Departure in Sight

Well at least we hope it is! It is now Wednesday in New Zealand and we are anticipating getting away from the dock in Marsden Cove on Saturday morning. Some boats are taking off on Thursday and some on Friday and Saturday. The winds are still pretty strong with big seas on Thursday – and Friday is … well it's Friday. There is the old superstition about not starting a passage on a Friday. Our two experiences of leaving on a Friday have been the two worst trips we've had... so we'll go on Saturday.

Here in the Marsden Cove Marina we are hoping to see the Leopard Seal that has been spotted here. It has come up from her home ground in the Antarctic. It isn't exactly your friendly ball-tossing seal. This one seems keen on chomping inflatable dinghies. She has gotten four so far – one was up on a dock finger, one was hanging on the side of the boat, one hanging on davits (that's quite a leap) and one floating (but not now!). She also has taken a bite out of a few fenders as well. Perhaps they look like food or she is just a juvenile delinquent. They are a protected species so nothing can be done – though the marina has told the Department of Conservation that they probably should do something to protect her because there are four pretty mad people in the marina. We just hope to see her – keeping our distance from her mouthful of sharp teeth.

We have the boat pretty ready and if the weather holds over the next few days we'll be on our way to Fiji. It should take us ten to eleven days. So if anything big happens in the news – you'll have to e-mail us as we won't be able to get online! Remember, you can track our progress on the YIT site. www.yit.co.nz and look for Astarte. If the radio works we'll send a daily position report to them.

So now just the last minute off shore cooking, baking, tidying and securing the decks and below decks.

Fingers crossed for a great passage – and before our visas expire!
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At 5/15/2017 8:41 PM (utc) S/V Astarte was located at 35°50.22'S 174°28.12'E

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