, we had a baby boobie bird on deck 2 nights ago and now we keep hearing a chirping sound in the main sail. have looked but see no birds.

well thats it for now

hugs from all of us - boy we are getting close now!!!

motoring along......

2009-07-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

current position is 38 59 N 158 42 W COG 004T speed 5.3 knotts -

calm calm seas! barely a ripple! have had the sun most of the day , now about 70% cloud cover. we are motor sailing, (after sailing for the last 2) made water all day - full! had showers , cleaned the boat and transferred all the fuel into the tanks. lots of projects done. feels good.

we are hoping the winds will pick up and will be doing our rum line to Juan de Fuca.... the gribs are showing wind, but they also keep changing.

with the water so calm we have seen lots of sail jellyfish, very cool . even saw a turtle, almost ran him over. I thought it was a bouy at first.

Kyle has been reading to Kill a Mockingbird! yeah, finally - he is liking it! Emma is in full force with her barbies and has had her dad make more swords and such, his newest creation is a sword for the head of the horse. Could be a new career for him?! hahaha Maya has finished all her books and is madly looking for more, today was a day of trying out different makeup .......

not much else to say,

this is Orca III on the side

moving along

2009-07-16T21:37:00.001-07:00

current position is 35 38 N 156 13W COG 333T speed 5.3 knotts - we are heading North now to get the winds up at 40* , have been motoring and sailing all over the place....... sick of changing the sails!! genoa in , genoa out, - genoa in, genoa out.

weather is cooler now. but still sunny, seas fairly calm,

just hanging out. Steve has been playing barbies with Emma, making swords and lances and stuff out of wire. Emma loving it. Kyle and Maya have read everything here and re reading books from over 2 years ago ( Bill Bryson) and even my Nora Roberts ones.... Still can't get them to read To Kill a Mocking bird!!

watching lots of movies on the new ipod ! good fun!!

have seen lots of garbage floating by, even a light bulb!! luckily no fish nets , but lots of floats!!

Hey both Malachi and us are craving White Spot burgers!! please someone let us know if there is a White Spot in Victoria and where it is. We all so want to eat there as soon as we arrive!!!! its all about the food you know!!!

hugs
the crew of Orca III

this is CFG 7565 - that's Charlie Foxtrot Golf 7565 clear of this station

sailing ..............

2009-07-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

33* 49' N
158* 45' W

Hey all we have been motor sailing for the last 2 days with the odd engine off short sail. winds very light, have had a couple of squalls and went through a cold front. can sure feel the coolness in the air now. We have caught up to Malachi and they are just over a mile ahead of us. We are still making northernly, hoping the westerly winds will show up soon, not looking like they will until the weekend.

have been catching a ton of mahi mahi, so all of you at home can try some. you will love it , its very nice fish! ( not a fishy taste) - we had a great night with Malachi last night . but first the girls on Malachi called us to help with their school work. they are doing a project on being Canadian, so they asked us why we are proud to be Canadian and why we love Canada! what a fun time we had with that! So now I ask you to think of why you are proud to be Canadian!!

Anyway, later in the evening we had a fireworks show, Malachi had some left over from the forth of july celebrations! funs stuff!! ( the fireworks were let of into the water, none went up high in the air) and then we had a water balloon fight!! good fun, we were a fair distance away and it was very calm last night , not to worry!! it was fun. a nice way to break up the boredom ..................

today I made homemade pizza and some fantastic brownies, I must say the brownies were the best one yet!! very chewy and moist.... yum yum!! these small things are big on a passage!!

all are doing well, we have all watched the movie Spirit Bear and are homesick for BC - you must watch this movie, its a true story taking place in BC to do with the white spirit bears on Princess Royal Island...............

hugs, see you soon!

the Tremblays or Orca III

orca III in the big blue sea

2009-07-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

29 55 N
159 08 W
5.0 knots
COG 002T

light winds, full canvass up, next to no seas! having a great sail, caught another mahi mahi this morning. had a rainbow this evening , nice and bright and big!

we have had a very pleasant sail, managed to get all showered up , made lots of water. had a fantastic bbq pork chop lunch with these awesome potatoes I made.

Its nice to have good pork chops again!!

Its days like this I like passages! we are in VHF range again with Malachi, lost them 2 days ago. now only 10 miles apart. It's like playing cat and mouse, keeps us entertained.

Everyone on board doing very well, must go Emma is giving me a pedicure.

this is Orca III - Victor Alpha 7 Oscar Romeo Charlie ( VE7ORC) clear

first day out - July 10

2009-07-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

well first day out and all is well. we have 15-18 knots of wind , seas are about 4 ft, its a nice ride. doing 6.1 knots -
our position is 24* 40' N 159* 28'W

We are not fishing yet as the freezer is too full still. Everyone is going well today, yesterday Emma and Maya were seasick. It took a day to get our sea legs. laying low, eating light, -

saw a shark yesterday! exciting, and Malachi caught a 6 ft marlin but lost it bringing it in. still was fun.

looks like we will have this wind for a few more days until we get close to the high with light winds. we did 148 miles in the last 24

not much else, for now. have to get used to being down here undersail, its not so easy to type when leaning.

hugs

Still in Hanalei Bay

2009-07-08T16:19:00.000-07:00

We are staying one more night. We took today to pack the boat away - and just hang out. We will be leaving early tomorrow morning - looks like the pacific high is working it's way down lower , which is a good thing! I am looking forward to this passage- can you believe it? If we can maintain 6 knots then its about a 18 day passage. I want a comfortable one. nice seas and 18 knots of wind is good!!

Marg and I went to town yesterday to get a few more things - our Costco shop was not a good one. We had a great surprise when we found this nice small shopping mall - we had fun.

don't I make a great mermaid!!

Orca III and Malachi in Hanalei Bay

the crew of Orca III going up the river in our dingy- just got these pictures from Malachi

Hanalei Bay on the island of Kauai

2009-07-07T16:51:00.001-07:00

We left Honlulu on Sunday, fueled up and headed off to Hanalei Bay - (in surch of Puff the magic dragon )
It was an overnighter, a taste for whats coming in order to get us back to BC - we did well.
the weather is good, only a couple of squalls but it was a rocky roly trip. Poor Emma , everytime she gets sick at least once. She is a trouper. but did say that she didn't think she could make it home and wanted to fly.......
What a pleasant surprise to see so much green! Hanalei Bay is beautiful - we went with Malachi by dingy up the river at high tide and the sites we saw!! just gorgeous. We ended the day with a potluck dinner on Orca III - we supplied the fish, yep a Mahi Mahi that we caught on the way here!!

Malachi getting bananas form the river. we got some guava too! We pulled in beside them and sent Kyle out , but it started to rain and yep , our hatches were open!
the two boats are rafted together going down the river! everyone a little tired from the passaged the night before!

One of the many birds we saw along the way,. Emma says this is a king fisher!!
up and up the river, we eventually stopped and turned around , cause it goes forever we think
kinda cool seeing coconut trees along the river!! Kyle wanted to climb them but we decided not to let him. not this time anyway!

Isn't it just beautiful. that is Malachi just in front of us. taking in the view!!

just more river scenes!

Here is the entrance to the river, only accessable at high tide and then you still need to watch for the shallow spots ! and there is lots

Ray with Kyle and Maya as Maya learns how to sail a boat - she is in irons here!!

Before that the kids had one last visit with our newest friends. They watched them sail their remote control sailboats! Right in the park behind the yacht club.These are the boats that were racing! Maya had fun trying to drive them! #7 is our friends boat

Emma and her friend Kiana - they had a good swim in the pool as a last play together

Well time to sign off for now as we are all going swimming with the turtles over by the beach!

Diamond Head and July 4 !!!

2009-07-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

Happy July 4th

We had a great time handing out with some American friends - they invited us over for a BBQ and to watch the fireworks from their boat. They had a fantastic view! Just look at how close we were to the celebration! The Americans sure go all out for July 4! In the Ala Moana mall, there was lots of singers on the center stage throughout the day - one group of guys - all dressed in shimmering gold coats and black pants did a fantastic performance! great fun

Best seats in the house, great people and good good food!!

Earlier on in the day the kids just lived in the pool - having a great time. The pool has been a god send! Its gets so hot here and its nice to just wander over and have a dip. The kids live in it. Hours on end they are in the pool! Nice treat for us to have fresh water to swim in. Like the saltwater, but its refreshing to swim in fresh .

splash splash!! Kyle and Jocelyn

Ta Da! Lookie what they can do!! Kyle , Maya, Emma, Jocelyn and Jenny

doesn't Orca III look good all decorated. We did this for Canada Day and kept it up til the
July 4th - We also put the hug Canada flag up the mast for Canada Day!this is what we see from our boat. Those are the hotels in the background - Lots, eh?!

Here is Maya , Jocelyn and Kyle in the first tunnel

Kyle , Maya, Jocelyn, Jenny and Steve Growes all hiked Diamond Head on July 3 . the kids loved it , especially Kyle as it was used for military purposes once. There were bunkers and stuff everywhere. The view was phenomenal !!! It's about an hour and half round trip up Diamond Head and down. The kids did great! They took my camera and took some really great pictures! I was provisioning in Costco - that too was a trip!! It was so busy.............
That would be Honolulu! Look at all those tall buildings - that is one of the bunkers in the background
look closely and you will see a light house. The water is pretty clear - that's all reef underneath
Here is what you see looking out of the bunker, that water is just so blue!! what a sight
The proud hikers - They had a really good time! Glad they had a chance to see it.

Today we leave Honolulu around noon - ( Honolulu time, 3 pm Vancouver time) and head for the island of Kauai to a place called Hanalei Bay. It is an overnighter - 120 miles from here.
This is where we will leave from to head back to BC- Our time has just flown bye!! Hanalei Bay is supposed to be just gorgeous - Hanalei means " crescent" . the bay is lined by a beautiful beach - the movie " South Pacific" was filmed at the Lumahai Beach in Hanalei Bay....... hoping to have internet once we are there but if not it will be back to sending via the ham radio.

Bye for now - lots to stow a way before we leave the dock, and we must get one more swim in!!!

beach fun, Canada Day, and a visit to the USS Arizona Memorial

2009-07-03T22:33:00.000-07:00

Battleship Missouri

We all really enjoyed the USS Arizona Memorial tour - learned lots! We did the audio tour, that is a must as it tells so much more , a very sad day for Pearl Harbour!
for more information go to
http://www.nps.gov/valr/index.htm

Marg and her girls joined us that day! It was a hot one! Steve and Kyle stayed on and toured the aviation museum while all of us girls came home early, had lunch out then came back to the yacht club for a swim!!! We love that pool - it gets used a lot by us, everyday morning to night -

Here are Kyle and Maya taking it all in!

Here is part of the USS Arizona - its hard to believe that is was over 60 years ago that happened!

the girls out on the memorial-

Watch out the kids have the big guns! Lots of cool stuff to see here!
I had a good look around, its really neat to look through a parascope!

Miss Emma having a looksy around!

These guys are in side a sub! cool,eh ?!
We had a great Canada Day celebration on board the Orca III - had the crew from Malachi, Heather and Rachel, and even some americans - new friends Ray and Ramona and kids, and the crew from Galatia. A good time was had by all. We ran all of our signal flags up both forestay and backstay and even put the giant Canada flag at the top of the mast - We were noticed!!
The kids had fun sitting up there singing the anthem!!
Ramona, Jocelyn, Rachel, Dionne and Marg all saying hi to our friend " Elizabeth from Shambala" - turns out Ramona and Ray know Shambala - what a small word!
"Dionne and friends" - me and my good buddies - loving Canada Day together! and yes we sang the national anthem!

Rachel, Kyle, Maya, Jocelyn and Jenny

Beach fun for us on Waikik Beach - the Malachi girls , me and my kids all met up with Rachel and Heather at their hotel and had fun at the beach. These guys had a blast playing in the surf - it was really quite high that day big waves. We even rented boogie boards for them to use. They all had a blast , while Heather and I enjoyed our visit on the beach, I tried the boards but got total filled with sand. I am still getting sand out of my bathing suit 2 days later!

