Nelson, New Zealand 12 March 2011 41.2603S 173.2810E

Hi all, We’ve been getting lots of “are you ok” inquiries, since I’ve been so silent recently. All is well aboard, we are still in Nelson at a marina waiting for the installation of a hard dodger (plywood and acrylic cover for the cockpit). We missed the Christchurch earthquake by a week, and the coming tsunami waves look like they’ll be about 15 cm (6 inches), and should be here In an hour or so (11:15 a.m. NZ time). We’ve been warned not to go swimming, or boating due to unusual currents, but they are not recommending that boats sail out to sea away from land. Luckily the tide will be relatively low, (one of the big concerns in marinas is that the docks rise above the pillars and then the docks and boats start playing bumper boats in the currents).

The silence is just landlife ruling our world right now. School in the morning, projects throughout the day, get togethers with friends in the evenings. We love Nelson, a gem of a town with amazing crafts and trades and wonderfully hospitable people, perfect place to get stuff done on the boat.We’ve also done a lot of exploring, first with my mom beginning of January around Nelson and Able Tasman, then with my dad and stepmom end of February around the whole South Island. Great trips, great sights, great to reconnect with family. I’ve posted too many pictures on http://picasaweb.google.com/margoreveil, those images are all I have to tell the tales of this landlife for now.

We’re planning on leaving Nelson for Wellington next week (dodger completion and weather permitting), then after a week or less in Wellington we’ll be looking for a weather window to take us away from all the dangers of land living to the nice predictable dangers of the sea. Our first destination will be the Chatham Islands (4-5 days east of New Zealand). We’re hoping to be there a week or so before 15-20 days of navigation Back to the Australes and on up to Tahiti. I should be back to more frequent updates then.

The devastation in Japan and Christchurch is heart-wrenching. For us these events reinforce our commitment to wringing the best out of this life now; tomorrow will always be unpredictable, today is somewhat easier to predict and control, this moment is a good time to turn to the nearest person at hand, figure out what’s special about them, and nourish that thought.

Missing all you very special people! And wishing you and your loved ones health, safety and happiness. xoxomo

P.S. You can now subscribe to the Ship’s Blog and the Scurvy Report by email (separate subscriptions required). Just visit the homepages below, and enter your email address. To complete the subscription process you will have to click on a link in an email that gets sent back to you after signing up. If you’re at all interested in adding comments to the blog, you need to comment at least once while I’m near land to accept your comment. Then your future comments should go up automatically — today’s a good day for me, the internet is blazing here now (not always the case!), go for it.

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