Opua: birds
Opua: birds
Last evening as I watched this pretty little gaff cutter sail across the harbor--although I wonder about what looks like a tire hanging over the side--and noted the continued absence of gannets, I remembered feeling as I rounded Cape Brett, heading south for Auckland in late 1991, regret that I might never see the Bay of Islands again. Obviously that did not happen.
The memory caused me to realize that twenty years ago today I was at sea, sailing for Punta del Este, Uruguay, via Cape Horn.
I looked in RETURN TO THE SEA, but I don’t have the exact dates, only that we had headwinds for 41 of the 58 days at sea, including aberrant east wind all but one week in the Southern Ocean, and that we arrived in Uruguay in mid-March.
I feel some unease at the prospect of selling HAWKE. I’ve owned her for almost nineteen years and put more of myself into her than any other of my boats. But I don’t have the justifiable pride and affection of having built her myself. My life has become too complicated. I, of all people, own too much stuff. It is time to simplify. And if THE HAWKE OF TUONELA does sell, I will say good-bye and move on. She is a solved problem. GANNET is the way forward.
As to not seeing the Bay of Islands again: I will keep the mooring for a while as a possible rest stop for the smaller bird.
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Seeing no gannets, I began to wonder if they migrate, and found the following online about the only mainland New Zealand gannet nesting colony, located at Cape Kidnappers on the east coast of the North Island. Bay of Islands gannets live on what is known as Bird Rock.
Recoveries of banded birds showed that gannets do not migrate. Their chicks disperse to the eastern coasts of Australia where they remain for 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 years until they become adults. They then return to New Zealand and thereafter remain in New Zealand waters. The average lifespan of the gannet is estimated at between 25 and 40 years. The young gannets set out across 2735 km of stormy Tasman Sea without a practice flight, previous experience in direction finding, leaders, or having learnt how to catch their own food. Flight speed varies and depends upon weather conditions, but most birds reach Australia one to two weeks after their departure from the Cape. Only about 25-30 percent of the young birds survive the ocean crossing and return to Cape Kidnappers.
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There are a lot of boats around.
Next week is Bay of Islands Race Week, but these are not race boats.
When I powered past Roberton Island the other day I noticed that the lagoon held more than thirty boats, and Paradise Bay had almost twenty clustered together close to shore.
This is the end of New Zealand’s month long Christmas school holidays.
If you ever travel to New Zealand, don’t do so from Christmas until the last week in January. Ashore and afloat New Zealand is filled with New Zealanders enjoying their own beautiful country.
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Perfectly calm conditions this morning induced me to climb into the dinghy and scrub the scum above the waterline. This is easier to do in the water than after it dries when the boat has been hauled.
I allotted myself only thirty minutes in the sun and planned to do only one side of the hull. Starboard was in the shade, so I started there. But it went so well, that I swung past the bow and worked my way down the port side, finishing the entire job in thirty-five minutes.
I’ll touch up the topside paint as well as anti-foul during the haul-out.
As I rowed ashore, THE HAWKE OF TUONELA looked better for my efforts.
Thursday, January 19, 2012