Final Approach - Back in Australia

At the time of writing we are sill motor sailing, and have been for 36 hours, with the final 22 miles across Hervey Bay and into Burnett Heads River mouth...stunning clear water, big blue skies and light winds. We had two very large dolphins greet us after our entry into Hervey Bay, both taking delight in being watched. Australia is hiding underneath the cumulus cloud bank!!

Total passage time was 5 days and 12 hours, which is what VPP2 indicated. A little more breeze would have shortened our passage time. We now understand the importance of approaching Bundaberg in lighter winds as the sea state gets dangerous and marginal with any strong winds against current.

After plodding through a major negative current, we picked up the EAC and had up to 1.5 knots with us for some time, decreasing to 0.5 knots, until we came up to the bank.

We had a visit from a very tired Blue Footed Booby, who elected to sit on top of the bimini. Peter had gybed the boat then went on deck to transfer the preventer and got rather a surprise seeing the chap sitting up there, looking some what bedraggled. He got very cross with us every time we gybed and at one stage started squawking in protest. We did warn him of our intentions and advised him to keep his head down!

The Booby slept for 5 hours sitting up there on a gently rolling ship! His mother obviously did not teach him very well with regards to what you don't do in you own nest.....after which he shook his feathers, had a stretch and continued on his merry way!

During the 40 miles across the bay, we have been enjoying all those wonderful Aussie songs, played at full volume whilst we cleaned the boat. The music also drowned out the sound of the engine!!

Peter took the opportunity to start packing away the boat. We decided it was safe enough to take the reefing lines out!

Our last passage saw our clearest skies and a full moon we could actually see! We also had our best sailing and fastest time with a 175 mile day! Most of this was done in 12 hours on an average of 8.5 knots. Woohoo! What a ride!

We advised Customs of our intended arrival in the required time frame and they are waiting to clear us in tomorrow. We departed Noumea with about 12 other yachts..it was a good weather window!! A Beneteau 47, 44 foot Cat and us have been in close proximity (VHF range, not necessarily in sight of each other) throughout the passage. The cat had downloaded a file for Maxsea (not the crack program!!) showing all the currents and eddies so we had some good information. At the end of the day it did not matter as we had to suck up the negative current and just get on with it!

We look forward to a good sleep tonight! Here ends our Pacific crossing.

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Bundaberg gettting closer!

Day 4 and 5 of passage.

Generally we have had good sailing, with motor sailing in lighter airs.

In the early hours of day 4 (0200 of course) we passed through our first front in the Pacific, managing to avoid the others. It is impossible to go from Noumea to Bundy at present without going through a front, so we chose a weak one. The wind stayed in the SE and built to 20 to 25 knots, with peak gust at 31 knots. Of course the sea state rapidly deteriorated and we soon had 3 to 4 m seas crossing us. We fell into a few big holes.

Once the main front had passed, the seas died down and we had full sails up enjoying a 8-9 knot boat ride for 10 hours! We ended up with a 173 mile 24 hour run, which is a first for us!

We crossed the EEZ (Econimic Exclusion Zone) last night and are now in Australian Waters.

However, after being the rooster, we are now the feather duster!! The remaining 140 miles will be slow!

We now have 100 miles to the bank at the northern end of Fraser IS and 140 miles into Bundaberg. Motor sailing in light winds with current against us! Another 50 miles and it should be with us as we will be in the EAC (remember Nemo....the East Australian Current!). No-one has mentioned the adverse currents we are all dealing with. Closing the coast with strong winds we can see would be problematic with winds against current and the resulting seas. One yacht sunk two weeks ago in a blow off here and another foundered. A timely reminder for us. Fortunately all people were safely taken ashore.

With full moon tomorrow on the 31st the nights have been enjoyable with clear skies, even though the moon has washed most of the stars out, they are still there!!

We are planning to arrive Bundy late afternoon on Wednesday so we can have a sleep before we need to clear in and complete the paper work!! We will do our usual pre-arrival clean and tidy on the way in.

We have been reflecting on our 11 month passage from El Salvador and across the Pacific. The sailing has not been what we expected, but what a year!

Australia here we come!

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Noumea to Australia. The final leg of the Pacific.

Days 1 to 3

So far so good!!

Getting a weather window from Noumea proved to be a little problematic as we wanted to dodge the fronts, however, not as problematic as trying to get to NZ. We were happy heading west. It appears the passage is another feast or famine choice!!

After picking our weather window, we asked David from Gulf Harbour radio to comment on our timing.....he gave us the thumbs up. Nice to have a professional checking what you think, but at the end of the day, the atmosphere changes quickly and it does become a bit of a dart board!

We departed Noumea on Thursday the 25th October and anchored for the night in beautiful Baie Ma'aa, just 10 miles to the north. We were waiting for a front to pass Noumea, then we would be off! This meant that we really didn't start our passage on a Friday!

The seas were a little lumpy going out through the main pass, Dumbea, but once clear we settled into a nice 18 knot SE wind, lasting for 12 hours. The 2.7m swell died down as we progressed and now we are motor sailing on and off as the breeze comes and goes. Today, day 3 an 18 knot SE breeze filled in again as a front (small and weak we believe) passes. SO we are off again making fast time!

