We ended up in Apataki by pure chance. Being indecisive about the multitude of atolls in the Tuamotus we narrowed our list down to two. View More
ocean passages
After our provisioning run we left Tahiti and headed out the pass, pointing the bow slightly to the east of Moorea. We timed our departure to arrive in Huahine, about 100 miles away, for early the next morning. View More
After a few wonderful weeks at Palmerston Island, Beveridge Reef and Niue, we’re sailing 250 miles to the Vava’u island group in Tonga. View More
With a good weather window we spent our last Paanga on cheeseburgers and cokes at Big Mamma’s yacht club and set off from Nuka’Alofa. The skies were sunny with 20 knots of breeze. As we got out of the lee of Tonga’Tapu the breeze built through the day until we were seeing 25-30 knots with gusts into the low 30’s. View More
Things finally calmed down a little bit this morning. We awoke to sunny skies, calmer seas, and breeze under 20 knots. We un-furled our sails to keep the boat speed up and made 8 knots most of the day. View More
Still making good speed to New Zealand. Erin was pretty seasick for the first few days but is feeling better. She left with bronchitis and thinks it might have screwed up her equilibrium. We’re all getting plenty of sleep on this passage, so we’re well rested. View More
We are currently 260 miles out of Opua, still making 8+ knots. Should make landfall sometime Friday morning! We have all got our sea legs back and are moving around more. Erin even cooked an amazing chicken-french-onion soup tonight. View More
Brrrrr! Last night I wore gloves, hat, jacket, pants, and even boots. Our blood has definitely thinned out over the past year in the tropics. In Seattle 67F would be a great day to wear shorts! View More
The weather finally broke yesterday allowing us to launch the dinghy and venture ashore. Five days of 30-35 knot winds and nonstop rain had taken it’s toll but we held up well and avoided cabin fever by keeping ourselves occupied. View More
We set out from the Bay of Islands on Wednesday, deciding that tacking back and forth in the ocean sounded way more fun then sitting at anchor in Opua and risking another low rolling through. View More
We finally got our Westerly wind shift we’ve been waiting for and had a great day of sailing! So good in fact that we were right on our course and covered as many miles in one day as we did in the previous two. View More
Just as predicted we ran out of wind overnight and were forced to motor. At least the waves calmed down and became less confused making for a smoother ride. View More
We lost the wind again last night. It seems the light patch was following us and since we were right on the edge it started killing our breeze. Poor Delos was rolling around in the swells side to side, forward and backward. View More
Every crew has their breaking point and for us it was early this morning at 1AM. After two days beating upwind with the breeze building and seas piling up in all directions we called our upwind quest for Minerva to an end. View More
Good Morning, Fiji..
Its 11 p.m. and we are 120 miles out from Suva, Fiji. I’m on watch and will wake Darren up for his watch at midnight. The night is really beautiful. The moon and stars are out, the swell is small and we have a nice 17 knots of breeze out of the NE pushing us along at 7.5 knots.. View More
Today was a fabulous day of sailing! The breeze was a constant 15-20 knots and finally backed to the East so we’ve been on a wonderful beam reach for the last 30 hours or so. View More
The Delos crew leaves New Zealand behind and sets sail for Fiji. We spent the next 9 days sailing the 1000 NM passage from Opua, New Zealand to Suva, Fiji. View More
Left the land of Australia about 3:30pm. Embraced the moment as I consciously stepped from Land onto Delos. Released the lines, went through the lock where Brian dropped the fish gaff after dropping his glasses the first-time coming in. Feeling bittersweet. It just feels like another day in Darwin, but we’re actually leaving the country, in a way we’re kind of sad. But the excitement has been crawling in for a little while and now we’re checked out, physically on the boat and not turning back. Leaving the land down under behind us, heading north for Indo. This is the moment we’ve all been talking about all year so it’s a bit unreal too. The sun beamed down on us, the wind in our faces. Nina painted my nails, something I hadn’t done in forever. I felt pretty, happy and simple. Put both hand lines out but caught nothing. Brady took them in by sunset which was pretty once again. Darwin always seems to have the most amazing sunsets, intense reds and pinks streamed across the sky. We’re making good progress, a comfortable 7 knots, although breeze is out of the north at the moment, let’s hope it switches soon. Easy and tasty dinner of spag bol that Karin made before we left. Lazy, tired moods and an early bed for most. Let me tell you, there is nothing like sinking into a perfectly cozy mattress (you can use this sleepify Guide best mattress for find one) at the end of the day. Oh boy, it can have the power of melting down all your stress in one go. 12am – my time for watch, woken from a deep sleep, but I don’t mind, the stars are absolutely amazing. No moon tonight. It feels like we’re in a snow dome, but with stars hugging us instead. The Milky Way can clearly be seen. Breeze is light and inconsistent. Enjoying my cup of tea and see how many shooting stars I can count.