Sitting out the wind in this little inlet having motored back from the Whangaroa Harbour region where we spent the better part of the week in the company of Tracie and Carl on Kahukura. The highlights were...

more misty mornings


fishing


climbing the Duke's Nose and the amazing views from the top (trying not to think what happens if my weedy little arms can't take my weight on the chain that you need to help scale the rock face to the top - Harry went up it like a goat. I was less goat like and thankfully had the sense not to look down until I was at the top... ****!!!! Wow!!!)


Harry's excitement downloading his photographs


eating scallops collected by Carl and fried by Tracie in garlic and butter...


Dinghying back to our boat late at night just by the light of the moon laughing about a great evening...


Sitting next to Tony in the cockpit as we sail


Breakfast... everyday....

...amazing life changing experiences. My little sister told me I look young and happy today... there must be a lesson in there somewhere :)


Looking forward to seeing you all soon xxxx

We sailed into the Whangaroa yesterday afternoon and are moored in Pararako Bay (a little sub bay) - unbelievably beautiful and peaceful. We woke to a magical misty, mirror calm morning and I CAUGHT A FISH!!!!!!! No laughing :) Today has been homework for Harry (a science test), updating this for me (shamefully behind!) and fitting a new pump for getting water into our tanks more easily for Tony...  but the early morning cancels out everything onerous - breath taking and so, so quiet... 

Great day motoring around the outlying islands of the Cavalli Passage (Tony is getting brave!) following huge shoals of fish and their associated flocks of sea birds... then a walk the next day looking down on the islands before sailing on again. Harry went with Tracie and Carl to pick up some fishing tips (they had to provide dinner the previous night which came on board via bucket complete with a bottle of wine)... and ensured none of them caught anything?! We are jinxed!!!

Out sailing again and this time on north from the Bay of Islands. Our first day we travelled to Urupukapuka with the intention of doing the walks we had seen on our day trip but on our arrival, someone from the other boat in the bay came over to greet us saying we looked suspiciously like 'Touch of Class' and did we want some scallops they had collected in the bay??? - Carl and Tracie had considered buying Tangled Up 15 years ago - had always hankered after her and wondered where she had ended up... with us :)


Well, lots of wine and fishing off the back of their step in the dark by head torch and catching more with our hands than the line, we arranged to follow them on the next day.

What wonderful company! They are a good match for us speed wise so we have had some great sailing and at last have some pictures of Tangled Up under sail, courtesy of Tracie. She is a keen photographer so she and Harry have spent several happy hours comparing pictures. We've walked a lot of the islands we have visited, ticking new species off our bird list: caspian terns, NZ falcons, dotterels and variable oystercatchers. They have also been helping us fish and providing supper when we failed to catch a thing - happy days...

The 23rd saw us back at Opua but this time on a mooring for the week. The ICA rally ended with a fayre, car boot and raffle draw. Harry and Josh were pipped at the post in the kids fishing competition by Jacob, Josh's little brother (with the help of his dad) but they all got some great fishing related prizes. We also won one of the prizes in the draw - sadly not the years berth in the marina (??!) - but a day trip out to Hole in the Rock on one of the local 'Explore' boats. We only had three days to claim it so were really grateful when Dave said he could drive us over to the wharf at Paihia the next day. Harry took Josh along and we had a great day, with lunch on Urupukapuka Island, great views of bottlenosed dolphines and then a stop off at Russell on the way back. This was said to be the closest place to hell during its time as a whaling station with its brothels and the lawless behaviour of inhabitants but it is now peaceful and beautiful with great cake...

Later in the week we went out for the day with Kate and Dave and walked to see an amazing kauri tree before having lunch to thank them for their generous ferrying of us around. People are wonderfully generous and welcoming here.

The rest of our time has been spent enquiring about jobs, working on the boat and ferrying water out from the marina - a constant task...

All the boats in the Pacific are heading either North or South to avoid the cyclones and so (despite seeing no one else as we crossed) we have arrived in New Zealand with a host of other boats. We therefore cleared in at Opua to be greeted by an International Crusiers Association Rally - a two week get together of lectures, trips and BBQs - it has been wonderful to meet up with people we got to know over the cruising season and to make new friends. We were duly sat in the Yacht Club Bar overlooking the bay when Nautibuoy arrived in from her passage so they were greeted with a rapturous welcome from the deck and managed a flawless docking (always a relief with a crowd of inibriated onlookers!). This Marina has a significant current at points and there were two manoeuvring incidents last week resulting in 10s of thousands of pounds worth of damages to multiple boats. Needless to say Tony has the helm when we move anywhere in marinas! Otherwise some shopping (thank you David and Kate for the use of your car as well as the bike!) and a trip to Haruru Falls with its wild chickens... just as well we'd shopped first...

Harry had a busy week with lots of other kids around at last - he was lent a bike by a very lovely local couple and has been out sailing - once with the local school who organise a weekly youth sailing club on a Wednesday after school when the bay fills with Optimists and kids jumping in and out of the water, and once with his friend Josh to crew on a yacht taking part in a local race - which they won.

 We got out into the islands today staying overnight at Roberton - an island with an iconic view of the Bay of Islands... 

We are here!!! ...Tony is home! So we did our crossing of some 870 miles in just over 100 hours with no major disasters other than the demise of our auxiliary battery charger... Even Tony with his awesome skills of recovery couldn't revive it. Not a major disaster except that it powered our winches (amongst other things) so the first we knew about it was going to make an adjustment to our sails and discovering that nothing happened... This would have been disastrous in another setting but luckily there is a lot of room in the middle of the Pacific (!!!!) so we had time to adjust our plan before hitting anything?! ...our less pampered cruising colleagues smile and nod knowingly at this, rippling their impressive biceps... But otherwise it was a fabulous trip with entertaining, energetic and industrious company. Thank you Mike, Hannah and Blake!!! You were great!


We kept three hour watches through the night and read and talked, played cards and listened to music... We managed to sail for the majority and only motored for a day or so (a little longer than truly needed but we had to charge our beleaguered batteries). Some of us fished (look at that photo Dad!!). Some of us battled it out for our record top speed and shouted 'Spinnaker!!!!' whilst Tony was thinking 'Reef???'. Some of us slept! Harry and I applied our dermal anti-nausea patches in Noumea and I woke up 3 days later in certain knowledge that a possum had died in my mouth (a sure sign we were closer to NZ by then) - And whilst this is a slight exageration, I did really struggled to stay awake the first few days and was so grateful for everyone else getting on with it. That said I was only sick once so a small price to pay and this could have been avoided, but I chose to stay below with Harry through a very impressive rain squall which was my undoing. Harry likewise was only sick once, later on in the passage, and again this would have been avoidable if his mother hadn't first fed him hot chocolate and then thoughtfully handed him a bucket last used for gutting the tuna...