There are over 12 yachts all heading into Bundaberg, and fortunately we will be relatively spread out for clearance purposes. We are in regular contact via VHF with some of the yachts sharing our delights at the sailing conditions and despair of the 1 knot of current that appears against us for some of the time. We are sort of hoping to get in late in the afternoon so we can have a good sleep before we do our clearance. The Port to Port Rally offer a refund on the $330 clearance fees, which is a little saving as we had to pay $220 to join the rally!

Sky so far has been clear with a wonderful moon and stars. We are now on EST so first light is before 0400!! This makes for short nights and long days, all relatively speaking!

We have 420 miles to go which should take us another 80 hours or so, depending on our speed. By midnight tonight we should be half way! The last 100 miles will be a little challenging with the currents and seas if the wind picks up.

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New Caledonia..Getting Closer

A short comment on Anatom, Vanuatu........ it is the clearest water we have seen so far in the Pacific, and by far the best coral; variety of hard and soft coral and colour. Most notable was the amount of fish life....lots of large fish, turtles and the rest. We saw a huge Pharmacy fish with its big brown eyes, hiding under a ledge. They are so beautiful. Being a marine park has done well to preserve this environment. The island has no vehicles; just small villages.

The last 70 miles into New Caledonia over night ended up being a stunning night with mostly clear skies and a NE/N wind around 15 knots, allowing us to sail at around 6 to 7 knots and gain some time to enter the pass. The seas remained less than 1 meter, and the wind died, so all was well!

We could not have had a better entry into Havannah Pass if we planned it with the right information!!! It was a little hit and miss with the conflicting information we had. 20 miles out, having current with us for the first time in a while, we knew it had to be the flood into the pass. First light was just after 0415 as we came in. Only one of the lead lights was working, but our charts were spot on and with a little bit of light, we could spot the Japanese fishing trawler on the southern reef and the Phare light gave us the boundary of the starboard reef. We had 4 knots with us as we entered the pass between the reef with no over falls. Otherwise we had around 2 knots of current with us.

We first thought that coming into the pass at slack water at the end of the ebb was the optimal time, however this would give you negative current from 20 miles or so out. So coming in with the flood just happened to be lucky!! Better to be born more lucky than rich????????????

It appeared that HW at the pass was in fact 1 hour after HW Noumea. It is VERY important to get through the pass with little wind otherwise you are in for a wild time. Two other yachts who were behind us had a terrible time with 20 to 25 knot head wind and over falls with strong currents. One yacht hove to outside the passage for the night and had a very rough night. We spoke to a kiwi who came in with a 4m sea and 30 knots of wind behind him......he was broaching several times and found it difficult to get out of the large standing waves. Sounded positively dangerous with the reefs either side.

We came into anchor in Baie De Prony..beautiful and quiet. Noumea tomorrow before the front hits. Timing is everything.

Since January this year we have sailed a little over 9,000 nm. Almost the same as our tour of the Indian Ocean, however, the Pacific has been a lot more challenging. We have managed to come thus far without running into a front, active convergence zone, an active trough or the SPCZ! (South Pacific Convergence Zone). Of the two lightening storms we have seen, we have been tucked away and out of sight!!! No easy feat!

We are somewhat hoping (but doubtful) we will get to Bundaberg without crossing a front or convergence zone as the weather pattern is now changing. Maybe a front will be less likely as the lows should start dropping further south now summer is approaching. We have David and Patricia who operate Gulf Harbour Radio (NZ) with excellent weather forecasting and offer a good back up to choosing our weather window. Bundy is some 770 miles from Noumea.

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Anatom, Vanuatu to New Caledonia

On Passage

We have had clear skies for 3 days now, or mostly, which is a treat. With very little moon, we had stars to give us some light last night.

With regards to the wind, we are in famine!! Had a bit of a SE wind yesterday and last night, but have been motoring since 0400 this morning. Slow!!! The swell is down to under a meter which is good, although it will bounce back up to 3-4 m by Monday as a big low goes through NZ. We expect a little or a lot of rain on our approach to New Cal with troughs and the like. The trough that was between Vanuatu and the Loyalties (60nm east of New Cal) dissipated as we approached it! You have ot be happy with that!

I have been busy baking to use up the supplies and Peter is going to make some pasta sauce to use up the onions. Good practice for Aus!!

We anticipate our arrival at Havannah Pass, on the east side of New Caledonia sometime around 0600 tomorrow morning, Saturday. We are hoping for slack water, but have conflicting info on when this might be. However, with calm conditions the pass should not be too boisterous. It is a 2 mile wide passage but with lots of currents. The plan is to go about 6 miles after the pass and anchor in Baie de Prony until Monday when we can then make our way the remaining 30 miles to clear into Noumea.

We would have had a rest by then from our 36 hour passage (!!) and get the flood through to Noumea. Its very tiring going so slow! Today we have decided on a Max Prop!!!

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Fiji to Vanuatu

Fiji to Vanuatu.

