At the Q-Dock yesterday (28 Nov) at 1400 - a record passage time for us - 7 days, 5 hours. Sailed from Navula Pass, Viti Levu, Fiji on one tack for 830 nm before starting the engine and motoring the rest of the way with northerly (tail) winds, just to beat a front closing in on Opua. Total engine run time for passage was 34.3 hours, including 3 hours from Port Denarau to Navula Pass, and 2 hours from entrance to Bay of Islands to Opua Marina. Customs & Biosecurity cleared us into New Zealand within 30 minutes of our arrival at the Q-Dock! We then proceeded to our slip, F21, where we were met by our friends Rich & Cyndi (Legacy) and George & Ellen (Wind Dancer). We had an impromptu party in the cockpit before George & Ellen drove back home to Whangarei, and Rich & Cyndi drove us into Pahia where we had a wonderful pizza dinner, washed with great craft beer! Then the best desert of all - 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep in a quiet, motionless boat! All is extremely well on board.

On track for a record (for us) passage time - 7 days and (roughly) 6 hours; only 28 nm to go to Bay of Islands, and then another 10 nm to the Q-Dock. Motor sailing (and bucking an adverse current at the moment) to beat a weather system moving in. We hope to be in Opua by 3 pm NZDT. On our approach, dodging cargo ship traffic has been a full time endeavor! All is well on board.

Finally gave in and started the engine at 0540 this morning, and the wind dropped to under 10 knots from directly behind; last had the engine on as we cleared Navula Pass, 830 nm back. It was a good run, but we are the proverbial "horse to the barn" at this point - only 190 nm to go to Bay of Islands. We hope to be in Opua by dinner time tomorrow! All is well on board.

Happy Thanksgiving, from West of the Dateline! Although there will be no roast turkey with stuffing or baked ham dinner with all the trimmings for he crew of Bright Angel today (but that is not to say we don't eat well on board!), we will spend the day reflecting on our many blessings; we hope you do, too. We continue to enjoy excellent sailing conditions, with blue skies, plenty of wind (so far, anyway) and no squalls. We did experience a short-lived lull in the wind yesterday (9-11 knots) and a pesky west setting current that has fortunately taken its leave. Bright Angel is moving along smartly, with all her sails a flyin' - only 341 nm to go to Bay of Islands! All is well on board.

Wind has started backing to the east. Good day of sailing yesterday; slight adverse current early in the day has been replaced with south setting current again. All is well on board.

Conditions have moderated considerably. Great sailing yesterday and last night; with the aid of a south setting current, had a 156 nm run from noon Sun to noon Mon. All is well on board.

Good day of sailing yesterday and last night - full moon, mostly clear skies, and shooting stars! Seas turned lumpy again before dawn - could be another "just put up with it" day. All is well on board.

Departed Port Denarau for Opua, New Zealand yesterday morning at 0905; out Navula Pass at 1200. First 18 hours we got thrashed; winds ESE at 28-33, gusting to 36+, with seas very rough at 3-3.5 m. Reefed way down for a more comfortable ride (if you could call it that!), but still had to sail on a close reach to avoid getting pooped by beam seas. By sunrise today, things had settled down considerably; winds are now 19-22, with moderate seas. Shook out some of the reef in the headsail, so now making much better time and sailing on a more comfortable beam reach. All is well on board.

Departing Port Denarau for Opua, New Zealand this morning.

enjoying a wind gusting to 6kts!

All is well that ends well! And here we are on the quarantine buoy at Vuda Marina, Fiji, awaiting our check-in first thing in the morning. The bottle of champagne gone now and the boat still at last, after a trying 8 days 21 hours at sea since leaving Marsden Cove (our fastest passage yet to the islands!), in some of the most trying conditions we have yet encountered; we would almost rather have a full fledged storm where we could heave-to and ride it out in a day or so, than the continuous 4 or 5 days of force 7 nonsense (near gale, 28-33 knot winds with heaped up seas and breaking waves) that we encountered this trip. But every day is a school day, and we have certainly learned a few things from this experience, and as the last drop of bubbly disappeared we were talking of the good times to come here in Fiji, and not of the past few days getting here. So, indeed, all is well on board the good ship Bright Angel tonight - until someone tries to wake me for my watch!

With wind moaning in the rigging, dawn breaks in the anti-cyclonic gloom of damp, dreary overcast after another night of thrashing in force 7 winds and lumpy, bumpy seas. Sort of brings to mind the old expression: "Floggings will continue until morale improves." For us that will come in about 24 hours time, when we make landfall and negotiate Navula Pass to the inside of the reef. We have slowed down now, with reduced winds and reduced sails, to ensure we arrive in daylight. For now, all is well on board.

A somewhat less miserable night; winds moderated a bit, seas are still rough but less so than lately. The end is in sight; well, at 230 nm to go, not really, but psychologically, anyway! So, all is well on board.

Another miserable night; high winds, rough seas; but thankfully, no squalls. A little tired (and a lot tired of these conditions!) but all is well on board.

Miserable night; high winds, rough seas, and about six hours of squalls - 1400 to 2000 (highest winds in squalls 40 knots). Fun meter for this passage is now pegged at zero; and on top of that, our Beam-Us-There-Atron seems to be broken. Notwithstanding all that, and several "BFS" moments, all is well on board.

Fairly comfortable night; motored thru light winds and some squalls (highest winds in squalls 28 knots). Will set sails at first light, as winds have filled back in. All is well on board.

Comfortable night; all is well on board.

Two days out of Marsden Cove, NZ, enroute to Fiji, and 250 nm down the track. We had the expected strong winds at the start (westerlies in the 25-30 knot range, some stronger gusts). We hugged the coast going north until we were just north of the Bay of Islands, then headed offshore looking to put the wind more on the beam. Winds were sw by mid day on Saturday, and have been off the port quarter ever since. Fairly comfortable ride now as the winds are down to the high teens and low 20s and the seas have calmed down - except for the occasional rolling wave that sets the boat to rocking and dumps the wind from the sails! Haven't seen much of the sun yet, and its still fairly cold; but that will change soon, we hope!

all well and all sorted after the turbulent start

via relay as still too close for 8MHz

Cleared out of New Zealand, will leave Marsden Cove for Fiji within the hour. Expecting strong (20-25 kt) westerlys outside, but will hug the coast going north until winds go sw, then will head offshore.

In Marsden Cove after a fairly rambunctious sail up from Gulf Harbour yesterday, 30 May. For our escape from the clutches of Gulf Harbour, where we had been holed up for almost four months getting a projected two month teak deck replacement job finished, Met Service forecast 15 knots NE, with slight seas and 1 m swell developing; what we got was more like 20-22 knots, with some fairly boisterous wind waves, and by the time we were abeam Sail Rock the seas were a solid 1.5-2 m, with a fairly short 6 - 8 sec period! Great re-introduction to life at sea, however, which, after we finish up provisioning and a completing a few boat projects, will come in handy when the next weather window for passage to Fiji presents itself. Right now, the prospects for that window look somewhat remote - maybe 10 days or thereabouts.

Anchored in Oneroa Bay, Waiheki Island. Enjoying our cruise of Great Barrier Island and Hauraki Gulf.