Good Bye Indonesia, Hello Malaysia!

After clearing out from Indonesia at Belitung we had a 2 day sail/motor (mostly motor) to a small island called Selayar. It was a pretty stop and looked a bit like parts of Maine or Scotland but with 30C or so. Strong currents and lots of fishing traps made anchoring a challenge but it was good holding and relaxing for a full days rest before we continued north.  We left with friends Chris and Dave from 'CD' and Stefan and Sue from 'Charlotte' for the short sail to the next anchorage. On the way we crossed the equator for the 4th time. It was fun as we rafted the 3 boats together with Chapter Two in the middle providing the power to get us across the equator. We all had a glass of fizz and toasted the sea gods as we crossed. We separated after crossing just before we were hit by squalls so it was all very good timing.

After a few more stops in pretty anchorages, we reached the straits of Melaka where we had to cross the shipping lane to the Singapore strait. We have never seen so many ships. There were far more than the English channel. It was very exciting and we had to turn the radar off as there were just too many echos to make sense of anything. We got across in one piece and headed up the Johor strait to Puteri Harbour marina, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

We spent 2 weeks in the marina and enjoyed the local restaurants especially our favourite, the Brussels Bar. As it's a Muslim country beer is fairly expensive (UK prices) but the burger and fries were tasty. In fact. the BB let us buy meat from them at cost price to stock up our freezer. We also stocked up with provisions at the local supermarkets which included a Tesco so we were a bit spoilt for choice after the small shops in Indonesia.

We organised a weekend trip to Singapore by car. It is very expensive to take the boat into Singapore marinas so we left it in the marina in Puteri.  There are 2 bridges linking Singapore to Malaysia and lots of people cross between the two. The southern part of Malysia is becoming almost part of Singapore with many people living in Malaysia and commuting. The problem with this is that it is pushing the Malaysian's out as they cannot afford the new housing currently being built.

Our first day in Singapore we headed to the bay front area to see the gardens which have their own version of the Eden project and a bigger version of the London eye. We went to the Cloud Forest dome which was amazing given where it is but is really too small. To see a view of the city we headed to the Sands Hotel which is near the bay front. It has 3 towers linked by a 'ship' at the top. The view was good but it was very expensive for what it was and they do not allow you in any of the restaurants unless you are a hotel guest even though, they are practically empty!

We stayed at a hotel which is part of a sports club near to Raffles hotel. It was a homely and friendly hotel and we could use the members bar and restaurant and other facilities. We enjoyed this as all the restaurants in the area were in shopping malls and included the usual chains. Not somewhere to have a nice meal for the evening.

Our next day we spent hours walking around the botanical gardens including the amazing Orchid garden.  There are so many different types and we took a lot of pictures as they were just so stunning!Then we headed to the main shopping area on Orchard Road. Its a bit like Oxford Street in London except every shop is a shopping mall full of designer shops. A shoppers paradise for those with very deep pockets but no good to us living on a boat! Our final day we headed quite a way out of the city centre to visit a bird park. They had an amazing number of different species of birds but it was sad to see how small some of the cages were for the bigger birds. However, many were larger and have walk through sections where you are in with the birds. This meant that you had some amazing views of ones like the Birds of Paradise. We also managed a trip to Raffles Long bar (last rebuilt 1995 or so!) but did not bother with a Singapore sling as its is just a tourist rip off. We are glad we visited Singapore but 3 days was definitely enough. 

We have joined the Sail Malaysia rally and as part of the rally we had a day trip in the Johor Bahru area. The morning was spent in Johor Bahru itself visiting a few uninspiring buildings but the afternoon we were taken to a village. The locals were so warm and welcoming, it was lovely. They did a welcome dance for us before serving a nice lunch and then demonstrated some of their local cooking with Tapioca. I particularly like the tapioca covered with coconut, it was lovely and sweet!

After a few more days in the marina we left to start the trip north up the Melaka (Malacca in English) straits. It took us 4 days and we had to motor most of the way as there is usually no wind. We have also been having some amazing thunder and lightning storms. It rains most afternoons and we can see 3 or 4 strikes of lightening all coming down at the same time.

