[password] Bri44angel
[gulfharbor]
synopsis: on
roll call: on
updates: on
[position] 35 50.219S 174 28.099E
[status] The final few miles into Marsden this morning were nothing short of magical - beautiful blue skies, flat calm seas with a multitude of sea birds, including the regal Gannet, and the majesty of Bream Head - aside from the feeling of "coming home" (this is our fifth trip here), New Zealand always inspires a sense of grandeur and seems like a masterpiece in God's Gallery - so good to be back here! We were at the Q Dock shortly after 1300, all cleared in by 1330, and fueled up and in our slip by 1430. We have cruiser friends here who just completed the trip from New Cal, as well, whom we met at the Marina's Friday afternoon "sausage sizzle" (a grand Kiwi institution!), with drinks to follow at the Marina restaurant; a great way to wrap up a mostly docile passage - and the silence (once we turned the engine off, which had been running for almost six days straight!) was absolutely golden! After a dinner of grilled NZ eye fillet steaks, and a bottle of good French Medoc, it will be a blissful night of sleep, uninterrupted by watch standing. Life is extraordinarily good, and all is very well on board the good ship Bright Angel tonight!
[speed] 0 kts (tied to the dock)
[heading] nowhere
[weather] Winds SW 5 -7; no seas in the marina; 75% cloud cover; bar 1012.43, rising.
[END]