Passage New Zealand to Fiji, Day 1. No, really.

Those of you watching our SPOT tracker will see we have been having a merry time exploring an unremarkable patch of ocean. But hey, we were told it would be good to put more hours on our engine. Turns out we did that. After gathering as much info as we could and the Stans poring […]

Day 1 New Zealand to Fiji… or not

We are just about 24 hours out from our departure from Marsden Cove toward Fiji. The past day has been an ideal one from the cruising power boat perspective: very light winds, comfortable slow-rolling seas, no rain, running at nearly 10 knots. The four of us had a marvelous meal last night, pan-seared New Zealand […]

Casting off, New Zealand to Fiji

Today’s the day. Our friends Stan and Diane arrived from Ventura a week ago, and they’ve been invaluable in helping with all the final labors and preparations. Having two Stans aboard can be a bit confusing, but for my part I’ve solved that dilemma by thinking of Diane’s husband, for reasons not expedient to elaborate, […]

Introducing Buffalo Nickel

Here she is. Finally. That makes it sound like our boat’s completion was delayed, which it wasn’t. We moved aboard and had our owner’s training during the first half of March 2013, right on schedule. It’s this blog that’s late. There is a volume of stuff to learn, test, explore, customize and yes, tweak, repair […]