Hi, All:

For those of you who do not know, Bill and I arrived in New Zealand on April 27th. We have not sailed anywhere yet and may not for a few more weeks. The boat is currently out of the water on the hard being sandblasted and sanded, all in preparation for the new antifoul paint on the bottom. At least, that's the plan. We have had multiple delays due to time and weather. Believe it or not, it has rained 38 out of the last 48 hours, mostly steady with variances in intensity. The boat yard is located within walking distance of the Town Basin, the waterfront in Whangarei. It's nice to be closer to grocery stores and restaurants. Yesterday, we took a taxi (due to rain) into Whangarei to pick up our repaired 160 amp alternator and to have lunch somewhere other than the waterfront at Town Basin. Had a great lunch at a Thai restaurant and had enough Pad Thai left for us to share for dinner.

While we were still at Marsden Cove where the boat stayed for 6 months (about 35 minutes away via car), we rented a car to tour the Northern part of the North Island. Our first stop was Russell, located in the Bay of Islands (144 islands according to Captain Cook) and formerly known as the "Hell Hole of the Pacific" due to sailors raising havoc after months at sea. You can imagine what occurred during shore leave. We stayed at the Duke of Marleborough Hotel which was famous in its day as the first officially licensed hotel to serve liquor in New Zealand; the original building was rebuilt at least 5 times due to fires. Lovely atmosphere - great food for dinner and breakfast. We took a minibus tour of the town and walked around Christ Church which still has musket and cannonball holes from an 1845 battle between the British and Maori. Our next stop was the Waitangi Treaty Grounds where an agreement between the British Crown and Maori was signed. Fantastic place with a great demonstration from the Maori natives. At the gift shop, Bill bought me a Greenstone Fish Hook Necklace for our 49th upcoming anniversary. Instead of taking the tour bus to Cape Reinga, we drove up the peninsula to the northernmost point of NZ where the Pacific and the Tasman Sea meet and collide. The view is unbelievable. The west side of the area is a 90-mile beach of sand dunes which we saw from the distance. The last day of our tour we hiked to see the largest, oldest living Kauri trees which are absolutely huge and have quite a history. The only thing we could afford at the Nelson Kauri Gallery were two coasters! It was a quick trip with really narrow, curvy roads and to make matters worse, driving on the wrong side of the road! Bill has those roundabouts down pretty well and got us safely back to the Marina.

Bill and I are getting our exercise while in the yard. We have to sweep up the abrasive sand used to blast the hull and dump it in a special type bag that holds 1.5 tons -- it's almost full. We were disappointed that hull needed more repairs than expected. Bill is hand sanding most of the left side which will be covered with a resin, then painted. Just add $$$. Most likely, we expect to be here another week. It has been an interesting experience living 12-feet above the ground and having to climb the ladder to get on board. You can imagine the challenges. At least, we have a shorter walk to the restroom than at the Marina. The ladies room is in the office which is locked after hours; so Jan gets to use the men's room where the shower is also located. We usually take showers in the evening as the crew starts about 7:30 a.m. It is also much colder now as this is Winter season here although Whangarei doesn't get snow normally. WE GOT THE RAIN!!!

That's all for now if anyone is still checking the blog. Bill finally got our satellite to work.

Jan and Bill

Hi, All:

Not much to report. After the pitching seas around Tonga, we couldn't ask for better sea conditions. For most of the day, it has been glassy smooth with gentle swells. Unfortunately, due to light winds, we are motoring on and off, more than we want to, of course. Hopefully, the winds will increase tomorrow and blow in the right direction. About 870 miles to go!

Jan and Bill

Hi, All:

We are on the way to New Zealand, hoisted the anchor at 3:00 on Thursday, 9/22, Tonga time. We really enjoyed being at Big Mama's Yacht Club. No fees for anchoring, $1 Tongan for garbage disposal, no Internet (we had Digicel on the boat), good food, relaxing atmosphere. It will take a few hours to reach open ocean as the passage into Nuku-Alofa is quite long, lots of small motus to pass. Nuku-Alofa is definitely the business center of Tonga, more town stores, a little more expensive, but it has fresher veggies than Vava'u. The taxi into town from the harbor was only $5 each way (at least $10 in the US). We're saying goodbye to cheap transportation as New Zealand will be a different story.

This will be at least a 12 day passage. Our route has been planned by Met Bob who is the weather advisor. Let' hope he's right! It would have been nice to wait another week but that's too close to our flight on 10/11. We have a space reserved at Marsden Cove Marina in Whangarei, near Auckland.

No whales so far! We might still see one again on the way out to sea.

