Author: Skipper

WEDNESDAY 27TH JUNE Yesterday was freezing cold and stormy in the Bay of Islands. I thought this was the winterless north! We joined the crews of 2 other yachts at customs, also checking out today. At the fuel dock we topped up with 60litres of fuel and at 1100 we motored out of the Bay of Islands to begin our

Lane: Well sometimes, no matter what you do, things just don’t want to fall into place. That is what happened to us as some of you noticed on the FindShip app. We had finally checked out of New Zealand and were so happy and excited to be on our way. The winds were favourable and we were speeding along the

We were so lucky to have had our problems with the prop and engine while we were still in New Zealand waters! What a mess it would been if we were somewhere in Asia or Sri Lanka. We were able to haul Mai Tai out at the boat yard in Opua two days after we arrived in the Bay of

Well, to say the least, we have had a mixed start to our sailing adventure. After a frenetic few weeks trying to get our lives sorted so we could leave New Zealand, we set off the first day and sailed over to Rangitoto Island, the extinct volcano just outside the harbour entrance. There we spent a day storing gear and

There has never been a more difficult exercise than to leave the comfortable life we had in Auckland and begin a new life often fraught with danger and always filled with the unknown.  However, I am reminded of a quote in Jon Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild: which is a biography about Chris McCandless.  He says, “So many people live within