Friday 13 May From NZ to Fiji – the journey begins

Customs gate - back door to NZ

Sailors traditionally say it's unlucky to begin a journey on a Friday. Try adding 13th and you wouldn't get out of bed if you superstitious. We may be foolhardy in disregarding this wisdom, and time will be our judge on this, but we looked at the weather gribs and have decided we are going to clear out and leave today. Our friends on Stray Kitty are also leaving today as are Callisto and Dignity from Opua.
The wisdom from weather guru, Bob McDavit, is to wait until the front passes over us at 3pm. When it's passed over the wind will shift to NW and we can make some easting ready to turn NNE when the wind shifts again.
Early morning we called Customs to see if they could accommodate one more yacht clearing this morning. No problem, the man from the ministry was waiting for us on the dock at Marsden Cove marina together with Phillip from Dune to take our lines. He came aboard and I was able to hand him our completed paperwork and we had our clearance in 5 minutes. I think NZ is the probably the easiest and most friendly Customs and Immigration we have encountered on our trip so far.
There are no charges and no ambiguity. We even have our clearance in pack for when we return in November. If only all Customs people were so lovely.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com