Feast or Famine..we chose feast! Troughs and lows aplenty that run from the SPCZ near the Solomons down to the intense lows charging through NZ.

We departed Fiji with a forecast of 15-20 knot SE winds knowing that they would be around 25 knots at times and a 3-4m swell kicking in from the south for at least a day. Just what we want..a cross swell!!

Fiji was wall to wall grey which is what we had the whole way..seeing stars and the sun only briefly. However, in our different shades of grey (!!) we had only a few showers and maximum squall (wind only) to 35 knots, only briefly. A bit of green water across the deck and unfortunately two bits of a wave down below!! We did not eat much for two days, but now are eating constantly!

All in all a fast run which was not uncomfortable as the apparent wind was between 90 and 120 off the bow. 467 miles in 72 hours and that included slowing down for the last 60 miles so we did not arrive in the dark. Had we kept our speed, it would have taken us only 64 hours to do the run. Not bad! The boat handled the seas remarkably well, which is why we bought a Hylas and it being an S&S design.

Our final departure from Fiji was a relief as we had been waiting to miss fronts coming across..which we did! The boat that left a day behind us got caught in one. Beware of NE winds shifting to the SE as they only go one way and its not through the east!!!!

Waiting in Suva was a treat as was staying a the Novatel in Lami Bay, just around the corner. A protected anchorage so we had yachts to gaze at in case we were homesick!!!

The food was to die for............

and we just enjoyed the ambiance of the old port town.....

On our return from Suva we did have a very embarrassing moment aka night on the putty coming back into Port Denarau (from Lautoka) ... at night....following our track, we relaxed once inside the marina...a little too early it seems with one of the green markers missing its light (this was replaced the next morning) and us missing the marker!!! A comedy of errors on both sides. We did not quite make it to the mooring. John from Red Sky called us in the morning and said 'Hello Eileen'...and yes, we did lean........(we enjoy their humour). Other cruisers commented that we all do silly things from time to time. Shite happens! The only thing wounded was our egos!! Does not do well having the 'naviguesser' going aground!! First time in over 40,000 miles!!!!

We arrived in Anatom Is Vanuatu in the early morning, coming through the pass around 0800. Our electronic charts were accurate and the pass is wide and deep. The wonderful policeman on the island came out about an hour after putting the hook down and cleared us in and out! How easy was that!

Anatom is a beautiful island; stunning lagoon, white sandy beaches, and crystal clear water to boot. It has wet our appetite for cruising Vanuatu in the future.

Many ruins around the villages..

No vehicles; lots of sandy tracks to exlore

We did the usual and took lots of school supplies....new books for their library, exercise books, pencils, paints...

This boat sails really well in the lagoon....

Mystery Island nearby is where the cruise ship punters go. It is well set up by the locals and a wonderful deserted place to hang out when the cruise ship is not in ..........

Peter is in a little hot water!!!!!!

A two day passage will see us through Havannah Pass, New Caledonia, and into Noumea. Not thinking about that today but it will have to be soon.

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Tonga to SavuSavu, Fiji

We departed with Carillon after Red Sky decided to head south. They have been fun to have been with for so long. Good to meet up with Carillon after having met them in Chagos in 2006.

We had a good window with SE winds 15-20 knots, with the usual cross swells.  We are starting to sail our passages now. The 3 days so far has been fast, with the wind coming in 25 to 30 knots once in Fiji waters and the Koro Sea. The waves were short and sharp for a while, being around 4 m. We surfed down one at 9.7 knots!! So happy to be going with them!! We could not work out why our batteries needed charging three times in 24 hours. The climate control on the fridge had been bumped by something rolling around in there and was on freeze!!!!!! That has happened before and we need to keep an eye on this.

It appears that winds are generally stronger in the Koro Sea, especially when it funnels between the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, or along the southern coast of  Viti Levu.

Its cool now with the need for woolies and jackets on deck. Even got the thermals out!!

We adopted Carillon's favourite down wind sail plan...headsail only! Excellent for running deep with speed and good stability.

Generally a bit of rolling on the passage has been tiring and it was wonderful to get into calm Savu Savu. Otherwise an easy passage. We entered the Koro Sea via Lakemba Passage, which is wide and easy, especially at night when we came through.

Bob McDavitt (NZ guru) has indicated that El Nino is now starting, so enhanced trade winds can be expected. I guess we will have wind (and seas!) between here and Bundaberg.

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Tonga: The end of the Middle

Our short stay at Niue was a good call as we not only missed the strong W/NW winds from Tonga, but found the jewel in the Pacific!! Niue is a single rock, some 12 miles long that has been uplifted. No beaches, just lots of chasms and amazing rock pools, with 70m visibility!

We were on a mooring in 20m of water and we could see the coral and bits of sand as clear as if it was 2m! The sea bed, being untouched, is wall to wall coral with deep chasms. You lift the dinghy out from alongside the concrete pier with an electric winch, the same as the Etchells are lifted in and out of the water.

The people are NZ citizens and only a small number of people now live on the island..maybe 2,000. We received the warmest welcome from everyone there.

