Queen Charlotte Sound, with Sandra and Tim! (16-19 March)

I rang Tim when I woke up in the morning to see if he would make it up to the Sounds for the weekend, and he was already past Kaikoura – fantastic! I better get a move on if I am going to get to Waikawa no later than he does. I had a quick breakfast, pulled up anchor and waved goodbye to Mike (Vicky was still enjoying a sleep in), and headed towards Waikawa. It was flat calm until I passed Luke Rock where a light wind picked up and I unfurled the headsail and motor sailed towards Waikawa. Rounding into Waikawa with a little time to spare, I cut the motor and slowly sailed or drifted into the bay. As Tim arrived into Waikawa he watched Honey slowly approach – he had just rowed out to Treasure by the time I picked up a spare mooring a few metres inshore of Treasure. Sands' ferry arrived soon after and I took Tim's car to meet her, it was wonderful to see her and great that she'd hopped on the ferry for an overnight trip. All three of us headed out to Treasure for a late lunch and a good catch-up. With the afternoon quickly passing, we headed for Double Cove – Tim on Treasure and me and Sands on Honey. There was a little wind and we sailed under the headsail, until it petered out and we rounded up and motored into the east end of Double Cove. Tim was ahead of us and picked up a mooring and stern line in one of his favourite spots and we rafted alongside. It was a lovely evening, with a yummy steak dinner and lots of chat, before we turned in for the night.

Honey and Treasure in Double Cove

A late start the next day – Sands got to sit in bed reading magazines, a luxury she's not used to with two young children at home! We had a late breakfast and before we knew it, it was time to head back to Picton to drop Sands off at the ferry. Sands and I headed off on Honey and I returned less than an hour later, rafting back up next to Treasure. With a light southerly forecast for that night, we decided to stay put in Double Cove for the rest of the day and night.

The southerly was forecast to strengthen to gale force on Monday and we headed back into Waikawa in good time. Tim was in the midst of buying a mooring for Treasure and he wanted to check the state of the mooring before the wind picked up. Finding the top rope partly worn through, he returned to his previous mooring and Brent Cameron, a friend of Tim's from Vinings, found a berth for Honey in the marina. We were in a good spot – the wind howled that night, and it bucketed down with much-needed rain – Honey nestled in the inner marina. It was a wet and windy day on Tuesday, not as wet and windy as the night before but not a good day for sailing. With the weather not suited to hauling out boats in Lyttelton, Tim could stay another day. This ended up being a good opportunity for sorting out the mooring he was buying, and I could catch up on some odds and ends on Honey. We started the day with a brunch of pancakes and bacon on Honey – I had taken the pancake syrup all around the South Island, it needed to be used up! And we finished the day with a much needed walk to stretch the legs.