May 23rd 2025

Overall, I slept well, just a few random wake-ups during the night. Jet lag, maybe? Once I was properly up, I brushed my teeth and checked the battery voltage… and yep, just as we suspected last time: toast. Back then, they’d drop to around 10V overnight. This morning? A glorious 6V. Definitely dead. That meant: no fridge, no water filtering, no real power at all. Thankfully, I’d charged my power bank, so at least I had some juice to get through the morning. Since I had to return the marina dinghy by 9:30 a.m., it was time to get moving and getting our own dinghy into the water.

Step one: free the dinghy.
I had to untangle all the ropes wrapped around it before hooking it up to the mast halyard and hoisting it over the deck.

Step two: inflate and plug it.
I grabbed the foot pump and got to work. Since our dinghy doesn’t have a plug, I used the trusty old blue sponge from last time to seal the back.

Step three: install the motor.
Figured it would be easier to do before the dinghy was in the water. Our outboard lives on the stern, secured with two wing nuts on a wooden bracket. The first one came off fine. The second? Refused. I got it loose enough to slide off the mount, but not wide enough to fit the motor onto the dinghy. Time to get creative. I tied the motor down on deck, ran a rope through the wing nut’s hole, braced my legs against the boat in some ridiculous half-squat, and pulled with all I got on it. It finally moved! After reposition and doing that for what felt like a thousand times, I got it free and mounted it on the dinghy. Victory.

And just a moment later, it was floating. Beautiful. Ready. Just as I stood there, a turtle swam by. Right beneath me. What a perfect little moment.

I tied our dinghy to the marina one and pushed off from Tauha. In hindsight, should I have checked if the marina motor wanted to cooperate after last night’s drama? Probably. But I didn’t. And… it didn’t. Nothing. Just me, drifting in silence, sweat trickling down my face while other boats started edging a little too close for comfort. After five minutes of trying, I gave up, jumped into our dinghy, and tried towing the marina one instead. Our motor started, but it’s so small I couldn’t steer properly with the added weight. So, back into the marina dinghy I went. By now, I’d gently bumped into another boat (oops) and was drifting toward the channel. Oh. No. Desperation mode: I yanked the marina motor’s starter cord like another five minutes and hallelujah! It finally coughed to life. I was beyond relieved. I zipped back to the marina and made the return deadline just in time.

Next mission: groceries and water.
There’s a bigger store about 15 minutes away on foot, so I walked over, picked up some essentials for the next few days. Back in the marina I filled two jugs of water back, and returned to Tauha ready to breathe.

Back on board, I hung up some lights and started making things feel a little more like home. By six, the sun had set, and honestly, I was done. I curled up with an audiobook and passed out. I woke up a few times, once dreaming Alex missed his flight, and once when it started raining lightly, but all in all, it was a solid night. I’m rested, recharged, and ready for whatever tomorrow brings.

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