If you’ve been following our journey, you know that sailing life is a beautiful mix of tropical dreams, community connection, and… total mystery. Our latest week in Whangārei started on the highest of notes but quickly threw us a curveball that has kept us on our toes.
A Perfect Mother’s Day 🌸
Before the boat drama began, we kicked off the week with a lovely Mother’s Day celebration. Bob outdid himself cooking all my favorites—including delicious homemade pasta! I spent a wonderfully relaxing day reading, drawing (I’m no Picasso, but I love it anyway!), and taking a trip down memory lane with old family photos. Top it off with sweet messages and phone calls from Kat and Bert, Nick and Gabby, and my heart was incredibly full.
The Great Weather Window Anxiety 🗺️💨
By Monday, the relaxation faded into full-on passage planning mode. We’re looking for a window to make the big 1,000+ nautical mile jump from New Zealand to Fiji. Anyone who has done this route knows that passages to and from NZ are incredibly tricky because weather systems roll through so frequently and intensely.
Every day follows a distinct cruiser ritual:
- Check the weather forecast at 8:00 AM.
- Hop on the online forums to swap notes with everyone else waiting to depart.
- Ask the daily questions: “Did you see the latest forecast?” “What do you think of that low forming?” “Are you leaving this week?”
Every single morning, the forecast looked different—and usually worse!
Our amazing sailing coaches, Jamie and Behan, have been our voices of reason, patiently reminding us of the ultimate rule: Be patient and wait for a good window; misery is optional.
So, we cancelled our initial customs appointment for Thursday but noticed a potential sliver of hope for the following Monday. With that in mind, I convinced Bob we should leave our super-convenient dock spot in Whangārei and head down to Marsden Cove. The plan? Settle in for a couple of days, reconfigure the autopilot on the way, and test out the watermaker.
The downside? Marsden has a lovely marina, a small grocery store, and a small chandlery, but that’s about it within walking distance. Plus, if the weather window slammed shut, we risked being stuck there for weeks. Meanwhile, a few brave cruiser friends decided to bite the bullet and depart on Thursday to try and beat the dicey weather. It’s always tough to watch others pull up anchor when you’re anxious to go, leaving you second-guessing your choices. But on Friday morning, we decided to make our move downriver to Marsden.
Timing the Tides (And a Sudden Fire Alarm!) ⚓🚨
Getting to Marsden requires precise timing due to the tides and the Te Matau A Pohe lift bridge. Since it’s winter, the bridge only opens from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on request. The high tide was early at 6:00 AM, so we paid our bills, returned our keys, and aimed to clear the bridge exactly at 9:00 AM to ensure we had enough water over the shallowest sections.
We made it through the bridge smoothly, navigated one tricky bend in the river, and hit the open water. The sun was out, and it felt amazing to finally be on the move!
Because Meraviglia hadn’t really run her engine hard since we arrived in October, we decided to push the speed a bit. It’s good to open the engine up occasionally to clear out carbon deposits. We kept the RPMs up for about 20 minutes, monitoring the coolant temp—everything looked perfect.
Bob throttled back and started to step downstairs to test the watermaker when the fire alarm started blaring.
“Put it in idle!” Bob seeing smoke filling the cabin.
Long-time readers might remember our little “meltdown” back in Guadeloupe, where a loose connection melted a fuse block. Fearing a repeat performance, Bob immediately tore the bed apart to check the fuse blocks with the temperature gun.
Nothing. Everything was normal. Engine compartment? Normal. Alternators? Normal. Inverter? Normal. Coolant and engine temps? Completely stable.
By the time we checked everything, the smoke vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Shaken and deeply perplexed, we tried to recreate the situation by revving the RPMs again… but got absolutely nothing. No smoke, no alarm. We left all the compartments open to monitor them and kept going to the marina.The Mystery Continues… 🔍
Once docked, we jumped on a call with Jamie and Behan, who were just as baffled as we were. Four days later, we still haven’t found the culprit. We have pulled the boat apart, checked the electrical connections, the exhaust hose, and the engine. We know Meraviglia will eventually let us in on her little secret—we just collectively pray she doesn’t choose the middle of the Pacific Ocean to do it!
Curing a Case of FOMO 🧘♀️
So, here we sit in Marsden Cove, playing the waiting game.
The silver lining? We’ve checked in with the cruisers who left on Thursday, and it turns out they’ve had a pretty miserable, high-wind, seasick-inducing passage. My FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) has officially evaporated.
We will gladly stay right here, continuing our morning and night weather checks, drinking our coffee, and chatting with our fellow cruisers until the perfect window opens up.
Fiji, we’re coming… just as soon as Meraviglia and the weather decide to cooperate!
Stay tuned for updates—and cross your fingers we find the source of our mystery smoke before the next leg!
Your mystery made me wonder if it’s something like AC heaters here in Florida – when you turn them on after almost a year off they burn the dust and dead bugs sitting on them, and all smoke and fire alarm hell breaks loose!
Thanks for sharing the not so glamorous part of cruising. Wish you both good luck and wisdom finding the root cause, and picking the right exit window!
Never a dull moment… but, oh my!!! Mysterious smoke is too scary and weird. Maybe you had something cooking?!?!?!😉
Seriously, glad you are being cautious with weather situation💜