As you can probably tell by the title of this blog, we didn’t manage to make it home for Christmas day. The original title was ‘Weather Forecasters are Lying Bastards Part 3’ – but after the lovely Christmas day we had on the water I decided that was far too negative. When we were finally able to leave Auckland it looked as…
“It’ll be great, we’ll get three summers in a row!” – This was one of Paddy’s selling points when trying to lure me into running away to sea After several days of listening to rain pounding on the roof and wind shrieking in the shrouds though – I have been given cause to doubt the wisdom of that particular statement. It seems we have…
So we’re still sitting in Opua. The weather has been rubbish so Paddy decided it would be a good time to get some rigging work done on the boat (it is much cheaper here than inWellington). Unfortunately what we thought would be a one-day job hit a couple of snags and it looks like it won’t be finished until Monday….
Grotty yachties, crusty cruisers, floating trailer trash – boat people are known by many names. They are also known for being a bit tight (everything about sailing is expensive), wearing the same clothes for several days running (wouldn’t you if you had to wash in a bucket?) and committing some serious fashion crimes (Crocs and socks anyone?) – And after…
A couple of days ago one of our ICA friends – a commander in the Royal Australian Navy who has already headed home – got in touch to let us know the Australian authorities might want speak with us. Don’t worry Mum, we haven’t done anything dodgy, but it turns out our neighbours at Port Vila may have been very…
Move over locusts, triffids and body-snatchers, Opua marina is experiencing a plague of jellyfish. Over the past few days large pink gelatinous blobs have been oozing around the boats. I find them fascinating – I could watch them gloop their way around for hours, but the swarm seems to be causing a few issues with some of the boats. What…
After my first six months cruising I have discovered that sailing holds a unique place in my heart. Because of the places it has taken me, the confidence it has given me and the amazing people we have met along the way, it has become something that I love more than anything else. On the flip side – when the…
Apologies for twee Simon and Garfunkel reference but it’s the best I can do at such short notice! We’re leaving for NZ. Tomorrow. Not next week, not in a few days, but to-bloody-morrow. We’ve got a weather window that we really can’t ignore (a great big high pressure system) followed by a rubbish weather for the next few weeks. I wouldn’t…
Arriving in Noumea was a bit of a culture shock. It was the first time we had seen traffic crossing signals, movie theatres and regular busses for nearly six months and I wasn’t sure if I actually knew what to do with them anymore! We were also greeted with those other trappings of civilsation – McDonalds ads, litter and people,…
“You know what to do and do it all by the book, So how come you lose it when you drop the hook?” Irene Quinn – The anchoring dance You’ve reached the end of a passage, you are physically and mentally knackered and all you want to do is collapse in a salty heap. But there’s no relaxing just yet,…