West Coast Day 4 (arrival in Nelson!)

We woke up this morning to a bit of a grey drizzly day. Unfortunately we didn't get a sunrise over Mount Taranaki, but still managed a nice photo. We did manage to find some signal off the Taranaki coast to update friends, family and Coastguard of our whereabouts and wellbeing.

After checking the updated forecasts, we found that the last little rush of a 15kt Westerly into Nelson wasn't going to happen. A low pressure system seemed to be dragging the wind away with it, leaving us with a 5-10kt Southwesterly. Unfortunately this is a tricky angle to sail at, and means that we will have to keep the motor on to make good time into Nelson.

We threaded our way through the oil platforms and a couple of big cargo/tanker ships, and kept chugging South. It was nice to see a bit of humanity, even though it was very industrial. Vela cooked up some veggies with chicken for lunch, good to fend off the scurvy and get away from the standard snack food grub.

As we welcomed Farewell Spit... we started to encounter some wildlife. We saw a pod of what we think were pilot whales, Dusky dolphins, numerous albatross, seals, and a couple of pods of other whales which we couldn't identify as we only saw them spouting off in the distance.

To help pass the time, and because it was well overdue, Nathan got Jamie to give him a haircut, looking semi-respectable and suitable for contact with civilization again.

Once we got close enough to shore and had some decent reception, we were able to contact Nelson marina and book a berth for a few nights. We are planning to catch up with some more friends in Nelson and are likely to be land based for a couple of days. Our current ETA is to be tucked away in our berth by 3am tomorrow morning.

We can't wait to get our hands on a proper barista coffee and some eggs bene tomorrow morning!Read more