We visited a village on their show day and tasted some of the local food. Peter had a large tub of  trifle for breakfast! The women were in their Sunday best!

On our way around the island there were many caves ....Peter's boofy hand doing a "Thing"  impersonation...

Neiafu, Vava'u Tonga was a mere 230 miles to the west. We motored for 6 hours until a good SE wind came in. Heading was west!!! Seas were under a meter and only mildly confused as we passed south of the Capricorn Seamount, which is huge!

We arrived with Red Sky at dawn, after plodding along waiting for first light. A pod of whales had been in the harbour as we entered. Lyn and Steve from Carillon (cruising friends from SE Asia) came out to meet us in their dinghy. It was fantastic to see familiar faces. Neiafu is a hurricane hole with a small narrow channel. The water is clear and calm!!!!!!!! What a relief not to be moving!!

Virgos Child and Amnesia are still here, waiting for a window to Fiji, as are many of the yachts who left Bora Bora 10 days before us.

So now we have crossed the date line and we are on the same day as home!!! Our passages as no longer more than 500 miles until the last jump home from New Caledonia, which is around 750nm.

There are many anchorages to explore here and we will probably leave at the end of the month to Fiji as we need to be in New Cal by early October. Fiji has had poor weather all season, so we hope it improves!! It also had lots of Indian food..YUM!

Jobs for Peter whilst we are here: glass the mount back in for the autopilot, put another bolt in the coupling to hold the shaft and we need a sail repair as the tack on the main chaffed through!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All in all, the last 1200 miles was a get out of jail free card......no squalls with winds under 20 knots in an area that is potentially vicious. We made it by a day as the wind and rain are coming in as we write!! We need a boat wash! Timing is everything!!

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Moving West through the Dangerous Middle

After motoring along in flat seas we decided, with Red Sky to pull into Palmerston Atoll. An absolutely stunning atoll surrounded by white sandy beaches and palm trees.

There are moorings available, but they are in disrepair as they only get a ship once every 6 months and cannot get the necessary gear to up keep the moorings.

The local officials come out to check us in and to have a chat.

It cost $80 to clear in for two days, but the same price if we wanted to stay a month!! They then took us ashore. We are not permitted to take our own dinghy into the atoll. They keep it pristine!

We spent a nervous night with light westerly winds which had us on a lee shore against a coral reef. The wind finally swung to the south early evening which was a little better. Very rolly! We were advised to put our anchor down as well..except the sea floor was nothing but layers of coral; very beautiful but we were worried we would not be able to retrieve our anchor.

Palmerston has an interesting history with a Lancashireman, William Masters, who settled here in 1862 with 3 wives. Direct descendants live there today, with the total population being 70 people. Such a wonderful experience to have met them. We only stayed two days as the wind was favourable to head west.

We were invited ashore for lunch

 and a tour around the village. There was the remains of a yacht there that ended up on the reef last year. It re-enforced our idea of a short stay!!

Two glorious days and nights of full moon and sailing with the wind on our beam and calm seas, doing between 6 and 8 knots constantly. My how the miles tick by!!!! The forecast for Tonga was a little bleak, with a trough moving over Vava'u when we would be making a night entry. The wind had died and we had a frustrating day, so we decided to pull into Niue, the smallest nation in the world. It is independent from NZ but supported by their government.

Unfortunately, with the wind in the NE and the trough expected here as well, we can only stay a few days as this is another anchorage exposed to the north and west! We arrived at 0400 yesterday morning, so we are quite tired. So far it looks wonderful. The people are just so nice. It has an airstrip,so tourists can come here, unlike Palmerston which is only accessible by boat.

The engine continues to be problematic. The shaft fell out again!!! It has been worn by the previous owner running the engine whilst out of alignment. We now have diesel getting into the oil somehow..injectors?? The secondary alternator burnt out. Something else we had fixed in Mexico that has failed!!! Frequent oil changes will handle the former.

Tonga is a mere 230 miles away, then Fiji another 400 or so. We will have time to get some things fixed in Fiji. Roll on Australia!!!

Whilst we were motoring to Palmerston we had an amazing encounter with some humpback whales. They had come to check us out and a baby, half the size of Stolen Kiss leapt completely out of the water only 4m away! you think we didn't get a surprise!! The adults came up to the stern to take a look at us then they were breaching next to us as well. We got out of there!!! We also had a female and her young calf come up to us in the anchorage in Palmerston.

We are sailing with Red Sky, and with wind over 15 knots, we sail well together. Leanne and John are good company.
We have two days to explore Niue but are also ready to depart if the anchorage becomes untenable.

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Almost the Middle of the Dangerous Middle

Much has been written by cruisers about the 'Dangerous Middle' between Bora Bora and Tonga. Weather patterns can be difficult as fronts and convergence from southern ocean lows can influence the area. After all, it is winter in the south! So far we have had no squalls, although there has been some rain around.

We departed the afternoon Barns and Anita left as it allowed us to sail with a good SE wind of 20 to 25 knots. The weather window was closing and indeed today, the 27th, we have lost the wind!

