As of 2016-11-24 02:00 UTC: We arrived at Marsden early this morning , cleared in and went up the river on the afternoon tide to Riverside marina in Whangarei, where we are now safely moored. We had a nice welcome from friends both at Marsden and Riverside. We sure do love New Zealand. This passage was unique in that we never had the wind on the beam or aft of the beam the entire trip.

As of 2016-11-23 15:00 UTC: We are zeroing in on Marsden and expect to arrive at the mouth of the river around dawn. We had a beautiful, placid motor down the coast. A large pod of dolphins welcomed us just south of a line on the same latitude as North Cape. We could see them making a beeline towards us from many directions. Some of the smaller dolphins leaped through the air right next to the boat. How thrilling! And we had another special treat just before sunset when we landed a 12 lb albacore tuna. A super end to a challenging, but excellent passage.

As of 2016-11-22 15:00 UTC: Had a wonderful day of sailing until about mid-day yesterday when we lost the wind and had to turn on the engine. The sky was a beautiful blue all day and the air temp very comfortable. The stars splashed across the sky overnight in a dazzling display. There is barely a ripple on the water and the phosphorescence in our bow wave is mesmorizing. What an unusually calm final approach to New Zealand. We decided to continue on to Marsden Cove and hope to be there early Thursday morning.

As of 2016-11-2021 15:00 UTC: We have been making good progress for the last 24 hours as the winds came up and backed. We’ve even had a favorable current at times. The skies cleared overnight and the southern cross is beckoning. Water temps are slowly dropping, but it is really incredibly pleasant. The waves built again and they created rough conditions earlier in the evening. The waves are now more well

As of 2016-11-20 15:00 UTC: The seas subsided and the winds backed nicely and we were able to sail with full hoist and jib during the day. The gentle motion allowed us to make a temporary fix to the autopilot. The wind died off early Sunday evening and clocked around so we were heading off toward Tasmania again. We’d also been contending with a .75-1.25 knot adverse current for most of the day, so we fired up the motor to head more south easterly to get out of the current (at least according to OSCAR). We’re hoping to sail again once we get south east enough to get out of the adverse current and the wind fills in.

As of 2016-11-19 15:00 UTC: Winds have backed around over the past 12 hours allowing us to make a better course to NZ. We had good wind all day and are able to make good progress as the seas come down. We had expected to be motoring on this leg of the trip, but the winds have continued to hold.

As of 2016-11-18 15:00 UTC: Continued to sail to the ESE with triple reefed main for most of the day as the seas and wind built (most we saw was 25 knots of wind). No squalls, though. Made the turn back to the SW this evening as the wind shifted to the SSE. Shook out a reef and are sailing slowly under double reefed main. We are curving a gradual arc toward NZ as the winds back around to the SE and E. We’re sailing slowly to avoid pounding into the big seas and because we’re steering toward Tasmania, rather than New Zealand (the winds are still too southerly). Autopilot failed early this afternoon. Ken spent several hours in the aft steering compartment looking at the autopilot brain (hard duty with the big seas, especially since he had to keep the hatch closed so it got pretty hot and stuffy in there). Ken thinks the problem may be due to a bad network cable fitting at the control box. We will try to rewire the box when the seas subside. We put the monitor wind vane back on and after a couple of hours of use that failed, too (gears decoupled). Beth hand steered for an hour and a half while Ken repaired the wind vane. Luckily he got it working again.

As of 2016-11-17 15:00 UTC: Low clouds developed during the day to the west, but then receded later in the day. Wind held all day and had very nice sailing under double reefed main and staysail. We're moving gradually to the ESE to get a better angle to NZ after the wind switches around to the SE late tomorrow or early Sat. No squalls today and wind has been very steady.Will be interesting to see what its like out here when the waves build on Friday. Caught a nice mahi late this afternoon so we slowed down for a couple of hours to land and clean him.

As of 2016-11-17 15:00 UTC: Low clouds developed during the day to the west, but then receded later in the day. Wind held all day and had very nice sailing under double reefed main and staysail. We're headed gradually to the ESE to get a better angle to NZ after the wind switches around to the SE late tomorrow or early Sat. No squalls today and wind has been very steady. Caught a nice mahi late this afternoon so we slowed down for a couple of hours to land and clean him.

As of 2016-11-16 15:00 UTC: Sunny skies today but big cloud banks developed during the day. Many squall cells overnight, some with heavy rain. Mix of motor sailing and sailing. Moving slowly to SE. Slight swell started to appear today and expect that to continue to build. Sailed by several round markers in the water Probably placed here by the fleet of fishing boats we passed by. Water cleared up and we were able to use the watermaker. Caught a little tuna late in the afternoon.

