Sun April 22 - Enroute to Bundaberg, Australia - Day 1

What a nice departure from Opua! Check-out at Customs took just a few minutes and we raised anchor and motorsailed out the channel towards the entrance of the Bay of Islands. Dolphins came by to play alongside, and the sun was shining. We knew it would take a few days to get acclimated to sailing again; it's been six months land bound for us! We passed North Cape at night, and could see the beacon from the Cape Reinga lighthouse. Seas were a bit confused for a while, and there was lots of current, but we had no problems. Morning brought more sunshine and 15 knots of breeze off our quarter, so things are definitely looking good, at least for now! Note the high barometer reading below; NZ has been under a record high pressure area for a week now, and it looks like it will continue for at least a couple of more days. We're in the Tasman Sea now, and the weather cycles regularly every 5-7 days or so between the highs and lows that come across it. It's about 1355 nm from Opua to Bundaberg, so going thru a frontal system is almost guaranteed. We're relaxing right now, the pole's out, we're enjoying a new set of sails drawing...what a great way to start a long passage.
Lat/Long: S33deg40min/E172deg47min
Course: 305T
Speed: 5.5 kn
Wind: East, 15 kn
Seas: " , 8'
Cloud cover: 10%
Barometer: 1024
Day 1 miles: 129
Avg speed: 5.3 kn

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