After more than three weeks at the Tauranga Bridge Marina we slipped our lines this morning just before slack tide and sailed the 20nm to Mayor Island under sunny skies. We very much liked our stay in Tauranga. For one, we got quite a few boat projects knocked off the list (incl. some "long timers" - more on that in a separate post) and Tauranga was a great place to get stuff done (even though it invloved lots of longish walking to hardware stores and workshops). In addition, we very much enjoyed the company of Sue, John, Katie and William of the boat Alouette, and re-connecting with Alex from Saltbreaker (unfortunately we missed his brother Nick on our visit to the "Astrolab" in Mt. Manganui yesterday). And, not to forget, nice surprise visits from Gundula and Thoralf (s/v Wigwam) and Kerstin and Helmut (s/v Lopto).

The anchorage here at Mayor Island is a bit rolly but good for one night (what looked like steady easterlies turned to the north this afternoon, driving a bit of swell into the little bay here). We've started cleaning our bottom again which looked pretty horrible after all that time at the dock. It's a surprise we moved at all today...

Tomorrow we plan to continue to Slipper Island and then on to Great Mercury on Wednesday. All is well aboard, stay tuned ...