Back in our old stomping ground, in the small but fab Fairway Bay Marina - with Sel Citron. Had another great day's sailing down from Whangarei, using both the screecher and the spinny, but not at the same time, haha!! Wanting to catch up with Fusio for a few rumbos.

Snugly tucked into Marsden Cove Marina for the night. Went diving for scallops for dinner - overall very successful, harvesting some beaut big juicy ones. Sel Citron aka Kerry and Damian are joining us for dinner.

All jobs nearly done. Rudders checked, checked the shaft drive seals, checked and tefgelled the sheaves, polished out some scratch marks, re-tensioned the steering bridle, and antifouled the bottom. We will splash tomorrow and then begin to head to the Hauraki Gulf, looking for Santa.

Out on the hard in the brand spanking new Port Whangarei Marine Centre. Nothing 'wrong', just want to do a general looky looky, checking in-takes, rudders etc. Will antifoul the bottom too since quite a few Kiwi marinas are worried about the spread of the introduced Mediterranean fan worm and want proof of a clean bottom before you can stay with them.

In Tutukaka with Kapai and Maunie. Catching up with Ian and Doreen of Sea Bride tonight.

Happily anchored in very peaceful Urupukapuka Bay, Bay of Islands. Enjoyed a tasty dinner of freshly caught fish last night with our good mates Graham and Di from s/v Maunie. We are SO looking forward to harvesting all sorts of tasty delectables from the sea!! Off to Tutukaka today.

Yeehah, managed to fly our spinnaker until just before sunset and would you believe it, just after dousing, we landed a nice size big-eye tuna which we promptly enjoyed for dinner. We pulled up on the Q dock around 10pm with the full moon helping see what was what. Big thanks to our (not so) motley crew Ken and Leilei for helping make our passage very enjoyable. It's great to be back in beautiful NZ for summer - we look forward to some land based adventures.

Morale continues to be high, so no flogging necessary today. With less than 90 nm to go to Hole in the Rock we are hoping to make the Q dock tonight some time. The wind has almost totally disappeared, and after sailing comfortably until midnight, we decided to start the iron genoa around 2am. Hoping the (predicted??) northerly boots in so that we can finish this amazing passage with the flying colours of our turquoise spinnaker.

Aaahhh, at last, at last. It's been a long time coming. Three years A GOOD PASSAGE! Kiapa has had a great passage. I could open the sails up and "let her go!" The winds from Fiji to NZ between November 22 and 26 2015 were gentle, not menacing. We flew the spinnaker for 10 hours, the screecher (after I give it open heart surgery ) for days. Kiapa was sailing along at 9-10kn in 10-15 winds.

The normal crashing and slapping during passages stopped, replaced by a gentle hiss of water skimming and caressing the hulls.

I could look out to the ocean's distant horizon, and not look up to the next huge wave about to drench the boat. I am practising my 1000 mile stare again.

The Pacific, at last, lived up to it's name….Peace.

Yesterday I lay on the trampoline and the sun gently warmed me, and I thought there is no other place I would rather be…..out here with my best mate,,,, Queen Irene

Had a great day yesterday - had the spinny up from sunrise to sunset. In the meantime I worked out we have 2 champions on board! Lionel the champ captain who fathomed a way to fix the screecher, and Ken the card champ who won all the card games! At sunset we 'replaced' the spinnaker with the screecher and consequently enjoyed another comfortable night's sail. Had a pod of dolphins around the boat at daybreak this morning.

Spinnaker up... yeehah

Reefed the main for the night, just to be sure...... to be sure. Popped the spinny at daybreak and now happily cruising along. About to enjoy our last fresh tropical-fruit brekkie for a while, yum yum!

This is cruising at its best. Kiapa the Cruiser has become Kiapa the Champagne Cruiser. Up until a few moments ago we had a couple of reefs in the main, but we've "shooken" them out and are now steaming ahead. Can you tell all is well on board??

Blew the brand new scheecher. The head of the sail was not properly attached. Kiapa is under headsail again, under a beam reach

"Kiapa the Cork" (after last night's rather lumpy and boisterous conditions)has morphed into "Kiapa the Cruiser" (in the comfy current conditions). Had Ding and Greg on s/v Chiquita next to us for a little while but they had to 'hove to' to attend to something, so we can't see them any more. All good on board, except that we'd like to have a fishing line out, but going a bit too fast.