So I surfaced from my stupor to be greeted by an industrious boat, full of the smell of mackerel guts and cake... Blake, Hannah and Mike fished with enthusiasm - spurred on by Harry. The spanish makerel was impressive and delicious but we were a bit fished out by the time the skipjack appeared and Tony declared himself delighted that the other three got away - one of them must have been truely enormous and broke a line with a huge breaking strain with just a wriggle. Meanwhile Hannah set about the task of limiting how much food we gave away to NZ customs on our arrival with a vengeance. Catering for six with an uncertain departure date and passage time was always a challenge and in the end we left early (since an ideal weather window appeared that meant Harry and I could risk the passage too) and made great time too, so fresh food was in abundance. Hannah was amazing and despite improbable angles of heel would set about another baking adventure during her 3-6am watch. There was still a certain amount of gorging on our final morning as we raced against our own good progress and consumed pounds of cheese and yoghurt (the cruising mentality of wasting nothing well established by now) only to be told 'we don't worry about dairy...' Harry sadly lost his snake skin (the customs officer poked it with a pen and declared it 'raw') but otherwise our entry was uneventful and we arrived to a grey and misty NZ on the 15th surfing in to the Bay of Islands with a new top speed record of 16.7 knots!!! We now embark on eating a truly impressive stash of dried noodles and tinned French cassoulet... Parents be warned - we'll still be going well into January.

A great 10 days with Mike and now Hannah and Blake too... We have revisited favourite spots in New Caledonia - watched Monsieur Chien fish off the dock, swam with turtles and sharks, revisited the lighthouse, eaten snails (some of us!), dodged the sea snakes. Sad to be leaving but today we sail for NZ... Nautibuoy hard on our heals. Back in a week or so... Shocked to see American boats flying their flags upside down - maybe we are better off in the middle of the pacific?! Apparently NZ has seen a 137% increase in immigration queries since last night - hope there is room for us...

Another public holiday here with Noumea closed so back to Ilot Amedee with Mike - a great second visit with some amazing snorkelling - turtles, white and black tipped reef sharks, a spotted moray eel - beautiful light on a great reef scape with weed patches for the turtles... Harry and Mike climbed the lighthouse whilst Tony and I drank coffee on the beach... Always remember to check your dingy for sea snakes - wow, did we jump!

A night at Ilot Maitre before heading into Noumea to collect Mike... kite surfing heaven...

Left early to sail up from the Isle of Pines towards Grand Terre. We moored off Ilot Casey, an island in the mouth of the Bay of Prony for two nights - the site of a deserted and derelict hotel. It's only inhabitant is a big dog who we called Monsieur Chien. He was sat on the pontoon to greet us as we arrived and looks pretty fit considering his only source of food is that provided by passing cruisers like us. We explored his hotel with him - it's pretty much a ruin but with a new and comfortable dog bed someone has left for him and lots of bowls around collecting rain water. We walked around the island and he showed us the way until the mid point when he became distracted... And at last we saw a New Caledonian crow!! (Said to be the brightest corvids in the world)... though maybe not so bright since this one was well past its best and being chewed up by Monsieur Chien... Shame on you Mr Chien!!! Not a sign on another one anywhere... No Cagus either but we keep looking undeterred.


Harry and I had a great swim in the bay...


We left on Friday morning for Noumea - first being greeted by a huge Grouper and a couple of reef sharks swimming around the boat in a mirror calm sea. Very reluctant to return to the bustle of Noumea!

We arrived in the Ile des Pines on Friday - highly recommended by all sailing in this area and with good reason - another beautiful island and true to its name covered in the iconic New Caledonian pines. We were greeted by turtles in abundance and yesterday Harry and Tony spotted and then successfully swam with a 4m dugong. I was cooking sausages and missed it... Grrrr.... The wages of sin are missed dugongs... Harry and I tried to find him again in the afternoon with no success but enjoyed a peaceful hour or so rowing around the bay.

In the morning we had woken to find an enormous P&O cruise liner anchored in the mouth of the bay which spent all day ferrying passengers on and off the island by launch and suddenly we were surrounded by hundreds of people with associated stalls and food and displays of local dancing. The contrast was interesting but I have to say it was nice when they had all been ferried back and peace returned - it would appear we have become even more antisocial - who would have thought this was possible?! What an enormous ship!! 10 decks apparent above the waterline and so I have no idea of the number of people on board but it must be thousands... We intend to stay here until we have to return to Noumea to pick up Mike on the 30th so lots of time to relax and explore the island.

A wonderful few days here and some beautiful walks up the hill in the middle of the island - Pic N'Ga and along the ridge then back down via the ruins of the old penitentiary ... Another around the peninsula... And wonderful sightings of the dugong - his tail looks like it's been photoshopped into the photo - he was huge!!

Back to Mato as a stop over on our way to the Isle of Pines - our favourite place so far - and we were delighted to find that by chance Nautibuoy had arrived a few hours before us. A great evening was had catching up. Thursday was spent finally managing to fix their autopilot (I cannot believe they have made it all the way from Plymouth to here without one! This means one of them has had to be at the wheel every mile of the way - a little bit mind blowing!!) - sailing is now apparently an unrecognisable experience and actually quite relaxing?!

We walked around the island in the afternoon and it was just as delightful on the second visit - this trip's highlights: being taught crab whispering by Wayne (they come out of their shells when whistled to...) and the slightly traumatic experience of innocuously watching a crab in a rockpool only to see it attacked and devoured by a moray eel. Nice...

After setting off from Noumea we had a change of heart and headed for the lighthouse at Amedee Island - we were desperate to try and find happy wild turtles (as opposed to the rather sad ones in the aquarium) and were told this was the place to try. They weren't wrong - the place is crawling with them! Harry and I had some wonderful swimming with them - Tony seemingly happy to keep a watch out from the dinghy for us. His stance was reinforced when I happened upon an enormous reef shark. They are completely harmless I'm told but I have to say it set my heart pounding - it was huge!! In all I found it a pretty stressful day - we also climbed the lighthouse - and my brain did not like this at all... Made worse by the callous jokes and antics of my heartless companions. I was delighted to get back to our little boat - little hope for me returning to the real world. Perhaps such experiences are necessary to reaclimatise??

Back in Port Moselle where we finally collected the last of Harry's school books from the DHL office here. They have followed us for the better part of 4 months - always a week behind... it's lovely to have a science book at last!!


Lots of reprovisioning (VERY expensive!!!) and a delicious rare meal out - we happened upon a traditional New Caledonian restaurant - fish and pumpkin and muscles but no snails sadly... But the highlight of this stay was a trip to the aquarium. The turtles made us feel rather sad but the rest of the tanks were amazing and really well kept. The nautilus were particularly incredible (we've only found shells - I think they live a great depth) and we had fun taking some great photos. As always, after a night or two we were itching for the wind to drop so we could get back out to the islands...

Back to Noumea to escape from the forthcoming wind and initially we anchored in the Bay De Citron but this still proved pretty lively - a couple of trips into shore left us soaked so we headed back in the Port Moselle Marina for the weekend... 

A wonderful few days in the Bay of Prony with Barry and Wayne visiting hot pools (well, tepid!), walking up to the lighthouse, exploring the mangroves and walking to a waterfall...

Back to Grand Terre to escape the wind. We struggled to set our anchor safely in the Bay of Prony and so spent a couple of nights on the edges of the bay with brief forays ashore to get covered in red sand that does not come off!!! We would not look out of place in Cardiff on a Saturday night - fake tan has nothing on this stuff... And we were joined by Wayne and Barry of Nautibuoy who we first met in Lenakel. We paid for a meal there since we only had an enormous note and nobody in the village had change so they made good on their promise to reciprocate and came prepared with French wine and cheese. We had a hilarious evening - great food and company - I can't remember laughing so much in years and it would appear we drank most of their restocked wine store...