Oh the sunning beauties -

day at the Polynesian Cultural Center

2009-07-02T18:12:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic time out in the Polynesian Cultural Center. Heather and Rachel came with us on the long ( 2hr - each way) bus ride!!! It was really neat for us to see the Polynesian countries we've been too and see the some we haven't been to. I tell ya one place I wish I had gone was Samoa! boy do they have great energy!! my kind of people.....
We enjoyed a great Hawaiian Luau dinner and had the big Horizons show in the evening. Where all the different villages did their specialty dances and song!! There were 6 villages in all - Samoa, Fiji, Tahiti ( representing all of French Polynesia) , Aotearoa ( aka NZ) , Hawaii, and Tonga!

When we were at the Tahitian village, the lady doing the teaching was from the Tuamotu's - so after the show we had a great talk with her. Although we had been to 4 different atolls we didn't see hers.- She was excited to talk to someone who had been to the atolls. very neat to reminisce with someone who has been there! the kids just talked her ear off!

I know you think this must be Kyle up the coconut tree, but it isn't ( at least not this time! - haha) this fellow is from the Samoan village and he is demonstrating how to climb one! It really is amazing to watch and he is really high up there - this is zoomed in!! He free climb this with just feet and hands - quite the show!

And we made it to Fiji - by way of the land - hahaha , I told Steve he took me the hard way to see the islands of Polynesia, I could' ve just flown here - tee hee, better the way we saw it, this is still cool
Yep - his turn for our next kid!! Think he will kill me for this one - hahahhaha

Kids, Kids - with " Dum, Dum - he wants Gum Gum" oh where did I get that from from?! hahaha
really - that's the Easter Island exhibit - just in case you didn't know.....

Here is our dinner! really - roasted pig under ground - This would be the Luau we went to - absolutely fabulous dinner! and Entertainment the whole time!! We all even got lai ' d -
Me and my beautiful daughters and our beautiful lai s - we love them!!!
Aren't they beautiful ! Rachel and Heather - mom and daughter - having a great time!

Father and son - don't they look cute with their lai's too!!

Here we have Steve doing the male Tahitian dance - he does it so well and he turned around to quick for my camera. We learned this in the Tahiti exhibit

We watched the Rainbows of Paradise canoe Pageant - they had each country doing a demonstration of there dance while floating down the calm waters on a canoe, very nice!! It was really neat to see how different each country does its dance and "Hakka"- very distinct for each place. The Samoans , well they are my favorite - they got so into their dancing they managed to rock the canoe and the fellow pushing the canoe with the big stick fell in!! way funny!

TAHITI

FIJI

SAMOAthis is examples of what you would find in a Hawaiian men's work house.

and both Rachel and Heather got Tattoos!! taking after Graeme!! What is it about us from Orca III that makes people get a tattoo? hahah

Yep that would be Heather's !

its fun to be cousins!!

the girls with our Samoan friend , he was fun! and funny - quite the sense of humor that guy has!! should have seen him do the "Fire dance " in the Horizons show!! very good

We got home quite late ( around 11 pm 2 hrs past cruisers midnight!) tired , but worth every penny and time!! this is a must do when in Hawaii!!

They're here!!!!!

2009-06-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

We surprised Heather and Rach at the airport! managed to get ourselves a ride there and waited until they came walking down. It is so good to have them near us! We went with them to their hotel and hung out for a while. Then we walked back to the yacht club. ( took us about 45 miuntes - we went the long way!!) Spent yesterday just hanging out and today we are off to the Polynesian Cultural Center - Orca III, Heather and Rachel - its a full day, while be fun! So glad to have my dear sweet friend here! sure have missed her. and you bet, we have been yacking , yacking and yacking! lots to catch up on! The kids have missed their cousing too! They spent most of the day in the pool and then hanging around the boat.

this is one of the trollys that takes you to the different malls , ect. cool , eh?!

More Baynan trees - this is in the park just behind our yacht club

yep, Kyle again - look at him climb! He realy is half monkey - thats Jenny watching in disbelief!

Hanauma Bay

2009-06-29T12:27:00.001-07:00

We and the group from Malachi went by bus to Hanauma Bay to snorkel . This is a marine sanctuary nature preserve, and has over 420 types of reef fish. We had to watch a educational video before we could go down to the beach to snorkel.

Saw lots of fish and I even had a moray eel swim by me TWICE! scared me half to death , I was so busy making sure I was out of his way, he wasn't even interested. Everyone else was bummed they didn't see one swimming - we also had a sea turtle less than a foot away , just eating - he didn't even care that we were there! so very neat.

We are spoiled though, cause there is no comparison to the snorkeling in the Tuamotus - Fakarava!!

the kids at the entrance to Hanauma Bay - very pretty, and it is in a volcano crater

just look at those big - " shaved ice" we know them as snow cones!! the kids were in heaven!

Molokai to Oahu

2009-06-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

We had the best sail from Maui to Molokai! we adveraged 7.5 knots with us doing 8.6 for over 30 minutes! needless to say it was a very fast passage! nice seas, couldn't ask for a better sail. It didn't even feel like we were going that fast!
We saw this big big ship sailing past us! Steve figures its about 200 ft

Entering the small small entrance of Lono Harbor

We arrived in Lono Harbor on Molokai - wow what a very small entrance and what a surge comes in. glad we had a calm day!! very windy in there though but no fetch.
We anchored and off to shore the kids and I went. Steve wanted to stay with the boat , just to be sure. Its not very big in the harbor. Lolo harbor ( hawaiin name Hale-o-lono) was built for barges carrying sand and aggregarte from Molokai - that was a long long time ago . They have stopped this over 20 yrs ago, a local told us that all the sand in Waikiki beach came from here!

Lolo Harbor Molokai - we had a couple of sea turtles swimming by the boat, Kyle and Maya went for a hike with Steve from Malachi ( guest) and then Steve T and I joined them. There were so many trees with spikes on the branches - I stepped on one and it went right through my shoe to my foot, I thought I stepped on a nail! no harm done. but we sure had to pull a lot of spikies out of our sandles. Kyle did the job for us as we made dinner. took him 1/2 hr to get them out of our shoes!! amazing, never seen thorns on a tree lilke that before!
the beauties on the beach - Maya, Alana, Jocelyn, Jenny, and Lindsy - ( the two girls are guests aboard Malachi)
nice beach, gorgeous scenery and no other boats other than a couple of local ones in the far corner. Kyle is trying to teach Steve Growes ( Malachi) how to open a coconut, Emma and Shayna are enjoying cooling off , and the beach girls are posing for pictures!

We have arrived safely to Honolulu! the passage from Molokai sucked!! waves going every way, not much wind at first - the boat flopping from one side to the other and big flopps! not a fun passage. Certainly nothing like the day before! once the wind picked up it was a little better , still not the best ride - anyway we are tied up nice and snug in the Waikiki Yacht Club - it has a swimming pool and everything, right in the heart of Honolulu!! couldn't ask for a better spot. Across the street is the big mall, ! everything so close by.

There is quited the surge in here! Malachi is one dock over , we did a pot luck dinner with them on Thursday after we arrived. Lots of nice people here, so quick to lend a helping hand. Met " Ronny" who let us borrow his car to get groceries, and took me in the am to do laundry - took Steve in to get parts for the alternator for the generator so he can fix it!
The kids have been living in the pool -they even went for a night swim with the Malachi bunch - had fireworks last night - wow this is the way to relax before the next big passage!!
We are going to Hamanumu Bay ( spelt wrong , fix later when I find the right spellin) to snorkel today - taking the bus . this should be fun . we are planning on doing Pearl Harbor tomorrow.

Kauli-Kona to Maui

2009-06-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

Me and the kids jumped into the water to swim with the dolphins again!! right in the bay in Kauli-Kona, so cool!
We left Kauli-Kona and headed to the top of the big island , getting ready to cross to Maui. we stayed in Kawaihae Harbor, very excited cause it was so calm and protected, then the wind came up in the middle of the night, 40 knot gusts! we were fine, anchor held well, but still not the best sleep , up checking as we were on the lee of the breakwater.

We had to cross the Alenuihaha Channel which can be a rough one if the trades where blowing, and they were. we had 30 knots of wind ( sometimes gusting to 35) and 14 ft seas. ripped our main sail - this time in the cloth ,so must actually repair it. Steve took it down before we had too much damage. 10 hours later we were anchored. Our original spot was on Molokini Island but is was to rough so we had to keep going.

We arrived in Lahaina this morning and tied to a mooring ball with the Lahaina Yacht club, but where informed the mooring where not in good shape so Steve and Jay went and moved our boat and we are now anchored, thankfully its not windy as the bottom here is not that good of holding. Quite a current and all the sand is eroding away and leaving only lava bottom, not good for anchoring, we had a late lunch at Bubba Gumps - good food and I am still so full!! its is so hot on land!

The girls from Malachi wanted to shop, so my older kids ended up doing that , I found the big banyen tree and hung out there with Emma. Kyle was a little disappointed with the tree, cause the ones in Hilo where so much better to climb. ( and you weren't allowed to climb it anyway) we are back at the boat just chillin - free Internet!

the old fort in Lahaina

the kids on the banyen tree in front of the old court house.

shaved ice time! so hot out. and the 4 children are learning to share!!
Banyen tree -the tree was planted in 1873 and is almost 1/4 mile in circumference -
"Life is like a box of chocolates!" us on Forest Gumps bench! Maya is wearing his shoes!everyone a whole lot happier now that we are anchored! it was a rough crossing!
cleaning up all the lines, the sun is setting and we are relaxing! will sleep well tonight!

sunset at Maui!!

the crows nest is a fun place when at anchor!!

all of us parents have a meal together, the kids are at the other end of the table. nice to eat in a restaurant again!

this is the palace!

Kyle love the banyen trees! and the beach is full of turtles - look close and you will see them
and looking down here is the turtle , just below the sea wall that both Kyle and Emma are on!! lots of them
on the sea wall of Kauli-Kona, we got splashed when the surf came in !!!
this one is for Nathaniel. so when are you doing this triathlon?

swimming with dolphins! snorkeling too!

2009-06-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic time snorkeling and swimming with the dolphins - we jumped into the water from our dingys - tons of dolphins everywhere, mammas with their babies even. This is a underwater park here and is closed to anchoring and fishing , so we are anchored way out of the bay. makes for a nice nursery for the dolphins! Kyle swam and swam along with Maya and the Malachi girls along with the dolphins, they loved this!!!!! What a neat experience for all the kids, swimming with them in their natural environment!see the baby one with its mamma! she was so tiny!! never seen a dolphin so small before

We had so many dolphins swimming around, underneath and jumping out of the water. They are the spinner dolphins and they look like they have pink on their bellies. We even heard them talking!!! so cool! safe to say all that sailing we did was worth it to get here!!! Malachi and us where the only non-tour boat around and the only ones anchored. The locals say they don't get too many sailboats around, one guy even recognized our boat as a steel hull, using his binoculars from land- he used to own one.

Later in the afternoon we went ashore to stretch our legs, then visited on Malachi. around 8:30pm we had manta rays around the boat! Life is so good!!
We are leaving here today and heading to Kailua-Kona for the day ( may anchor but depends on the anchorage, its not a good one - play that by ear) and then head to the top of the big island before heading to Maui. The weather here has been great, not to rocky - this can be a very very uncomfortable anchorage. just for your info - Hilo is the rainiest city in all of the USA!! amazing , eh?!

lots of these fish swimming everywhere, the snorkeling was fantastic!!
Steve loves to wear a mask now that he has no beard! doesn't leak!!! tee heee
Miss Emma is getting so good at swimming! she is our 3rd fish! she loved the dolphins as well, just couldn't swim like her brother and sister.

