We learned last night of a boat that hit a reef yesterday. We don’t know the owners but we have seen the boat several times in Tonga and New Zealand. We have heard that the crew of three is fine. They hope to float the boat off the reef today. Reefs are everywhere here inContinue reading “Reefs”
Category Archives: cruising
Here We Go!
We left Opua, New Zealand yesterday afternoon bound for Fiji. It’s been a hectic last month as we fixed things and got the boat ready. I have several posts partially written but haven’t had time to finish them off. In the meantime, you can follow our progress on our tracking page.
Great Barrier Island
We made it away from Whangarei–at least for now. Living in Whangarei was too easy. The marina’s proximity to the shops and services was too convenient, too easy. We took advantage of it by getting jobs done, buying spare parts and ordering things we probably could do without. In addition, I made it my missionContinue reading “Great Barrier Island”
Whangarei
We are currently in the small city of Whangarei. It’s a two-hour drive north of Auckland. It’s several hours upriver from the ocean but once here, everything is very convenient–most shops are within walking distance. The marina is a block or two from the downtown core. A large grocery store is right across the streetContinue reading “Whangarei”
NZ Anchorages, Moorings, Marinas: Challenges
This post is more for our cruising friends that may be heading to New Zealand in the future. If you’re not a cruiser don’t feel you have to read it. You won’t hurt my feelings if you skip this one. 🙂 New Zealand is very protective of its waters. They guard against any unwanted seaContinue reading “NZ Anchorages, Moorings, Marinas: Challenges”
New Zealand Road Trip
We played hooky from boat jobs and made a road trip to New Zealand’s South Island. Along the way we visited with friends, Chris and Helen, whom we worked with at the International School of Beijing. From there we made our way to Nelson on the South Island where we enjoyed several days catching upContinue reading “New Zealand Road Trip”
Helpful
Our planned stop on the outskirts of Auckland was supposed to be for two days. It ended up being two weeks. Initially, we stopped to have a small repair done to our mast track. While that was being done, the riggers noticed that two shrouds on the port side had broken wires. Therefore, we neededContinue reading “Helpful”
Marinas
We are currently in a marina on the east side of Auckland. It’s up scale. We are surrounded by large powerboats. We feel small in comparison. Generally speaking, we don’t spend much time in marinas. We spent several days at the Bay of Islands Marina when we first arrived in New Zealand. Before that, we’dContinue reading “Marinas”
Stuff That Works: AIS
We have a Vesper WatchMate XB-8000 AIS transponder on Cambria and have been very happy with it. It has been a set it and forget it device for us. We set it up a couple of years ago and haven’t given it much thought since. It just works. It creates a Wi-Fi network that ourContinue reading “Stuff That Works: AIS”
The Hauraki Gulf
From Urquharts Bay we made our way south into the Hauraki Gulf. We stopped for one night at Kawau Island before moving on to Coromandel Harbour. We’ll try to stop at Kawau Island again later in the season. There is a lot there to explore. We went to Coromandel Harbour in order to meet upContinue reading “The Hauraki Gulf”
Cormacks On Cambria 