The 4th saw us head further south again to a group of 5 tiny islands - we anchored off Ilot Ua. I think this has been my favourite place so far... White sand beaches, ospreys, turtles and a tern colony. Harry spent his time off in a kayak with the camera and his patience was rewarded with some incredible photographs of ospreys and terns - sadly I can't transfer them to the iPad as yet.

Two nights here before we had to head north again back to Grand Terre before the forecaste strong winds hit us...

Mato is a small island sat on the edge of an almost complete circle of reef with a white sandy bottom and incredibly clear water. We stayed 3 or 4 days enjoying the wildlife, snorkelling and kayaking. We are beginning to realise that Ospreys are pretty common here but no less impressive for this. Mato had 5 in residence who spent all day riding the thermals off the island. Harry got some amazing photos by sitting patiently on the top of the island - getting up there was a little sobering given the number of sea snakes in residence. These are very poisonous but have little mouths so struggle to get a big bite of you?! How reassuring...

We spent several afternoons trying to get close to the reef sharks - initially with the outboard and then perfecting our technique with the kayaks... And whilst doing this we saw turtles at last!!! We think these were mainly Green Sea Turtles which we spotted from the kayaks, racing past us through the reef, but then managed to see whilst we were swimming too... They liked to hang out under neighbours boat so they would give Harry a heads up when the turtles appeared and he would take his kayak over there, getting in when the turtle came up for air.

The snorkelling here was good - though it's not as warm as Fiji (!) and we were lucky enough to experience one of those magical days whilst we were there when the wind dropped completely. It was so still and clear you couldn't tell where the sky met the sea and it looked as if the boats were floating in mid air with perfect mirror images... And so quiet... It lasted about 3 hours (and a flat battery in the camera throughout... Grrr)

Noumea and a stay in the marina was fun for a few days. Tony managed to fix the water maker without outside intervention (another blown capacitor for which we now know the term in French?!)  and we have eaten some delicious croissants and pastries. Harry and I at last managed to track down a bird book for this region and spent a wonderful afternoon in a bookshop - how interesting that we enjoyed it so much despite our limited French! We also found a hammock but have yet to find a place to put it up but it's been high on our 'would love' list - we have very limited longing options despite the size of the boat! The bird book is of course also in French so we bought an English-French dictionary too - great homework for H. Other highlights have been the wonderful fruit and veg and market on the dock and the hexagonal coffee bar in the middle with perch stools - I could have sat there all day people watching. I also love French supermarkets... There is just enough that's different about them to make them interesting so another happy afternoon there and some much welcome variation in our diet - everything is available here (at a price!) Harry and I completely failed to  get Tony into a French restaurant to try snails (which we love) but the challenge is still on.

We would ideally have left Noumea on Saturday but failed to grasp it was a public holiday (with a very noisy band playing all day at the restaurant in the marina) and so couldn't  leave until Monday when we travelled towards the south of the main island, Grand Terre, finding that elusive flat anchorage at last, obligingly inhabited by a couple of osprey. Yesterday we sailed south again - heading for Ilot Mato but changing our plans on the way due to stronger than expected winds and coming into a tucked in spot on Ile Ouen where we are currently anchored. We saw 4 whales on the trip (or one fast moving one???) and Harry thinks they were humpbacks. Whatever, they are incredible to see but always seem to make an appearance when we need to tack or hit a reef?!


Impressive rich orange sand and soil still prevail here (no doubt related to the nickel mines locally) but we are searching for those white sand bays for some snorkelling and so the plan is to continue on today.

An amazing week spent on Tanna, Vanuatu and very different from Fiji. It was definitely worth the detour. We had a peaceful day exploring Lenakel, buying some fruit and veg at the market, finally tracking down some postcards (it's on it's way Lily!!) and exploring the town, which although it's the biggest conurbation on Tanna, is still only a village really. Drinking tea/coffee in the market cafe that turned out to be both plus a complimentary peanut butter sandwich The roll in the anchorage finally got the better of us and we sailed round to the eastern side of the island to Port Resolution in search of more peaceful waters - no such luck, but by way of compensation the most beautiful spot we have anchored so far so we spent the rest of the week there.

We arrived on dark but were greeted the next morning by one of the local villagers paddling out to our boat in his pirogue (canoes hollowed out of tree trunks with outriggers and used for fishing) to show his daughter our boat and to bring us a pawpaw and some bananas. That afternoon we arranged to get a lift by 4x4 through the rainforest to the volcano where we then joined a small party, watched a ceremonial dance and received a blessing from the local chief before we were guided up. The explosions and ash cloud can be seen from all over the island but actually walking up to the lip of the crater was an incredible experience; the noise and smell and 'feel' of the explosions gave a sense of the enormous forces at work; shock waves were visible in the escaping clouds of ash and dust - it was more than a little terrifying for some?! ...and even more impressive after dark when the magma and rubble being spat into the air glowed, silhouetting those standing on the edge of the crater. After dark we walked back down and Harry posted his postcards at the only postbox in the world found on top of a live volcano with collections twice a day! Very surreal given this is the first postbox we have seen since leaving the UK...

The rest of the week was spent roaming the local countryside, beaches and village. We spent three mornings in at the local school trying to help the Head with problems he was experiencing with his solar panels (diagnosed successfully but sadly in need of new batteries) and the computers bought for the school by the Rotary Club. Tony also rigged up lights for his family's hut in the grounds where he and his wife live with their five kids in two rooms - these hadn't worked for the last 6 months. We saw little of Harry on these mornings who spent the time being lead round by their 3 year old (who thought he was amazing), climbing trees and partaking in throwing battles using fruit the smaller kids supplied for the bigger from up in the trees. He commented the language barrier didn't seem to matter and was impressively hot and filthy by the time we got back to the boat. We also received a request for a birthday cake for the daughter of another villager who visited by pirogue and our plastic box (i didn't rate the cake's chances of survival in the bottom of the pirogue) was returned full of vegetables.

We spent one afternoon lounging in the natural hot pool on the edge of the beach where hot steam vents at low time. A group of local kids brought us a heap of fresh limes they had picked and when we asked if they knew where we could find a track we had heard of leading up to the top of the bluff, four sisters showed us the way. The track lead to an area rich in steam vents and where pigmented clay is collected and used for traditional face painting. We were all suitably painted for the scramble back down. Other natural highlights were the amazing Banyan trees, an osprey and a peregrine and being followed in the 4x4 by a barn owl on the way back from the volcano but, best of all, an enormous whale breaching not 100m from us with the volcano in the background! Honest!!! I was too awestruck to get a photo... I haven't had to think too hard about the huge webs strung between trees in the forests...

This place is another world from home. People have very little by way of possessions (we find ourselves giving away previously cherished things which seem as if they will be far more appreciated here) and the village has no electricity but it is hard to imagine a friendlier place. The huts are thatched and the walls largely made of palms. Everywhere was beautifully kept and cared for, right down to the pens we would stumble on walking in the surrounding rainforest where pigs are reared and actually walked barefoot most places, even through the forests, the tracks are so well cared for (my poor sandals have a limited number of miles left in them; repeated repairs are failing faster!). We joined a couple from another boat for a meal in the village on our last night and ate vegetables, rice, pawpaw, kassava and chicken (Vanuatan chickens and lean and mean but delicious gravy?!) by torch light, all cooked for us by Sarah one of the villagers.

