It’s hard to believe that it hasn’t even been two weeks since Dallas left, but with plenty to do to keep me busy, I anticipate that the weeks will begin to fly by. I have struck a nice balance between work and play, with yoga falling somewhere in between. Dallas has been working some really long hours back in Cali but had a lot of fun mountain biking and catching up with his friend Kopan over the weekend.

Work for me has mostly centered around my own professional development. I’m trying to turn my dissertation into a manuscript for publication, as a first-authored pub is about the best resume builder one can have if trying to apply for an academic job. I’m not exactly sure what I’ll want want to do for work after this trip around the world, but as Dallas’ and Wes’ father (a professor of marketing) points out, being a professor has some nice benefits–namely free time in the summer for sailing!

I’ve also started trying to bring new life to Pura Vida by cleaning and buffing the gelcoat on the hulls. I can only access the port hull here in the marina, but I’m pleased to report that it is looking much better. I used acetone to remove all stains, marks from fenders, etc. and fiberglass rubbing compound to remove the “dead” layer of gelcoat, as recommended by Don Casey in This Old Boat. Since all of this still didn’t remove the last of the decal residue from the old name (Hibiscus), I tried a few solvents and found that kerosene and a scraper on loan from Martin (which ended up in the drink–oops!) did the job. I anticipated that I would have to attack the hulls with a finishing sander when the boat is out of the water, but it’s looking like that may only be required in a couple of circumscribed areas. It’s funny to think that in the time that I’ve spent lobbying for painting the boat here in NZ, I could have had it buffed and polished and looking pretty good. I guess Dallas earned an “I told you so.” However, I won’t be able to sand or wax the topsides due to the non-skid, so I’m hoping acetone alone will do the trick. There are definitely some discolored areas.

She's shaping up

The boat builders at Hutcheson, the folks who repaired our bow, got back to me with a price for craning the boat out and back in the water. At NZ$800 for the haul-out and $15/day to be “on the hard”, at least we can be assured that this bill will be far less than our last one with them. I’m glad that I’ll be able to stay here in Tauranga for the bottom job and hoping to get ‘er done as soon as possible so I have some time for more kiwi-style adventures

I do have one adventure to share. Martin was entertaining a visitor from Austria last weekend, so he thought it might be a good time to cash in on his offer from Butler, who runs the “Swim with the Dolphins” Adventure Cruise, to be his guests for a day. I had received the same offer and had planned on going with Dallas, but since we never found the time, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity. We left around 9 a.m. on a cool and overcast day with over 20 people on board including three children (two excited, one nervous). We motored out into 15-20 knots of headwind on Butler’s 60’ steel ketch that is painted metallic royal blue with sail covers to match. It took several hours to find the dolphin pods, so to pass the time, the old seadog (Butler) yarned about his days as an environmental activist, sailing that very ketch to one of the Cook Islands to protest the nuclear testing going on there. His activist friends were on the Rainbow Warrior, the Greenpeace vessel that was bombed and sunk by the French in 1985. Anyway, Butler yarned and yarned and occasionally touched the wheel while his three young, female crew hoisted and adjusted the sails, went down to the nav desk to adjust the auto-pilot since there wasn’t a control unit at the helm, served all the guests hot drinks, and even checked the captain’s phone messages for him. He didn’t seem to appreciate their efforts when he barked at them and muttered something about seamanship under his breath, probably for our benefit. Hopefully they get paid well.

Butler at the helm

Spotting the dolphins from the hard-top bimini

Around 12:30, we had motor-sailed over 60 nm and finally found our dolphins! It was well worth the wait, as there were over 100 of them! There were several babies/juveniles swimming amongst the pods, so we weren’t able to swim with them in accordance with NZ law, but they surrounded the boat and entertained us with their acrobatics for over an hour. By this time, the sun had come out, and we had a brilliant beam reach sail back to Tauranga, stopping once at a nearby island for a quick snorkel. As the wind picked up and we reached 7 knots, Butler instructed the girls to ease the mainsheet a couple of times to control the heeling. Since I am used to cruising on a cat, the rolling and heeling was a fun novelty, but I wouldn’t have wanted to try to accomplish anything down below. All in all, it was a fun experience that reminded me to appreciate what (and who) we have on Pura Vida.

Dolphins Galore

The juveniles were hard to photograph

But the adults were showing off

By the look of my hair, I'd say it was a good day out!