Moon River

Yes call outs can come with a bonus at this time of year.

Brett and team had a good long day (around 6 hours) on the water, tucking the boat away around 1800. Paul and I had busied ourselves selling lottery tickets. At around 1930 I went to the boat to swap out some paperwork. After a 2 min conversation with Brett, there was that familiar "Beep beep beep" of a callout.

So the good ship was ready and waiting for the crew very promptly, with a different skipper.

This time we headed back to Little Barrier / Hauturu to collect a 14m Pelin launch with a potentially seized engine. There were enough lumpy bits to keep us alert, and we were soon alongside the launch. They had to retrieve their anchor from about 50m of water. That took a while, with the crew getting to manhandle up the chain and anchor.

Our tow to Ti Point became calmer as the night progressed, with a stunning full moon rising off the corner of Hauturu as we headed in.

By the time we arrived at the Whangateau harbour entrance, the water was like a millpond....apart from the current zooming out. We barged up alongside and Andrew did another master class in barging onto a mooring in the middle of the night, with all crew keeping an eye out for mooring floats etc.

The moon floodlighting the harbour was a great help. (Photo Neale Wills)

We cleared away promptly and had a lovely run back to Sandspit, although those who'd been on the water all day definitely had the "yawns".

Refueled and back on our berth at midnight.

Thanks to our merry crew: Andrew, Neale and Glenn (all of whom had actually had dinner before the pager went off) The skipper - not so!