Our next stop was Port Dickson which is where we currently are. Our time here has been busy with  games one afternoon, a dinner this evening and 3 day trips. The first was to the local area and we were taken to another village and to the military museum. The museum was definitely more a boy thing! Next we had a day in Kuala Lumpur. As part of the tour we went to the Batu caves which are caves with lots of stalactites and have a Hindu temple built inside them. There are 272 steps to reach the caves which are fairly big but probably looked more impressive without all the shrines!  The  other highlight of the day was seeing the famous Petronas towers with the bridge between the 2 towers. They are completely covered in stainless steel which definitely looked less rusty than our boat at the moment! Again, if you don't like shopping then there is no reason to visit KL. It is very busy and full of ugly high rise blocks.

Yesterday we were looking forward to a visit to Melaka which is the oldest city in Malaysia. We visited a number of historic sites (but they are surrounded by stalls selling tourist tatt) and we had a very good guide who told us lots about the history . The school holidays have just started in Malaysia so it was very busy which didn't help. We were taken to the maritime museum but there wasn't a single artefact in it. One thing we have discovered in Malaysia is that lots of places are called museums when they are really just displays of pictures and explanations about stuff they don't have.

After our rally dinner this evening (we are being fed a lot on the rally!) we have 4 days sailing to our next stop at Pangkor where we have more day trips and another dinner! The nice things about all the meals out is that we don't have to cook on the boat. It is so hot here that we just don't want additional heat from the cooker. Also the food in the restaurants is cheap, a bottle of beer normally costs us more than the food!

Bali and Borneo

We went to the opening of the festival in Lovina beach, Bali. There was lots of traditional dancing and music. Unfortunately, it was so busy that it was very difficult to see very much. Quite a change to previous events we have been to as we were completely crowded out by locals whereas the ceremonies further east we were treated like royalty and always given the prime seats. Still we did get to see lots of the dancing that Bali is famous for.

One of the other events we went to was Bull 'racing'. Its not just about speed, the animals are really dressed up and looked after and they get marks for style. These are splendid looking animals and the event has it's roots in ploughing so it's a bit like an agricultural show in the UK. It was quite an event with a big local crowd.

We organised a 2 day trip to Ubud in the centre of the island with a guy called Widi. Dave and Chris from CD came with us. We left early in the morning and visited a waterfall, coffee plantation and Buddhist temple on the lake. The drive was very scenic with the road going across the mountains and we had a lovely stop at the top with views down over the lake and temple that we then dropped down to visit. We arrived in Ubud which was quite a shock. Its listed as the cultural capital but was just full of tourist tatt and tourists. Our guide found a us accommodation in town which allowed us to have a walk around. After dinner we went to a traditional dance show. It wasn't really what we were expecting and it was difficult to understand but still an experience.

The following day we still had a list of places we wanted to visit including the royal palace, royal temple and an ancient monument called Gunug Kawi. We set off to go to the palace first and at this point, we realised neither our guide nor our diver knew where it was! After passing our hotel about 3 times and asking lots of people we found it. This set the scene for the remainder of the day. The guide and driver would argue about where things were and after numerous stops we would find the right place. Gunug Kawi was an interesting place but the whole route down to the monument was lined with stalls all trying to sell you the same things. It got to the point where you tried not to make eye contact with anyone and you certainly didn't stop!

On the way back we were lost again along dirt roads in lots of fruit growing areas, especially mangos and oranges so we stopped to buy lots. The previous day we had gone though a strawberry growing area so had our first strawberries in years! Our last stop was to see the volcanoes and lakes on the east of the island and then it was back to Lovina.

By this time we had had enough of Bali and crowds so left the following day. We sailed to the western end of the island which is a national park. It was a bit difficult to find an anchorage as the charts are very inaccurate and there was lots of coral. I (Karen) had a good dive with Dave from CD but unfortunately Mike had a cold so could not dive.

We didn't stay more than a day as we were all eager to get to Borneo. We had a day sail to an island called Raas and then an overnight passage to Bawean Island. We are trying to avoid overnight passages because of the amount of ships and fishing boats but had no choice due to the distance.

We spent a few days at Bawean which was a very pretty bay with friendly people. It was then a 2 day sail to Borneo.