So it was sad leaving Tanna/Vanuata behind - I would have loved to have traveled further north. The last three days and two nights have been another ocean passage and we are now sat in a marina in New Caledonia waiting for clearance by Customs but I can already tell it's a very different place again. There are buildings for a start (!), it's busy and a French feel pervades even from the dock... We hear rumour of wifi and French patisseries and wine which couldn't be further from our experience of our last stop (we've also been warned of the costs so it's a short marina stay!!). This was a very different passage from our first - I was only sick once (but slept it off in 4 hours and was able to do my share of the night watches) and Harry not at all!! The first day and night were a wonderful sail - Harry was able to work and I WON AT SCRABBLE!!!!!! ...but the rest was done under motor with the wind either non-existent or head on. So we have arrived in New Caledonia, safe and sound with promises of turtles!!! And NO ROLL IN THE MARINA!!!!! Hallelujah!!!!!

We survived!! ...covering the 480 miles from Fiji to Tanna in Vanuatu in 50 hours - that's a pretty impressive rate by anyone's standard! Tony describes it as one of the most 'vigorous' ocean passages he has ever made which made Harry and I feel slightly better for the fact that we v+++++ (to use veterinary notation) for the first 12 hours after leaving the security of Fiji's reefs and then felt pretty ropy for the next 24. Tony was amazing emptying buckets, supplying dry clothes (there was alot of spray about and we all slept in the cockpit for two nights; going below was ill advised - with immediate and spectacular effect) plus the small task of sailing and keeping us on course. That said it was a truly extraordinary experience to be alone on the ocean - time for example seemed to take on a different meaning. It was beautiful, particularly at night and events like the appearance of a bird took on such significance. Reflecting on it today, Harry was amazed we weren't bored and also pointed out that he lost his fears almost immediately (both of us were more than a little anxious starting out,if up for the challenge). My own feelings are much the same. Our little boat (and it did look very tiny - we didn't seen another sign of human life the entire passage) ploughed on through the waves regardless and we really felt very secure even as it tossed and turned. Perhaps we were too preoccupied with the mental task of how to stop our intestines everting... Never downplay the role of a good displacement activity. But coming into a brightly moonlit, deserted anchorage loomed over by a smoking volcano, where all we could hear was the crashing of tube waves onto the beach alongside was magical and unforgettable and we wouldn't have missed it for the world.


So its just as well we are full of post passage bonhomie because this is proving to be the roughest anchorage ever! ...and since its Sunday we are restricted to the boat flying our yellow quarantine flag until we clear customs and immigration tomorrow. So meanwhile our thoughts have turned to what we are missing and as a result Tony is in the galley conducting the great crisp experiment (yep folks, boiling oil whilst both sides of the boat take turns dipping into the sea). The results however are awesome in the true sense of the word!! They are better than Walkers - hot and crunchy - photos will follow but not until we are back in the world of 3G. Until then we will to put on a film, then its off to find a volcano...

Well we've been in Vuda Marina all this time but finally off today!! The windlass gearbox is reinstalled. We have reprovisioned - lots of stuff packed away in the freezer. Water and fuel tanks are full. Harry's maths book has at last arrived from England and he and I have had lots of boat related lessons. The boat is (temporarily!) clean... So we are off to Vanuatu - specifically the island of Tanna with its very impressive volcano... We are so pleased to be out of the marina!! It has been hot, breezless and expensive?!... I hope we're still saying that in 48 hours time! We are currently motoring in windless conditions but this is set to change with a forecast rapid passage - we shall see.

Hope the return to school is proving fun... K, H and T x

Current location - a few miles off Vuda Point...

We returned to The Blue Lagoon via Sawa-i-Lau on Friday and were so glad we had sat out the winds to do so. We swam in the limestone cave there, diving through to a second hidden chamber which had my heart racing - Harry didn't blink... It was very dark in there - it was only on our return, when our eyes had adapted, that we could see the exit at all and what we had swam through on the way in. The flash photos I took don't do justice to how beautiful the walls were. Great echo too!

We then revisited the bays and beaches of our previous visit since it was such a magical place - motoring the dinghy up to the ocean inlet then drifting back down on the current snorkelling behind it. At one point Harry launched back into it at an impressive pace and without the help of a rope step, having seen a Feathertail s

Stingray peacefully snoozing under a rock. Another highlight was to see a shoal of seemingly thousands of tiny fish break the surface jumping in a leaping and glittery cloud, only to be followed by a shoal of airborne bigger ones... It's a fish eat fish world down there.

Meanwhile back at the Blue Lagoon the windlass that allows us to raise and lower the anchor jammed as we were attempting to anchor. Unjamming it then revealed an oil leak from the gearbox associated with it which is a major issue given the anchor is a pretty critical bit of kit. Spent a happy hour washing the oil off the contents of the locker but not as happy as Tony's; wedged inside the locker trying to diagnose where it was all coming from... So! Another change of plan and a quick one hit trip back to Vuda Point on the main land today - our closest marina. We don't know how many more anchor manoeuvres are left in the gearbox - 80m is a lot of chain to raise by hand?! So a maintenance day yesterday, changing the oil and oil filter on the engine ready for a 5:30am start today to get back to Vuda at 3 ish at high tide - we get stuck in the entrance otherwise. Today has been a great opportunity to actually sail and put into practice the things Harry and I have been learning about points of sail, trimming and practice at the helm.

Yesterday's high point was a great snorkel. We watched gobi and pistol shrimp pairs/partnerships - they were very hard to catch on film but we did try! As ever YouTube is more impressive... The shrimp of the pair digs a tunnel for them both to use and maintains it, keeping it clear and but they are blind and rely on their gobi partners to let them know when predators are around. The gobi also gets scraps of food from the shrimp's catch. We also crossed Banded Sea Snakes off our twitchers (??? What are fish watchers called???) list.

Tuesday we motored up to Sawa-i-Lau in the hopes of visiting a limestone cave there but, arriving in the afternoon, we discovered it is closed up at 12. What a beautiful coastline though - the most picturesque place we have visited so far, with undercut jagged limestone cliffs and amazing blue water so we explored the bay and tiny secret beaches by dinghy for a while watching the fishing antics of what Harry and I think are terns. We then continued up the coast of the last island of the northern Yasawa group to try to avoid the worst of the strong winds forecast. We've not been entirely successful?! Yesterday saw us pretty much boat bound by a reluctance to get drenched setting the dinghy in the water so lots of cleaning and some lessons plus the baking of a birthday cake - given the roll we had on this is not a feat to be sniffed at...

...and today... HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!! So FaceTime chats this morning (so relieved the service is adequate - it's been so hit and miss) and bacon sandwiches (the last of the bacon), then beach combing and snorkelling and swimming since still tied down by the wind but today was sunny enough not to mind getting soaked in the dinghy getting onto the land. We are planning to make a break for it tomorrow when the wind is due to die a little. The plan is to head back for the main island over a couple of days since supplies are running very low, re-provision and then head for New Caledonia when the weather is nice and settled... Sausages for tea - Harry's request from our increasingly limited larder... Last of those too...

