We just got tied up to the Q dock. To tired to write more. Going to go get rumfortable now! (Not a typo,)

Wind went a little west of south and so we're able to easily motor-sail direct to Bay of Islands. What a nice break! Seas are blocked by NZ. Cyndi said something I found funny after we turned the corner at North Cape: "Well, I guess we're going to New Zealand!" We weren't sure it wouldn't be Oz until about that point.

It's been a very long trip!!! (Sorry about the excessive use of exclamation points!) Nine days right now and we still have about 12 to go before we're tied up at the Q dock. We went the long way around and we consistently had strong current against us - usually 1 to 2 knots. We estimate that we traveled an extra 250 miles due to adverse current.

More when we get tied up (hopefully that'll be in NZ!)

Aaaargh! Uncomfortable! (So what's new?) At least we're getting close.

Back to sailing as the southerly fills in. We'll turn due east when we get to the latitude of Cape Reinga. The barn may not be in sight, but it's feeling closer.

Merry Christmas!!! All's well on Legacy on this beautiful Christmas morning. For more details, see www.twoatsea.com (It may take up to an hour for our update to appear there.)

Yea, we're beating. All this way to come, just to beat! I guess the good news is that the wind's not as strong as it would have been beating from Noumea, but it still sucks.

Have I ever mentioned that I hate sailing!?

Nice day again yesterday. Not so much this morning but I think it's just the squalls that are around. Nothing serious.

Wind died mosly but what there is makes it hard to motor (with no wind assistance) in the direction we'd really like to go. Still very nice out here, just not sure how we'll get there?

Wow, this is what sailing should always be like! It reminds us of the days on passage between Hawaii and California that were so good, we'd fantasize about spending a month at sea just to sail around the Pacific high. I hope this lasts.

New Zealand (we think). We're just going the long way. We're heading SSW to go around the back of a high that will hopefully be there when we are. Then we'll head towards NZ. At least that's the plan. It'll make a longer trip but we'd take 8 really nice days over a six day beat.

And it has been really nice. Yesterday was smooth and fast. Today is slower and very comfortable.

s 165 25.063e "Where the heck are those idiots going!?"

Legacy is finally underway for NZ!!!

Maybe there's weather on the horizon next week that'll get us to NZ? Fingers crossed!

Just read the last six posts... Still waiting for weather to go south... Anywhere south!

Still waiting for weather to go to NZ, or Oz, or???

Just enjoying ourselves while we continue to wait for weather that'll get us to NZ.

We're out cruising around a bit while we continue to wait for weather to get to NZ. We were all set to check out yesterday and leave Monday, but things changed again. Cyndi says she's suffering from "window whiplash."

Maybe in a week or so it'll really happen. Don't worry, we'll turn the lights off when we leave!

Last night: Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac ($5 a bottle here!) and a nice Chevre Premier De Moulis.

Just hanging out, waiting for passage weather that'll make the whiney little girls on Legacy happy.

We're just out for a little change of scenery for a couple of days before going back to Noumea for the stronger wind late this week.

Still looking for a good weather window to go to NZ.

Legacy is in Noumea at the dock while Cyndi and I are anchored in oceanside chairs at Le Meridien waiting for their amazing fish burgers!

Anchor down in Port Boise! Didn't quite make it to Noumea yet, but we'll get there.

What a nice passage!

About 18 miles from Havannah Passage. Nice ride thus far. We've had to slow down over the last six hours or so to try to make slack tide at Havannah.

Very nice passage so far with light wind, motoring last night but a good sail yesterday.

Leaving Port Vila bound for Noumea.

Back in Port Vila, waiting for weather to go to New Caledonia. Maybe Thursday? It's nice to be in town. All that wonderful dining! We had incredible steaks yesterday at Chill for less than $15, including a Tusker beer each.

(Some may get the idea that we cruise to eat. I guess that wouldn't be a totally inaccurate characterization.)

Pizza! Wood fired!

We're anchored in our second stop on the Havannah Harbor dining tour - near the Wahoo Bar - that's tomorrow's lunch.

Quick stop for lunch at The Havannah. Great lunch. Tough anchorage as it's really deep right next to shore. If the wind had turned SW, Legacy would have ended up in the dining room. Room service? ;-)

Playing hide-n-seek from the wind. Backed through a bunch of degrees today. Made our last anchorage pretty bad. This is flat, calm and very nice. We're anchored in about 18 feet on sand.