As of 2016-11-15 15:00 UTC: Another benign day with lots of sun, no waves, but also no wind. We sailed very slowly earlier in the day in 5 knots of wind, but wind has dropped off overnight so we're back to motoring. We went through some large areas of brown particulate matter for most of the day and are not sure if that is due to volcanic activity. It didn't look like pumice. The fish seemed to like it as we could see fish swimming around the boat. We tried to snag some, but no luck. We're still planning to head to around 22 south and then turn east if the winds shift to the south as predicted. We'll find a place to heave to once the waves/southerlies build and hope to continue to NZ after things settle down.

As of 2016-11-14 16:49 UTC: We left Port Vila early Monday morning and are slowly making our way SE. We had quite a variety of conditions as we left Port Vila but things settled down once we got away from the island. We're planning to head for a waypoint to the SE above 22 S where we'll hang out until about Saturday before continuing on to NZ. We're expecting headwinds and big seas later in the week so we'll heave to in a few days to let that go through. Conditions are beautiful

As of 2016-11-14 16:49 UTC: We left Port Vila early Monday morning and are slowly making our way SE. We had quite a variety of conditions as we left Port Vila but things settled down once we got away from the island. We're planning to head for a waypoint to the SE above 22 S where we'll hang out until about Saturday before continuing on to NZ. We're expecting headwinds and big seas later in the week so we'll heave to in a few days to let that go through. Conditions are beautiful

As of 2016-11-04 08:14 UTC: Arrived in Port Vila late this morning. Will look to leave for New Zealand after mid next week

As of 2016-11-03 15:00 UTC: On our way to Port Vila. Motoring slowly in light headwinds and minimal seas. Caught small tuna this afternoon.

As of 2016-11-02 05:14 UTC: Sailed to Malua Bay on NW side of Malakula Island. Will continue to Port Vila on Thurs.

As of 2016-10-29 08:00 UTC: Moved to Aore Island cross from Luganville.

As of 2016-10-28 10:08 UTC: Moved south to Aese Island this afternoon.

As of 2016-10-23 09:23 UTC: Moved up to Peterson Bay early this afternoon. Another beautiful anchorage.

As of 2016-10-22 08:45 UTC: Arrived Espiritu Santo this afternoon. Had some unexpected nice wind starting mid-morningl. We are in a beautiful spot off Aese Island and plan to move to Peterson Bay tomorrow.

As of 2016-10-21 21:00 UTC: Many squalls as we were leaving Port Vila. 1 - 1.5 knots adverse current for most of the trip so far (finally disappeared within last hour), so slow going. Had some stretches of nice sailing in benign seas. Motor sailing now with wind dead downwind.

As of 2016-10-20 20:00 UTC: Leaving today for Santo.

As of 2016-09-11 00:30 UTC: Moved from anchorage to a Yachting World mooring. Quaranatine anchorage very foul. Dragged our Rocna several times and got snagged trying to pull it up. Mooring much more comfortable. Port Vila very bustling. Great fresh market. Outstanding, giant grapefruit (like pamplemousse in Marquesas).

As of 2016-09-08 02:00 UTC: Arrived at Port Vila this afternoon. Big system came through late this afternoon and it did a nice job washing all the salt off the boat. Looking forward to exploring the town.

As of 2016-09-07 22:15 UTC: Underway to Port Vila and getting close. Hove to for a few hours this morning to time our arrival when we are both up. Few squalls on the trip. Wind all over the map strength wise from 10 to 32 to knots. Seas are a bit confused, but not too large (1-2 meters). Ken was able to get the monitor more operational so we using that exclusively. Autopilot will require power tools to fix.

As of 2016-09-06 19;17 UTC: Planning to leave Port Resolution today for Port Vila. Went up to volcano on Monday and it was amazing to see the volcano spewing out giant billows of blue, gray, white, and black plumes. Lots of fiery rock shooting up like fireworks. The guides wouldn't let anyone to the rim, as they were concerned about safety (volcano quite active that day). They do allow you to the rim if the activity is lower. They make a decision about which areas to open at 3 pm each day. Volcano trip costs: 2500 vatu/person for truck trip to staging area near volcano, 7500 vatu/person for volcano excursion. Be sure to have exact amount for each segment of trip (you pay separately for trip to staging area) as they don't seem to have change. Port Resolution beautiful, but quite rolly. Very friendly local fishermen came out to visit in dugout canoes. Wonderful bananas and papaya.

