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Chapter 182: We sailed 9,866 nautical miles in 2025, now what?!?!?
2025 was a BIG year for Sailing Meraviglia! When we started out the year in Panama, we knew we had some big adventures ahead and we were not sure whether or not we would like them. SPOILER ALERT, we LOVED them. While the year had some tough moments, including the loss of one of…
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Chapter 181: The Last Hurrah of Hefty Hazel
We started our final exploration of the North Island after a couple of days in Whangarei getting Meraviglia fully prepared for our departure to the US for 4 or 5 months. We left Meraviglia in good hands, being watched over by Whangarei Yacht Services. We left Whangarei on the 11/24 to head to Paihai…
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Chapter 180: Adventures with “Hefty Hazel” Part Two
We began our second week of exploring with Hefty Hazel by heading down the New Zealand Wine Trail to Martinborough. The views were stunning, it felt like we were driving through the shire! We stopped at Tui Brewery on the way. The brewery has been brewing beer since 1889 at their location on the…
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Chapter 179: The Adventures of “Hefty Hazel” – Part One
Our campervan adventures began on Saturday, 12/2. We took the bus from downtown Whangarei to Auckland city center. The bus was great- comfortable, convenient, on time, and with the added bonus of being entertained by a very inebriated gentleman behind us who kept asking his seatmate the same questions over and over again. Quite…
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Chapter 173: Weather windows and passage anxiety…
We started our week in windy Port Denerau! On Monday, we went ashore to do some provisioning, dispose of oil from our oil change, and of course, eat some more Indian food! It was fairly calm in the morning when we left Meraviglia for shore. We had another great meal at Indigo and loaded…
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Chapter 171: Windy reef entrances and back to civilization…
We started last week on Beqa in Vaga Bay. We had a few quiet days there waiting for a good window to head back towards the main island of Viti Levu. We got to have a good paddle in the kayak around the bay as well as a chance to meet some local teens…
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Chapter 169: Jungle trails and hidden caves…
We left Mana island for Kaduvu on Monday morning. It was a bright sunny morning without a lot of wind so we had to motor for the first couple of hours. On our way to the Navula pass, we could see Cloud Break in the distance. Cloud Break is currently hosting the World Surfing…
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Chapter 167: Bula from Fiji!
We departed from Tonga on Saturday the 9th with sunny skies and a bit of wind. On the way out from Neiafu, we had a final whale sighting in the distance to say goodbye! We were a bit nervous about the passage with our compromised forestay but the weather forecast looked manageable for us…
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Chapter 162: Goodbye to Meela and off to Niue!
Good evening from night watch on the Pacific! After two full weeks, we finally got a weather window to be able to leave Maupiha’a! While it was a beautiful place to be “stuck”, we were ready to move west. We had a final beach gathering with some other cruisers on Wednesday night and then…
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Chapter 161: Week 2 of a weather pause, sobering South Pacific sailing incidents, and flooding in Texas…
We are now into week two of our lovely visit to Maupihaʻa. This stunning atoll has been a great spot for natural beauty as well as protection from some nasty lows that have moved through the area. As we shared last week, our anchorage is on the uninhabited end of the atoll. There are…