The seas leaving Bora Bora are confused for the first 18 hours. We made good time on the first 3 days with a 165 mile day being the best. With day 2 having 4m seas kicked up from a low, the autopilot worked well and the boat handled the conditions with ease. However, at night the block mounting the ram came adrift! Fortunately the seas had abated and I hand steered for 5 hours whilst Peter sat in the aft locker making a new mount! He did an awesome job as it was still a little bouncy! This repair will last until Tonga (we hope!) where Peter can re-glass the previous mount.

Motoring is slow with the new gear box as it is a different ratio. We now need a new prop!!!!!!! So the decision in the next few days is whether we will stop off at Palmerston (an atoll that has no anchorage inside)and wait for wind.

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Kota Kinabalu to Singapore. February 2008.

Life is a reach and then you gybe…

Or in this case we tacked!

Having spent a considerable amount of time gathering information on anchorages, accessing weather information (for typhoons) and reading about the Philippines, we changed our minds!

As it happened, December 2007 and January 2008 provided some great weather windows for heading north from Kota Kinabalu to the Philippines (not at all like the previous season). It just so happened that we had made plans to go to Laos in December and Peter went to the UK for a family visit in January. C’est la vie.

A week before we departed in February, the weather gurus changed the long term prediction back to La Nina, which when translated, meant a wetter than average southern Philippines and Borneo. In a nutshell, this did not spell good weather – at least for us.

However, being determined to push on, we cleared out of Sabah at Kota Kinabalu in early February for the Philippines. We could have waited another month, but being marina bound for such a long time was not for us, even if it was the amazing Sutera Harbour.

Usukan Bay was our first anchorage north of KK and a good deep, sheltered harbour to wait for lighter winds. As we were anchoring we noticed a very large brownish creature, maybe half as big as us, with a dorsal fin and tail fin moseying along the reef. What ever it was could not ‘see’ very well as after we had just anchored, it tried to surface underneath us, giving as a few very large thumps as it hit us from underneath and then with its tail as it dived. We were only in 8m of water. Needless to say swimming was off the agenda!

On day two, feeling the need to stretch the legs, we ventured ashore at the small village and beyond. The ever enterprising locals saw us and before we knew it we were in a taxi and off to the nearby town (Kuala Belud) a short distance away. A truck had overturned on the main road so our adventure widened to encompass a journey through minor roads and small settlements, giving us a grand tour of the country side! So much for the walk!

We finally departed and continued bashing our way north (it is the NE monsoon after all), not even reaching the tip of Borneo. We decided that this was not fun and just did not feel right for us. So we tacked and headed back to KK, having wind, current and swell behind us. Bliss!!. A quick phone call to some friends to share our amusement in turning around and we changed to plan ‘C’.

Our arrival back to KK was met with some interesting reactions from others but the good thing is that it’s just not important! We did not fancy the trek out to check back in, so we stayed a few days illegally before heading south.

Plan ‘C’?? Head south to Singapore, then down through Indonesia and back to Darwin. Of course this will be in the transition months of April/May and before the SE monsoon blasts in. Being in Darwin will allow Peter some time to work on the boat and for us to go back to the Kimberley to visit the amazing Berkley and King George Rivers.

Departing KK for the second time, but now heading south, our first anchorage was another visit to Palau Tiga where we found Sea Rose. It is a stunning island (volcanic mud baths) with a white sandy beach overhung by jungle. Very quiet and clear water to boot! We shared a wonderful meal on Sea Rose before we both headed off to Labuan, where we were planning to check in and do some duty free shopping.

As it happened, it was still Chinese New Year and the Harbour Master was not where to be found! As we were keen to keep heading south to Miri whilst we still had a good wind behind us, we fare welled Sea Rose and had a very fast sail to Juradong. (Brunei) The Sultan’s brother, Jeffrey, who was a little naughty embezzling money, built this very large private marina space to house his own yacht. Needless to say it was never quite finished but the huge breakwater and artificial island left behind, is enjoyed by many yachties on their way to and from KK.

In KK I had gone shopping with Bill (Time Out) to purchase a repala (lure) and the necessary bits to see if in fact we could catch fish. At great expense to the management (even more to Bill as he purchased the largest one!) I ended up with a blue repala which came recommended for the fish around Borneo. This proved to be excellent advice as it attracted a few fish within a short time and one large fish who liked the lure so much it took off with it, biting right through the wire trace! Peter, constantly enjoying a challenge, decided to make some adjustment to the ‘bongo bongo’ lure (made from a tinsel chip bag) and added some electric blue string. Blue was obviously the right colour as we soon caught a barracuda. Not the best fish (according to the Marine Fishes guide) but it tasted good.

As the days were grey and the heavens laden with moisture, we stayed in Juradong for a few days before heading to our next stop in a river at Kuala Belait (Brunei). We came into the river on the last of the flood, with 15 knots of wind on our quarter. The swell was around 2m with a little bit of a surf building at the entrance. Our departure the next day was early to catch the last of the ebb and before the wind piped up (we were forever hopeful). It was a little exciting getting out the entrance, but not a problem as the swell had decreased. A rig tender on its way out waited for us to clear the entrance which was probably out of interest more than anything else!

