Whale Watching Video

I have posted to my podcast feed the 11 minute video I made of our whale watching and snorkeling trip in Tonga. As you'll see in the video, the humpbacks came really close to us -- it was the highlight of our Pacific crossing.
Warning: It's a 74MB download! Get it here.

Podcast posted

I have just posted the last podcast of the season, recorded during our 6 day passage from Noumea to Bundaberg. It may be downloaded from my Podcast Page.

Bundaberg

We have arrived in Australia! We have crossed the Pacific! We cleared into Bundaberg exactly one year from the day we cleared out of Trinidad. The last couple of days of the passage were nasty - 25-30kt winds and 8-10 feet seas - we seem to have had that a lot recently.

There was a momentary panic when we were advised that the option of keeping Tigger aboard during the stay was generally limited to 3 month visits, but Quarantine relented and let us keep him aboard for the whole 5 months of Cyclone season.

Once cleared in, we motored up the river and are now moored in the center of Bundaberg. One walk around the town left a positive impression, we'll have to look further afield. We'll relax for a few days and then start on our huge To-Do list!

Halfway to Bundaberg

We have around 400 miles to go. So far it's been a reasonably quiet passage - winds have rarely been over 15 knots and we've even had to motor for 12-15 hours. But, we've also flown the spinnaker for 20 hours. It's a slow passage though - so we may not get in until Wednesday 14th. This happens to be one year to the day from our departure from Trinidad at the start of this voyage! S23.36 E159.40

Heading for the Land of Oz

Gee, Toto!
We've left Noumea, New Caledonia, on our last passage this voyage. We expect to reach Bundaberg, Queensland, around Tuesday November 13th - it's 800 miles. We stayed only two nights in Noumea, just long enough to buy groceries and fuel, and have a meal out. We like the look of New Caledonia, though - it has a huge calm lagoon with lots of anchorage and diving possibilities. We'll definitely plan the get back next year.

Podcast posted

I have just posted a podcast recorded on our passage from Fiji to New Caledonia. It may be downloaded, or subscribed to, from my podcast page: http://podcastaway.libsyn.com

Arrived in New Caledonia

We spent two days and three nights at Anatom, Vanuatu. We did not go ashore as we had not cleared in at an Entry Port, but a few locals came out to visit us. We traded some CDs and batteries for fruit and vegetables. Now, after another night at sea, we've reached New Caledonia. We have anchored in Baie du Prony on the south coast of New Caledonia, and tomorrow we'll continue the remaining 30 miles (behind the reef) to the capital Noumea.