Kealakekua Bay - Kona Big Island Hawaii

2009-06-18T22:25:00.000-07:00

AKA as Cooks Bay - this is where Captain Cook died. anyway, we left yesterday and came around the point to a fantastic show of lava! it was worth the trip I tell ya. unfortuneatly my camera doesn't do well with the night photos while moving in a boat.
We were about 3/4 of a mile away from the lava! it was even erupting high into the air!! Way cool. Graeme you would have loved that!
We are now in cooks bay, went for a swim, and then checked out the monument for Captain Cook. great snorkeling here so we will come back tomorrow morning, We lucked out on the way back to the boats. Dolphins everywhere, so we -the kids and I and then Jenny and Jocelyn , jumped in and swam with them!! they were under us and jumping and spinning - so cool, Kyle even had one touch his foot! It was amazing. We are now sitting down to a great dinner and for a lark I thought I'd check for internet, and low and behold - free and fast!! enjoy, we will be snorkeling tomorrow and will get more pictures. Apparently there are turtles and manta rays here as well.

the 2 captains posing for there famous shot - they got us here safely

just one of the many beautiful sites here !

My monkeys

Trivia - what was the name of Captain Cooks ship? this one is easy!!

our friends ( family now) Robert and Rose on Tillicum, they have left this morning to head straight to San Fran. very good people!

done in Hilo off to the Kona side

2009-06-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

We are off today to sail to the otherside of the big Island - Kona side. we will be passing the lava flowing into the sea at night! looking forward to seeing this, its supposed to be real neat. its very hot here today! Malachi will be going with us, Tillicum is leaving tomorrow and heading straight for San Fransisco. hope to see them in Vancouver ( by car as the boat is headed to Mexico)

Hoping for better internet. trust me I will be posting whenever I can. it has been fun here. it will be interesting to sail without Graeme......

this is how we got to shore everytime!! kids are off for showers and hanging out

Joel and Kyle from Liberty - more kids! we just finished walking on the breakwater and swimming with some turtles, fun fun

Trivia Question # 56578

2009-06-14T20:37:00.001-07:00

WHO IS THIS MAN?

volcano time in Hawaii!!

2009-06-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

Orca III and Malachi in Hilo at the wharf! this is the industrial area here and we have to be escorted of everytime we want to leave the area....

this is the crater at Mauna Loa observatory. that is lava you see!! very cool

and here we are at the lava tunnel! this is really neat. it is about 200 years old

its amazing that plants will grow in anything! these are all over the lava

lava diggers! Everone wants some , this is the lava flow from 1974, very neat

Maya picking some pretty lava. We got some that is very sparkly

heres where the lava hit the road, thats us in our car! tee hee

Isn't Graeme so strong!!

Yeah!!

on top of "old smokey" lava

lava everywhere! Uncle and Nephew on the black

the sea side of the lava see that steam way of in the distance, that is lava pouring into the ocean, we will be going around that at night on Wednesday to see it by boat on our way to the other side of the island - Kona side

Bye Bye Graeme, ! thanks for joining us on part of our journey - enjoy civilization!

fun at sea on our way to Hawaii

2009-06-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

Its hot out, so Emma is playing in the bucket, she is such a ham!! things we do at sea!

we shared with Malachi! gave them half of the yellow fin, we did this a few times on this trip. poor Graeme thinks this must be the norm, oh so not true!!!

I mean look at those steaks! this guy was huge!!!

Fish On again!!!!!!!! right as we dropped the shark in , this big around 70lbs yellow fin tuna!!

next day - Fish ON!!!! ooh my a shark, look at him - he went back!!

a Mahi Mahi!! this was fish #2 that day, these are really pretty fish, mate for life and turn grey when they die. very sad to see but taste delisious!

just look at how calm the ocean can be! one of our motoring days on route to Hawaii!

sunset at sea !

the treasure of gold at the end of the rainbow! malachi took this of us in Moorea! a once in a life time shot...............

Picture time ! Tahiti to Tikihau

2009-06-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

thanks to all of you who have been following us!! we have finally been able to post some pictures - also thanks for your comments ! we love to read them, we have been having fun here in Hilo and have lots more pictures for you, enjoy! please be patient, cause the intenet here at the boat is not so good! has been a real pain. lucky day today to be able to post pictures finally! Graeme has left us, flew home last night - we miss him already! thanks Graeme for joining us and all your help. today is a clean the boat and low key day, we have been going and going since we got here. We have to be escorted out and in everytime we want to leave to land . we are in a commercial area - Hilo Port. the security people are great, more later.........

here are some photos from Tahiti to Tikihau, from there we left to Hilo, we had a great time in Tikihau, one of the greenest Tuamotu we have seen! and lots of pretty flowers

the kids! love that Kyle don't ya- what is with boys!!

Dingy rides to land in Tikihau! Malachi and Orca III - the only boats here!

Bakery in Tikihau - last time for the cheap baquettes! good, cause we are getting tired of those!

yep thats Orca III out there between the trees, pretty , eh!?

the Tremblay Duo - Graeme and Steve on land in Tikihau

one of the many , many gorgeous sunsets at sea!

Princess Emma, we all took turns ( girls that is,) wearing the crown and lai, even Malachi had a turn

Graeme and Maya in crows nest under way to Tikihau, Tuamotu

Maya's turn with the flowers!

Dionne the queen in Tahiti!! haha, I bought these flowers cause they are so pretty , we all enjoyed them and they smelled so beautiful. this was from the market in Papeete Tahiti, just before we left for the Tuamotus.

In HIlo Hawaii!!!!!

2009-06-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

yeah , we made it!! have internet for a brief time. ! happy to be on land, we are tied next to Malachi, already rented a car to share with them and will be off to see lava, volcanoes tonight. more exploring tomorrow - Graeme is leaving us soon.
we arrived yesterday around 9 am, got checked in and off we went to do all the laundry - 16 laods!! they have this very cool laundry mat- washing machines ,driers - wow! we loved it, no more hand washing!!!!!!!!!!! we went to the mongolian grill for late late lunch, early supper, then off Marg and I went to walmart and safeway! what a treat to go to somewhere we know! came back to a cruiser party on the warf - Steve serving our tuna to all, raw with wasabi and soya - what a hit as no one else caught any fish - so they loved it. turns out there are 3 other boats here with teenagers , so heaps more kids!! everyone doing well,

trying to post pictures but no luck, will try later

almost there

2009-06-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

Well we are only 16 hours away from being tied to the dock in Hilo!! still no land in site - just over 100 miles to go , am amazed that we can't see it as the volcanoes are almost 14,000 ft high! yesterday was our best day for miles travelled in 24 hrs - we did 180!!!! new record! the last 4 days we have made awesome time!! but we are tired of leaning and waves splashing. I have bruises everywhere from falling off waves! this has been a long passage. our guess is because we have spent so much time at sea from leaving NZ - 22 days to Tubuai, stopped there for 4 days, then 3.5 days to Tahiti, ( between Moorea and Tahiti we were there 2 weeks) then 2 days to Tikihu Tuamotus - stayed 1 day 2 nights before we left for Hawaii - 18 days , so around 44 days at sea alone, so glad we are stopping in Hawaii for just over 3 weeks! we need the rest!!!!!!

tomorrow morning we will be in Hilo - will post pictures to the blog asap. laundry is first!

update from Orca III

2009-06-06T19:28:00.001-07:00

Hello everybody!!!

we are making great headway! have been doing 7-8 knts for the last many days and we expect to be in Hilo by Tuesday! Yeah!!! we did 163 miles yesterday in the last 24 hrs and expect the same today! this is excellent. have seeen lots of flying fish! and last night on my and Mayas watch had one come into the cockpit - flippin and a flapp'n all over the place. I finally picked him up and threw him back. the other day we had a squid on our cabin top! we are healed over 15-20 degrees all day and night , it will be fun trying to walk on land again! Graeme and Emma have had fun drawing faces on her toes and then shapes and flowrs on her leg. Everything is salty and I can hardly wait to get the laundry done.we have a ton!! mostly sheets and pillow cases and many many towels.

well that's it for now, too hard to type on this angle.

ps couldn't send this yesterday - broken connection from ham to computer - Steve fixed it today - yesterday was our top miles travelled in 24 hours 168.7!!!!! that is a record for Orca III

we are still having a nice sail, today is even better the wind is from the east. less leaning and waves. all are doing excellent! hoping to see whales soon

getting closer and closer to hilo

2009-06-03T19:51:00.001-07:00

just a quick update. we are sailing in lovely wind and the sun is out! yesterday we had rain , rain, rain, wind more wind, and confused seas!! that was the ITCZ area but now we are out of it!! looks like if we keep up this speed June 9 evening will be our land fall. we are all looking forward to arriving in Hawaii. one of the boats just a head of us broke their forestay and have jerry rigged it up - also managed to get a hold of the US coast guard just in case they need any assistance. so all is good.
we are madly eating all the frozen meat - last night everyone pigged out on steak! nothing else to say, all are well on board , malachi is just ahead of us by about 1-2 miles . I think we have done our last handwashing forever! its out drying on the line now, and we only did it because we took a ton of water in the galley and head yesterday - so all the towels have been done. I am never handwashing again, I swear I have arthritis in my hands from all the wringing!

take care,
Dionne

current position

07 37.7N 144 01.3W
6 knots
COG 338T

more updates from the sailing vessel orca 3

2009-06-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

well we have been making fantastic time! did 153 miles yesterday ! the wind right now is beautiful! about 15-18 knots, very calm seas and we are sailing along at 7 knots- have the hatches open, washed the cockpit from all its salt and doing a cleaning job inside. hardly leaning, and a very pleasant sail! last night on my watch the boat during a squall got to 9.7 knots! but with the calm seas it was fine. did roll the genoa in though and still all night we did 7 knots, if we keep this up we will be in Hilo in 7 days, 17 hrs and 45 minutes!!

Still close to Malachi - enjoying making up songs to tunes we know , just had the shackle on the boom vang bust - loud noise! no biggy , steve has spares and it fixing it now, funny it would go now in this easy sail, glad that it did, makes it easier to fix.

trying desperately to eat all the meat in the freezer as we can not bring it into Hilo - Graeme the protein man is happy about this!

until next time
this will be Orca III charlie foxtrot golf 7565 clear

crossing the line

2009-05-31T18:21:00.000-07:00

Its been a long hard sail most of the time,
We've had enough squalls to last us a life time,
With Malachi leading we're not far behind,
together at 1 am May 31
we crossed the line!

there were strobe lights flashing on the line,
even lasers looking mighty fine,
Steve sounds our siren , almost blue my mind!
together at 1 am
we crossed the line

it was Graeme's first time at 00' 00"
it was Malachi and Orca's second - aren't we the heros
Its great to be North again!
together a 1 am we crossed the line

Hey you all, not far to Hilo now!! its your turn!

Hugs,
Dionne and the rest of Orca III

still sailing (actual date is May 28)

2009-05-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

well, we have wind.... pointing into it , so we are leaning a lot and have some seas too! not my favorite part. feels like climbing Mt. Everest every time we walk through the pilot house!! makes cooking not so fun! this is where I need a gymbled stove! yep thats right I don't have that and I highly recommend for anyone going cruising this is a must!!!!! anyway, we caught more fish the other day. The same day we caught the mahi mahi, later that afternoon we caught a 4 foot shark! no kidding - have pictures of that one, and we threw him back, then right away on the other line we had a huge huge yellow fin tuna. he was almost 80 lbs!! and our first one we've ever caught. we gave Malachi half - and I have video of that exchange I tell ya, and now my freezer is full of fish. I feel like a fish market with all the varieties we have!

we are making progress, but all are anxious to get to Hilo - fantasizing about frostys and ice cream and such. its very hot here, especially inside the boat as we have to keep all the hatches close for all the spray. Graeme tried to sleep outside one night but found it too uncomfortable. and it started to rain, the cockpit is the compfy spot -but that is reserved for those on watch. Have had a few sightings of "ships" that turned out to be stars -planets really , Venus we think, regardless I call that my star as it is always rising on my watch. Last night we did see a few fishing boats. nice to have Malachi ahead - both Marg and I chat on our watches, nice.

not much else, just hanging out, hard to read in this kind of waves. we have about 12 days or so - depending on wind and waves , to go.

