Commodore
October 26, 2024

Sunday 27 October – we are allowed in!

Rowan woke up a little worse for wear, it was a gravelly welcome to customs who were on board at 8am. The two customs guy were very friendly, Francois was South African, from the East Rand of Johannesburg, Rowan and he bonded as ‘manne from the panne’ – this only means anything to South Africans. Rowan and he were both born in a mining area of Joburg. These custom guys were very obliging and chatty, they were on secondment from the Marine Border Force in Auckland, they are usually on sea patrol on their big beast of a boat, which Francois loves driving (what a job!). They are up here because of the influx of boats arriving. All the cruising sailing boats leave the Pacific Islands for hurricane season and it seems the majority come to NZ, lots to Australia too.

Biosecurity boarded us a little while later, a Brazilian lady and an Indian lady who were also extremely friendly and efficient. I had to go through all the food stuff with the Brazilian lady, who was very thorough, all our frozen cooked lamb stew had to go, lentils unless split and all beans, ie anything that could germinate. Thankfully my sprouting seeds all had NZ labels so they were allowed. She let us keep our big container of dried shitake mushrooms which was a bonus. I forgot to show here our spices cabinet, so all those seeds were fine! She was very friendly about it, there was nothing I was very sad about losing. Rowan dealt with the Indian lady who did all the boat things and wanted to know all about the hull cleaning, we couldn’t produce any photos of evidence that we had cleaned the hull recently, and she said they would have to get their cameras to take photos. She looked at the hull from the pontoon and thankfully used her discretion, she let it slip that their camera was broken, so she signed us off! Phew we were in.

We then had to get into our berth and were put in the tightest corner, which was a tricky manoeuvre for Rowan especially when your head is feeling a little sore from last night’s imbibing! Luckily he absolutely nailed it, as there was an audience of people watching from the walkway, including Wendy, Phil’s partner, and their dog. It was so good to be finally in our spot and we could relax. We said our farewell to Phil, extremely grateful that he had been on board to help us and such good, easy company. Poor Rowan was exhausted from lack of sleep while on passage, and just a little hungover, so slept most of the rest of the day.

The sun came out and everything feels so much more cheerful. A big buzz in the marina as endless boats came into the Q dock, loads of the rally fleet were coming in. We have no fresh food, absolutely no fruit or vegetables are allowed in. We went and had supper at the only cafe/restaurant here in the marina. We went with very low expectations, and were pleasantly surprised to find a real buzz in the cafe with a live band and best of all, delicious food. We didn’t stay too long as we were exhausted, it was early to bed in a blissful, quiet, no rocking, cosy bed!

More boats arrived on the Q dock during the early hours of the morning, all flying the yellow flag

The Dunny (toilet) barge, that Rowan slipped neatly in front of. The security gate is just behind it which is why the rest of the dock is empty, Quarantine dock is only our side

Safely in Opua marina that can fit 450 boats

One of the many squid found on the deck, this one escaped us and didn’t get thrown overboard at sea. Luckily Biosecurity didn’t see it, and it made a delicious snack for Phil’s dog who did find it – typical Labrador!