Friday saw us sailing/motoring up to the Blue Lagoon (location for the Brook Shields film of the same name) just east of Matacawa Levu Island. We were followed away from Somasoma by the island ferry which boded well for Tony's patch up of their engine. Arriving late afternoon, we anchored in the bay and took a walk along the beach - even on a grey day it's a beautiful place.

Saturday, out of all fresh supplies since the last shop we saw was 10 days ago, we took an exhilarating (read having to get the dinghy to plane as we headed into the oncoming wind to escape repeated soakings - but lots of soakings getting there) and risky (read can't see the reefs at all when there's cloud cover!!!! - so we're rowing off this then??) dinghy ride a couple of miles around the coast to a small farm we had been been told about by another boat... Pity they didn't mention the usefulness of waiting until high tide but that's all part of the challenge?! We made our way to the nearest (only!) hut we could see in the general location we had been given and were greeted by a woman who told us we were looking for her brother and she walked us through the valley to the area he farms. There he and his little boy cut us a selection of everything he grew... Lettuce and cucumber, tomatoes, a pumpkin, spinach, pak choi, and basil, coriander and mint. He showed us the damage the cyclone had done and explained that 8 months on he is just about back to normal but his boat is still out of commission and so he is no longer able to make the trip to surrounding islands to sell his crops but is now dependent on people travelling to him. Their little outpost here has one generator which runs a small fridge but otherwise they exist without any electricity, growing the limited crops that grow well in this environment and rearing a a couple of pigs and cattle. Fascinating seeing/being told about how others live.

With a bag bursting with fresh veg we made our way back to the dinghy being warned to be very vigilant for the juvenile stingrays that come into the bay on the rising tide. Now hyper-vigilant and more than a little anxious (we'd seen our host's scar from her last run in with a stingray) Tony jumped a mile when he almost stepped on a very impressive eel. He'd had a run in with the most enormous toad 20 minutes earlier - wildlife seems to seek him out?! Harry and I love such runs ins...Tony is less impressed but very tolerant of us trying to photograph all these amazing creatures (we sadly missed the toad).

Yesterday's (Sunday's) highlight was snorkelling - the reefs here are amazing (if you're not trying to avoid them in a yacht with a 2.7m draft, or get off them in your dinghy who's propeller doesn't appreciate them at all). We have ticked off so many species of fish on Harry's chart... Everywhere you look there is something different to see. Harry only wants to come in from the water when he is completely prune like or because we've sustained another scrape (these are so painful and don't heal well!). We also managed to FaceTime for reasonable lengths of time - so caught up with home. We haven't seen a single foreign paper for sale since we got here and the Fijian national paper has only a half column for international issues. For example it has made no reference to the Olympic results for any sport other than the 7 the Fijians partook in and no TV anywhere so we have no idea what is going on out there...

Today (Monday) has been spent pouring over maps and charts and planning our itinerary for the next few days given the forthcoming weather (windy), investigating our ongoing battery issues (good physics lesson!!), and thinking what I can do with a bag full of pak choi... Cooking what I've got is proving - interesting!

Sunday and Monday nights were spent moored off Waya Island savouring the peace and spending the day in between contemplating how to recover our back up anchor which we had deployed to try and stop the ridiculous roll we were experiencing... This worked a treat and we had a much 'flatter' night but the assumed plan for retrieval proved inadequate (it's a beast of an anchor!!)... A day of thinking, some trial and error and some impressive deep diving from Harry and Tony saw it safely back on board just for the cost of an extra night on Waya... not too high a price...

Then off to Naviti where we again moored off shore this time in the bay of the little village Somasoma (300 inhabitants). We arrived late on Monday afternoon and Harry and I kayaked onto the island where we met Bau, one of the local women, fishing. She showed us what she had caught and then walked along the beach with us, showing us how to catch the crabs that dig holes into the sand. So we crab spotted for her and helped her collect shells (a major source of income selling these to the cruise ship passengers that visit once a week) whilst she told us about village life, what she spends her time doing and the difficulties associated with being a single mum in Fiji. As a result of our chat she invited us for breakfast on Wednesday. We were first taken to the Chief's house where we were invited in by her family. We sat crossed legged on the floor whilst we presented the Kava we had bought with us (dried roots which we had been advised to bring for just such occasions and which we bought at the market in Nadi - the roots are ground to make a drink which is used for ceremonial and social purposes and sends your lips numb?!) and were blessed by the Chief in return. After this we were told we were welcome to stay in the bay, walk around, fish, snorkel etc. The Chief of this particular village is a woman and 90 years old - four generations of the family live in the same tin hut. We then went back to Bau's house where again we were welcomed in (barefoot) and introduced to her son and mother with much handshaking. We sat crossed legged around a cloth on the floor whilst we were served tea and food she had cooked for us - served up in bowls which we ate with our fingers whilst watched by the family. In the background a US evangelical church service playing on the DVD though it was so scratched as to be pretty much unwatchable. Still, the TV was a recent acquisition and a source of much pride and a huge financial toll on Bau who travels to the mainland once a week to make repayments on it. The food was delicious but very rich; rotis, laced with coconut, rice and curried potatoes and noodles with shredded beef. A very strange experience being watched as we ate but unforgettable and I felt very humble to be made so welcome and treated so generously. We had taken along several coats (given the recent rain!!!) and a snorkel mask by way of gifts but went back this morning with some DVDs for Peceli her 8 year old son.

So the plan today was to move on again but just as we were raising the anchor the village's boat (it is actually shared between three of the local villages) limped up along side after passing by earlier this morning - Tony was asked if he would come aboard and look at their engine since it was overheating and the only mechanic to the three villages was away on the mainland. It was made apparent just how important the boat is to the community - it was absolutely crammed with villagers taking their cash of seaweed to the weekly market on the mainline - no boat, no income this week to the village and no money for flour etc. We had made a donation to the Chief the preceding day but the book showed we were the only people to have visited in August and since the cyclone last year, the major cash crop for the island, coconuts, have been in short supply. So today was spent down in the bowels of the island's boat with Tony fixing the leaking cooling system on what turns out to be an Australian bulldozer engine ingeniously shoehorned into a boat. Whilst waiting for the system to drain of water and engineering patches out of whatever could be found lying around the boat, we watched the complicated comings and goings as everyone was shuttled back to the island or off to the mainland with the seaweed in sack carriers woven from the local plants, drank tea and ate crackers before coming back to our own boat to start on our malfunctioning data displays... Tony's had a busy day! So a change of plans for today. We'll stay another night....

Lovely to hear from you all!!!

We finally made it out of Vuda Point on Friday and spent Friday and Saturday nights moored off Vomo Island - a northern outposts of the Mamanucas. It's an island with a high ridge which we climbed on Saturday (no footpaths off course and very steep on the descent?!) but the views from the top were worth it. You can just see the boat in the panoramic shot I took from the top. Its home to a very upmarket resort which is closed currently whilst it is further developed so we had the beaches to ourselves. It was beautifully quiet though the wind got up in the evening making for a roly night?! Tony slept in the cockpit for the first few hours concerned we may have to move...

