Ready to Set Sail for NZ -

It has been a full day of fueling the boat, loading the motorcycle, tidying the cabin, strapping down the decks, reefing the sails, cleaning the bottom, last minute kitesurfing, and (for me, personally) baking. Alas, the final tray of the oatmeal cookies are out and the carrot cake has been frosted, as for everything else, I assume it has been handled accordingly. Here is to a pleasant passage to New Zealand! See some of you  in a couple of weeks!

Cassidy

New Zealand Here We Come!

Hello Everyone!

The weather is perfect for a run to New Zealand, so we are going to jump on Sunday as long as nothing big changes.

Noumea has been a fantastic adventure for us, we were even kiteboarding yesterday! But all great things must come to an end!

We will try to keep an eye on our tracker, and make sure it keeps updating.

Now comes the time for bets, it is 845 miles to Opua where we land, how many days will it take us. I would predict that we will actually go about 1000 miles. Typical crossing times are between 7 to 10 days. So I am guessing it is going to take 7 days 13 hours and 12 minutes. Cassidy is at 10 days. And Shannon is at 9 days. 
Any other bets?

Courage

Kite Surfing -

Cassidy and courage got to try kite surfing yesterday. Had a blast!! We are going to run back to mainland for fuel, immigration check out, and final preparation for passage to New Zealand. Weather window may be as early as Sunday. Of course they are hoping to return to this island for another afternoon of kite surfing before we go. . .

Cassidy's Photos - Summary of the last couple weeks

Sept. 28, 2015

I spent the day at the dock doing TONS literally I think, of laundry. Washed all our blankets, towels, sheets, all the kid's clothes, winter jackets, etc. Getting ready for New Zealand. Also using the vacuum and bleaching under the beds and things. Getting ready so that we aren't overwhelmed with things to do in New Zealand when we haul out. Now taking an Internet break at McDonalds, then having a friend boat over for lasagna tonight. Cassidy went with them to the cultural center today. Integrity smacked his head on the gate at the end of the dock, I think he was running with it and it stopped suddenly (end of the hinges I'm sure) so he ran right into it with his forehead. He got a nice laceration that looks like a gate on his forehead. I had derma bond (skin glue), 2 bottles had set up, but one worked, so I glued him back together. He may have a scar, but it'll look tough.

Shannon

Trying our new spinnaker

Fish -

So here we are anchored off this idyllic island of sand and sunshine, and a local boat stops by to say hi and give us some fish. Valiant and I go down the back swim-step, and start filleting the fish. All is wonderful, and as I fillet the fish Valiant helps by throwing the skin, guts, and fish carcasses overboard.

All is going great until Shannon asks where the fillets are. Apparently there is no difference to Valiant between the actual fillets of fish, and the parts of the fish that we do not eat. Valiant unfortunately had thrown everything overboard in an attempt to be the "biggest helper".  Shannon managed to save the very last fillet so at least we have a tiny bit of fish for dinner!

And the adventures continue!

Courage

Sand $ Island

We are at another beautiful white sand beach. It was covered in sand dollars. The only nautilus was broken and fading, so we left it there. We had the place to ourselves for a few hours, and then a motorboat with 4 people came here to camp for a few days. Our last anchorage, we were the first ones there, but there ended up being about 6 boats. It was nice, but not nice enough to stay with everyone else, so we came here. The last island had again just gorgeous coral for snorkeling. The boat beside us saw about a 3.5-meter shark below them when they were snorkeling, so they got out of the water. We just snorkel right above the coral, making it hard for the large sharks to come where we are. We have stopped swimming out to our boat though, so we are not out in the open. The coral is so alive and colorful here. I haven't taken the GoPro yet, but really need to. It's so nice. There were 2 sea turtles the other day when I was out.

Shannon

Sharks -

So the rumor is that there have been shark attacks here. There are always stories, but these seem to be based on a little more facts. Yesterday one of the boats at another anchorage called to say there was a giant shark under their boat, and it was not a reef shark. Then today the catamaran next to us who were diving all day yesterday, stopped by and let us know that yesterday evening a 10-foot shark was under their boat. They did not do any diving today.

Sooooo, we are only doing diving at the shallow reef areas until we know what we are dealing with. Anybody know if there have been any shark attacks in New Caledonia in the last couple of years?

Courage

Another Beautiful Island

We are at another beautiful island.  It is really picturesque; cold water, but great snorkeling and coral.  I swam with 2 sea turtles and a huge fish that had been hovering around our boat for the past few days at the other anchorage. 

There were probably 20 remoras that ate our scraps and one huge fish.  We think maybe it was a jack, or a giant trevally.  When he saw me swimming, he left, but it was real clear water and he likes pancakes, so we had a lot of fun watching him and the remoras.  All of these little islands are surrounded with soft white sand and coral.  We can walk around each of them in about 30 minutes in general.  We've found some nautilus shells, broken and washed up, but I really like them. 

The day before Cassidy's birthday she found a large and complete nautilus washed up.  It's really nice!!

Shannon