What's New and What Isn't

What Isn’t:

➢   Complete a long and challenging passage to New Zealand from the tropics

Day 1, near Vanuatu

Day 7, near New Zealand
(900 miles farther from the equator,
and noticeably cooler!)

➢   Clear in with Customs, Immigration and Biosecurity officers

Being checked for carry-ons,
in the form of stray food or insects

➢   Make our way from Opua (in the Bay of Islands) down the coast to Whangarei 

In our multiple visits to this area,
we have stopped at most of these anchorages
(indicated by red circles)

Sheep!
Hiking on Urupukapuka Island,
we knew we were back in NZ

Living the dream

Aside from some lovely walks,
most of our time was spent  working on the boat
(sure was a lot of rust after all the water over the deck
during the passage--and yes,
it's very windy in this photo)

➢     Secure Second Wind for our long absence

Tying to a piling mooring,
assisted by friend (and veteran cruiser and delivery captain) Dave Berg

➢   Fly to the U.S. for holiday visits with family and friends 

➢   Return in January to Riverside Drive Marina in Whangarei NZ for maintenance, repairs and upgrades prior to next season’s voyages (when projects are as completed as can be, probably in April, they'll merit a blog post of their own)

What’s New:

➢   While in the States, post a blog of underwater photos taken this season (every year I think I'm going to get around to doing this, so it will be new this year if I actually get it done!)

➢   Start sailing back to the Pacific Northwest

Yes, it is time.

We will leave New Zealand for good and sail east to the Austral Islands, spending approximately May through November in French Polynesia. When the northern hemisphere hurricane season is past, we’ll sail to Hawaii. At this point our route home includes a detour to Alaska, arriving in Anacortes in the fall of 2020—keeping in mind that “cruising plans are written in sand at low tide”.

We will keep you posted!