Anchored near Efate off Nguna and Pele islands. We took advantage of the change in weather to dart south.

Speaking of weather, I have never seen the weather models so wrong, so consistently for any other place we've been. We look at GFS, ECMWF, and the PredictWind wind versions of these and not only do they usually disagree and diverge, but none have really come very close to reality here. Could it be the lack of reporting stations in Vanuatu that causes this?

Still speaking of weather, what a great lightning show last night!

Anchored in Foreland Bay on Epi Island. We thought the smoke we were in on Embrym was from the volcano but it's just as bad here. Inversion layer?

Didn't plan to come here today but we also did not plan on 20 knots NNE!

Good news: the fly population is VERY healthy on Ambrym!

Anchored in Loltong Bay on Pentecost Island. All I can say is this...

Dear Vanuatu,

I love you!

Rich

Anchored at Asanvari. Wow! Another beautiful place. We spent the evening at the bar right next to a wondrous waterfall. They were out of beer but offered us a place to sit if we wanted to bring our own. Two other yacht crews were in our company - a French couple and another yank couple, and of course, Alex who built this amazing bar.

We'll head south to Pentecost tomorrow while the wind's still light. Today: Snorkeling.

Anchored off Maewo. Nasty southerly swell, some of which is making it into the bay.

Last night, we anchored near the eastern tip of Ambae. No volcanic action other than steam and clouds. Couldn't see any red glow at night. Maybe people will be able to come home soon?

Finally an opening at an Aore Island mooring this morning so we dashed over. We're now on one of Aore Adventure Sports moorings. Much calmer than over at Beachfront.

We'll hang out here a couple of days until we get weather to get to islands to the east.

Made it to town today, anchored of Beachfront resort. Good pizza!!!

We're anchored of Aese Island and it's very nice. We had some very good snorkeling yesterday on the little reef just outside us. The rock formations weren't interesting but there were a lot of fish and colorful hard coral.

It was a little hard to find a clear spot in between the bombies but we managed. We're a little short-scoped but it's calm.

We'll go into Luganville soon to resupply. We might do it from Surrunda or we might take Legacy back to Aore Island across from town. We'll see.

We're back from the Gimme Islands... Give me some batteries, gimme some fish hooks, gimme some cookies, some sugar, flour, wine, cash! While we saw some very pretty stuff in the Banks Islands (their real name), the canoes swarmed is endlessly with requests and very few offers of anything in return. Somehow, they seem to have lost the concept of trade.

It's also a very windy place with more than a few rolly anchorages. All in all, it wasn't really worth it for us, but your milage may vary.

Anchored in Waterfall Bay on Vanua Lava Island. Wow! (Seems I say that a lot here! I guess I also use a lot of exclamation marks!) Yesterday we visited the twin waterfall just south of where we're anchored and a really, really high waterfall about 2.5 miles north of here. Wow! It's kind of windy this morning so I think we might be staying put for a few days. There's a little roll in this anchorage but not bad as it's really only open from a little more that the western quadrant.

Anchored in Matanda Bay. Lovely. Not room for too many boats though and we're short-scoped to avoid bombies.

We're in 14 degree latitude land and can you believe it? We had to use a blanket last night.

Heading North to Vanua Lava this morning. We are having a GREAT time in Vanuatu. This is a magical place!!!

Anchored I'm beautiful Port Olry, waiting for weather to go the 50 miles or so to the Banks Islands. This is a really nice place to be "stuck" waiting for weather!

We've been in Hog Harbor for five or six days and it's been wonderful. There's really good snorkeling, access to town and the great little Lonnoc Beach Bungalows Resort where we've had a few meals. (Yes Dean, hanging out at a resort again!)

We're off today for Port Olry. Wish us luck with this grueling 8 mile passage.

Another beautiful bay and a great anchorage!

After almost three weeks at a Aore Island Resort mooring, we finally got out cruising again, kind of. We've moved all the way around to the other side of Aore Island (10 miles) to a Ratua Island Resort mooring! Life is good.

Sipping coffee across the channel from Legacy (at an Aore Island Resort mooring). We've been in Luganville, Santo Island for about a week and love it here. See what we've been up to at twoatsea.com.

It's been a long time since we've updated our position on YIT, mostly because of poor internet but also because we've been having too much fun to spoil it by sitting at the computer. We are really loving Vanuatu - the people, the scenery, the water! All wonderful!

We're in Port Vila and anxious to explore the city.

