Received an email from our friends Lucky & Cheryl who are keeping our Lab Carbon in Florida for the trip. Lucky takes Carbon out on their golf course most evenings after golf is done and hits some golf balls for Carbon to retrieve. He loves it! The other day they were doing this and their happened to be another couple with a dog so they all got together to play. Carbon was hot after and ran over to a golf pond. Every fresh water pond in Florida has gators. As Carbon wen

Kiwi slide Top of Victoria Mt. Our white ship in background next to the Westpak round stadium Wellington from Victoria Part Way Up Due to arrive at noon today it was COLD and foggy. Temps of 63F on deck we had a long breakfast in La Terrazza inside with Mary K. the Kanuk from Canada that loves to give us a hard time about the Donald and the Gestapo Homeland Security of the USA. We give her a hard time back for all we are worth. She is a lovely lady from Ontario so we have

Dawn leaving Hobbit house Paul Working Bill resting on a Hobbit bench Driving the Hobbit Wagon Coming into Tauranga in the early morning it looked like we would run into some rocks from a ways out but there was a narrow cut between a beach and a large mount that we sailed through. We are scheduled for a shore excursion to Hobbiton the site of the Hobbit movie filming.. The site was about 1.5 hours by bus from the port traveling through a small mountain range and then some f

Our Harbor Coming into Gizzy was interesting. Most cruise ships anchor off shore and tender but we are small enough to enter the narrow harbor. After entry we had just enough room to do a 180 degree but this time with the use of a couple tugs. At about the end of our docking we were above the captain again listening and heard a radio call that the aft was getting too close to an old boat. "how far away" they asked? "Twenty Meters" was the reply. Bill and I rushed to th

There are a LOT of steps up to Albert's Park! Cloudy Auckland Sailing into Auckland Harbor was a welcome experience after so many days at sea from Tonga. Auckland is a big city of about 1.5 million people and we walked up Queens street in a sea of a mix of business people and backpackers seeking adventures in the NZ. Our first goal was Starbucks to get internet. We were then off wandering and went uphill to Albert's Park and the University of Auckland. From there we wande

Tonga Beer Sunset Near Tonga Bill with Martini in hand during Sunset at Sea. Clouds at sunset. They turned pink later and so did the Sea View from our Tonga lunch spot Tonga Beach Walk Heading of 209 Degrees SW at 17 knots in reasonable seas and cooler temperatures located at S26 degrees 12.352' and W178 degrees 52.931'. Seas are at about 5'. Tonga was nice, but short. We cleared in at 7:30 am and had to be back on board by 12:30 pm. We hired Wesley, a local Tongan Taxi

Papapapatitou Falls in Samoa Lunch at Return to Paradise Beach Resort. Chicken, Lamb, potato salad, fish, etc. Return to Paradise Beach Local Samoan Beer. S17 Degrees 38.621' W 173 Degrees 00.331' making 14.5 knots 207 degrees SW It was 90 degrees at 8:00am today but has cooled some with the effect of wind now the Packer game is done. Sad game on the ipad in Bill's room. We decided to have a beer on their first touchdown. The game started this Monday at 10:05am for us bu

Waiting in our room for us after dinner from Janaka for our 26th Wedding Anniversary. Ship Life: 1/20/2017 Since my last post, we are really settling in. Have met many very nice people. Also sat at tables with folks who we would never be seated with if I happened to be at the same social affair in the states. I've heard of Vassar, but there are Ivy League women's schools that are not even in my realm of awareness. Needless to say, conversation does not linger long on my s

Bill in his usual perch Calm seas with swells to 5'. Air temperature is 81 degrees with a sea temp. of 84 degrees. We are at S09 degrees 18.588' W170 degrees 01.614' at 15 knots with a heading of 200 degrees south. Today is of course the 20th of January. At midnight tonight we will jump forward to the 22nd of January and will from then on will be a day forward of the rest of you at home. We arrive in Apia Samoa in the morning and can't wait to see land again. In all thes

We are still in the North Pacific Ocean but expect to cross the Equator sometime today. Woke to calm seas this morning and a nice temp. of 83 degrees. We are at N01 degrees 00.029' W165 degrees 38.810' heading on a bearing of 204 degrees True at 14 knots. Winds are calm for now and we hope they stay that way. It's almost difficult to walk straight now that the boat doesn't move under you. There is a daily guess at noon for the distance we have made in the past 24 hours.