 |
| Dazzlingly beautiful Minerva Reef |
Thursday June 23rd 2016
Minerva Reef. On the first two days of our first big crossing in over 6 months I was feeling seasick and miserable, we had left Opua and were headed towards Fiji via Minerva Reef. As I lay in my bunk, green and queazy, I feebly called over to Mark, took his hand and said: “ I’m sorry, but I'm just not cut out for this, I thought I was but I’m not, it’s not getting easier, if anything I feel like my seasickness is getting worse as the years pass by ! ” I don’t mean to sound melodramatic but thats pretty much how it went. I was unable to make proper dinners for the rest of the crew and my “meal preparation” consisted of a grunt and my pointing to the cans of soup I had managed to pull out before collapsing back into my pillow. Yup ! That pretty much sums up what the first two days back at sea were like for me !
 |
| 4 Sunrises |
On my night watches, wretched and unable to do much except stare at my “seasickness container” , I kept my sanity by dreaming of moving back to a blissfully (perfectly) immobile home on land but then, on day three, I woke up like from a dream, feeling pretty good and with lots more energy and by the time we’d arrived at Minerva Reef, on Day eight, those first few days were a distant memory and I was back to my old self, happy enjoying the warm sunshine, seabreeze and bewitching night skies !
Other than this, the crossing was mostly uneventful. Well, uneventful except for the fact that our autopilot - the new one we had bought and installed in St Martin in 2014- gave up on us after less than 24 hours! This could have been quite a serious situation, especially with my feeling so sick the first few days, except that this was our backup autopilot, we has our reliable old one we could switch back to, and so we did, with just the flip of a switch, and we were extremely grateful for our captain’s impeccable planning on that one !
 |
| ALWAYS carry a spare |
Another treat was that the 10-15 knot winds we were experiencing were just right for us to try the “new” Mizzen Stay sail. This sail is not exactly new. It was original and so had come with the boat, but since we had, up until a few months ago, two wind generators on the mizzen mast, we had not been able to use this sail (It ties down between the mizzen Sail (back mast) and the main sail (forward mast). Mark was eager to give it a try to see if the sacrifice we made by letting the two wind generators go had been worth it. Well ! What a Spectacular rig ! How wonderful to be able to go 5-6 knots in 8 knots of wind !
 |
| The Mizzen Stay Sail is now our new favourite sail ! |
Imagine that you are sailing in the middle of the ocean, reaching 5000 feet deep below your hull, there is no land in sight, hasn’t been for days, and then you see breakers on the surface of the shimmering blue water. There is an opening in between these breakers, and you have the waypoints (coordinates) to make your way into a protected lagoon, surrounded by reef which nearly doesn’t even skim the surface except at the lowest of the tides.
We motor on in and to the other side of the lagoon where a growing number of sailboats on similar journeys (either to Fiji or Tonga) await. We spent 4 perfect days at Minerva Reef, a place like no other we’ve been.
 |
Wearing our reef shoes, we had a chance to take a walk on the reef at low tide and we were simply giddy . The warm air, beautiful turquoise waters makes us feel like we are walking on an artist’s palette, colourful giant clams and hermit crabs and the feeling of being so far away from it all, it all came rushing back to us, instantly, this love affair we all have with this life style! Makes us want to stay forever!
Gone are the everyday anxieties, the fast pace, the “hurry up and get ready” attitude, and time just stands still, we get up in the morning at our leisure, do some school, in the afternoon we go for a snorkel and wave hello to a shark or two, we come back, have a snack, Meg does some crafts, Mark has a nap, Matthew sits out in the hammock enjoying the million dollar view and the sound of the crashing reef not far away, in the evening we hang up lanterns in the cockpit, and have a movie night under s starry sky and the watch of the full moon, everything is all very good in our world and we feel extremely lucky to be here.
 |
| These colours are for real ! |
 |
| Water shoes are a must on the reef |
 |
| A nudibranch |
A Historic Baseball Game. When a call came over the radio asking for volunteers to participate in "Minerva Reefs' First Ever Baseball Game" we were keen to participate! We waited for low tide and then scurried across the reef to find a bit of dry land with the rest of the players, everyone had a chance to swing the bat a few times and the players in outfield could only hope for the ball to come directly at them because there was no chance of anyone running or diving for the ball without the potential of getting seriously injured, it was a sunny afternoon, lots of fun, even with the absence of hotdogs and cotton candy
Once all the boats of the Sea Mercy fleet arrive here (including our buddies from SV Perry), we will need to head out again and start our short journey to Fiji (about 5 days away). No doubt I will have moments when I feel sick again, but this time I will remember that “this too shall pass”, and great rewards come afterwards!
 |
| Colourful crab |
 |
| The reef with Amelie in the back ground |
 |
| Giant clam |
Meghan on Amelie (Written In June 2016)
On our way up from New Zealand, we stopped at a really cool spot called Minverva Reef and rested for a few days there and then headed on more north here to Fiji where we have been helping out the villages that got hit by Cyclone Winston in February.
Minerva Reef
The sail from Opua (New Zealand) to Minerva Reef took 7 days so it was the second longest crossing we have ever done. The first two days were windy but very rough and uncomfortable. The rest of the trip, it was more comfortable but we had a lot less wind. I guess beggars can't be choosers right? In those days, we got to try out our new mizzen stay sail (sail designed for light winds) and it works excellently! We were able to hold 6.0 knots (miles per hour) in 8.0 knots of wind! That is still slower than a bicycle but we were able to go almost as fast as the wind (going as fast as the wind is impossible for a boat like ours)!
Just like Beveridge Reef which we visited in August (near Niue), Minerva is simply a horseshoe shaped reef in the middle of nowhere so you are in no sight of land and anchored in 30 ft of water inside the "horseshoe" where the reef protects you mostly from the swell outside! We had a very blissful four days there enjoying our promenades on the reef at low tide (as we had not stood on solid ground for 6 days!), snorkelling the reef at high tide, swimming in the warm, crystal clear waters, and getting together for appetizers on other boats while watching the sun go down behind the reef!
One day, one boat in the anchorage even organized a baseball game to be held on the reef at low tide! Now, I have one more thing to add to my list of "Weird/Awesome Things I've Done": played in the first ever baseball game to be held on Minerva Reef!When the ball landed in a crevasse and we had to wait for the next wave to come in and lift it back up again, I just could not help but laugh because I don't think anyone has ever seen that happen in a baseball game before!
No comments:
Post a Comment