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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 178: The One In Which Life Choices are Affirmed
So. RVs. Way back in the beginning, Kim and I were debating how to go about managing our massive mid-life crisis. We decided to either buy a boat and sail the world or buy an RV and explore the Western Hemisphere. Buying OUR boat was a mistake. Buying A boat was not. RV life…
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Chapter 177: The One With Poor Impulse Control
This is a brief update to fill you in because we aren’t exactly sure when we’ll be posting again… On the boat project front, we’re in pretty good shape. In last Sunday’s post, Kim described our struggles to rebuild the foredeck under our windlass. I am happy to report that the repair seems to…
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Chapter 175: Wild, Wooly, and Wet
We Made It! That’s the headline. I’m writing this on Wednesday, October 22nd (otherwise known as Tuesday, October 21st for those in the Western Hemisphere). We pulled into Marsden Cove Marina near Whangarei in New Zealand this morning at 7:15. It capped a 1,130 nautical mile, 6 day and 17 hour passage from Fiji…
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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…