June 11, 2019
South Minerva Reef
We arrived at the South Minerva Reef on May 6th. North and South Minerva are atolls about 18 miles apart, set roughly 800 miles from New Zealand, 250NM from Tongatapu and 350NM from Suva, Fiji [...]
Birds on Passage
As we leave New Zealand we see numerous seabirds like gannets and petrels but as we get further from land, encounters are less frequent. A few hundred miles north, we sometimes see Albatross. This pair [...]
May 29, 2019
Social Side of Bay of Islands
Opua, Bay of Islands Lots of cruisers were now assembled in Opua looking for a window for sailing north to the tropics or west to Australia. A few informal meetings were scheduled to discuss cruising [...]
Cape Reinga
We took a Saturday off from boat jobs and drove from the Bay of Islands to Cape Reinga. It took a long time (about 4 hours). We had been told by a friend to take [...]
Boat Projects (Opua)
We headed north to the Bay of Islands, anchoring for a night midway at Mimiwhangata Bay. Don't get tired of the Mauri names! Approaching Hole in the Rock at the entrance to the Bay of [...]
Boat projects (Whangarei)
Living the dream does require some work now and then. Here's what goes on to keep Whistler in offshore cruising condition. First on the agenda was to haul out at Norsand or Marsden. We knew [...]