Motor sailing to Miri, we were thankful that the swell had further decreased to 1m, otherwise entering Miri Marina could also have provided us with a more excitement than what we needed. We were just on the edge of surfing down the waves as it was.

The marina in Miri is a little ways out of town but we managed to commandeer two old bicycles that were there for all and sundry to use. Peter orchestrated a few repairs and off we went. Our first task was to clear in as we had been in no-man’s land for almost two weeks. No problems! There are many things about Asia we will miss when we head back to Australia, this being one of them.

Ming Café is a favourite hang out for the yachties and many locals. We ate there every day. Zosha’s owners had returned and we were able to enjoy their company for the short time we were there. One of the other yachties invited me along to a belly dancing class run by a local lady. It was fabulous fun in many ways, not to mention the sheer enjoyment of seeing full bodied women getting up there and giving it their all. They were very good and had all the moves. There were women and girls of all ages and one local guy. The instructor got him up the front of the class in one routine. He was not at all embarrassed. The women did remind each other to watch their comments in reference to their body parts as there was a man present! I thought he was a brave man and Peter thought he had life well and truly ‘sussed’. We went to a wonderful Indian Restaurant out at Lutong. One of the couples we dined with were Indian and Peter was pleasantly surprised when he found himself sitting next to the Indian wife, as she kept filling her husband's plate and Peter's plate with food! I could see the look Peter was giving me; needless to say I often remind him that he definately married the wrong person! Over dinner we were discussing some of the books we had been reading. The Indian gentleman took the prize as his book was 'Pipe Laying' (we guessed he had passed 101). He was an engineer for Shell.

Sitting in Miri waiting for a weather window we were thinking of Carillon, in an enviable position, already over in Ambon and Bill who was planning to go to Bali via East coast Borneo. We are just hoping that there will still be some following winds at least to get us across the south of Borneo. (In our wildest dreams!) From there we plan to head down to the Tanimbar Islands and on to Darwin. However, we do know about plans!!

There were a few rumours of a resident crocodile in Miri Marina, but as no-one had actually seen one, (only a very large lizard) Peter and Peter (Zosha) decided that it didn’t really exist and it was ok to jump over the side and check the propeller.

The weather in Miri was not the usual NE monsoon; some days the wind would blow from the NE and on others would be squally west/south westerlies. Maritim Malaysia had gone out to sea, making a rapid return as the swells were over 3m high. Those brave boys! Weather models showed the swell decreasing in a few days, but alas, so was the wind!

As we wanted to be in Singapore by early March, the weather was shaping up to be now or not, as the forecast over the next week was for the squally conditions to return. Our forecast of a 10 knot NE wind turned into 5 knots, so for the first two days it was a little tedious motor sailing! We decided to stay near the coast in the hope of making the most of land and sea breezes. It appeared to pay off somewhat. The coastline south of Bintulu is wide, flat and shallow due to many rivers. It is also busy with fishermen which kept us awake on watch at night! Although we did not encounter any real problems, we did manage to run over two driftnets (one on his and her watch!) without getting tangled. The swell was down to less than 1m by now, so by the time we did get our 10 – 15 knot northerly wind, we were flying! We managed 48 hours of ideal sailing for Stolen Kiss who reveled in the conditions at around 8 knots. At least we could start to decrease the miles. The favourable current did not eventuate as it seemed we had current against us and with us as the tide changed. We were happy to get the tide right going between the Indonesian Islands with 1.8 knots with us. The sky cleared every night and we had stars to keep us company.

With all this motoring a few issues came to light! One of the batteries was overheating and would need to be replaced, a new water pump really was needed (our spare also leaks!) and a seal in the gear box had also sprung a leak. The latter provided yet another challenge for Peter as he rigged up an effective method to recycle the transmission fluid! The ever resourceful Peter!

Following our close encounters with the fishing nets, Peter decided to go over the side to check the prop and make sure nothing had got tangled on our centre board. He found that the only thing we were dragging along was a very large sucker fish that had attached itself to the back of the keel. We wondered how long he stayed there for and if he made it to Singapore!

Sailing a more northerly course into Singapore kept the wind on our beam as it shifted to the NW and kept us away from the ships. We only had to alter course for one ship prior to crossing the shipping lanes at Horsborough Light (Singapore). The ships must be quite on edge with unwelcome intruders (pirates) as when I had changed course to avoid a potential collision and headed for the ship’s stern (0300 hours), the ship promptly slowed down, changed course and got several spotlights out to look for the vessel aiming at them! He was not helping us get passed! A quick call on the VHF revealed all (we have the AIS technology that identifies the ships by name now) and soon we were both on our way. In December, a tug had been ‘stolen’ in the Balabac Straight between Sabah and the Philippines and a rig tender had fought off potential boarders with a fire hose. The tug has since been recovered by Maritim Malaysia. Singapore Port Authority has a daily shipping bulletin with navigation warnings and they were warning ships of a small vessel approaching ships at night coming into Singapore! We promise it was not us! The threat to shipping in these waters is a real threat; however, yachts tend to be ok.