By this morning all was peaceful again and Harry and I kayaked out to Vomo Lailai ('Little Vomo' - an uninhabited island next door) before breakfast.

The snorkelling around the reefs of this island has been wonderful - the water is so clear. We've seen tiger triggerfish, parrotfish, cornet fish amongst the many and this morning an 'oriental sweet lips'?! Still struggling with our non-user friendly bird book...

Now on our way back to the Yasawas as per our original plan...

Well a slightly frustrating week! It has rained and rained since the weekend - stopping at last yesterday. The sea has looked alarmingly grey... The weather has made us slightly reluctant to head out for the islands again since it makes it almost impossible to spot reefs hidden just beneath the surface - we met someone last week who thought he's was well clear of those charted only to run up on one at huge expense... So better to be patient and wait for good weather and hence visibility...

So we saw Jonathan and Terese off on Monday after spending the preceding night in a hotel in Nandi and going to see 'the Hunt for the Wilderpeople' at the local cinema - what a wonderful film!!! ...very Kiwi and definitely worth will make you see why you need to come and visit us in NZ?!

Other highlights of the rainy days have been watching the Olympic Rugby 7s with 30 Fijians (very entertaining!). Cooking in the new slow cooker which is great. Making our own bread and yogurt....

...and the fixing of the generator!!!! Yayyyy!!!! ...I'm glad we aren't reliant on my input or we would never leave the marina but thankfully we have a Williams on board... That said, Harry and I now know an impressive amount about capacitors, fuelled by the imperative to get out the marina and back out to the beautiful islands. School will be proud of us... Anyway the islands beckon today at last.

I've spent the last few days reprovisioning around the repeated frustrations of dealing with Vodafone. We have been out of data (hence no updates) and it has taken three seperate trips into the local town to finally resolve this. Unfortunately we need it for our navigation software so we haven't been able to go anywhere without it - but this morning has proved successful at last. So hopefully we will be off at high tide this afternoon stocked up with food and diesel and gas and with the capacity to make our own fresh water again... So hopefully some more exciting updates soon.

Well the sausages were excellent and we spent the rest of today discovering why pigs are so contented and have no wrinkles...

Well the sausages were excellent and we spent the rest of today discovering why pigs are so contented and have no wrinkles...

Yesterday Harry, Jonathan, Terese and I left Tony upside down in a locker under Harry's bed investigating the generator whilst we went into Lautoka. The bus rides were as much of the enjoyment as visiting the town... FIjians are BIG people - they need bigger buses but so friendly and smiley!! You drag your way up onto an apparently full bus to think there is not a chance of squeezing on to be greeted by grinning faces saying there's loads of room and everyone scootches up... They are open sided and so you get a wonderful breeze (although at the cost of dust) and there is lots to see... No bus goes direct so you travel round all the local communities. Sugar cane is being harvested at the moment and transported via narrow gauge rails or improbably loaded lorries across the island into Lautoka to the refinery there. The smell of molasses is so strong as you travel through the dock area.

The town itself was hot and busy - a strange mix of cheap Chinese imports and the strong impact from the large Indian community so amazing fabrics and some great looking street food but we are all still a little shy (lettuce is indeed the work of the devil, Hen - you did say). The highlight was the amazing market... The fish inparticlular were beautiful and the man selling the crabs and octopus was charming and hilarious - wonderful talking to him and Harry took great photos.

We eventually got back to the boat to find Tony had managed to locate the problem in the generator to capacitors that had blown. He'd then been driven round the countryside by a lovely taxi driver sourcing replacements - mission pretty much successful although some modification will be required (par for the course I'm beginning to realise!!).

We ate at the restaurant in the Marina last night to the accompaniment of some great live music again and then I finally succeeded in downloading a bird book for the South Pacific region - yayyyy!!!!!! Harry and I can now put names to some of the great birds we've seen. First on our list is what we think must be a little kingfisher. We even managed to photograph it!

This morning Harry and I have washed the whole deck area free of salt and we are all now sat here listening to radio blogs whilst we wait for an enormous cooked breakfast that Tony is concocting. Thank you for your messages!!! Sorry to back up Hen's world view Claire but I'm with him... Meanwhile we naturally swayed to your advice Celia and as you can read, it has worked! ...off to eat sausages... ?

Yesterday Harry, Jonathan, Terese and I left Tony upside down in a locker under Harry's bed investigating the generator whilst we went into Lautoka. The bus rides were as much of the enjoyment as visiting the town... FIjians are BIG people - they need bigger buses but so friendly and smiley!! You drag your way up onto an apparently full bus to think there is not a chance of squeezing on to be greeted by grinning faces saying there's loads of room and everyone scootches up... They are open sided and so you get a wonderful breeze (although at the cost of dust) and there is lots to see... No bus goes direct so you travel round all the local communities. Sugar cane is being harvested at the moment and transported via narrow gauge rails or improbably loaded lorries across the island into Lautoka to the refinery there. The smell of molasses is so strong as you travel through the dock area.

The town itself was hot and busy - a strange mix of cheap Chinese imports and the strong impact from the large Indian community so amazing fabrics and some great looking street food but we are all still a little shy (lettuce is indeed the work of the devil, Hen - you did say). The highlight was the amazing market... The fish inparticlular were beautiful and the man selling the crabs and octopus was charming and hilarious - wonderful talking to him and Harry took great photos.

We eventually got back to the boat to find Tony had managed to locate the problem in the generator to capacitors that had blown. He'd then been driven round the countryside by a lovely taxi driver sourcing replacements - mission pretty much successful although some modification will be required (par for the course I'm beginning to realise!!).

We ate at the restaurant in the Marina last night to the accompaniment of some great live music again and then I finally succeeded in downloading a bird book for the South Pacific region - yayyyy!!!!!! Harry and I can now put names to some of the great birds we've seen. First on our list is what we think must be a little kingfisher. We even managed to photograph it!

This morning Harry and I have washed the whole deck area free of salt and we are all now sat here listening to radio blogs whilst we wait for an enormous cooked breakfast that Tony is concocting. Thank you for your messages!!! Sorry to back up Hen's world view Claire but I'm with him... Meanwhile we naturally swayed to your advice Celia and as you can read, it has worked! ...off to eat sausages... 😀

Yesterday Harry, Jonathan, Terese and I left Tony upside down in a locker under Harry's bed investigating the generator whilst we went into Lautoka. The bus rides were as much of the enjoyment as visiting the town... FIjians are BIG people - they need bigger buses but so friendly and smiley!! You drag your way up onto an apparently full bus to think there is not a chance of squeezing on to be greeted by grinning faces saying there's loads of room and everyone scootches up... They are open sided and so you get a wonderful breeze (although at the cost of dust) and there is lots to see... No bus goes direct so you travel round all the local communities. Sugar cane is being harvested at the moment and transported via narrow gauge rails or improbably loaded lorries across the island into Lautoka to the refinery there. The smell of molasses is so strong as you travel through the dock area.

The town itself was hot and busy - a strange mix of cheap Chinese imports and the strong impact from the large Indian community so amazing fabrics and some great looking street food but we are all still a little shy (lettuce is indeed the work of the devil, Hen - you did say). The highlight was the amazing market... The fish inparticlular were beautiful and the man selling the crabs and octopus was charming and hilarious - wonderful talking to him and Harry took great photos.

