When we sailed into Opua, in the wonderful Bay of Islands area of Northland, New Zealand at the end of April, we thought we were well on our way to making the passage north to Fiji. Well, life has a way of changing your plans as you all know! I got a call from my friend Sheree in Indio, California asking if I had time to help her with a project. To make a long story short, I flew to CA the next day and spent three weeks helping her and also got to catch up with my family and friends. It was a good trip. I thought when I returned we would be off to Fiji in a matter of days. Well, the weather gods were not on the same page and we haven't had a good weather window until now. What you look for is a passing storm (low pressure that spins clockwise in the southern hemisphere - the back of which blows from the south to north) followed by a High (or as I like to call them...A Big Fat High - that spins counter-clockwise - the front of which blows from south to north). You take off on a southerly and hopefully it will blow you north for most of the passage, which is around nine or ten days for Buena Vista to get to Savu Savu, Fiji. The storm in question passed over last night - in fact it blew like heck, a real gale. Our friends on Lisa Kay took off today but we decided to let the seas out there calm for a day. We're leaving tomorrow. All of our boat chores are done. The boat is full of food and water. Tomorrow we'll top off our fuel and check out with New Zealand customs and immigration department. Don's brother Alan is joining us for the passage - he arrives this afternoon by bus from Auckland. Excitement is in the air! It's getting cold here now and we are all ready to get to the tropics for 'winter'. We plan to spend five months cruising around Fiji and return to New Zealand the beginning of December.