Orca III on the side

just sailing along............(actual date May 26)

2009-05-30T15:44:00.001-07:00

having a nice light wind sail for the last few days. seas are very small and calm and we have been able to leave all the hatches open! need to its so HOT!- Malachi is still with us just slightly ahead about 1-2 miles. we have been lucky fishermen yesterday and today. caught some kind of sailfish yesterday, very blue - we think either a pacific sailfish or a very young blue marlin, it has a very pointy mouth but no long bill. He was 4 feet long, and very very blue! very pretty and today we caught a mahi mahi! they are so pretty too, blue, green, gold - it was jumping out of the water! so today we eat mahi mahi!

have had some rain today and two beautiful rainbows! its cloudy and cooler - nice for a change! well not much else to say, me and the kids are reading lots, Graeme listening to his music, Steve just hanging out. his mp3 player that got wet and he fixed has kicked the bucket! so we will be looking for something for him in Hawaii cause he loves his music. thats it for now, this is a much much better passage! i like this kind -

until next time this is Orca III CFG7565 standing on the side

orca III underway to Hawaii (actual date May 23)

2009-05-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
we are leaving from the Tuamotus today, on our way to Hawaii. Boat is in great shape - looking forward to being in Hawaii. we are heading to Hilo on the big island. It is very hot here! and will get hotter the closer we get to the equator. have had a nice time in Tikihau ( thats the atoll we are at in the Tuamotus) lots of swimming and this is the greenest atoll we've seen! lots of flowers and trees, not just coconut ones either. Malachi is still with us - hope all of our fellow cruisers are enjoying Fiji and have arrived safe. keep us posted. to all of you at home, looking forward to seeing you in August!

hugs
Dionne

last dinner in Tahiti - Roulette style

2009-05-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

what a treat to not have to cook! and its so hot ,especially in Papeete City..... we are leaving today to first do a quick stop in Rangaroa then off to Hilo Hawaii. until then its ham radio time.....

here we all are eating at the roulette trucks! good food!

these trucks all park here and have all kinds of food. this is the crepe one!

waiting for dinner

the Crandell's of Malachi

Orca party time - Canadian Style

2009-05-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

We had 6 Canadian boats in Moorea , so we had a party!! all the crew on all 6 boats came over to Orca III - Ian on Earthlight read us a story he wrote many years ago! It was fantastic and a good time had by all. munchies and new friends being made! One boat "Loona III" had not seen Canadians for 2 years - so they were very excited to join us. ( they have been in Lima) We decided that seeing as there were a majority of Canadain Vessels , we claimed Moorea as ours!! ( hahhaha) it was a lot of fun !

This be Ian from Earthlight, he came "dressed" for the occassion! I think Emma was trying to get his top from him. It was neat to see Earthlight cause the last time we spoke - 1 yr ago, they were just coming into Tahiti and we were in Moorea and heard them on the VHF - but we were leaving the next day so missed sssing them . what a nice surprise to have them in Moorea when we arrived this time!! all who know Ian , know how funny he is!!!

Captain Robert! hat suits him don't you think!!

the true owner of the cap!! this was my grandpa A's hat when he was on the Lord Selkirk! Looks good on the Admiral, eh?!!!!!
Rose and Steve, in charge of the tuna - we have come to love it raw with soya and wasaby!!

Here we have the lovely Marg , Julie ( Mad Hatter) and Wendy ( Earthlight)

canadian kids!

Emma wanted to go fishing on her own! so off she went with fishing rod in hand and in her own "dingy" - had fun, caught no fish............

Moorea and swimming with the Rays! and Tattoos!!

2009-05-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

we had a blast swimming with rays and they are gorgeous! and Graeme had fun! It was Rose's first time and she also loved it .we will go again tomorrow and take Robert with us this time. After that we walked a long way to go to the tattoo artist for Graeme. he got one ! You'll have to wait til he comes home to see what it is!! I'm not allowed to show you!!!

everyone checking out the tattoo book

Tattoo time. not everyday you take your 9 yr old to a tattoo parlor, eh?!

Graeme getting his tattoo

tikis everywhere

more rays

kyle and the rays, he loves these guys!

birthdays in Tahiti! snorkeling too!

2009-05-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

Its picture time again! we have been having fun and working hard. lots of groceries to buy!! and Steve has been fixing all the broken things. we are getting it done!! yead

Our little Emma also a fish!! sorkeling in Tahiti at Marina Tahina

Kyle, Jocelyn, Jenny, and Maya - they are just like fish!! snorkeling in Tahiti!

Yep that's me!

Maya and her found treasure

Kyle found some too! thats coral from the bottom ( don't worry its a dead one)

and that's Graeme, finally got him in the water!

Me and Rose ( Tillicum) this was my birthday afternoon snorkel!

Kyle can go straight down! He's our diver

Birthday music for me and Emma sang her own song with him

the kids with Rose

kids with Robert ( Tillicum)

Steve and I on my birthday

My beautiful necklace from Robert and Rose!
my medal from Maya , I love it!!!! and the forks - well that's a story from Malachi, ask me when we get home!
My birthday Cinnamon Buns made by Marg on Malachi! what a treat, they were still hot too!! Lucky lucky me, these are the best!!!
Emma's birthday Ice cream!

Emma's 9th Birthday! We made it to Tahiti on her birthday!

Emma and her best bud, Austin

sailijng the big sea and land ho! Tubuai

2009-05-12T18:22:00.000-07:00

here are some photos , have fun! enjoy and we will see you soon!

here we are!

TUBUAI AUSTRALS

one of the many stops we did on the bike

bike ride time. this man let us use them for free cause we came to their island by boat!

cheese !

the women and girls - fun on the motu

the men at the motu - white sandy beach!

on land! after 23 days - Malachi and Orca III

Emma found a swing and that's our boat way in the background - Tubuai - Australs, lovely Island ! we loved it here, not a lot of cruisers come here so we were the talk of the island!

what a beautiful flower! not sure what it is.....but I love it

one of the many sites along the way still in Tubuai

another beautiful flower, look at all the green !

Orca III, Malachi and Candine. - rush hour in Tubuai! we all arrived at the same time

yeah we are on land!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Tubuai Australs French Polyensia South Pacific Ocean

watching Pirates of the Carribean out at sea!!

the crew of orca III before all the storms!

here's our rip from the big waves! nice eh?!

sunrise in the morning after we threw Malachi some tuna! this was a great day of saililng!

here ! catch! - we sure had enjoyed travelling with them, we did this fish throwing 2 times! not really a normal sea crossing

our little bird friends that were with us for a few days. sadly one landed in the water one to many times and didn't make it. Poor Emma was so upset! we almost convinced Steve to turn the boat around and do a man over board , but there was no way to save him. his friend we saw one more time and then he/she never came back.....

at sea, sunrise! taken by Malachi

orca III at the end of the rainbow, no gold

on our way to Tahiti

2009-05-09T21:30:00.001-07:00

good morning from here, its 7 am on Friday . we left at 1:30 pm yesterday from Tubuai, great place!! all you cruisers really need to check out this island,. they are wonderful here and its very beautiful. Malachi has left with us and Candine is staying one more day then heading to Gambier. they are calling for 30 knot winds later today and short steep seas. swells 6 seconds apart. luckly, its forcast for a short time - 12 hours. so far we have had a good sail and have just started the motor about an hour ago. very light winds for the day is forcast. we didn't want to stay in the anchorage for the winds as it is already bouncy and would be very uncomfortable there. We should be in Papeete ( Tahiti) late sat or early sun depending on winds of course.

looking forward to stocking up with food, fuel and seeing some sights . we plan on going to Moorea also to check out the stingrays again.

hope all that are on there way to Fiji are having a good passage. keep us posted!

Tillicum - looking forward to seeing you guys! are you still in Moorea? keep us posted as well. the kids are excited to see you!!!!!

we have our lines in and hoping to catch us a Mahi Mahi - ( still had to hand wash , no luck on the laundry service for me, but I am getting better at the washing - using our feets this time!! it was fun)

not much else to say , see you in Tahiti!

p[s
have been trying to send this for 24 hours now., we have 120 nm to go to Tahiti

land ho !

2009-05-05T16:53:00.001-07:00

hello all,

yes we have made land, sorry I took me a while to let you all know. there is no internet here.......

we anchored on Sat night around 7:30 pm - what a nice feeling !! candine and malachi and us all arrived at the same time!cool , eh?!

on Sunday we did a shore trip to find Genderame, he was busy doing his garden so told us to come back on Monday. so we checked out where the stores where, found the bank, listened to church singing, very beautiful, nice to be on land. everyone getting their land legs! its so beautiful here, lots of green, flowers and horses! have met quite a few locals, all so friendly and lots of them speak some english! we did a ton of laundry - yep by hand and feet. really put Graeme to work!! still have a ton, but will most likely wait until Tahiti. ( I am gonna ask my new polynesian friend if there is someplace I can use a washing machine- she gave us a ride back to the boat and is bringing us bananas at 3 pm) no luck on the pomplemouse yet!! kids went for a swim yesterday and there is a nice motu across from us we want to check out. Steve is trying to repair the main sail, ( we also need to do the cutter and the genoa although they are not nearly as bad as the main!) we have ot
her things to fix but most likely will wait until Tahiti as they are not as urgent and looks like we are leaving here on Wed, there is another storm coming around here on Sat. 45 knot winds and we don't want to be here for that!

have toured most of the stores here and got some supplies. will wait til Tahiti for most of the rest of supplies. crossing our fingers we don't need to have a bond in Tahiti again. the Gendarme here was saying we will, we are only going in and out basically , website said under 30 days they usually waive it. so send us positive energy around that!!!!!!!

this will be the only email until we head to sea again........

take care

orca III resting and mending

have to send this way later the propagation no good until late.

survived the storm!!

2009-04-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

good morning and what a good one it is!! we survived yesterday - wind finally started to subside around 2:30pm and we are now away from the yucky storm. we had 45 knot winds and 5 meter seas and major down pours! do not want to repeat that ever!!! last night we had nice seas, motoring into light head winds and lightening storms all around way off in the distance. just to be safe Steve disconnected the ham radio antenna . and our main sail has a 6 ft rip near the top!! hoping we can fix it ourselves in Tubuai, otherwise its a sail maker in Papeete. Tillicum do you have a sewing machine that can sew sails on board? mine is to small for the main.

we have a few things to repair once we anchor . this has been a hell of a trip! we have 326 nm to go...... motor sailing 6.6 knots waiting for the wind to turn some more. Genoa out and staysail too. heaps of laundry to do and I live in the dream that I will find some one in Tubuai to do it really cheap!!!! send me lots of luck on that one please! otherwise, we all get to do it by hand! and all my cruiser pals out there now how much fun that is! I still have sore hands from wringing it all last time.

our position is 27* 46 S 153* 03 W

well time for a shower! and do some boat cleaning on the inside. the cockpit is slowly drying out after all the saltwater from yesterday. we took waves right up to the backstay on the port side about 8-10 times and then heaps and heaps of rain. the waves even bent and broke one of the welds in the canvas door port side. Steve has bent it back into place , but will need to fix where the weld broke. he has a plan! like always.

orca III standing by

orca 3 and the big blue sea

2009-04-28T16:40:00.001-07:00

orca 3 current position 31* 27S 152* 45W doing a whopping almost 4 knots....................

yes boys and girls we have round 3 of the big winds! at 7pm last night winds were 30 knots gusting to 34. at 2am mine and Marg's Malachi watch ( we have the same watch so we can chat) winds were 32 knots and we had some gusts!! this is supposed to stay with us all day and into the evening then winds are 35-40! so that makes what 3 gales!! orca 3 is riding the waves and winds well! this is good. we all are very tired , sore muscles and using ones never even knew we had! its a challenge walking up hill while the boat rocks I tell ya! salt spray everywhere, including coming in my galley hatch cause I left it oh so slightly open, lesson learned, we sure took a lot of water in that one., I was wiping it up all over the counter, floor, wall ,ceiling - even got a bit on my bread, but hey now the galley is all clean!! thats the upside..... hahaha
so what does that telll ya when the wind eases to 25 knots and it fells like 6! we be seasoned sailors then I guess

lots of sleeping going on here, and we are all anxious to get to land, this has been a very tiring crossing, not as long as from mexico to marqueses although same distance in miles but we've sailed faster of course. Just talked to Malachi and we all can't wait to go swimming! we have 500 miles to go! getting there.