We left Tanna today and are now at Erromango.

After a WONDERFUL time in Anietyum, we changed our address today to Tanna where we hope to go to the volcano. I'm a little worried: I was never very good at dodgeball!

Anchored at Aneityum, Vanuatu! We got in at 9:00 this morning and we were cleared in withing a couple of hours. It was a good passage (for those of us who don't mind using our engines!)

We left Noumea, bound for Anietyum, Vanuatu with a stop somewhere along the way tonight before heading out the Havannah Pass tomorrow.

We're sad to be leaving New Caledonia but it feels good to be underway again.

We're still in Noumea rotting, ah, I mean resting! We've been on the go so much that it feel great to just hang out for a while.

That said, if the GRIBs can be believed, we might be leaving for Vanuatu on Monday or Tuesday.

Legacy is all tied up in a berth at Port Moselle Marina. It's so good to be in! Let the drinking and dining begin!

Almost there! About 8 miles to the pass and then another 15 or so inside to lagoon to Noumea. Nice day today with good conditions. Anxious to be in!

Really bumpy yesterday so that the slight knocking around we're getting now is relatively pleasant. Swells still have a pretty short period, but they aren't very big. We have about 225 miles to go to New Caledonia. Still heading a bit east of Noumea so that as the wind backs, it won't be as far ahead of the beam as it would otherwise.

Did I mention that I really hate passages?! -Rich

Really pleasant sail yesterday and not too bad a ride tonight. All's well (except for losing a great big mahi yesterday!)

461 miles to go to New Cal, motor-sailing in pretty nice conditions. We could be sailing, but we want to keep our speed up. Seems we're always trying to beat something into port. This time, it's just winds forecast to get a little stronger and a little more on the nose.

Left Middleton Reef this morning bound for Noumea. Motoring so far in very light wind.

Moved to another great anchorage spot at Middleton Reef, just because we wanted to explore a bit. Did some snorkeling until a bull shark (we think) decided it was time for us to leave the water (we are cowards, you know?).

We think we'll head on to New Caledonia tomorrow.

swells Still anchored at Middleton Reef. Pleasant!

Legacy is anchored on the northwest corner of Middleton Reef, in about 30 feet of water. The anchorage is well protected by this MASSIVE reef. Even during squalls with 20 knots of wind, there's nothing more than a little wind chop on the water. There is a lot of room to anchor in this area in nice sand with few rocks or bombies.

Leaving Lord Howe in a few minutes for Middleton Reef. We don't like the weather going to New Caledonia right now, so we'll try to hold up at the reef for a week or so. It'll be an adventure!

Still moored at Lord Howe Island, waiting for weather to head to New Caledonia. Looks like maybe we'll get it Thursday (18 May). Not a bad place at all to wait, though we're a little nervous about the low passing our way.

For a bunch of pictures of Lord Howe Island, see twoatsea.com.

My last few posts didn't seem to make it to the pages of YIT. That's a shame as they were very entertaining and beautifully written. They were pretty much all about how bad our passage sucked.

Oh well, we're in now, at a mooring in the lagoon at the amazing Lord Howe Island. Stunningly beautiful!

d: 04/05/17 15:00 AEST

ECMWF, PWE, GFS and PWG: They might as well adorn the pages of Sports Illustrated wearing skimpy swimsuits because these models don't work for predicting weather! The wind for this entire passage has been significantly stronger than advertised. We've had 23 to 30 knots the entire time with the exception of a brief period last night. The swells have also been larger than advertised.

And don't get me started on current! Let's just get real and admit that humankind doesn't have the ability to predict ocean currents and those who say they can are nothing but this eras snake oil salesmen! We were supposed to have current with us now, but it's 2 knots against us.

All in all, this passage sucks!

Rough! Fast! Rough! We'd sure trade some of our extra fast for a little smooth right now. Have I mentioned that I hate passages?! (Bound for Lord Howe Island - ETA Thursday before noon.)

Departed Sydney for Lord Howe, ETA Thursday noon or so.

We had a great time in Oz. Sad to be leaving.

We're in Sydney, four days and change after leaving Stanley, Tasmania. Now we need to get over this passage and get ready to head for New Cal. Our Aussie visas expire in early May.

Still underway, and where she stops, nobody knows! Maybe we'll go all the way to Sydney but the thought of doing for a night sure it's tempting. I'll ask the boss when she wakes up. Those decisions are above my pay grade!

