Our New Zealand travels comes to a close, time to sail up to Tonga!

We have had an absolutely amazing half a year in New Zealand. About 3 months adventuring and sailing around Auckland and 2 months traveling up and around the beautiful Bay of Islands. Rumors of this place are right! What a great, clean, safe and friendly country with beautiful anchorages. Stay tuned for more stories of the Bay of islands. We are now planning our next half a year sail plan, which starts in just a few weeks. Cyclone season is over in NZ about May 1, so we can head north again and enjoy warmer weather, warmer water and swim in the beautiful South Pacific Islands. We are prepping the boat for the jump (or passage) to Tonga. This means a long list of “to-do’s” including check in and check out paperwork, filling the ditch bag, setting up the jack lines, doing a float plan, listing our 2 crew (Dave La Rue is joining us and a local Kiwi friend wants to hop aboard) updating the first aid kit, all system checks, buying flags and currency, completing oil changes, (that’s 2 since have 2 engines)…

On this passage, we hope to do a diving stopover in the famous Minerva Reef, which is about a 3 day passage, but as we always say, depends on the wind Gods! We will rest up, then set sail another 2 days to Tonga, hopefully also staying in the remote area of the Ha’apai island group. We will cruise new islands of Tonga for about 6 weeks, then our next passage will be about a 2 day sail to Fiji, planning for 8 weeks stay there. Last year, we were so busy prepping and selling Sea Bella, that we didn’t explore many spots in Fiji, so hope to include at least the northern Yasawas, and a month in the Lau group of islands. We still are hanging out with a few great friends from Mexico and have met a dozen new fun cruising friends here in BOI (Bay of Islands) who also are planning a similar route this season. It’s always good to meet new friends, typically quite international, now that are so far from the US. We will need to put Kalea on a mooring early September for our flight to California, as our daughter Montana is getting married. This is special news, and we will be able see all the family as well. Another big trip! This will be our only visit back this year and a rather short one, since last year was nearly 3 months and had many cherished memories with all!

We will then fly back in September and return to our new home on SVKalea. We are loving her and are relaxing into our new special place on the water. She is spacious, safe, and comfy both anchored and at sail, so no regrets. Happy Scott & Kathy! We soon will see how she is on overnight passages.

Our third passage will be to Vanuatu, our 8th country to sail to. We have heard amazing things and hope to adventure into the local people and culture. I believe a favorite TV show, Survivor, is filming there and they have blocked off a few islands. This happened years ago to some cruisers and local fishermen back in the Marquesas’, French Polynesia. Same show! No wonder I really liked that program! A little secret; I actually applied to be a participant in 1999! Another way for me to see the South Pacific I suppose.

For our next cyclone season, our Insurance company needs us out of the South Pacific again, so we aim to return to New Zealand for a few months then cross to Australia for the remainder of the season. We plan to head north and into Indonesia after that! Big Plans!