Minerva Reef

Question: What looks tropical, feels tropical, but isn't tropical?

Answer: Minerva Reef

Lying some 60 miles south of the Tropic of Capricorn, North Minerva Reef is just barely subtropical--and at about 2/3 of the distance from New Zealand to either Tonga or Fiji, North and South Minerva Reefs provide convenient stopovers to break up that 1100 mile trip. North Minerva is particularly popular, with a clear pass into the lagoon and few underwater hazards once inside.

North Minerva Reef from less than a mile away;
it's unsafe to approach without accurate GPS readings--and sharp eyes--since it is barely visible

Going through the pass;
it looks nerve-wracking with breaking waves at the sides,
but near slack tides the center is clear

It's a sunken volcanic cone, almost perfectly circular and about 2 miles across; inside, protected by the reef, the water is usually relatively calm. Parts of the reef get exposed at low tide, but most of the time all that's visible is a huge surround of breaking waves, accompanied by the constant rumble of surf. More interesting is the way it feels: how bizarre, to be anchored in the middle of the ocean!

Question: What does one do in the middle of nowhere for a week?

Answers:

Putter around doing projects from the low priority list

Installing a cockpit light;
not a necessary item, but enhances evening activities while anchored

Read something besides manuals and guidebooks. I finished and Art started Ellen MacArthur's autobiography, "Taking on the World"--the young Briton who raced around the globe single-handed when she was only 24. Such courage, such stamina, such passion! An inspiration to all, not just sailors.

Play Bach on my violin...

Spend the day in stitches

Adding webbing to reinforce a corner of the genoa

Replacing a zipper for one of the cockpit enclosure panels

Count the boats in the Minerva Reef Yacht Club

Yes, it's a joke, since there's absolutely nothing there--but enough boats transit every year that there is a MYRC t-shirt available in New Zealand!

There was just 1 other boat in the lagoon when we arrived, and 4 when we left--but at its peak, there were 32 boats anchored inside (due in part to weather changes, and the presence of not one but two groups of boats traveling together to Fiji). Some boats we knew, some we didn't, but there was definitely a feeling of community.

"Hey! Who moved the clubhouse?!"

Walk on the reef at low tide

Oceanfront property

50' of water inside the lagoon, and over 1600' outside

Wading through the warm pools we found darting fish,
sea slugs, anemones, sea urchins, and large blue-lipped oysters

One of our Best Days Ever

Another day we planned to go back, but couldn't: a 17' ocean swell arrived from a strong system in New Zealand, bringing crashing surf that made the edge inaccessible (and the lagoon water quite choppy!).

Change anchorage locations when the wind changes

Sailors don't like to be anchored on a lee shore; if the anchor drags--infrequent, but possible--the boat will end up on the rocks. Prudent sailors keep themselves out of that situation by anchoring "close to the wind" whenever possible.

 

Anchorage #1, light SE wind
Anchorage #2, fresh NNW wind
Anchorage #3, strong SW wind

View from Anchorage #1

View from Anchorage #2
(all just looks like water, doesn't it?)

View from Anchorage #3
(definitely more wind & wave action)

Watch the world turn

Sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, stars and planets (Mars looking so very red!) moving across the sky, with everything reflected in the water...

 

Sunset (or was this sunrise?);
the edge of the reef is barely visible as a large wave on the horizon

We felt what it was like not to go somewhere, but to be somewhere. Living for a week in the middle of the ocean, Minerva Reef was a unique and precious experience.

Quick Update: Where We'll Be, and How You'll Know

We arrived in Opua on April 20, ready to depart from New Zealand in the first good weather window. We'll be looking for a high pressure center over the Tasman Sea with corresponding SW winds here (to carry us off the coast), with no low pressure cells (= potential cyclones) forming up in the tropics. Though right the forecasts don't look promising, veterans of this trip say these conditions usually occur for a short time in late April/early May--a good thing, since our visas expire on May 10. 

We should arrive at Minerva Reef about a week after leaving New Zealand--so if it looks like we've stopped in the middle of the ocean, it's because we have!  From there it's about 3 days to Tongatapu (Tonga's main island), then on to spend about a month in Tonga's Ha'apai Group of small islands.

The following couple of months--approximately early July to early September--we'll be in Fiji. As always, weather and local activities will shape the itinerary, but right now we plan to spend much of October in Vanuatu, then make a couple of stops in New Caledonia before heading back to New Zealand in early November (2016).

When we are making a passage, I send daily position reports via SSB radio to the Pacific Seafarer's Net. You can track us by going to their website:

   http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps_reporting_boat_list

Search for KG7HKF (the list is organized by ham radio call sign, then vessel name). Like last year, I won't send daily reports when we're anchored, though I do update the location when we move from one anchorage to another. I'll also upload photos on the blog whenever I find good internet access, which can be a rare thing...

We do think of our family and friends out there, and we enjoy knowing you think about us!

Is a blog post complete without photos? Here are a couple peeks at voyage preparation:

6 months of staples: planned & purchased, soon to be stowed

A visit to the hairdresser