new years day race

new years day race

Monday, April 20, 2015

Apr 21, 2015 about to leave New Zealand

We have spent the last week preparing the boat, buying food and finishing schoolwork so we can head off to Fiji.

I have to tell those of you who live on hard land, and can go to the grocery store every day, that buying and storing food for 10-14 days is a completely different endeavor than your normal grocery shop. First you actually have to look for produce that is under-ripe so you can pack it away for use in 1-2 weeks, and then you wrap most of it in newspaper and put it in a cool dry place (which can be hard to find on a boat), but not in the fridge as that is too full with really perishable food. You look for only vacuum sealed meat with really far off expiration dates. I have lots of box milk and canned butter, things we never use at home, but are essentials out here. I bought 60 eggs, when is the last time you bought that many eggs in one visit to the store?

We will leave tomorrow after clearing customs and filling up with duty free fuel, probably about 500 liters. Then 5 days to Minerva reef or 8-9 days to Savusavu in Fiji. Currently there is a small weather window that looks good as long as the low that is promising to develop east of Fiji stays far enough east. Other than that, all looks good. It does look like we will get more seas than we have had on any passage before. I just hope it doesn't get too big. I don't want seasick kids, or anyone for that matter. It makes us feel better that Bob McDavitt (local passage weather guru) thinks it is a good time to leave, so off we go. Our friends on Nautilus left this morning, so we are hoping to catch up with them in Minerva reef.

We really enjoyed New Zealand, but are getting itchy feet to move on, and are super excited to go back to Minerva reef and then on to Fiji.

The tracker will start tomorrow morning and you can follow our passage.

Fair winds and calm seas,

Julie

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