Good passage so far. We're about 40 mile from Gabo Island but will keep heading north as long as the weather cooperates. We're kind of hoping to get to Sydney. Two more nights at sea. I think we can do that!

Underway, bound for Eden from Stanley (or somewhere on that big island to our north!).

We're tied up in Stanley on the North coast of Tasmania. It's not where we set our to go. We we're heading for somewhere on the south coast of mainland Australia. Until half way into the 36 got boat ride, I'd never even heard of Stanley. Fortunately, Cyndi had. Our beautiful weather window slammed on us and now, here we sit.

Will probably be sitting here for up to a week. Oh well. Another town to explore!

Anchored Sunday night in Kelly Basin. Great walks through the ruins of an old town, as well as through this really pretty temperate rainforest.

Now we're back in Strahan (pronounced Strawn) getting ready to head up to the big island. We hope to make about a four day passage and end up somewhere around Eden as our visa time is running out and we've lingered too long in Tassie.

We've had an amazing trip up the Gordon River, as far as Sir John Falls.

We're in Macquarie Harbour. Made it here before the big blow that hit today. PredictWind called for gusts to 51 knots. I'm not sure we've seen quite that here, but it was really blowing. We're in a great spot, and at a mooring another wonderful Tasmanian offered us. These are truly great people here!

Moved pretty much as far as we can go in Bathurst Harbor after a stunning walk up the mountain next to last night's anchorage. This place is really beautiful. Sorry keep droning on about that, BUT IT IS!

We've been in Port Davey for a couple of days. Today was very eventful but you'll have to wait for us to get internet to read it in our blog where we'll confess all our sins. The short story is that all's good aboard Legacy! Port Davey is amazing.

Slow day... Only two anchorages. We had a nice time in Dover. Great wine tasting at Imre.

It was a four bay day today. Reasons: there were places we just wanted to get a look at, we wanted to make a little progress towards the bottom of the island (we're hoping to go around to Port Davey Saturday), and we wanted a good place to hide from tonight's front. All missions accomplished.

Got out of Hobart yesterday after three wonderful weeks. We're heading south (slowly) and then (hopefully) up Tasmania's West coast.

Legacy is tied up to Constitution Dock And we're exploring Hobart and getting some annoying boat chores ticked of the list. We're waiting for some parts from the US so we might be here another two weeks. No worries. We're loving Hobart and Con dock is a great place to be.

We made it to Hobart today. Look out pizza, here we come!

We finally pried ourselves loose from Port Arthur for the 20 some mile trip to a bay outside of Nubeena (I don't name the bay here as it has about seven different names - all depending on what chart you view). Now we're only about 30 miles from Hobart, but we think we'll stay here for a few days.

We went much further than we'd planned to... all the way from Maria Island to Port Arthur. That even included a stop for a two hour walk in Pirate Bay (and two amazing lunches at Doo-licious - it was too good to only have one lunch!).

Now, we're anchored in a beautiful bay with no wind, despite the forecast 30 knots in the vicinity. Life in Tasmania is very good!

After a beautiful stop in Cole's Bay, we've spent a few days now anchored at Maria Island. We had an amazing wildlife adventure up in Darlington with sightings of wallabies, kangaroos, wombats, Cape Barren geese, and even a Tanzanian devil!

We're anchored off Swansea and it's not only a nice anchorage, but a nice little town. None of our guidebooks mention this place! We picked up some fuel yesterday (in jugs), had a nice walk and a good lunch. Life is good on Legacy.

Anchored in Wineglass Bay. Pretty spot.

We're hook down on the South tip of the Freycinet Peninsula. That's not where we thought we'd be tonight but in the great game of weather chess, the wind moved Queen to King's Rook 5 and Wineglass Bay was too rough to anchor. Oh well. It's not checkmate yet!

We're in St. Helen's, tied up at the wharf. We made it with only one bump on the bottom at Pelican Point. We just kind of bounced off and kept going.

We made it. We're in Tasmania!

We mostly across the Bass Strait, anchored at Prime Seal Island just of Flinders Island. It was a nice motorboat ride last night.

We're tired up at Lakes Entrance, waiting for weather to head south. It could be a week or more in coming. Who cares? It's nice here.

We're in the tiny holiday town of Matung. Dinner tonight at the yacht club then off to explore more of Gippsland lakes.

We just took a trip up a channel where our depth sounder read 3.5 feet at times. Neat trick since we draw 7 feet! Either it was a miracle or it was reading grass.