New Cal

So bossmans trip was not the best yet...it rained every day and it was super windy so not really enjoyable on a boat but we did have wine!! Lots of wine to make it better:) it's actually been nice since he left so we have been moored at this little island...snorkeling n stuff...we came back to the mainland for provisions and free wifi!

We did drive around a lot to see all the land based stuff like this waterfall that Appearently u cannot miss while you're here....it was pretty small though in my opinion lol....new cal is very pretty with all the beaches and the reefs to snorkel. There's not much hiking to do but you can rent a car and drive through the mountainish areas. They are very green but nothing compared to New Zealand :) the water is super clear when the wind stops howling. Ty went scuba diving and saw a marbled grouper that was at least 6ft long and massively round n huge with a big mouth. It's a marine reserve at that island so we can spear the big trevally that hang out under the boat and trade us. 

Here is the massive $800 reel that the boss brought with him...Ty put it together and put it out while we were sailing one day but we haven't caught anything yet...

The lake seems to be drying out... The land is a red clay everywhere wich is pretty:)

Hard at work...:) it took us a few tries but we found a good place for the hammock. 

The lil island that we moor at for free! There's a good size reef to snorkel just in front of the over water huts. The island is full of fowl running all over .... Oh and snakes! Some of the deadliest in the world but they don't bite...or when they do they don't release the venom unless they are attacking their dinner. Or so we've been told....

My vegetarian dinner....salad n honey glazed carrots! What has my life come to???.....

Not much else going on at the moment. Just waiting for the new genoa to be shipped here and the new starter for the starboard motor. It's starting to go out.  

God bless the French and their cheese!!!!! Je voudre formage ce vous plai (ok minus the spelling) merci!!! 

New Zealand to New Caledonia passage

Day 1

We just fueled up and checked out of the country! Currently motoring through the Bay of Islands with 3 knots of wind so not much going on at the moment. The only thing that sucks is we thought we had the leaky water tank fixed but when we tried filling it up this morning a new hole exploded out of the top of the tank. Looks like Ty n I are going to have to put down some new fiberglass n resin...

I hate being sea sick for the first few days....but we took hot showers in our own head n we are cookin dinner now. Full sails up. 10-15 kts of wind and less than 1 meter swells so we are doing alright! 

Sunset day 1

First night motor sail is going ok. It's really cold out so we pretty much keep inside and pop out every 10 minutes or so. We have the radar going so the alarm is set to go off if we are within 2 miles of another boat or ...land by some chance...:) still feelin pretty woozy and the deisel fumes are NOT helping...had a nice bright moon tonight and sooooo many stars and even got some bio luminescence! Ty is feelin great as usual no sea sickness...lucky....>=[....made chicken n Mac n cheese for dinner and I just had some Mac...although his chicken was lookin preeeety tasty!!! I'll hold out for fish tho...:)

Day 2

After dinner last night we noticed yet another rip in our genoa!! It ripped on the bottom where the sailmaker repaired it!! Wth!?!? We paid him $300 for a crap job and now we have to sail without it...which SUCKS..... Or find something onboard that we can patch it with...duct tape maybe???? 

Well we called the sailmaker and wouldn't ya know...he said use duct tape! Lol so we shall try it and see...

Surprisingly the duct tape works! For now...not much wind yet...:) day 2 sunset

Wispy clouds movin in...tomorrow should be interesting. 

Day 3

Well we knew today was going to be the start of the sucky weather n sure enough we got some squalls movin through. We put away the genoa since we know duct tape ain't gonna hold through a squall if there are high winds. We put up the staysail which is a tiny heavy sail for such occasions...aaaand we double reefed the main. Just in time too!! As we were tightening the last of the reefing line the wind picke up a little and we got pelted with rain. SOAKED! Dry now. Moderate seas but blue skies lay ahead:)  since we haven't really been in the mood to eat I made some stuff to throw in the fridge that we can nibble on when we get the urge. Made a cool couscous and chickpea salad w grape tomatoes, fresh basil, artichoke and feta. Came out really good and boiled some eggs too but no one is eating anytime soon...doh!....I think it's time to lash a few things down in the galley...!!! 

 This little staysail came in handy when we had no main and now is coming in handy when we can't use our headsail. But it's definitely not a good stand in. We wouldn't be rocking so much if we had a headsail to steady us out and we'd be a lot more comfortable. Just made some tortillas for Ty now back to reading....and trying not to hurl....

A series of sunset shots tonight since we just passed a pretty big squall. This time we were ready tho. Double reef and staysail out. Got up to 33knts true! 

30 seconds later...

10 minutes later ...

Aaaand meow...

The entire rainbow looks like a huge purple dome. The sun is reflecting off the moisture and turning it a reddish purple. Pretty. 

Day 4

Wind finally shifted southerly so we are kinda downwind sailing now. Been sailing through this front all day an the swell has been choppy but wind has been pretty steady so we are making a somewhat comfortable 6 knots with the occasional swell slap.....slaps the boat, everything shakes n water goes over the top! Haven't really seen the sun all day so don't think we will have a sunset shot today:( oh and my tortillas didn't quite make the cut lol so threw the dough overboard. 

Day 5 

We were up all night battling squalls and a front. Wind kicke up to 30knts for a good while. We were sure to stay well reefed and it was pretty much all downwind so it didn't feel quite as bad but still gets the adrenaline goin ya know?...woke up to super sunny skies today and the swell is mostly from behind with wind back down to steady 15knts. We took down the main and we are just flying our genoa 'Patch'. :) 3 more days of this...it's lookin like we will be there the same day as bossman...

