Waitangi weekend. Amazing weather. 6 peoples, one beautiful yacht.
Recipe for awesome right there.
We headed out from Auckland on Friday afternoon. Bailing from work a little early.
Conveniently – and awesomely – one of the crew was our team leader, Kirsty, who was also our chef.
Oh my goodness! I have never ever eaten so much over such a short period.
“Are you hungry? I have just made some <bread, chicken, lamb, croissants, jam and bananas and custard> – insert food item that sounds good right here as that is what we had.
We motored up to Kawau Island.
We being me, Captain Jono, Mr Vodka Dan, Grandpa Paul, Kirsty and Shortie Sebastian (Kirsty’s boy).
The sunset over the North Island was amazing – and then the lovely red wine came out.
I was in heaven!!!
Arriving at Kawau, we tucked in to Mansion House Bay. And I went swimming.
The bay was serene with a few boats tucked in and the water was warm. Around 21/22 degrees.
Waking up the next morning, checking the forecasts and the tides and the winds, we decided to head around to the western side of Challenger Rock for a dive. Paul, Dan, Jono and I were diving – and I was using this as a good opportunity to check to see how my shoulder was doing and whether I was ready to get back in the water or not.
I needed to gear up in the water and frankly that was easier anyway. We dropped all the dive gear off the stern on a line which left the back deck completely free for everyone to move around. We had briefed Kirsty on our dive “plans” and our emergency signals and so we headed off. Paul and Dan were diving together and me and Jono. We were after scallops. Well actually, we were after a bit of fun really.
So Paul found all the scallops. Thats the end of that story. He and Dan sat on the back shucking them. And then we all ate them that night tucked back into Mansion House Bay.
After dropping Kirsty and Sebastion and Paul back at Gulf Harbour, Jono and Dan and I “sailed” back to Westhaven.
The 10-15 knots never really eventuated. But who gives a fuck. It could have been Monday and we could have been at work. But it wasn’t. We were out on the water, drinking beer – and then the iPod player started working. #WIN!