We spent the better part of a week in Nelson, doing chores and chasing up leads for crew for the return journey, so we decided that we deserved a couple of days of play in Abel Tasman National Park.
We set off on Friday in light winds. Alex tested out his recent repairs to the watermaker pump, making about 120l of fresh water in 2 hours! We anchored in a nice spot in Torrent Bay and got out our FreeDiver hookah (a small air compressor). It came with the boat, but we had never tried it.
After only 20 or 30min of figuring out how it goes together Alex got in the water and dove under the boat to clean propeller. Sweet as (as they say here in NZ)! I jumped in as well and enjoyed yet another swim in lovely warm water. Afterwards we watched this guy cart off a huge log that had washed into the bay after recent storms:
On Saturday we rowed ashore to explore the beach area. At one end is a large Dept of Cons. Campsite – the Abel Tasman walking track runs past here. At the other end of the beach were a couple of small sea stacks that had been carved into over many years by both water and people!
This beach and bay are very, very popular! We spent the rest of Saturday watching all the activity around us. There were bushwalkers and day-trippers sunning themselves on the beach, kayakers, water taxi’s and tour boats, motorboats, yachts, a jetski and small aircraft buzzing overhead. It was most amusing watching new boats arriving and doing the anchorage dance. Fortunately, we were well placed in the middle of the pack and didn’t have anyone anchor too close.
Today, Sunday, we returned to Nelson and tomorrow we will head off on a quick road trip on the South Island for a week.