Well not much else to say, to rocky down here anyway, gotta get outside! hope you all are enjoying where you are, take care and this will be Orca 3 clear from this station

April 29,2009
hello hello,
this sucks!We all feel this way, steady 35 knots , waves 3-4 meters. rain rain rain, salt everywhere and even have found a few leaks never had before. have had a few more dumps of water through the solar vent. we got the cap out but never got it capped off in time. We are under staysail alone and doing 4-5 knots the up side is it should all be calming sometime between 6 am and noon today ( its 4 am now)
we are all feeling not to well, seasicky, Malachi is finally back in VHF range - lost them for about 7 hrs. they have been hand steering the last few hours as the autopilot has decided to take a break. both of us are running our main engines to charge batteries as the generators are getting airlocks , lots of heal on the port side,

this has been one tough passage - boat doing okay - we buried the top handrail about half a dozen times during the day- scared me it did!! I don't like that. we've had some good breaking waves too. sounds like we hit something each time. but we didn't.

429 miles to go and counting! looking forward to being anchored and not moving!

orca 3 over and out

another sea update from orca

2009-04-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

April 23,2009
I take back this being an alright passage! we have had a very tough night- wind behind us , seas behind us all day ,not bad during the day, a little rocky and rolly but around 5:30 pm winds picked up to a steady 35 knots and gusted to 44- things flying, can't really sleep - and looks like we bent our pole!
we only have the staysail out right now, just to keep us moving as the waves behind us are big. have taken a few up the gunnel right to the cockpit and soaked the cockpit! that was on my and maya's watch around 345am.. everything soaked.
this is not fun!!
have been talking to malachi as well , we are all ready to be at the australs.

oh yeah, happy birthday to steve. hopefully it calms down some for his special day,

that it for now

April 24,2009

well without jinxing myself again, I will say that we had a better day and night, the seas and wind have subsided - thank god! we are still rollling a bit, but nothing like before . the sunrise this morning was beautiful! Steve and Graeme will go on deck later to pull down the bent pole so we can set our genoa again. we are currently motor sailing under staysail alone. engine is running to charge batteries. seems we keep getting a air block in the generator. Steve will bleed it later - Steve had a great birthday - except his mp3 player took a slide off the cockpit table right into the gunnel has it filled with a very big wave. got saltwater in it!! all his music that he loves may be gone. he has taken it apart and dried it all out and will try to fix it. but, we think it's not so good. time will tell. otherwise, it will be Hawaii before he can find another one. Bummer for him!

aside from that , Malachi bunch made up a song to the tune of puff the magic dragon, titled "Steve the mechanic sailor , sailed the big blue seas , playing his harmonica aboard the orca 3" it was very good and will get a copy from them! sure is good to have them in vfh range. and to see them on the horizon! keeps our spirits high.

Graeme is loving my homemade yogurt. this is good. I have been making a batch for the last 3 days in a row. its going fast! the kids love it too, but they are used to having it.
winlink is working again!! I am getting gribs , yeah! this has been an experience to say the least , up and down that system has been,

well, the sun is shining and we are getting closer! just under 1000 miles to go!

all on board are doing great! I found my St Christopher Medalian from Denis and Helen ( thanks guys!) and it is back in its hanging spot. this is good. we missed having him there, right next to the rosary we got from the family in Mag Bay Mexico. this will bring us home safely !

hugs to all,

the crew of Orca III

orca 3 update from sea april 22

2009-04-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

April 18,2009
good morning all,
am sitting here on my watch - 2-6am, trying to get weather! we are motor sailing right now trying to get easterly - quite the challenge with the wind going the wrong way, but it is turning so that is good. the other night when we hove-to we had a steady 35 knot wind with gusts to 42!! that was not the most fun we've had! the seas were huge too. not a comfortable night to say the least so Steve decided to go further south, Malachi is also doing the same. we will be turning _- wholly cow ,just had a huge wave hit us and soak the inside of my galley through that same dam solar vent - salt water everywhere!

anyway, will keep this short now as i have a mess to clean up, all are well on board and have managed to get more sleep. We will be in VHF range with malachi soon again, hopefully! have been talking a few times on the ham, and ssb.

must go and wipe up the water.

hugs
Dionne

April 21,2009
Sandra asked about the chickidees here's the answer no we lost one to the ocean, poor thing just couldn't make it back to the boat, me and the kids cried to steve to turn the boat around to rescue him, steve almost did, and then said no - he was right, but poor Emma was so upset!!! we had lots of talks about that, then the next day the other one showed up - but he to is gone,not sure what happened to him, but I think the same thing, lucky for us we didn't see that one happen. we were so far away from land, they couldn't possibly make it back. I got to hold the other one, we tried to warm him and feed him, but no luck. very sad time on orca 3

we are now in this sloppy rocking back and forth sea with the wind still going the right way. malachi is still with us just a mile of our starboard. we talk all the time. today the girls played hangman and did brain teasers with the malachi girls via VHF - that was fun.

Poor graeme is still working on his sea legs, during breakfast lost his balance and "ran" into maya knocking her oatmeal everywhere. funny it was! we have settled into our nightly watches well. steve 6pm-10 graeme 10pm-2am Kyle 9pm-1130pm maya 130am-4am dionne 2am-6am Emma whenever she gets up in the morning, usually around 6am and has also come up with Maya's shift to see Graeme. during the day we all take turns getting naps. i do most of the cooking and have now got everyone to wash their own bowls most of the time. forgot what it was like during a long crossing, hasn't been to bad this time. guess we are seasoned offshorers - still love being anchored better. I am looking forward to the Australs, and also Hawaii, and for sure coming home. its time for me! this has been good for us as a family - glad we did this, will miss it too once back and will and do miss all of our other cruising buddies we left in NZ. we talk on the ham and email though so that is good.

love ya and miss you lots

hugs
Dionne

April 22,2009
good morning everyone!

we are doing great here. have had a fantastic couple of days sail and now we are motor sailing - not much wind and fairly calm seas with the odd big swell. Tomorrow is Steves birthday!!! making him is favorite dinner.

We have watched the pirates of C - all three over the last 4 days! We be pirates now!!! Steve and Graeme had to go on deck and Steve had to fix our main sail. one of the sail cars at the mast came apart . so there was steve sitting on the boom in the sail cover fixing her up. He is so good at that. the boys also transfered all but 60 litres of the fuel that was in jerry cans on deck to the tanks. do it while its calm!! all in all this has been a pretty good passage once we got out of that 42 knot gale! have been baking up a storm , and eating prettty good , I think. not much else going on here, lots of sleeping ,reading, yacking with Malachi on VHF. we love that.

We are at 40* 30s 162* 52 W

getting there ..............

hugs,
Dionne

update from orca 3

2009-04-16T20:51:00.001-07:00

April 14,2009
still sailing! had the wind come up and the waves to last night, so we were reefing in everything ! no one slept well,the boat jaring around so much, the sea was like a washing machine! We were sailing so fast we not only caught up to Malachi ( they were just over 4 miles ahead) we passed them. we are all battling sore throats and stuffed noses - I have both and its not fun! Malachi also has been doing the same and they didn't sleep well last night either. the wind has died way down and we are slowly sailing along. we caught another albacore - in the freezer it goes, now we want mahi mahi.
Everyone has been catching up on sleep today.............. not much else going on

cheers

hugs
dionne

April 16,2009
Hey all,
Orca III and Malachi have chosen to heave-to, hove-to ( whatever its called)
our current position is 41* 03.49 S 174* 09.12 W
we are waiting for this system north of us to pass and don't want to go any further south! besides we all need a rest! the wind has been anywhere from 18-27 knots ( with it mostly being 25-27 and the odd 30 gust) big seas - we had a wave hit us that had stacked up and when it hit our canvas window door, ripped the canvas window part and bent the stainless frame. so we have some sewing to do and some bending back. thankfully , nothing else was damaged. sure soaked the cockpit though!! I even had salt water come through my solar vent in the galley, first time for that as well.

we are still out here with Malachi ( usually in visual but at the moment not - big seas and we are hove-to on the opposite tack so we don't run into each other) and Candine who is slightly more south than us. But they figure they will be in our area tomorrow. we talk on the ham and ssb and with Malachi on VHF - nice to feel not alone! lots of gribs being downloaded and weather discussions on the radio - not as bad as the weather chats in Tonga !!!!

We have been hove-to since 12 noon and will stay this way until 4pm for sure and maybe even over night, we will be talking about that at the 0400 UTC check in.

Everyone on board is doing well, colds seem to be getting better - have been eating lots of soup and ichiban noodles - tonight : homemade stew!! ( Glen and Marylin remember that - I froze some just for this occassion)

Kyle is re reading everything - he finished the twighlight seriers in 2.5 days!! Just can't keep enough books around! Maya also has read all the new books she bought and is starting on re reading the Twighlight series cause she can read them one after the other without having to wait! She helps alot with the galley stuff and is like me , so sea sicky! Poor miss Emma , everytime she get sick! But she is a good sport about it! Emma has been reading the archie comics
( both Kyle and Maya already finished those!) and is doing well with that. Graeme is adjusting to sea life ( silly boy says bring on the wind - ya thanks buddy! cause we got some!) he has only felt seasick once but didn't actually get sick, he too has been fighting of a cold. He is learning lots about sailing, the weather, and we even had him use the VHF -
Graeme also had the fun experience making coffee and a wave coming , over the coffee, wet beans and all, all over the counter and into mu fridge - this happened on his night watch, oh the fun at sea we have.

Steve and I both have been struggling with a cold otherwise are doing well,
Have just been informed that Graeme and Emma are craving nachos! ya, like I'm gonna cook that in this weather! oh, look Emma found the candy canes - this is what she wants now.
well time to sign off, take care
hugs,
Dionne

orca 3 sailing along just great!!

2009-04-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
we are having a great sail! doing between 5-6 knots , very little swell - hoping we get this the whole way ! Malachi and us are within sight of each other, they being just ahead as we drifted while Steve fixed a leak in the steering pump. We have caught 6 albacore tuna ( smallies) in the morning, one had its tail eaten off so we through him back . we gave 2 to Malachi , this morning , and that was fun- pulling up to their boat and throwing a rope with fish tied to the end to them!! they were very
happy to get that . then as we were eating our nice bbqed tuna for lunch we caught 2 more but threw them back, they were small and we still have fish! Its a good thing we have a lot of fish,we gotta keep that Graeme boy full!

we also had over 20 dolphins swimming around our boat! way cool- Graeme took some video of that, they were swimming so fast!! Not sure if I mentioned this but we also have 2 stowaways! 2 little chickadee birdies ( definitely land birds not sea) we thought they flew away yesterday, but we saw them again and we are know out of sight of land! I hope they will be okay!!

other than me having a stuffed nose and I keep sneezing all are well, Kyle is also under the weather a little, and it looks like we have a good watch system set up. At least it worked for last night - we will keep it going until it doesn't work. so far so good.

our position currently at 0112 utc is 37* 16'S 179* 26'E

cheers for now

the crew of orca III all 6 of us!!

Orce III leaves Town Basin and NZ

2009-04-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

Here we go!! and our wonderful friends send us off with hugs, tears and homebaked goodies ( oh and apples of the tree too!!) we will miss our cruising buddies ! We stayed the night at Marsden Cove with Malachi and will be checking out on Saturday - the custom man comes around 8-8:30 am and then its off to the big blue sea!!

the wave!! we will miss them all............ thanks you guys for a great cruising adventure..........

and now an new adventure begins!!!

leaving NZ tomorrow

2009-04-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

we are busily getting ready to pull out. we go down the river to Marsden Point - and then check out of NZ tomorrow!! we are excited and nervous at the same time. please send us lots

of good energy! nice seas and nice winds - we have been touring Graeme around and he and Steve got to jam together - have video and will upload that soon. ( probalbly in French Polynesia) tiime to go! watch for updates here via the ham

Drummer Boy - they had fun that night!!

our Kiwi friends! Wesly and Jacquie came out to hear them play1

Alice and Peter _"Yamana" one of the many stopping by to say good bye!