We eventually got back to the boat to find Tony had managed to locate the problem in the generator to capacitors that had blown. He'd then been driven round the countryside by a lovely taxi driver sourcing replacements - mission pretty much successful although some modification will be required (par for the course I'm beginning to realise!!).

We ate at the restaurant in the Marina last night to the accompaniment of some great live music again and then I finally succeeded in downloading a bird book for the South Pacific region - yayyyy!!!!!! Harry and I can now put names to some of the great birds we've seen. First on our list is what we think must be a little kingfisher. We even managed to photograph it!

This morning Harry and I have washed the whole deck area free of salt and we are all now sat here listening to radio blogs whilst we wait for an enormous cooked breakfast that Tony is concocting. Thank you for your messages!!! Sorry to back up Hen's world view Claire but I'm with him... Meanwhile we naturally swayed to your advice Celia and as you can read, it has worked! ...off to eat sausages... 😀

Our behaviour has not improved at all!! Our only excuse is that Fiji time is a real phenomenon?! It is!! Honestly!!!

Jonathan and Terese arrived just as planned a week ago - it seemed quite remarkable getting off a crowded and dusty bus at the airport in Nandi, on the other side of the world, to see Terese's huge smile. After a great meal out at Denerau marina and reprovisioning at the local market we headed out initially back to Musket Cove for a few days whilst T&J found their feet (and in truth waiting to hear a live band on Sunday night) and then on through the Mamanuca islands into the Yasawas...

Well! it was all going so well... Problem One: a non-functioning generator (so no water making capacity)... Two: presumably inadequately washed lettuce... Three: we have been SOooooo ill!!!! All of us... Spectacularly... I am relieved to say we have not killed off our guests and they will survive to make it back to Monmouth. Meanwhile we have changed our plans and are, as I write, heading back to the main island to fill up with water and try and resolve our generator issues, but wow have we had an amazing day today to compensate for the last few. Full of the joy of still being alive, we were up at 6:30am and out in the dingy off Drawaqa Island just south of Naviti in the Southern Yasawas in the hope of swimming with Manta Rays... And we did!!!! It was absolutely amazing... Such huge graceful creatures and reassuringly plankton feeders... As good as vegetarian despite their 2-3m span.

We have also seen our first dolphins today and what looked suspiciously like a shark fin (shortly after ditching some mince over the side - we are strangely reticent on the food front). Our shark charming skills are a top tip to remember... a short sharp encounter with a shark would have been a blessing in disguise in the early hours of Tuesday morning. But all is now well and given I have at last mastered this website plus the capacity to add photos - we will be more diligent I promise. Thank you for your messages - it is so lovely to hear from you! Please keep saying Hi!!

We've been *really* bad! We haven't written an update to our log page in a loooooong time!! Apologies to everyone who's curious. We've finally got ourselves organised enough to get access to the Internet so here's a quick catchup... We cleared customs with any difficulty except perhaps the very real danger of drowning in paperwork, then scooted over to Denerau Marina where we were united with Kate and Harry who'd been waiting patiently for 5 days for us to arrive! (We were much later getting away from NZ than I originally hoped!) and since then we've visited an engineering shop and had the autopilot rebuilt, and zipped back and forth over to Musket Cove - a gentle sail to help K and H find their sea legs. It's swelteringly hot so we've snorkled on the bazillion reefs, hung-out at Cloud 9, a thatched roof bar/restaurant built on piles sticking out of the top of a coral reef in the middle of a vast expanse of water, swum in the pool at the Musket Cove resort and enjoyed the live bands and evening BBQs for the hotel guests! So, all things considered, it's been pretty idyllic! Mike left us once we arrived at Denerau Marina, but Blake and Hannah have been cruising around with us although they fly home tomorrow. (Don't envy them the transition back to cold Queenstown!) Then Therese and Jonathan (who are presently on a round-the-world trip) join us for a week or so on Thursday! So we've got a little cleaning up to do before they get here. Although it's soooooo hot... Maybe we'll just go snorkelling :-)

We arrived at Navula Pass, just outside the Western end of Viti Levu, last night at 8pm or thereabouts. 1165 nautical miles, according to our ship's log. Great conditions for getting through the narrow entrance - 15 kts from the SSE, very little swell, 1m wind waves - and entered the protected waters inside the reef. We were followed through by Sweet Water who's been sailing within sight all day. The calm waters inside the reef were a welcome change and as we sailed up to Vuda Point, we ate meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, and vegetables. Luxury of luxuries, we didn't have the ocean swell always threatening to spill our dinner in our laps! Finally anchored at Vuda Point around 10pm. A few celebratory rum and cokes left us all pretty comatose and we slept like the dead. Unfortunately, at 5am this morning, the VHF radio came to life with a Mayday message from a boat called Serenity who'd run up on a nearby reef only 4 miles from our position - very sobering. For the moment we're waiting for the Fiji authorities to come out and clear us, cleaning up the boat and doing laundry. Really ready to relax and get into Island Time :-)

Well, as sun rose this morning we finally saw land on the horizon! Quite a relief :-) We awoke to find ourselves 50 miles off Cape Washington, the Westernmost point on the Southern Fijian island of Kadavu. The wind died in the night so now we're motoring again, with 60 miles - 9 hours at our present speed - to Navula Pass. So 7pm arrival or thereabouts. Close to full moon so hopefully making our way through the pass in the dark won't be too difficult - although I remember the last time I sailed through the pass, also in the dark, the key navigation lights weren't working! (Someone had stolen the solar panels that keep them going!) Then it's another 3 hours or so to Vuda Point where we'll anchor for the night, flying our "Quarantine" flag, announcing to the authorities that we need to be cleared-into the country. Apparently we can call the nearby marina on the radio from 7:30am to request a visit by the authorities, who will come out to us in due course. The cruising guide says not to expect them to hurry! Bit fed up of the noise of the engine and its really *hot* now! Tuned-in to Gulf Harbour Radio last night with wonderful, clear reception. We hadn't been able to listen in since we left Gulf Harbour, but now we're here, it's great to hear all the boats in the area checking-in. Apparently, one boat - Sweet Waters - is right next door to us but we haven't seen any sign of them.

The trade winds have set-in, lovely 10-15 knot breeze from the SSE, with a little swell still that has us rolling around a little. We're making 7-8 kts on a direct course for Navula Pass, the entrance into the protected waters to the West of Fiji. However conditions are pretty variable so who knows how long it'll last? Still, we had a beautiful day under spinnaker yesterday, a very relaxed night with jib and main (watched another episode of Game Of Thrones!), then back to spinnaker this morning. We had hoped we might arrive early enough on Monday to clear-in with Fiji Customs, but it's looking like we'll arrive in the evening sometime. So we'll spend the night anchored in the quarantine area outside Vuda Point Marina until Tuesday morning, meet the authorities, then it's an hour down to Denerau Marina and the official end of our journey from New Zealand! It's *SO* warm now, with the sun almost unbearble. All the fleeces are long gone, and we're all wearing shorts and T-shirts and slathering on sun-screen. So can't complain :-)

383 miles to Navula Pass, the entrance through the reef at the South West corner of Fiji's southern island, Viti Levu. A mildly frustrating night - at about 4pm we had wind from due South at 10-15 kts as forecast. Almost perfect you'd think, given that Fiji is due North of us. But being unable to sail with the wind coming from dead astern we have to steer away 30 to 40 degrees. Given the relatively light winds, and the zig-zag course, our progress towards Fiji really slowed. So we gave up sailing, switched-on the engine and have been making 6-7 kts on the direct line to Fiji instead! At this pace we should arrive Monday night or Tuesday morning. Such a shame not being able to sail as the conditions are idyllic. Instead, the noise of the engine really grates, and the mainsail is slatting and banging... Tomorrow the wind is expected to come around more to the East so hopefully with the help of the spinnaker we can make good progress towards our destination without all the racket. On the positive side, I managed to convince the crew to forgo sushi for breakfast this morning and I made bacon, eggs, hashed browns, beans, hot coffee and crumpets. So happy days...