On his visit to the UK, Peter purchased the NASA AIS system, which is displayed on a separate screen. As it does not draw a lot of power, we have this on all the time with the alarm on. It is not meant to replace the function of our radar and we did find one ship departing Singapore not transmitting any AIS signal. Having the alarm on is good when you are in a low density shipping area and is just one extra ‘pair of eyes’, but of course as the density of the ships increases, the alarm would send us mad! Our AIS is ‘north up’, where as the radar and charts are ‘heads up’, but once you get your head around what is where, it all works very well. We are more than happy with our purchase as it does take a little of the guess work out of who we are most likely to be on a collision course with. It also gives the one person on watch more confidence to deal with the ships without having to wake up the off watch!

We find listening to the VHF a constant source of amusement around Singapore. However, it must be very stressful for all concerned having so many ships traveling in such a confined space around Singapore, crossing to come into anchorages and wharves. One ship called up another and asked it to move over and ‘please do so very quickly sir as you are in the separation lane and very close to me’. Another conversation goes along the lines of ‘little container ship this is the VLCC (very large container carrier) on your port bow, please come back very quickly’. Much of what is said has a wonderful Indian intonation or is spoken in English by men, with whom English is their second language, making instructions very litteral. We were embarrassed as westerners to hear a European woman on a yacht in Sebana Cove Marina speaking at length to someone on channel 16. When a Malaysian authority came on to ask her not to do this (the majority of us know this is taboo) she thought it was quite funny as she could not understand as she too, could not speak English!

After enjoying a good days sailing, crossing a busy shipping lane at 8 knots; a good speed to clear ships, we made our way up the Sungai Santi on the Malay border, anchoring at 2300 hours in a favourite spot for a good night’s sleep. The final leg of our passage, from Miri to Singapore, took 6.5 days for a total of 645 NM, giving us an average speed of 4.1 knots. Not our fastest!

We decided to go up to Sebana Cove Marina the next day to re-fuel, only to find their prices were now the same as Singapore.

The following day, March 3rd, we made our way towards Sentosa Island, making a short stop at Sister Island to clear with Western Immigration (VHF CH 74)before coming into the new Keppel Bay Marina (VHF Ch 77). All very new and nice, 5 minutes from supermarkets and the MRT, the only thing lacking was a laundry! For the grand price of $10, the marina handles the port clearance. Too easy! We will have time to spend with good friends, do necessary repairs on the engine and just enjoy all that is Singapore before heading down to Darwin.

Seychelles to Phuket, via the Maldives - on passage. August 2006

Which is more important. The journey or the destination? A buddhist would say the journey.

In our saloon we have a sticker which says 'Are you having fun yet?' Sometimes we actually have to read it!!

There are three traits which characterize the Indian Ocean in the SW monsoon. Cross swells, squalls and electrical storms. We were happy to experience all but the latter.

Another of Peter’s analogies: ‘An offshore passage is like cosmetic dentistry – you know you want the big smile but is it worth the pain?’ Like yacht racing, the pain is very short lived, but the beauty of the ocean remains in your mind forever. I am happy to report that Peter is enjoying passages more as he experiences them! (I am not sure he would agree with this in fear of being dragged into more!!!)


Of course, such a reflection of an ocean passage has a dampening effect of reality. The 36 hours of almost continuous squalls (albeit not very strong) between Seychelles and Male are soon forgotten. It is not a problem of being wet for all of that time, (after all hot and wet is not that bad) but rather the demanding sailing of such rapid changes in wind strength. We must admit that we did take the easy way out at times and just motor sailed with the headsail. After the last 2700 miles, we are now more experienced in guessing the strength of the squalls by their colour and looking at the density of the green blobs on the radar! As Teddy would say; ‘there’s another black bastard coming at you’!

We cleaned the bottom of the boat and the prop 3 days before we left Mahe. One of those three days included a 25nm sail to Petit Cour on Praslin Island where we stopped to have a final rest and watch the World Cup finals. During this short time, the growth on the hull and prop was so significant, that we were losing ½ knot of speed when motoring. So in the middle of the Indian Ocean in 4000m of water, we hove to for Peter to go over the side and clean the prop. The colour of the water was magnificent and characteristically, Indian Ocean Blue!

Statistically the SE trades blow harder around the Seychelles. This certainly held true this season as we sailed fast up to within 10 miles of the equator before we carelessly lost the wind! We crossed the equator around 64 degrees E, then headed on a more easterly course, having to motor 80 hours between Seychelles and Male, trying to get north from the equator. The pain was exacerbated by the current (up to 1 knot at times) we had against us. VPP2 (computer program which has all the information from the pilot charts and will estimate a course for you maximizing wind and minimizing current) was excellent in plotting us a course to Male.

We stayed around 3 degrees 30 min N for most of the time as further north, although there was more wind, the squalls were stronger. We have had a debate with other yachties as to which is preferable – motoring or 40 knot continuous squalls. Hmm, tough decision! We waited for 10 days in Male for wind, which was well worth it. We were a little longer in reality as we were hiding in an atoll for 4 days before we checked in!