We're off! Double reef in the main and doing 9k, but we're still in flat waters!

Departing from Fiji today, just waiting for Customs and Immigration to come and clear us out. It seems like we will be buddy boating with a few others, which is always nice. Hoping for a 5-6 day passage, but as always, safety before speed. Looking forward to catching up with all our friends in The Land of the Long White Cloud.

Now In Denarau, after many days of purfect surf. Tomorrow Ken and Leilei from NZ arrive as our crew to help us passage to NZ. Not too sure when we will depart, but soon mama soon.

Happy Hindu New Year! Yesterday was Diwali Day, the most revered of festivals celebrated annually by Hindus. We were lucky enough to be invited to Anjee and Kamlesh's home last night to join in the festivities, which included exchanging home made sweets, sharing a delicious meal, and finishing the evening with an almighty and pretty spectacular fireworks show. We felt honoured to share such a special day with our Fijian friends.

Heading from Musket to Denarau today, and back to Musket tomorrow. Winds 10KN SE

Back on mooring in Musket Cove after 3 days of good surf at Namotu

Northerly winds, 15 kn. We said goodbye to Sel Citron after sleeping on their boat to watch the Australian Wallabies just win the rugby at 3 am in the morning.

Back at Musket. Winds 25 in, solid. Kitesurfing is the order of the day.

We did the shark dive yesterday. AMAZING fish life. Even more amazing sharks. The predominant shark was the Bull shark, but we also saw Lemon sharks and Tawny Nurse sharks. And we saw two 300kg giant cod, or Queensland groupers. What a totally awesome experience which we will highly recommend. Today we are watching Oz vs England with Di and Graham from Maunie in Suva. Go the Wallabies!

In Denarau, with Kerry and Damian, off to Beqa shark dive by car today.

Back in Musket. Off scuba diving today as there is no surf or wind.

Anchored at Cloudbreak. Wind 6kn in small swell. It's a beautiful day.

Fire on the dock at Musket last night! Yes, the new 57ft Jeanneau Mimu apparently decided to get drunk and then play with his rocket flares at 2am. He succeeded in letting one loose in the cockpit causing a fire. This only damaged Mimu and not to the neighboring boats. The cockpit and bimini has burnt bits... What kind of guy does such things?

Regatta Week finished last night. Big party with rum and fireworks. Kiapa raced on both the regatta days. Coming 2nd in both races. We had only Kerry, Craig Hewlett ( of hewlett sugar in SA) , Irene and I on board. We planned to start last over the start line so as to avoid argie bargie with other boats. Then we sailed past all the boats to creep up to 2nd, I was the best racing I have done and having a small crew proved to be less stressful than running 6 or seven people.

So now its back to chasing the surf and Kitesurfing again. What a tough life!

In the midst of regatta week. Today we organised the coconut Olympics.. Fun for all!

Kiapa is back in Musket, after Blue Lagoon and Manta Pass. Rob has now left to go back to San Fran. We welcome Adele and Duncan from NZ today

Exploring Blue Lagoon for the first time. Had an awesome sail up from Waya North, but as Rob said, advanced navigation skills are needed to negotiate the myriad of reefs. Caught another fish, but in the light of what we caught yesterday we let him go. Lionel and Rob enjoyed a nice kite session soon as we arrived. Tonight we're off to enjoy a 'cultural show'' at a nearby island. Tomorrow Rob and Lionel plan to go searching for Brooke Shields! I'm going to look for Christopher Aitkins!!

Anchored up in Waya north. Motored all way from Musket, but caught 2 beaut spanish mackerels on the way. No wind and we have Sel Citron and Kindred Spirit alongside tonight.

Today is no wind and low swell. We are going to take Kiapa out the back of the reef and look at Desperations surf which is out the back of Cloud9 bar. We will also try to catch a fish!

Kiapa welcomes Rob Novak from Mexico days. Rob is a kiter and keen to improve his surfing. He has come to the right place.

Got our woolly socks on for this cold spell. Global warming! Humph

At Mana island, going for a shark dive this morning.

So, Kiapa is still hanging around musket and the surf breaks. My rib is slowly healing , and I am able to surf again.

We welcome Terri on board today. Terri is from USA ans she surfs, kites, and scuba dives.