Blimey - been all or nothing so far this trip! Wild ride out of the BoI on Day 1, motoring 18 hours through calms (although the sea-state was anything but calm) for Day 2, then 20-25kts from the West for Day 3 opposing the Easterly swell to create steep, confused seas. Then last night at about 6pm the forecast front blew through with winds gusting up to 30kts before abruptly turning to the South and becoming variable in strength and direction. Several reefs applied well in advance, and with the wind from astern we settled-in for a night of shortened watches, manual steering and lots of focus. Still, we've made excellent progress and caught a Yellow Fin Tuna and a Mahi Mahi. I've never been one for sushi for breakfast, but apparently I'm in the minority. Felt slightly queasy watching everyone dipping their raw tuna into soy sauce and wasabi as I munched on a bowl of muesli! For now, the wind has dialled back to about 12 kts from the south and the sea state is approaching comfortable. We've all had hot showers, a big breakfast, and we're contemplating breaking out the Code 0. All talk so far, no action on that score yet...

We departed Opua Marina yesterday at about 10:30am having cleared customs, filled up with diesel and checked the fine details of Bob McDavitt's weather forecast for the 20th time. We exited the BoI into 25-25kts from the East - ideal progress-making weather, except for the accompanying 4m swells. A bit uncomfortable and feeling a bit queasy, we carried full sail on the beam and rocketed North touching 12.5kts all day and into the evening when we put the first reef in. This slowed us down to 9-10kts and fortunately the swells started to lessen, as did the breeze, and we sailed through the night in 15-20kts. All a bit vigorous! Our 24 hour run distance was 194 miles - but there wasn't much sleep to be had :( This morning we're motoring through near calms and 1-2m swells, while I've spent the day in the bottom of a particularly unpleasant cockpit locker repairing our exhausted autopilot. Have it jury-rigged now - just hope it lasts until Fiji - looks like we need a replacement part :-( But everyone is well and we're down to 840 miles to go

Looks like we're all good for a tomorrow morning departure. Weather actually looks perfect except for some residual swell left over from the storm that blew through yesterday / last night. But it's dissipating, and the winds are forecast to me from the south for the enitire trip - mostly 15 kts, but a blip up to 25 kts with a passing front in a couple of days time. On the whole, couldn't be better, so let's hope the forecasters do a better job than I usually credit them with! :-) Been fairly frustrating waiting around another day but have been practising knots and can now tie the fabled Prussic climbing knot - handy if I have to climb the mast underway and no one else will go!

Well, due to extreme swell conditions north of NZ left behind by the most recent passing front, we've decided to delay our departure from Opua by another 24 hours! Sigh! See the pictures below to get a sense of the difference a day makes. We spent the day getting our acts together, storing the last of the equipment away and cooking-up food for the passage, then decided to wait. So out came the deck of cards and the we decided to investigate the slightly misbehaving head after all :-( Hopefully all good for a Tuesday morning departure... Watch this space!

Well, we had a few rainy days here in Opua marina but we've managed to replace our mainsheet, reprovision and take care of the last of our paperwork. The weather forecast is improving for a Monday departure albeit with a vigorous first 24 hours. We'll receive an updated trip weather forecast from Bob McDavitt tomorrow (Sunday) evening and barring any unexpected developments, clear out first thing Monday morning! Quite excited and relieved to be moving-on. The boat on the next dock to us - Galacsea II - heading for Vanuatu is also leaving Monday so we may have company for a while :-)

Moved from Russell over to A-pier at Opua marina mid-afternoon, in driving rain and howling wind. Managed to tie up at the dock before the weather went really nuts! We've had dinner and a few drinks in the Opua Crusing Yacht Club and met the New Zealand Yanmar importer who knows Tangled Up - apparently he supplied the engine back when the boat was being built! Small world! (Well, small country!)

Tonight we're anchored outside Russell, expecting the weather to turn bad tonight - we're nicely sheltered from the NE so hopefully it'll be no trouble, but were tucked into the bay with loads of other boats, all closely packed, so let's hope we don't all swing about too wildly on our anchors tonight! Beautiful day spent wandering the grounds of Waitangi today, and then fish and chips in Opua before crossing the bay to Russell. Still hoping the weather's good for Monday...

Anchored in the Keri Keri inlet, outside the Cruising Club. Another windless but fabulous day exploring battleship rock, the black rocks and nearby beaches. Another still night tonight, and tomorrow, but tomorrow night it all turns to custard so we'll head into Russell to shelter and go shopping. Still waiting for favourable weather in the pacific - no sign of it happening any time soon :-(

It's been a wonderful - if windless - day in the BoI. We spent the day to Roberton Island, a nature preserve, in a bay that features on every book about the beauty of the New Zealand coastline. Went swimming, saw Dolphins, chatted with other boaties, made a great lunch and fixed a dodgy pump. Going to stay here overnight as there's still no wind. Very restful knowing that we can't go anywhere until our boat papers arrive (they were couriered to BoI marina today, apparently) but the weather up in the pacific is not good for several days yet - maybe the end of the week...

Well, we made it out of Marsden Cove marina and set off for the Poor Knights Islands - no wind, so 4 hours motoring - and had the most amazing time. Quite an incredible place. After a rolly night in a tenuous anchorage we left and motored up to the Bay Of Islands - another windless 4 hour motor - to shelter from tonight's front which blasts through around midnight. Caught a tuna and we're now cooking it up! We'll explore tomorrow and then head to BoI marina to see if our corrected paperwork had arrived and replenish our stores. Then we're just waiting for some favourable weather for the 1,100nm trip to Fiji!

After spending a second soggy, wet day at Kawau island we left this morning for points north, arriving at Marsden Point at 3pm in 25kts from the west. So we ducked into the marina for the night and will take off again in the morning for Opua.

Made it out of the marina! Yaayyyy! Didn't get far, but it's a beautiful evening here at Kawau Island tonight - perfectly still :-) We'll set off

north tomorrow destined for either Marsden Point or Opua. Feels like the trip to Fiji has begun

Waiting for some stable weather to set-off for Marsden Point or Opua. Awful weather here in Gulf Harbour Marina today. Hoping to leave tomorrow...

Gulf Harbour Marina, Auckland, waiting for a break in the weather to head north for Opua so we can clear out to Fiji. Bob McDavitt says: Not this week... Sigh!