Here is a Kiwi - we took Graeme bird watching yesterday!

this one is for Bob Cook (Gambit in Spruce Harbor Marina) - tell him his friends made it to NZ and found us!!! they too sailed here! how cool is that!

Graeme arrives with Neall and Andrea!! Auckland Airport- April 7, 2009 6:15 am!!

2009-04-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

He arrives!! of course he was the last one out , customs search the poor boys luggage! Even took the two bags away with the barbie doll ( shh don't tell Emma its her b'day present) and x-rayed them seperately.................. all was fine! Emma jumped the fence and attacked him first! She was so excited!!
The happy Orca III group !! Thrilled to have Graeme!
The McLeod Clan!! glad to have them here! jsut off the airplane , they beat Graeme off!
Old buddies!!! wonderful to see the McLeod clan!!! Neall and Steve - big hugs!!

Me and my buddie Andrea!! so glad to have had a visit with them! A very nice treat

Tremblay Troup and McLeod Claln- Family photo in New Zealand!! Who'd a thought it?!!!

Fuel time in Whangarei - almost ready to leave NZ

2009-04-06T00:47:00.000-07:00

Eiton,Kyle, Jocelyn, Maya, Jenny and Jaryd! ( Tin Soldier came back to the dock yesterday afternoon!)

the boys filling 'er up! This be Malachi first

Well we fueled up! took almost 1000 ltrs of fuel . Malachi rafted to us on the fishermans dock and also fueled up. We are ready to leave ( except for stowing a few more things) Lots more goodbyes! as the kids newest friend Eiton leaves tomorrow for the states. Tonight is their last night together cause we leave so very early in the morning to pick up Graeme from the airport! His plane lands at 5:45 am ( this means we leave at 2:30 am - oh my!!) We are excited! Have been watching the weather and it looks like Saturday is the big day - of course that could change! Seems to be a few systems coming through. But have the paperwork already to go . Had to send in our Advanced Departure Notice ( this is required at least 72 hrs before we leave) which was strange to do seeing as Graeme is listed as leaving before he even arrives!!!! of course we added a little foot note saying that he was arriving April 7 - You wouldn't believe the amount of forms we have to fill in just to leave!! hand is getting a cramp.
Last night we went over to Wesley and Jacqui's for a farewell "snag" BBQ ( prize if you can figure out what a snag is!) -we had a lovely time , they are wonderful people and feel like family! they surprised us with all kinds of gifts! what a treat!! Will miss them for sure - hoping to get one more visit in before we leave!
After that we had another wonderful treat......... our cruising friends on Destiny popped in from Opua for dinner and saw us here. so we got a quick visit and hugs in!! so good to see them. May get a chance to see them just before we leave. who knows!
Sure gonna miss all the cruisers we have met that are continuing onto Fiji -

Until tomorrow this is the original Orca III crew signing off - after that we be 6!!

Jamming and Hauling

2009-04-02T13:16:00.000-07:00

notice Steve way up front making sure we get in okay - they had a hard time lining up the wheels, we are so heavy they had to keep adjusting them. We are the max weight for the lift!!
Glen and Steve had a great night jamming!! they sound so good together. We may have one more time with them ( and Graeme playing drums) We had such a blast , and Sally and me laughed a lot that night . Seems I had both a man and women coming on to me!! No joke! they were in their mid twenties I guess, the girl kept cuddling up to me and putting her arm around me, and the guy kept rubbing my knee ......... oh so funny , Steve was watching this while playing and having a laugh!! oh well, what can I say.. I'm just hot stuff!! We laughed so hard....
and we got home so late! 2:30am - haven't been up that late since my last watch at sea!

The next day , yesterday, we lifted the boat to get the barnacles off and check the bottom. It was a lift and splash - out for only an hour. She looks good - although a little bare spots - we will fix that once home. Steve was happy with what he saw. We took of 2 zincs- seems we over zinced by just a bit. But now we have a clean bottom for the trip to Tahiti. We will have to swim on her there and in Hawaii , but that's okay!

I also made more beads the other day - turn out not bad considering I thought they would look ugly, I was using up my glass , rushing and uninspired - which was dumb of me to do beads that day, but like I said they turned out good! just imagine if I was in the right frame of mind - they could have been amazing!! lesson learned.
Me and the cruiser girls around here did a girls night out last night for Thai food and social. great time , but I was tired from the night before.

Laundry today, shopping again too! organizing boat and oiling the teak toe rail - lots to get done and only a few more days.........................

checking the prop - giving a lesson on how to tell if it is left or right turn - Can you tell which way our prop turns?
I always hate this part, but she lifted well! no problems. We didn't have a picture with us of how she looks for the haul out guy - had to go to the disk of photos when we were out 62 days - remember that!!!!!!??? well , that was our longest and this be out shortest - 1hr and no fighting between Steve and I - amazing , we have come along way!!!!
Blow baby blow!!! ( all night long..................)
the jamming duo - they do sound good together!! I have Steve playing and once I figure out how to get it off the camera and on here I will put it under the last video on the side of blog.

movie time

2009-03-28T14:31:00.001-07:00

check out the video Kyle and Maya made with Jocelyn, Jenny( Malachi) Grant ( Wind Dancer) and Eiton ( Mintaka) - and local kids from the park. they had a great time, they did all the work, including editing, picking the music and all the computer tech stuff. good on them!! The link is on the side ,just click and let it load, it takes a minute................... Well worth it!!!

Surf's up!

2009-03-25T19:02:00.001-07:00

We've had a busy week again, lots getting done to have us leave NZ soon! Provisions are mostly stocked......... scrub bottom and diesel are all that are left - we are doing the odd jobs while we wait for Graeme. Still have some stowing to do, but that will come. We have had the boat plugged into the dock (borrowed a trasformer from Meridian) for the last 24 hrs. so we could get a real good charge and eaualize the batteries. It has been great ! I have hot water from the tap
( that is a treat , has been a long time to have that, we normally boil the water in the kettle) so lots of showers on board today - and everyone has had their fill of the computer. the kids were allowed to play on line for over an hour each!! ( more like 2) - we give the tranformer back later today, but we have used the power well! for info- its 220v here and we are 110v that's why we need the transformer
We are getting anxious to leave, I miss being anchored out - and at the same time will miss all our wonderful friends who are continuing on to Fiji, ect.! we have a great bunch of cruisers out here.

Kyle and I went with our neighbors on Hanna , to the beach at 6:30am, yes that's correct 6:30 am- its cold at that time and dark , anyway I went swimming in the ocean and Kyle did some surfing! the water is warmer than the air and it was beautiful , what a way to start the day.

Why am I up so early? was I crazy?! NOpe- it was a great swim and loved the sunrise!!

Surfs up and the boys are out there! Kyle and Steve ( From Hanna)

sunrise at Sandy Beach , not far from Whangarei

the surfer boy! Kyles 2nd time out in the waves learning how to surf

Me ,my kids and the Malachi girsl went for a hike to find a cave with glowworms, found the cave and only 4 glow worms , but lots of wetas ( these are very big!! huge bugs) and we girls ran out of the cave. Kyle thinks we are a bunch of " Wooses" ya well, blah to you Kyle -haha

the cave - we think its an old mining cave. Kyle checked out all the chambers, it doesn't go in to far , very dark!

the hikers, Emma was not to thrilled , think there has been too many late nights!

yep , that's teenagers for you!! Nice faces, eh! have been a lot of birthdays happening!!

Grant ( wind dancer) 13th Birthday! kids all had fun

Music in Whangarei

2009-03-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

Gleln and Sally came dowon from Opua to do music with Steve at "Frings" ( Steve has been jamming there every Wednesday night) But unfortuneately Gelen's sax wasn't working right so no music together. Glen put it in the shop and will try agian once its fixed. We had a great time hanging out and listening to Steve though!

Steve loves to play!

the boys trying to sort it out! missed having Glen jam with Steve
CHEESE!

Steve and Tracy ( Hanna), Sally and Charisma came to join us in the fun! Malachi also came and we were all bummed that Glen couldn't play!

we also did a Pre- Birthday party for Emma and friends since we will all be going seperate ways soon- I made the cake and fun was had by all, they made all kinds of craft creations and even the older kids came to join!

the one on the right is Emmas, she made a beautiful frame and clothes peg doll!

Social, Social, Social!!!

2009-03-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

Oh my are we doing that here!!! Socializing to the max!! the girls at Revas! Nancy, Marilyn, Robin, Marg and Me - Dionne

We had a great time at the cruisers night at Reva's. lots of fellow boaters there. Candine's last one as they left on the Thursday. Hope to see them in Hawaii!

the Candine bunch - Austin,Chris, Chrissy, Tim

We went for a road trip to Opua to see The Dorothy Marie and Steve's boss from Sea Power.

Jay from Malachi - doing the fun job!!

On the way we did the boat yard tours! Stopped in Dockland 5 to see Malachi doing their bottom - also ran into Oddity ( met them in Minerva, they came for the Marlin feast) after we left and went to Norstand Boat yard to see Tin Soldier - Glen (Tin Soldier) doing the big job!!

they are a steel sailboat like us and are doing almost the same work we did a few years ago. ( they sandblasted the bottom and their deck! have the mast off and are re rigging it, and have been battleing the weather) do you all remember us doing that?!! Well I am feeding them tonight - oh we can so relate to all they are going through! We saw a few other boaters on the hard there as well. Still not sure what we are doing. we only need to clean our bottom. We may have scared ourselves away from the boatyards!!

Steve checking on the work, remembering a time with our boat!!

Anyway ,off we went to Opua, sure was neat to be there again!

Glen our dingy ride to The Dorothy Marie

Sally and Kyle on the ride back to their boat

Buddies to the end!! Me and Sally

We had great time with Glen and Sally - we sure miss them! They are our family here!! We are planning on going to Great Barrier Island with them as our last cruise until they come to BC. They are continuing on to Fiji. It will be very strange not to be on a passage with them.

After our visit ( way to short must see them again!!! We went to do a little shopping and poor Emma wiped out and scratched up her face! Not a fun thing.

We headed over to Bruce and Kris's ( Steve's boss from SeaPower in Opua) place for a BBQ dinner. What a beautiful view they have!! It was an excellent time, great food, fabulous people and a must see again before we leave.

Kris and Bruce from SeaPower Opua

and Skippy our favorite dog! He is just lovely, belongs to Kris and Bruce

this is what I look like when I am doing the blog , ( when all is going well, today I have had nothing but troubles - for some reason cut and paste are not working and I have had to drag everything into place, what a pain!! Hopefully , you will be able to click on the pictures and make them full screen - not sure, I have not made them smaller) sorry no picture of how I look now, it would scare you!!!!!

More fun in Town Basin!

2009-03-11T13:16:00.001-07:00

The kids went on a camping trip overnight with another boat , Provider,they took 12 kids! They all had a good time- even got visited by 5 possums Maya on her way to the camping trip!
Once the kids got back, we were off with Wesly and Jacquie for a mystery tour and roast lamb dinner. Our mystery tour took us to Whau ( pronounced WOW) Valley Dam and then a petting zoo. the kids love that!Wesly and Jacque and Steve in the bunny cage. complete with doves and parachetes notice Steve's little friend in his hand! don't leave home without it.
these flowers reminded me of our lilacs- don't smell like them but kinda look like them. oh so pretty. I took lots of flower pictures , the pink one at the beginning of this post is my favorite. not sure what kind it is, if you know please tell me.
one of the many birds around! trivia what kind of bird is this?
just because you haven't seen enough sheep here in NZ!
-the kids loved this guy! We think its an Alpaca not a LLama - anyone know for sure?
Even Steve had fun feeding the animals! He loved to torment the goats!!

in the bunny cage, Kyle got to hold a rat, Maya a bunny and Emma a guinea pig that looked like the one she had in school called Cinnamon
Kyle's favorite - the Emu!! he spent a lot of time with this guy,eventually getting to pet himand the fabulous roat lamb !! we had a real traditional Kiwi dinner! complete with pavlova for desert.

just another day in Whangerei!!