We're makin awesome time! Steady swell perfectly downwind. I totally missed the sunset today cuz we were too busy makin dinner which is awesome! Feeling wayyyy better and the headaches are gone:) so here's what I got...

Day 6

Spinnaker day!!!! Today we are flying the spinnaker for the first time! We have about 15kts of wind straight from behind and a pretty low steady swell pushin us along....

It's so big I can't get the whole thing in one shot:) but there it is! Oh and it's Sunday so HAPPY MOTHERS DAY Moms!!! Love u all:) 

We crossed a lot of "to do's" off the list today so now all that's left is cleaning the boat up. Ty serviced the port winch today...

Sunset day 6...

Day 7...

Are we there yet?! Geez....we took the spinnaker down around 3:30am because the wind kicked up to a steady 20kts and the swell was becoming bigger but choppy..the swell has circled around us now where it started on our port beam then came around behind us and is now on our starboard beam. We get little rain clouds every now n then but they don't seem to bring much more than 22-24knt winds on a broad reach so it's not so bad. The swell that's picked up has us doing some good surfing every now n again...but it's just not comfy...I can't wait to be in new cal...

sunset today...54 nautical miles away from new cal!

Day 8

Just made it through the pass to Noumea!! Took us just under 7 whole days to get here. We will make our way to one of the marinas to the Q dock to check in with customs, wash up, clean the boat, make the beds n head to the airport to pick up bossman at 4pm. :)

....made it....:)!!!

Soooooo we've been here for a couple days now....damn Internet won't publish my post!!!! One day....one day...this message will reach u.......

Toys!!! One of the things I love about bossmans visit is he always brings us toys! And really nice ones too!

Like this pro pirate telescope!

And this super awesome can't even imagine asking for a bday grift now pro video camera!!

This baby is AWESOME!!! 

Oh and then there's this $800 fishing reel....

This puppy's massive. The handle alone is the size of a freakin winch handle!...

Boat looks good tho with all her cushions n stuff:)

122kilos

We went to town with our neighbor for a drink the other night. One of our last nights here so we figured we go to town for a few sundowner beers. The ride in his tender was quite wet on the way up to Pahia but we made it in 10 minutes or so with soggy bottoms:) we were having the last drink of the evening and it was just after dark when this fishing boat pulled into the rastaurant dock which also turned out to be the weigh station for huge fish! The pulled out a massive marlin that was 122 kilos!!! This beast was huge! Check it out...

It was the coolest thing we saw all day. Photos aren't that great but you can still see how big it. We've never seen one that big up close so it was pretty cool! 

Been busy makin some wraps lately since I had some extra time while we wait for our weather window to leave...

And I have a new favorite super easy 10 minutes or less recipe for when I'm too lazy to cook! Delicious and super easy!! Chickpeas w tomatoe basil feta and spinach cooked w garlic n lemon juice! Yummmmm

Today we are gonna settle our bill at the marine store, borrow Bobs car to go to town to get groceries and talk to customs about checking out tomorrow and getting our duty free fuel. :)

Om

Back a few years ago when sailing was just a dream for us Ty found several videos for us to watch of other people sailing and their adventures. We watched all kinda of videos and stuff on YouTube. Here is a Link to one of the videos we watched a couple years ago of a boat named Om. 

http://youtu.be/fA3alFC6-BI

As we were making our daily stroll through the boatyard we stumbled upon this boat!!!!!!!

What a small world!!! I can't believe we are in the same boatyard! And that I remembered the name of that boat. I guess it's kind of a unique name....easily remembered:) so cool! The owner wasn't on board though so we didn't get to meet him...oh well still cool I think! 

A day at the beach

We installed this new awesome chart plotter and fish finder when we were hauled out in February. It was awesome for about 3 hours then the depth went out and the fish finder quit working. There are 2 parts- the unit which is the screen installed in the helm area and the transducer which is installed in the bottom of the boat that shoots sonar down to find fish and give us depth and all that fun stuff. We called the manufacturer and they aske us to send in the unit and replace it with a new one. Ok so we did that and it worked again for about 3 hours before it went out again. We switched it out with yet another unit but did not connect it to the transducer because what they were thinking was that they transducer was faulty and was frying the sound board In the units. So we went to the beach to dry out as we could pop out the old transducer and replace with a brand new one an then connect that so we gave a new transducer and a new unit to start fresh. It's all working perfect now so keeping our fingers crossed that it continues to work forever and ever...

We showed up at 8:30am and the tide went out and left us dry:) it came back in around 9pm tho so it was pitch black when we left the beach to come back to the dock. It was ok tho we had a flashlight lol :)

Our carpet looks friggin awesome!!!

It's gonna look so nice w the cushions and everything out and set up. Just wanna get some outdoor throw pillows n it'll be perfect. 

It's getting colder n colder here. I'm currently wrapped in blankets and here's Ty hahaha

Gloves. Hoodie. Socks n all...

Oh when we were dried out we also replaced a through hull fitting that cracked and was leaking. Thankfully we found it just before we beached her and we were able to replace it no problem. It connects to the hose that allows for salt water to come in to flush the toilet so yeah it's pretty important! 

Today the plan is to put the genoa back on. Mix up some epifill and fill some cracks n holes n other random things that need to be filled around the boat. All the major work is done pretty much so we'll just be finishing random small odd jobs till we leave on Tuesday. Sposed to be awesome weather for us!! Trip is lookin good and we can't wait to be on the open ocean again!!