2019 Passage From New Zealand to Minerva Reefs

We untied our lines at 10 AM on June 13.  It was a beautiful sunny day and as we went down the Marsden Cove marina channel the Whangarei heads were straight ahead, with a layer of misty clouds passing over them. 

It's easy to see why the Maori name for New Zealand translates to: "The land of the long white cloud"

Special Guests

Last weekend we had some very special guests from the US.  When we were home at the holidays I was catching up on months of accumulated mail and came across the newsletter from my college fraternity.   An article about an undergraduate brother studying in Auckland caught my eye.

Andy & Victoria

There is nothing cuter than a baby alpaca!

Yesterday was one one my best days since we've been back in New Zealand.  Why, you ask?  Because we met a great guy named Marijn [ma-rain] who struck up a conversation with Rich the other day.  Marijn came by the next day to talk "techno-geek" with Rich about navigation tools.

Anna!  Look at that cute face!

Let's float this boat

We applied our graphics and lettering!  It is a simple thing but one that has big impact in my opinion.  I'm excited about it.  The old lettering was faded so it was time to replace it.  We spent a lot of time

The Big Reveal!

Old windows walk the plank

Rich just completed one of our biggest boat projects to-date.  Leopard catamarans have a well-known problem with leaking salon windows.  The original factory installation

You are so outta here!

Back in the boat yard

We've been back in New Zealand for a month working on our boat. It is sitting at the same boatyard in the exact location where it was last year. We are close to finishing the projects that must be done here in the yard. When it's sunny we work on outside projects and when it rains there's plenty to do inside. Here's a few of those we've finished:

Removing the old length markings 

Hutchinson Cosmosphere trip with the Boys

On our last weekend in Kansas City we took a quick overnight trip to the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson KS. The Cosmosphere - an internationally-recognized STEM education center and world-renowned, Smithsonian-affiliated museum. It was about a 3 hour drive and we stayed over night at the coolest

Cosmosphere