As of 2016-09-04 23:00 UTC: Had a nice day of sailing yesterday to Port Resolution. Wind and waves lightened as we got close to Tanna. Could see volcano in the night vision scope 30 miles out with awesome bursts of light. Volcano spewing out large plumes. We got the anchor down about 9 am local time. Anchorage very protected but rolly.

As of 2016-09-03 21:00 UTC: Winds built again yesterday to 25-30 with 3 meter seas. Boat handling it all just fine. The wind backed more overnight and is diminishing. Guess will have to shake out another reef! The seas are also subsiding. Lots of stars overnight and very pleasant temps. Windvane still hanging together. Will have to wait until we get to port to fix autopilot. No traffic at all since leaving Fiji waters.

As of 2016-09-02 21:56 UTC: Left early afternoon yesterday local time for Port Resolution. Benign trip out to the pass but then winds picked up to 25-30 (gusting higher) after we got through the pass. At least they were behind us. Autopilot broke overnight so we switched to wind vane (that had problems too, but Ken was able to jerry rig a fix). Glad we're not hand steering. Sailed with triple reef main only until this morning when we shook out one reef. Conditions have lightened up this morning with winds 20-25 and seas not so big. Nice and sunny! Very pleasant temps.

As of 2016-09-01 07:51 UTC: Moved to Vuda Point early this afternoon and are now anchored outside marina. Will likely check out tomorrow for Vanuatu.

via streaming

As of 2016-08-28 09:21 UTC: Moved to Denarau this morning. Anchored outside marina.

As of 2016-08-25 07:14 UTC: Moved to Saweni Bay near Lautoka today. Lots of wind to start the trip, but then wind died off as we got closer to Viti Levu.

As of 2016-08-15 04:04 UTC: Moved south today and are now anchored off Drawaqa Island. Good conditions for the trip.

As of 2016-08-11 05:17 UTC: Moved south to Blue Lagoon. Had nice clear skies for trip. Very protected anchorage in here.

As of 2016-08-05 10:30 UTC: Moved 7 nm around the corner to Sawa-I-Lau Bay to get better protection from nasty weather expected over the coming days. Very protected anchorage here and there are no swells at all. Really peaceful, beautiful place.

As of 2016-07-25 06:00 UTC: Moved to the southern bay of Yasawa Island. Very protected in here. Hope to find some dive spots. A bit gusty in the anchorage but not rolly at all (so far).

As of 2016-07-24 10:00 UTC: Moved a little to the south yesterday to be away from the Yasawa Island Resort. Did some snorkeling yesterday and Ken hung out with a large formation of squid. The squid squad seemed to adopt him as one of the group (he kind of looks like a squid). Dove today near shore down the coast a bit. Saw a few new fish species but the coral has really suffered with massive die offs. A few isolated corals hanging on.

As of 2016-07-20 20:00 UTC: Arrived safely in the Yasawas yesterday afternoon. Anchored off the northern island of Yasawa. The seas were very confused (like a washing machine) as we emerged from the protection of the Great Sea Barrier, crossing above the Bligh Waters to the Yasawas. We had some squalls as we approached the group but fortunately they had moved away by the time we put the anchor down. Lovely spot with sandy beaches alternating with very rugged shore line. This is our first visit to the Yasawas and we can see there is lots to explore. Fine protection in SE trades.

As of 2016-07-19 20:29 UTC: Left Naqelelevu yesterday morning and are underway to the Yasawas. Expect to arrive early this afternoon. Beautiful sailing in flat water. A small pod of spinner dolphins joined us for a while, darting from one side to the other through the bow wave.

As of 2016-07-15 20:00 UTC: Moved to anchorage near Island yesterday. Many more people here than last time we visited and some families from the abandoned village have returned to start up the village again. We had a sevusevu on shore yesterday afternoon and the people were very welcoming. We were told that Fiji Fisheries has banned the harvesting of beche de mer inside the lagoon, as they are trying to rebuild the population. There are some companies harvesting outside the reef. Lots of changes going on

As of 2016-07-13 20:00 UTC: Anchored near entrance to reef at Naqelelevu. A large pod of spinning and leaping spinner dolphins greeted us yesterday (local time) as we entered the lagoon. What an amazing welcome!

As of 2016-07-12 20:00 UTC: Left Savusavu early yesterday afternoon and sailed overnight to Naqelelevu. Beautiful sailing conditions in SSW winds. Wind up to 25 knots early this morning. Caught mahi mahi on the trip over. A couple of fish with sharp teeth bit through two steel leaders earlier in the day. We are hove to and will wait for good light to enter the reef.