Between Male and Phuket, we sailed all the way until we got to the Nicobar Islands which is the entrance to the Malaccan Straits. 85% of the time we had winds from 12 – 20 knots off our starboard quarter. Perfect sailing conditions which allowed us to sail 160 to 170 miles per day for the first half of the passage. There was only 2 days of 30 knots of breeze! It apears that this is considered a very strong breeze in SE Asia! I guess the Kiwis, other Southern Ocean dwellers and the Fremantle sailors are the only ones that would consider this an 'average' wind???? If we didn't go sailing in Fremantle in 30knots, we would seldom get out of the pen!! Apart from the short lived squalls, that is the strongest breeze we have had since leaving Fremantle!!

We maintained a latitude of 4 degrees 30 min N, a little over 100 miles south of Sri Lanka, only making our way north on a gentle NE course after passing the SE corner of Sri Lanka. India and Sri Lanka have an enormous impact on the weather conditions for hundreds of miles. The grib files we downloaded via sailmail were accurate for a 24 hour period and as most of the trough lines (and squalls) were north of 5N, we planned our course successfully to miss most of these.

The shipping lane between Aceh and the Nicobars is close to one hundred miles wide. A few ships head SW, but the majority are heading west towards India. There are no defined lanes and at times we had ships heading at us from both directions. We crossed the first shipping lane easily, and managed very well with the major one. Of course, we had squalls to deal with when the density of the ships increased, so although we had the ships on radar coming at us, we could not see them until they were less than ½ mile away!

Our adrenal glands worked overtime. We did cheat a bit though as for most of the time we were 1 mile behind Bill on Time Out who has a computer program which reads ship information via the VHF (AIS) which gives us their course, distance and speed. Two ships actually changed course for us! Unfortunately Time Out was heading east to Langkawi and we were off on a more northerly course to Phuket. We missed having that information on the last day when it got really busy!! We had a few tense moments in squalls with visibility reduced to under 2 miles. We had one slab sided car carrier coming at us at 25 knots. We had it on radar but only saw her steaming out of the gloom, 1 mile away. Around midnight, just when we though it was safe, we gybed to take a ship down our starboard side. It kept coming back onto our bow. We finally worked out it was turning, which was odd as we were very close to the Nicobar islands. When we could see its lights we kept heading for its stern light. It ended up being a massive tanker and we passed it less than 1 mile on our port side.

We had debated the merits of crossing in The Great Channel or Sombrero Channel further north. The yachts that went further north at the same time took a bit of a hammering with quite bad weather/swell and had trouble with fishing boats. We did not encounter either.

From the Nicobars, we motored the last 220 miles to Phuket in mostly clear skies and definitely no squalls!

During both passages, most of the time we enjoyed magnificent sailing conditions with starry nights and clear days. We established a routine of midday movies, just going on deck every 20 minutes for a quick scan. There was the odd day that the only ‘movie’ screen we watched was the green blobs coming at us on the radar screen! We only saw one vessel on passage (well, unbeknown to us, we had gone past a tuna fishing boat 2 miles off our beam which took Bill by surprise when it popped up in front of him) until we got to the shipping lanes at the entrance to the Malaccan Straits.

Both passages took 10 days, even though Male to Phuket was 400 miles further. We had heard of the possibility of difficult sea conditions in the locations where there are rapid changes in elevation of the sea bed. It is difficult to comprehend how the surface of the ocean can be affected by what happens 1000m to 4000m below! Of course, all that was said was true! We had seas rising from 1/2m to 2m-3m where the sea floor jumped from 4000m to 1000m and several tidal overfalls and whirlpools between Nicobar and Phuket. An amazingly calm sea suddenly erupting into breaking waves that sounded worse than what they actually were. It makes you jump when you are otherwise having a very quiet night watch!


Other yachts that left Seychelles a month later than us have experienced reasonably rough weather. In other years, yachts returning to Phuket have got an absolute hammering. Apparently when the monsoons are weak, the ITCZ is not very active, which translates into a decrease in intensity and frequency of squalls and electrical storms. The NE monsoon last season was very weak – the high pressure systems over China were not strong. Sometimes it pays to be lucky!


A cruising friend had organized us a pen at Boat Lagoon Marina, which is a bit of a cesspool to tie up in, but an excellent location for getting work done. Luckily for us we had turned off the shallow depth alarm in the Seychelles (took Gorbar and us a while to work it out!) as we came up the channel to Boat Lagoon with a 1.9m tide which was not enough water for us! We went aground (for the first time EVER!) and anchored (we could see the fluke!) in less than a meter of water – in case we drifted (?) onto the pylon nearby. After entertaining the tourist boats, whose speed and wake bounced us into deeper water (where we had 0.2m under our keel) we were soon on our way with the sounder showing 00 (which meant we had about 400mm underneath us) for most of the two miles into the marina. It was a relief to be tied up, not having to think of dragging or keeping a look out for ships! Some red wine and a deep comatose sleep. Bliss!