Later, Jan and Bill

Update from Tonga:

As usual, plans change due to weather issues. We left the harbor of Neiafu about 2:15 on Monday as planned, but off the coast of the Tongatapu Group, we got an update on weather to wait until Saturday. So, we are in the harbor of Nuku-Alofa, anchored off Mama's, a truly authentic South Pacific Bar/Restaurant. We have been here since Wednesday morning. This group of Tonga is about 200 nm south of the Vava'u Group. It's now Saturday, but we have to wait longer to leave. No skin off my nose!! Anyway, another cruiser gave us some great info on traveling to New Zealand and the weather windows (also confirmed by Met-Bob, our advisor). Also, about 200 nm from here, there's a hidey-hole, called Minerva Reef, where we can safely wait if something drastically changes again after leaving Tonga. So, we'll wait and continue to enjoy Island life. Mama's has a launch to town which is very convenient for provisioning.

I was remiss in updating the blog while we were in the Vava'u Group. The highlight was swimming with the whales. This was an unbelievable experience. Our boat had seven guests and three crew, two of which were natives. The Captain was from Australia, but only the natives can drive the boat or be the swim guide near the whales. The guide and four guests sit on the side of the boat and jump in as quietly as possible when the whales are near. It's usually a mother and calf. They swim flat out toward the whales, hopefully in time to get close enough for a good look. I tried it once and was exhausted; Bill went in three times. I stayed on the boat and had fantastic views of whales and their antics. The last two swims were the best with the whales the closest to the boat. Bill was on the last swim and felt way too close to the tail of the mother. Then, the male started to come up from underneath the group, and the guide hustled everyone back to the boat. One mother and calf came directly toward the side of the boat within touching distance (if you had really, really long arms); the calf raised his head; then they both just disappeared below. What a site! This was an all day trip, left at 7:30 and got back at 5 p.m. We were all over the group of islands, the best way to see them!

Our next excursion was a Cart Off-Road Tour of the north and east sides of the main island. These were Dune-Buggy type vehicles. Bill and I were in one with our two guides in the other. We drove down the town roads (no way to do this in the U.S.) and took off on dirt tracks through the bush and to some fantastic views below the bluffs. We stopped on the east side of the Island at the Botanical Gardens for a soda (another tour for another day); then headed back to town via town roads and small villages. One of the first things we were told upon arrival in the Marquesas was "Do not walk under coconut palms!" Guess where we were most of the time off-road -- under coconut palms without a helmet, no less, and for my fellow employees -- no Liability Forms were signed!

We have so many more places to see when, hopefully, we return next year to Tonga.

It's time for a late lunch; off to Mama's!

Jan and Bill

We arrived yesterday about 7:00 am (Tonga time) after waiting all night for the moon to rise so we would have some silhouettes of the rocks of the passage into the port. This was the second of two long nights and with very little sleep. We cleared customs which took until noon and made it to a mooring ball. We had lunch, an early dinner and a movie then to bed for 12 hours. It sure is nice to quit moving for a while..

(Jan) We have crossed the International Dateline which means that we arrived on Tuesday instead of Monday Polynesian time; also it was 0810 on our watches and 0710 in Tonga. So, we are only 23 hours ahead of you guys. Our phones got the right info, and mine was receiving unread messages about 15 miles away from the edge of Tonga. We actually sighted the island formation at 4:30 p.m.; it is very flat on top -- looks like a long, flat-topped bluff. Super nice people, the guys wear the long wrap-around skirts with a belt intertwined with their long hair after it's cut at a certain age (age??) and the female Customs officer wore a uniform with long pants. They speak English very well but with an accent. The female was much easier to understand. Yeah!

It has been getting steadily cooler as we travel further West. We made it to a mooring ball before the rain started with thunder and lightening later in the evening. All electronics went in the oven to prevent damage in case of a lightening strike. We have two masts which are shorter than a single, very tall mast. Hopefully, in a field of sailboats, our boat will not be struck. It was comfortable in the boat with all hatches and port holes closed. That hasn't happened for a long time. It's Winter in the South Pacific which we keep forgetting.

More later!

Jan and Bill

Today we changed our minds from going to Nuie to Tonga. We couldn't get to Nuie before Saturday,. and we didn't know the custom fees for overtime; so we decided just to continue to Tonga. It is all in the same direction, Tonga is just 300 miles further, arrival by Tuesday, hopefully.

Jan has the unfortunate timing to to be on watch when the biggest squalls show up. Today was one of the heaviest rains we have had in a month..She was in her foul weather suit and everything was wet for hours..Jan actually smiled through it. Jan also looks forward to her visiting birds that spend the night. I don't like them for the mess they leave in the morning, but they are fun to watch trying to maintain a perch on a pitching deck or pole. As you can see, things have settled down into routine boredom..

Currently, we are moving at 3 knots with 6 knots of wind in calm seas. The rolly-polly movement we've had all day has calmed down. Of course, after Jan's dinner pancakes and scrambled eggs went flying to the floor (she ate it anyway) and pancake mix went all over the place except the pan. The joys of sailing!

Jan and Bill