We got underway and did a 3 night passage to head up to the Annapolis boat show. Weather made us tuck in before cape Hatteras though so we have been exploring North Carolina. I guess Blackbeard’s ship wrecked at the inlet here so they are still pulling up artefacts from it and you can see them at the local museum. Pretty cool. Back to sea tomorrow!

Yes indeed! That has also made it a bit of a process…My other half is American but I am Kiwi so registering the boat was a bit of a challenge! All done now and we have official closed on the boat. First night aboard tonight!

Trying to buy this boat has been a mission! The weather system that pushed back our haul out pushed it back by over a month. We finally got it done though and got the survey report last week. We have accepted the boat and probably close this week, all going well. Can’t wait to start moving on board!

I sent this to my doctor friend and she thought it was really cool too. She said she used to practice on pigs. Kombucha scoby is a way better option!

Wow that is so interesting!

I would call it crunchy vs crispy.

Yes this is one of the recipes I tried. Perhaps I need to make some adjustments and try again.

Interesting. Hadn’t thought of simple syrup. I love ordering crispy cauliflower bites when I am out and now that I’m thinking about it they do tend to often have a glaze.

Thanks, yeah I think maybe this is what I’m missing.

Do you have a good batter recipe for cauliflower? The one I tried didn’t work out too well.

I do not own an air fryer but I’m starting to think I may need to invest in one.

Survey on the boat is supposed to be this week but there is a weather system developing off the coast and it’s bringing high winds and rough seas. Not very conducive to a haul out and sea trial so we may have to delay it to the following week, which will push back everything else with the purchase and getting on board. Ah well, they say you shouldn’t sail to a schedule, I guess you shouldn’t try buying a sailboat to a schedule either!

Thanks! Depends significantly on the lake (size, surrounding terrain etc). Taupo can be pretty unpredictable. You’ll have no wind at all and then all of a sudden be on your side. Beautiful though and great swimming. Highly recommend!

P.S. I have also sailed very different boats in lakes vs. sea so that’s another factor to counter in.

Christmas 2023 on Lake Taupo

Oh yeah, sure!

We are buying the boat along the east coast of America so we are going to hopefully start by exploring the north of the east coast/Canada and then head down to the Caribbean for Christmas. After that, who knows. Fun fact: she was a marker boat for the Americas cup in NZ so she can certainly get us back home if we muster up the confidence!

Haha a bizarre dream for sure but they were very cute and may have had butterfly wings. I have no idea what was going on in my brain.

My work place has an app to open the front door. I refuse to use it and will continue to inconvenience myself by using my key.

This is random but I read this post and then had a dream about baby Tuataras that same night. I barely ever dream so that was fun.

Thanks! Yes a sailboat. We’ve been getting ready for this for quite a while. Took a bunch of courses and bought a starter boat that we would go away for a few months at a time in to see if it was really something we could do and to make sure the dog could handle it. We did that for a few years and learnt what we wanted from a full time boat. I hope the inspection goes well. Can’t wait to finally start the big adventure! It will probably be quite a while until we feel experienced enough to cross oceans but I’m just excited to spend more time on the water!