We're less than one week from departure. It's a three day weekend (celebrating the Queen's birthday) and the tradesmen are not here again until Tuesday. We have crew joining us on this leg to Fiji - Matt and Camelia from France are Oestopaths, which might be useful and are available until August when they're moving to work in Christchurch. One of the highlights of our time in NZ has been live music ... here are a few artists who play regularly at the venue One 2 One Ponsonby.... read more

After five days in the Opua Marina, we’d straightened the boat and had a thorough wash down to clean off residue salt. We started the process of acclimatising (brrrr) and felt ready to swing 'on the hook' again so headed to the nearby island of Russell, in the Bay of Islands. We'd visited by ferry on our second day in Opua and found it very appealing. This sleepy, quaint island houses 600 off-season residents but during the summer months an additional 5400 people descend. On hearing this we were glad to have arrived in the spring while the charm was still apparent. We called in on the Russell Radio operator who occupies a small office on the waterfront to obtain regular local weather updates as we were waiting for the right weather window before heading southeast. ... read more

.........before departing Bora Bora for Samoa. We will provide details of our time in The Society Islands when internet access is more readily available. Happy days.... read more

Galapagos is wildly beautiful. Can´t believe how much life there is here, all around all the time. Truly special place, at a juncture of global energy, confluence of a number of ocean and atmospheric and geologic currents, generating upwellings of nutrients at the very base of the food chain and stimulating such a celebration of life in a barren volcanic landscape. Weird and amazing. Hope humankind can manage to avoid destroying it on our watch. A particular highlight was snorkeling with sea lions off Floreana Island. They were quite curious and playful, doing underwater acrobatics all around each other and us. A little un-nerving the first time a hundred-pound animal comes rocketing through the water straight toward you, only to veer off a foot or two from your face and dive just below you, leaving a ... read more

We’ve made it to the Pacific Ocean! It took 20 hours and 53 million gallons of fresh water to get us through the Panama Canal. Now we’re floating at the interface between two oceans and two continents. The Marnie is moored at the base of the “Bridge of the Americas,” which connects North and South America, at the southern end of the Canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Panama Canal transit went smoothly. Set out at dusk, passed through first three locks after dark through chambers lit up like Times Square. Spent the night moored on Lake Gatun amongst monster ships floating all around. Next morning we motored about 50 km across the lake and through the Gaillard Cut, (narrowest segment, cut through highest point along the route, with highest death toll during construction), to ... read more