Saturday 9th March

Definate,y one of the highlights of our trip as we had booked a day at sea on the Spirit of New Zealand.
https://www.spiritofadventure.org.nz/voyages/voyage/public-full-day-sail
Yesterday’s rain had cleared and although it was cloudy it was quite warm.
We had to report on the quay between 9 and 9.30am so we took the car down to the ferry landing and
parked it and went over, on foot, on the 9am ferry.
Quite a crowd was gathering and we soon boarded the ship. We stowed our belongings down below in one of the cabins that would normally be sleeping quarters for the long stay passengers. This cabin was adjacent to the washrooms and toilets and further down was the kitchen and eating space.
 After a briefing by the crew we set out at 10am. Not too much wind but as we motored past Russell the crew put up some of the sails, helped by some of the passengers, and we set sail around the bay. It’s so confusing out there, so many islands both large and small and it’s difficult to know which is the mainland. I did chat to a couple who live locally and they were able to tell me the names of some of the islands and show me the mainland in the distance. Everyone on board, both crew and passengers, was very chatty and helpful.
Shortly after midday the sails came down and we anchored up, a view of Long Beach in the distance, giving those who wished the chance to have a swim. This involved jumping off a pontoon and then climbing back up a ladder fixed to the ships side. I would dearly have loved to have a go but I soon realised that I was not going to be able to get back onboard without a lot of difficulty and certainly not with any elegance!
Then we had lunch before raising the anchor and putting up the sails and sailing back towards Russell. By now the sun had been out for quite some time but we could see some black clouds in the distance. The clouds approached and there was an extremely heavy downpour. By the time a lot of us had been down below to put on our rain gear it had virtually stopped! The sails then came down, with a bit of help from me lettingout a rope!, and we were soon sailing back towards the wharf at Opua.
We both agreed that it had certainly been a day to remember and were sad to get back on dry land.
Our usual Saturday BBQ finished off a perfect day and we certainly weren’t late to bed!