Dreams Come True
Day 7 of Silver Fern’s Opua to Fiji was nothing short of magical. We rolled out of bed (intentionally, not due to the motion of the boat) and excitedly put on our togs (that’s Kiwi for swimmers). The chaos and clutter of early morning missions settled down when we had the first load of explorers in Duckie the Dinghy. Ashore to the reef! The sun blaring in our weak eyes, we avoided bommies and chased jumping fish up to the coral step. The distinct shelf marks the end of the coral sand and the start of the atoll. For Dan, this was a lifelong dream come true. He came all the way from America to see and experience North Minerva Reef and describes it as unlike anything he’d ever seen before. There’s nothing to compare it to, you’re on the edge of a volcano in the middle of the ocean. A wet plateau teeming with tropical life and colour.
Dan on Minerva Reef!
Several hours were spent playing in rock pools, squealing in the breakers on the ocean side, snorkeling and sunbathing. Highlights were giant blue lipped clams (maybe they have been using Kylie Lip Kits), sea urchins the size of a radar dome, coral that looked like a flowering lavender bush and sea slugs the size of our engine exhaust pipe - that’s big! I may have exaggerated some of these but you’ll never know which. It’s an entrancing habitat that you could spend hours in and still see something new everywhere you look. One fish, two fish, yellow fish, blue fish. Corals of many shades, algae and urchins, anemones and grasses. Shells for any collectors shelves and then your crew mate peering at you from their snorkel mask. What a fright! A neighbouring boat saw whitetip reef sharks too, and something big swam under Silver Fern last night setting off the shallow depth alarm.
We trudged back to Silver Fern who was waiting patiently for her friend Duckie to arrive back, then we reconstructed the chaotic mess tenfold. Thankfully all our gear dried off within the hour under the tropical sun. Poor NZ is having a cold snap and here we are swimming in 25° water. Another dream came true, when a steaming pile of pancakes appeared on the saloon table, paired with sausages, eggs and bacon. Maple syrup was flowing while Andy tried to convert others into a Vegemite on pancakes trend. Weird! The way this crew conjures marvellous meals, in the unfamiliar undersized galley continues to astound me. Once fed and caffeinated, some downtime commenced as Te Kaihōpara trundled into the anchorage.
John went to escort them in with the dinghy, then I ducked across once they were settled to collect the sextant. We have had to share the sextant for this crossing and it feels like it’s the favourite toy that the siblings (us and Te Kaihōpara) are fighting over. This isn’t usually an issue but both boats have budding navigators on board! Timmy is hoping to get some sun sights over the next few days as he’s very keen and knowledgeable about everything celestial. He can even tell the time from the stars!
John put us to work and we managed to get Silver Fern underway at 1400 hours. A drive by of the other boats in the anchorage and then out to sea. Up came the full main and jib, then another dreamy moment when the engine turned off. The wind has filled in beautifully and we’re now sailing at 8.5kts SOG straight towards Fiji - one of my dreams coming true!
Hannah - Chief Mate - Silver Fern