2009-03-07T14:52:00.000-08:00

Beads made by Dionne!! Can you tell I love blue?

We are doing all kinds of projects! getting the boat ready to set sail again. We have sold our kyack , the kids here are cleaning it. Steve is fixing up the sailing dingy and finishing up Orca III projects. We have been cleaning out every nook and cranny making room for all the food for the next couple of crossings. I am stocking up with as much as I can to avoid buying anything except fresh stuff in French Polynesia. also making room for Graeme! Along with that I have been making my own glass beads! I love it and Steve has already got a plan in mind for making me a studio once we get home! Kyle and Maya have been doing glass fusion - lots of fun!!

scrub scrub a dub dub! They are happily cleaning cause they make some money when its sold!

at the dock in Town Basin Marina - Whangerei Northland New Zealand

building away!! she is looking good, Maya is will be painting the name on it - wait and seeMaya loved the glass fusion class! she is very creative!
Kyle finishing up the final touches with a lesson from the teacher. He also is creative! But he wants to do glass blowing.

Annie Rose glass bead studio! this is where I create!

Maya's creation! ready to go into the kiln.

Oh I forgot to mention on the last post!! way to go Karen and her daughter Kiya, for getting the answer right - the chronometer is the thing it was!! they used that at sea many many years ago!

Waipoua Kauri forest!!!

2009-03-04T00:02:00.001-08:00

Now here's where we see the Kauri trees!! oh my there were so many, and the big ones, the pictures don't do it justice! read the signs , see the girth ( circumference ) the two biggies what a sight to see!!
We borrowed Meridians car and drove the 1.5 hrs just to see the forest! at one time they were all over the north island but got logged and gummed to almost extinction. Now they are protected and not allowed to be cut down , all the Kauri that is used for making carvings and such are from the swamp . they dig it up from the swamp lands , and are dated to 4,500 yrs old!! Love those trees

and off we go to find our tree.............

FACT Kauri forest once covered a million hectares of the north. Now only 7455 hectares of mature forest remain!

We left Tane Mahuta and went to see the four sisters , and the father of the forest, along the way we saw many many giant trees. here Maya touches the bark..................
The forest brings out the best of Steve! Taken by Emma while we admired the 4 sisters
FACT waipoua forest is the largest remaining kauri forest in the world

just sitting on a kauri log having a good time - don't ya think?
The four sisters! We had a lovely walk through the forest full of Kauri trees
FACT ; Ancestors of the Kauri first appeared in the Jurassic Period 190-135 million years ago. Kauri forests are among the most ancient in the world.

Steve and the kids - this was quite the sight to see coming around the corner!! pictures do not do it justice!! this is one wide wide tree!

Dionne and her trees, this one isn't even big compared to Te Matua Ngahere or Tane Manuta Yep the tree hugger!!
And this man is Rick Taylor, he takes swamp kauri and turns it into beautiful bowls and fancy containers. He gave the kids a demo and in 40 minutes had made a bowl, almost ready to sell. a few more steps to go! Kept quizzing the kids and giving them prizes. they each got their own Kauri gum! It was fun to hang out in his shop. He even explained how they get the swamp kauri, showed a video and explained the different types of grains of wood. and colour. The golden fiddle back grain is from the stump and the green kauri is from the top of the tree. This is his shop!

Just another day in Whangerei!

2009-03-03T23:49:00.000-08:00

The kids and I , with Nancy and girls from Meridian and Chris from Candine all went for a hike along the Hatea River to the Kauri Canopy boardwalk. nice walk through the forest and along the river, but we were a little disappointed as we only saw a handful of Kauri trees. in fact we really only saw 3 - I am sure there were more but so spread out ...... not the Kauri forest I was expecting. still a pretty walk, and boy my butt felt it!
tghis is
this Kauri tree is about 500 yrs old. one of the 3 we saw here. and the oldest one here
our happy hiking kids!! they did well, its a 2hr round trip.
this little fella is one of the cycada's - he landed on Emma shoulder. they are very loud and you here them all day when its hot out!! amazingly loud!

so here's a story.............
we went for dinner at this couple's home - Wesly and Jacquie- we met them because they happened to see our boatdown in the Town Basin Marina in Whangerei NZ and recognized it ! Wesly asked if it was built in Cowichan Bay by a fellow named Gordon Rutherford........... not everyday someone happens to know the fellow who built our boat especially in New Zealand!! turns out they are buddies. and how cool is that!! great people and we had a wonderful dinner. We will be getting together again before we leave!!

Claphams Clock Museum - Good "Time"

2009-02-26T11:59:00.000-08:00

We sure enjoyed this museum! lots and lots of different clocks and time pieces. some really old!

We learned a lot and they even had old music box and playing machines. The clocks from Germany where really beautifully carved!

We have been doing all kinds of projects , getting ready to do the next 3 big crossings before home. Have been selling and giving lots of things away , to help make room for all the food ect. Greame ( our nephew) is coming with us from NZ to Hawaii and we are looking forward to having him on board. I know he will enjoy it!! Sure glad he is able to come as he has put so much work into Orca III , helping us a ton before we left! She is a great boat!!!!

The kids have grown lots, Emma is the only one shorter than me ( not for longer , either) and Kyle is almost as tall as Steve! They do grow fast!! Time is going by so fast!!

I have been struggling the last day and half, my computer has been acting up , firefox web browser which has been my main browser for the last oh, 2 years , suddenly stopped working and I can't get it to open!! It has been causing my great grief, I have done everything - uninstall, delete temp file, profile files ect. just like I was told to do, then re- install...no luck!! I am using internet explorer and having to get used to its set up. never mind that all my bookmarked sites are in firefox, any ideas? Oh well, enough complaining - see its not all playing , we get frustrated here.

Today - which is our Friday, your Thursday is looking like rain......... they have been calling for it all week, and we've been lucky with sun , but today not looking so lucky. I don't mind its been so hot its nice to have it a little cooler for a change. Our plan today is to go and walk the Kauri Tree canopy walk. I will take lots of photos.

We had a nice dinner with fellow cruisers, Tin Soldier and Meridian last night. One thing for sure a lot of socializing goes on here! But everyone is getting ready to leave NZ - March 20 is the earliest one is going - Candine , canadian boat out of Victoria - he is heading home, we will probably see him in Hawaii as we are each going a different way until Hawaii. Lots of cruiseres are continuing on to Fiji and out for another year or 2 . So we have some good byes yet to do.....

Trivia - what is this called? hint it was used at sea long long time ago for telling the time.

Just another day in Whangerei!

2009-02-24T12:53:00.000-08:00

I spent the morning doing laundry, hanging it all over the boat to dry. I have gone back to this as it is way cheaper ( the dryers suck here and the cruising kitty is rather low!) . the clothes dry in a couple of hours and smell so fresh!
and the kids built their own abucus! I gave them a printed instruction sheet , but Kyle didn't like it and wanted it bigger so they could count to a trillion! so this is what they designed themselves , not bad , eh?!

After that we went for a hike at the Whangerei falls. We took the bus with the Meridian troup and Chris from Candine to the falls and then walked home. The bus was cool , check out the GPS screen they have . It also tells you the weather and show different angles in the bus to see all the people. There are 2 screens and one up fron for the driver. We liked it! these are the Whangerei Falls , a very nice walk to the bottom if them
It was quite the long walk took us about 2 hrs to get home from the falls all along the Hatea River. There is a canopy walk through the Kauri trees which we will go back to ! We loved all the great trees and birds and even came across some horses. the girls loved this! at the end we treated ourselves to ice cream!
the Hatea River from the falls
Us ! finally a picture of us together , not very often we get one of these!!
on the way home we saw this man carving a maori carving with a chainsaw right in his back yard

Whangerei - lots to do!

2009-02-21T10:59:00.000-08:00

We have been socializing like crazy here!! We have been here exactly a week now and busy everyday! lots of kids around so ours have been "relating" tons.
Tuesday was our last day with O'Vive - they flew out on Wednesday to Colorado to ski. We went to the Whangerei Fernery together. It was really pretty , there was also a garden area and cactus too. The kids love the venus flytrap, had fun puttin a plastic spoon in it's "mouth" to make it close. It was nice to end our time exploring. After that we walked to O'Vive's flat and hung out for a while. The kids came back to Orca III for dinner and the adults went to Reva's for the cruiser's night. We met up with all the other cruisers around and we all said our goodbyes to the Ovive clan. they will be missed but I know we will meet again!
Alec, Emma Kyle , Emilie , Maya and Chris - our Fernery lesson
Nathalie in the Fernery- very green and mossy just like BC
the kids checking out the goldfish pond, we had a nice day hanging out , our last for a long time

The rest of the week has been just hanging around with our other friends. swimming in the pool - I got a pass for the local aquatic center, its a wave pool and waterslides too! heap of fun.
We went of to the library the following day where we had no problem killing over 2 hours and the kids where thrilled to get a ton of books - different library experience - it costs $60 NZ to get a card and then when you turn the card in and all books are back you get $30 back. lucky for me Nathalie gave me here card and I just gave her $30 - so I break even. a few of us are sharing the card. also in the library the best sellers books you have to pay $4 per week for, and dvds, cds, you pay $2 for 2 weeks. at home that is all free with the card. anyway, we can't watch the dvds cause this is a different zone here and our computers have switched the max amount, we are on the north american zone only now. that's okay with us.
They have a big produce market here on Saturdays. Early 6:30 am - 10 am so off I went , nice veggies and fruit ect. great prices compared to the grocery stores! next week the rest of my family will join me. they have music and everything. However, the Raratonga market has been the biggest and best so far!!this is the Catydid- they are noisy noisy bugs, you hear them all over. this one I happened to hear him on the sidewalk and he stayed long enough for a photo, they usually are in the trees.

Steve has been working on a couple of boats and that is helping our "kitty". And Malachi, O'Vive and Hanna all emptied their fridge and extras to us as they have gone on road trip, to Australia (couple of weeks) or have left for good. So its been like Christmas around here. Maya has even been babysitting, making some cash for herself. So far staying here is "paying off".
Steve has found a place to "jam " on Wednesdays , this makes him very happy! and there is a big party happening in March with the Street closed off and 9 bands - this should be fun!
Everyday the weather here is different - poured rain 2 days ago and I mean poured! then the sun was out yesterday and it was sooooooooo hot!! and today , well it started to sprinkle, there are many a cloud in the sky, but may just get some sun too. nice to have it a little cooler though cause it was so hot yesterday. well that's it for now, boat chores and hopefully a hike to the waterfall - oh yeah almost forgot to mention , the boat Earthrace - the power boat that made the record of going around the world in 61 days is here. Just in front of us. They were in Granville Island in 2005,funny looking thing. It can pierce 7 meter deep waves.our home here in Whagerei. we are rafted to Hanna, and he has complimented our kids , saying how quiet they are when they cross, he can tell when its not our children as all the rest walk loud and bump into things. I like to hear that! Thanks to all you we've rafted to , you taught our children well.

Re United in Whangerei!!!!