As of 2016-06-29 09:28 UTC: Sailed from Namena to Savusavu today. Nice conditions even though we were close hauled.

As of 2015-06-24 10:33 UTC: Sailed in beautiful conditions from Koro to Namena earlier today. Hope to do some diving here over the next few days.

As of 2015-06-15 02:44 UTC: Motored to Koro Island today in very light wind (1.5 - 3 knots) and very minimal seas. We're visiting some friends (Hans and Dory who used to sail Happy Monster) who are building a house here. They survived Cyclone Winston earlier this year when the eye went right over their house. The trees are starting to grow back their greenery, but the hillsides still look quite bare.

As of 2015-06-06 13:00 UTC: Arrived safely in Savusavu today just after noon and are now tied to a Waitui mooring. Waitui is definitely open for business and Jolene, the manager was super efficient in getting the officials organized for our check in. The mooring has a new chain (just installed over the weekend) and was checked by a diver. Downtown Savusavu is bustling as always and has made a great deal of progress in recovery from cyclone Winston. The trip from NZ went very smoothly (other than a problem with a batten luff box on the main). We used the engine for less than 30 hours in total and had some terrific periods of sailing- including one of our fastest days ever. We really appreciated the efforts of David, Patricia, and Mike at Gulf Harbour Radio for the YIT site. And the qualify of the weather information was outstanding - it made trip planning so much more effective.

As of 2015-06-05 11:48 UTC: Sailing with double reefed main alone. Wind was light earlier but has built again. Had to jibe to avoid a fishing boat with nets in the Koro Sea. Now sailing final approach to Savusavu. Expect to get in around noon on Monday. Slowed down so we are both up for the final run up the bay into Savusavu. Lots of stars out. A few small squalls. Very comfortable sailing deep down wind.

As of 2015-06-04 11:48 UTC: Started sailing slowly again after midnight last night when wind picked up to 10-12 and backed around to the SE. Wind started to pick up to 15-20 during the day today and we started gradually reefing. Wind backed to the ESE early this evening and and built to 20-25 knots. We expect the wind to back even more overnight. Now sailing with triple reefed main and staysail with wind just forward of the beam. We are heading further east to get a better angle in the Koro Sea for the approach to Savusavu as the wind continues to back. Wind has eased up a little over the past few hours, so we're a bit underpowered with this sail plan. but at least we're prepared for expected higher winds. Uneventful day with a few squalls. Very pleasant temps. Very cloudy.

As of 2015-06-02 11:45 UTC: Motored sailed over last day when winds went light and swung around to be on the stern. Were able to start sailing slowly as wind backed around to the SSE. We had to drop the main this afternoon when a batten car detatched itself from a slider on the mainsail track. The screw holding the car to the mast slider stripped out of the fitting on the sail. Fortunately we had a replacement fitting and were able to replace the damaged piece. But we had to remove a good chunk of the sail from the sail track to complete the repair. And we had to motor in the wrong direction for an hour to take pressure off the main, allowing us to get feed the sail back onto the track. We decided that sailing in the opposite direction from your intended destination makes for slow progress. Luckily the conditions were very benign during the 3 hour repair and we had no squalls.

As of 2015-06-02 11:45 UTC: Numerous squalls over past 24 hours. The squalls pass fairly quickly but sometimes they pack a punch with the wind gusting to 25-30 knots in the stronger ones. Wind backed to SSW after a strong squall late in the afternoon Wind continuing to slowly back. Put out a fishing line but no luck so far. Beautiful luminescence in the water near the beam of the boat.

As of 2015-06-01 11:45 UTC: Wind lightened up considerably today

 -- as low as 5 knots for a time. Shook out the two reefs in the main and

 switched from staysail to jib. Boat moving well under full canvas in

 light air. Waves also diminished and with the sun out it was a beautiful

 day on the ocean. Water temps have been rising steadily (now 23c) and

 don't need jackets anymore. Winds shifting between WSW to WNW but Monitor

 windvane handling the swings like a champ.  Beautiful starlit sky. 

We will be departing this afternoon from Marsden for Fiji. Will keep you all posted!

As of 0232 2016-05-29 UTC: Motored down the river to Marsden Cove. A few showers. Wind up to 24 knots. May leave tomorrow for Fiji but keeping a close watch on forecasts.

Motored up the river to Whangarei after sea trial yesterday. It was nice to get out and sail after so many months on land. We have a few things to sort but mostly it all looked good. Hope to be ready to sail north in a few weeks.

Anchored in Urquharts Bay. Motored down the river yesterday and will do sea trials today.