We arrived in Opua on Sunday, February 10 and spied our home for the week at the FairWind Charter dock. She was a Dufour 38' named "Iranui". We had reservations at the Opua Motel on the hill overlooking the bay and 2 days to relax and see the local sights before we set sail.

We decided to hike a beach trail to the next village (Paihia) the following day. It's 1 1/2 to 2 hour hike from Opua.... a little up and down, sometimes narrow, across some mangroves and into Paihia for a cold beer!! All was going well.

On the way back.... things didn't go quite as expected. Rosie was coming down a fairly steep and narrow portion of the trail that ran along a section of beach, when she slipped and went over the edge (5 to 6 foot drop) onto the gravel beach (lucky that it was clean of boulders and logs!!). She broke her fall with her right hand and face.... not a pretty sight. Well, the result was a broken wrist and facial lacerations. She is a real trooper though.... the next morning she was at the hospital getting her cast and I was at the local store finalizing our provisions.

Here is a portion of the trail....


The short of it is that we were both on the boat that afternoon and ready to cast off the following morning. I had a few more duties than normal.... but we were on the water. Makes travel exciting (I think)....