Well, where did 2013 go folks? Guess we aren't the only ones wondering that, and hope that wherever you are it went well for you, or as it comes to a close, whatever bad shite went down, it is coming to an end!

We have had an amazing, challenging and exhausting year. As we prepare to leave Kiribati, we are very happy to look back and hope we have helped, just a little, this tiny Pacific nation.

This will be a short blog to let you know we will be underway again soon. The promise of keeping this blog going while we were both working full time never eventuated, as we sometimes struggled to stay upright and healthy in the extreme equatorial heat, battling the pestilential tropical nasties that abound here, and engrossing ourselves in the culture and life of this fascinating place.

The plan is to leave here in the next few days, or even next week, weather permitting. The ITCZ is hovering over Tarawa at the moment bringing rain and unsettled weather, with strong winds and a large swell forecast offshore for the next 3-4 days, so we will probably sit that out, making a break for Majuro in the Marshall Islands as soon as a weather window allows.

The passage to Majuro is approximately 400 nautical miles and will take us about 4-5 days. We aim to post some positional updates on our way.

Some of you won't know that Tony unfortunately broke his humorous bone(wasn't very humourous) and dislocated his right shoulder a couple of months ago, so that made life a bit more interesting. He appears to have made a good recovery and is getting strength back in his arm every day, with the bone well and truly on the mend. I will be the designated skipper for the passage so am looking forward to taking that on - just hope Captan Arshloch can handle taking my directions.

From Majuro we aim to fly back to Brisbane for a while, before heading back into the Pacific to take Irish Melody to her next safe haven. Options for 2014 are still uncertain, but once we know, we'll let you know!

In the meantime, please don't send any large attachments or photos to us at our email addresses, they will crash our inbox on the low speed internet access that is all that is available here in the developing Pacific :-) and make it more difficult for us to get essential emails and weather updates.

All the best for the Xmas period, wishing you all much love and happiness for the New Year, over and out for now!