2009-02-16T11:58:00.000-08:00

We left the Great Barrier Island and headed to Whangerei, it was Friday the 13th , not really the best day to leave for a 5 hr tour!! we had a steady 28 knots of wind just ahead of the beam, waves breaking all around us! We had tons of salt water,spray and water on the boat!! very wet ride , thank god for the enclosure! ( it was a good reminded of what I need to do for cooking before the crossings home!! a few pots to pick up and tons of easy to prepare foods!)
We were glad to get to the base of the river - Urquhart Bay and anchor, but just half hour after anchoring the waves were 3 feet and we were bouncing like crazy , we moved and anchored further up the river and around the corner. we couldn't go all the way up to Whangerei as we needed to wait for the high tide. So that was the next morning.
Marg, Nathalie, Nancy, Dionne Marilyn
What a long way up! but when we finally got there, we had quite the welcoming party!! There was the crew of Meridian ( John, Nancy , Mattie and Sophie) and a few others waiting to help tie us up!! then came Malachi and soon after, Tin Soldier, O'Vive, Candine and oh my so many more. Almost all the cruisers are here!! nice reunion!! Emma was thrilled to see Meridian again, as was Kyle and Maya to see all the boats. the kids have been hanging out since. We arrived on Saturday and that night we went to a bar called Danger Danger! the kids even came , we had great ribs - sat night special, played air hockey and pool til our arms dropped off and then danced up a stream!! what a blast! Steve, Dave , Nathalie
Kyle , Emilie and Chris pool time
future dancers? Maya, Emilie, Jenny, Jaryd, Jocelyn and Alec
Where all kids should be!! Mattie, Emma, Sophie, Yonna, Lola
Sunday was another day of socializing - Steve got work on a boat for a few hours ( good thing !!) and then we were off to O'Vive's flat for a BBQ- ( O'Vive the boat is on dockwise heading to Florida) We had a feast and great time OrcaIII, Tin Soldier, Candine, O'Vive, Ocealys - were all the boat families there! we had 20+ people there! we ate, drank and where merry - a final good bye BBQ - O'Vive family fly home on the 18th ( that's the 17th for you in North America) It has been many great months, and miles of good times. Monday night - our last night all together, we did the final farewell with just our 3 boats , playing cards and laughing , remembering ! so many good byes, ! Malachi is of to Australia for 20 days - leaving early Tues morning, we are lucky to have one more day with O'Vive....... it will strange to cruise on without them.

From Coromandel to Great Barrier Island

2009-02-16T11:08:00.000-08:00

We left Coromandel and headed to Great Barrier Island. When we left it was just noon and we had a 7 hr trip. But unfortunately the wind picked up right on our nose, the waves also there and then it started to pour, after about 4hrs and boat speed dropped to 1.9 knts ( and we hadn't gotten that far mile wise) we decided to turn around and head back. That was not a comfortable sail so we sailed across the Hauraki Gulf to Waiheke Island - this gave us a great sail doing 7 knots, so what took us 4 hrs to do only took us 1.5 hrs.
So we anchored for the night and got up the next morning early and left! we had a great day on the water, never would have guessed how stormy and rainy it was the day before. on the way we had a pod of dolphins( either Hectors or Dusky on sure which) jumping and flipping and playing in our bow wake - the kids sat on the bow watching them. It has been a long time since we saw any dolphins!! what a treat! they were even singing to us!We arrived and what a beautiful Island! Great Barrier Island

We went in to Fitzroy Harbour - there a few bays in here! anchored in Kaiarara Bay and went to shore. Here is great hike to Mt Hobson ( 7 hr return) we just walked a bit on the trail as it was 4pm and a little late to do the mountain hike . we decided to leave it for the next day. Here's the dingy on the shore just before our walk up and up and up the trail! I broke my sandal so the hike was cut short!Steve took this ! that's our boat through the trees . Isn't it beautiful! the water, the trees (love my trees!)We met this couple , they were anchored out by us boat name Ichiban! yep Steve and the kids loved it right away ( besides being their favorite noodles) the boat was a beauty and she came from Vancouver! this couple bought it from the people who sailed her here a couple of years ago.The dingy they are caring is made from the Kauri tree here. just gorgeous and I was proud of my kids to ask if they could help carry it to the water.

The next day is was so windy we opted not to do the big hike, we left this bay and went to Point Fitzroy bay. Ran into one of our cruiser boats - Ocealys! nice to see them. We went to shore , checked out the store (mailed postcards!) and did a little walk through the forest. I really wanted to get to Smokehouse Bay so we didn't stay long - and the weather was turning! So off we went do the other end ( took us less then 15 minutes) and we anchored in Smokehouse Bay! cool place this is. A fellow built this for the cruisers - and it is a smokehouse , bathhouse and laundry area! even can scrub the bottom of the boat here as they built pilings that you could tie to at high tide and then when the tide is out clean clean clean! quickly before the tide comes back - we may do this before we leave NZ , not sure yet. anyway., the kids found 3 rope swings and had a blast.
I found the laundry basins complete with running water coming to them and WRINGERS! Check it out! too cool, wish French Polynesia had those!and then the highlight The bath house!! We built a fire in the stove and it heats up the water in the tank and Viola! hot deep bathes for all of us! we enjoyed this. ( just a quick note , Steve had a hard time lighting the fire in the stove ,used up all of our matches so he went back to the boat to get some more, in the mean time I found some in the bathhouse and I started the fire - it seems Steve has forgotten how to start one with just matches as he uses his torch all the time - hahahahah - I feel good- da na na na na and I know that I should now- oops getting a little cocky I am!! tee hee hee. but truthfully , he was proud of me!)The wind picked up so much! that we did a quick bath visit and headed out to anchor back where we started in Kaiarara Bay. much better anchorage for the angle of the wind. We also decided to leave the next day to Whangerei as it was supposed to get worse 2 days later and we wanted to see O'Vive one last time before the left for good to the states. but we do plan on coming back, with Graeme!Orca III anchored out in SmokeHouse Bay! before the wind really picked up
Maya taking her turn to chop the wood for the fire. she liked this job!
Kyle of course loved to do this! He and I fought to light the fire. It was my turn !
Just had to include this as I have a thing for the toilets here in NZ. this was neat though! a composting toilet, just my thing!

The last couple of days on the road Kaikora to Coromandel

2009-02-08T10:21:00.000-08:00

From the westcoast to the eastcoast! Kaikora is very rugged and this day we had rain! first real rain in a while, as we drove the windy ( that's wiiindy as in lots of turns not wind! haha) road we stopped at a cafe and there the owner name was Gary Robb - must be related some how,
the coast road to Kaikoraanyway he was thrilled to know that we had the same name- after that we lucked out and saw lots and lots of the New Zealand fur seals! there were so many pups playing in the tide pools! they were so cute!we drove a long day that day to get as close to the ferry as we could, we ended up staying jsut past Blenheim for the night. Headed for Picton first thing in the morning, ferry was at 12:10pm so we checked out the aquarium there. Saw our first tutatara - thats lizard thing, very ancient reptile here. learned lots and then we were off.

Arrived in Wellilngton ( 3 hr trip) and headed straight for the Te Papa museum. this is a great place, they have the only collosail squid in the world - so we learned a ton on that. spent 4 hrs there - lucky for us they are open late on Thursdays so that is how we killed our time.Maya getting ready to watch the 3D movie of the collasal squid at the Te Papa museum Wellington
this is Kyle in front of the actual size of a blue whales heart! big eh?! and Kyle is holding pumis stones they are so light.

We stayed the night in the parking lot- funny, but there was a big rugby game on that weekend called the 7"s so there were tons of campers in the parking lot for the night. quite the party! the next morning we went early to the aquatic center for a swim, play in splash pool, hot tub and showers! nice way to start the day.Next stop was the Weta Cave- this is a production company that made all the props ,weapons,ect for Lord of the Rings, Narnia, King Kong and a bunch more. very cool place. Kyle even got a picture with one of the stars of the film. see below.
they had this awesome behind the scenes movies we watched , very informative and a great place to check out!!it was in a suburb of Wellington so we drove the waterfront road around the bays, very nice!! looks like a good place to bring the boat if you wanted to go that far south.
It was now time to make headway back to Coromandel and Orca III. we missed her very much ! It was a hot ride home especially as the car kept overheating and we needed to keep the heat on to help the radiator. we took the less mountainous route going to Napier on the eastcoast and then up to Taupo , we camped just between Taupo and Rotorua for the night .one of the many beautiful gorges and rivers we saw along the way, notice the road to the left, they love the windy thing! and narrow!

Off early the next morning, we stopped to fill up with grocieries for the boat and off we went . We arrived in Coromandel around 4pm - the coast road from Thames to Coromandel is quite the scenic and windy road! very beautiful- I finally remembered to take a picture! so you only get to see one. I was enjoying the view.
the coast road from Thames to Coromandel also very very narrow, windy and extremely beautiful. some spots are only big enough for 1 vehicle to go through, don't do this road very fast!
Almost home!! getting excited to see the boat. Coromandel Harbour

We pulled into Sandy and Bryan's farm and had a great visit and then it was off to unpack! we did it in record time. making about 10 trips ( one tank full of gas) by dingy! thankfully the weathere gods were on our side and we had good seas . Steve and I went back to the farm and had a visit and dinner. On our way back to the boat we had to give a fellow boater family a tow back to their boat as the outboard quit. they were very thankful. Kyle was actually on his way to tow them as Steve and I showed up. good ole Tremblay helpfulness my son !

Yesterday morning and all day in fact was packed full of company! At 7:30 am one of the ladies we met the previous night kyacked out to the boat for morning tea. then the family we towed managed to fix outboard problem ( with Steve's guidance) and came for a late morning visit , then Lisa ( the kyack lady) brought her husband and kids via dingy for the late morning early afternoon slot. they have a steel boat as well and have been offshore to Tonga and Tahiti. so lots of stories and boat ideas were being talked about. They took my girls back with them to hang out at their place and on the farm . and for dinner we had the MacLeod clan out on the boat. they were here until just before 9pm - pushing it for the tide!! but they made it back - great visit and we will miss them tons! Very , very nice people. hoping they come to Canada!! LOve the Coromandel area, an absolute must to see for anyone coming to NZ! This has been my favorite spot so far!MacLeod clan doing the time warp!!(best I could get given the time, light and movement. they look like ghosts )

Now through all that I managed to get lots done on the blog and the kids school updated. we are heading off today to the Great Barrier Island - the adventure continues!!....................................

This is the Coromandel Harbour from the top of the road from . see the wild turkey! our boat is way down the head of the bay and to the right. can't see it yet.

monkey time in Christchurch!

2009-02-08T00:42:00.001-08:00

Welcome to a big city!! after all the small towns, this was a bit of a culture shock, only stayed in the city center for a few hours- we went to Cathederal Square looking for the wizard - don't think he is there anymore. There were lots of chess games being played instead.
Even a huge sized game . the kids sat and watched and Kyle tried to figure out the moves. We wondered around the beautiful garden park. This city is known as the garden city and its easy to see why! beautiful!

sitting by the garden having a rest! it has been a long drive - loving the gardens, Sandra you'd love them!
After the big city experience we left to the outskirts of Christchurch to a place called Spencer Park. We stayed in the rest area close to the Adrenalin Forest. It wasn't a real campsite, but it sure was beautiful and it beat paying $50 a night! There was a fantastic park to play in and all of us kids had a blast playing in it that night.
our home for the night, it was wonderful here. a nice walk in the grass lands and park across the street. lots of birdies!
playing in the park at sunset. fun fun fun
the next morning we were ready to do the challenge - "Adrenalin Forest is quite the body work out. I am proud to say that Steve, Kyle and Maya all finished the whole 6 challenge course! Emma because of her height could only do the first 2 but she did them 3 times! I finished 2 and took pictures! arms not as strong as my legs and this was definetly an arm event! it was a series of cables between tree tops and all kinds of bridges and lots of flying foxes zip line! lots of fun and they even got as high as 22 meters!look closely! thats Kyle in one corner, Maya in another and Steve off in the distance!Kyle is the real monkey, he did all the hard parts of the challenge and even had to hang on a rope swing while Steve untangled the line that pulled the rope swing to the platform, seems in the excitement Kyle got it tangled and stopped in the middle of the trees. quite high up I might add. Steve had to sort of hurry across the tight wire thing, even made him nervous. Maya got a little scared on some of the challenges but got through it! quite proud she was!!
this girl has no fear! look at those splits - she has great balance!
this is the practise platform. lots of fun and the rain even held of for us. it took almost 3 hours to complete the whole thing!