Hopefully, soon we will see Robyn and Paul from NZ

At Namotu, going surfing with the Hitchcock family

Going kite surfing today, with Mike Maincheese

Back in Musket, going surfing today

Anchored off lekileki, had a scuba dive in 27 C water. Yeehah

Back at Musket Cove, waiting for big surf to arrive on Sunday

Anchored off Namotu Island on a beautiful sunny day. Brian is having a surf on Namoto lefts. We are going for a snorkel and then off to Cloud 9 for drinky poos

happily moored off Musket Cove Resort. Brian had a 'dawn patrol' surf this morning, Irene had a kite this afternoon. Mmmmmm, think we'll head to the Island Bar tonight for a bbq.

We arrived safely in this Fijian paradise just in time to clear in with Customs yesterday afternoon - phew! After a 6 day 'roller coaster lumpy bumpy ride' we were happy to step off onto terra firma for a cold beer or 2 - the champagne had already been quaffed when we first sighted land. And for Lionel not being thrown around means he is now much more comfortable with his rib. Big BIG thanks to Anthony and Brian for their fabulous company and help.

Yeehah, we can see Fiji, only 30 miles to go! The boys could not sleep last night as they were so excited. The boat is sliding along averaging 9 kn with top speed of 14.9kn when Brian was on the helm. It's great to have some good sailing water after the washing machine we have been in for the whole trip. The sail configuration has been triple reefed main and full headsail all the way. The winds were 20-30kn east the whole way. All done on one tack, starboard. Many thanks to the crew who have done a great job, while I lay on the couch groaning when the rocking boat gave my rib acupuncture with rusty daggers!

250 miles to go to Nadi. We can smell the spume coming out of the barrels from Cloudbreak. Brian has his surf board on deck and is amping to try paddle faster than Kiapa to get there quicker. We should be there by tomorrow. Anthony is the super helmsman and managed to catch another flying fish straight into the dinghy during the night while staying on course. (Our autopilot is on strike.)

The sea state has settled a bit. Winds still25-30k E with some stronger gusts. The auto pilot has gone on permanent holiday now. Its only 432 miles to go and we should be in by Friday or Saturday.

The crew are giving the poor old captain a ribbing because he is slacking out of all duties..

Conditions have not changed much - 25-30k ENE with some stronger gusts and 4m+ swell is making for a very boisterous passage. Autopilot is struggling so we have been hand steering - our crew, Anthony and Brian are heaven-sent, doing an AWESOME job. Yesterday Lionel took a tumble while putting a third reef in the mainsail and landed on the corner of something and has broken a rib, poor bugger! He is okay, but understandably on light duties.

All well on board. Have dropped the main sail and going along under headsail only due to strong gusts and lumpy seas. Have had an albatross keeping an eye on us.

Fabulous start to our passage to Fiji. lovely breeze, good speeds, all in all very comfortable. but no fish yet.

Fabulous start to our passage to Fiji. lovely breeze, good speeds, all in all very comfortable. but no fish yet.

. Motoring out of Opua in 2kn of wind , headed for Fiji 1044 miles to go. Irene, Lionel, Anthony and Brian on board

On a mooring in Opua, getting ready for a Saturday departure for Fiji. Welcome to both our crew, Brian and Anthony.

Anchored up in Opua. It's good to be part of the cruising community again. Lots of social activities going on.

. Now in the Bay of Islands , anchored next to Maunie. The sail from Mimiwhagata was interrupted by a humongous strike from a 20kg yellowfin tuna. Irene did well to bring it in, as the code zero (screecher) was out and we could not stop the boat. Tuna steaks with Di and Graham from Maunie tonight.

In mimiwhangata bay. Going to try get some crays tomorrow , the off to bay of islands ( 20nm away)to catch up with Maunie and Nero.

In Marsden cove, Whangarei, at sunset. A beautiful sail. Maybe Sunday on to the Bay of Islands. We will check out from Opua at the end of the month, heading for Fiji

In Marsden cove, Whangarei, at sunset. A beautiful sail. Maybe Sunday on to the Bay of Islands. We will check out from Opua at the end of the month, heading for Fiji

Making our way north to Whangarei, then on to the Bay of Islands. We will check out from Opua at the end of the month, heading back to Fiji.

Tucked in at Fairwaybay Marina. Awaiting departure for Fiji at the end of April

Tucked in at Fairwaybay Marina. Awaiting departure for Fiji at the end of April