We had a good sail and arrived at the river entrance mid morning so continued up the river to Kumai. The trip was quite pretty until we neared the town and then we were met by a power station billowing smoke and lots of grey warehouse looking buildings. The town was ugly and a very busy port. We later found out the grey buildings are built for the swallows to nest in and the nests are then sold to the Chinese for birds nest soup. Its very clever as it means the men do not have to search the caves for the nests. They also play swallow song to attract the birds. Later, we also saw that the artificial caves are built above shops so when you go into the shops you can hear all the birds.

The following morning after our arrival we got up and could not see across the river. The smog was so bad it reminded us of 19^th century England in the movies. The air smelt of smoke and the boat was covered in ash, it was not very pleasant. The smoke is the result of the cutting and burning the forest down to plant palm oil trees. The only part of the forest left is the National park for the Orangutans.

We waited for CD and Charlotte to catch up and the 6 of us organised our trip to see the Orangutans. It was a 3 day 2 night trip on a local boat. The price includes a guard to sleep on your boat to ensure it is OK. We think it is a bit like paying an insurance policy, we are not sure if they do sleep on all the boats but no one seems to touch them!

We had a great guide called Andi. He is one of the most experienced guide and had helped look after some of the animals before they were released. There are wild Orangutans in the park but there are also a lot that have been rescued and released. These still get some support and there are a number of feeding stations where you can go and watch them. They get fed bananas and milk on a platform. Andi was good at spotting wild Orangutans and Proboscis monkeys along the side of the river. We also saw Crocodiles and a number of other species of monkey.

One of the most famous feeding stations is Camp Leakey and this is where Andi knows the Orangutangs. He took us for a walk through the bush and was calling them. A few came down to the path and we got to feed them bananas. It was lovely to get so close to them. Most of the animals we saw were the females and many had babies but at the feeding station we saw the dominant male, Tom. He was so much bigger than all the other animals we saw and he certainly rules the roost. He has apparently been in charge for 10 years now so most of the babies are probably his. In fact he grabbed a female with a baby and dragged her into the bushes while we were there!

We had a great time which was marred a little as when we got to the end and were getting our money together to pay the balance to our agent we discovered that the equivalent of £80 had been taken from my purse. Fortunately, our agent said he would sort it out and we deducted the amount stolen from what we paid him so that we were not out of pocket. We had thought the crew were very friendly so just goes to show.

Once we got back to our boats, which were all fine, we got ready to leave. There is nothing else to stay for in Kumai and the air is certainly not good for you. We had a 2 day passage to the island of Belitung. There was very little wind after the first 12 hours so we had to motor a lot of the way. Our first night we paralleled a whole fleet of fishing boats. They were so close together and they all had a huge bank of flood lights. The moon was not visible because of all the smoke but the fishing boats lit up the sky so it was practically like daylight. After we left the fishing boats behind we had to cross quite a busy shipping lane. It wasn't too bad but the ships alter course as little as possible and really do not give yachts very much room. Sometimes you feel as if they are aiming straight for you!

Belitung is a much more prosperous island than most and its main trade is tourism. We anchored off a beach with a resort and there is nothing here other than restaurants. It is very pretty but we get a strong on shore breeze every afternoon which makes it very bumpy. It is also very obvious that the rainy season is starting, the weather is very hot and humid, we have had squalls blow through and a number of thunder storms. The weather really is telling us it's time to head north.

The town is across the other side of the island so a group of us hired 2 cars for the day and went on a shopping expedition. We all got everything but it was a long day trying to fit in all the places we all wanted to go. Mike had a bad stomach so stayed on the boat. We had attended a farewell meal for Sail Indonesia the previous night where we got to see some traditional dancing. The food was nice but cold so it probably wasn't a good idea to eat it. We have been eating out a lot in Indonesia, it is cheap and tasty but all our stomachs have been bad at various times, none of us have escaped!

We were invited to a local wedding a few days ago. We were worried it would go on all day but turned out to be quite short. We got to see the groom arrive at the brides house, he arrived on foot with a procession of relatives. He was dressed in a bright red costume which matched the brides. When he arrived at the house he had to go through 2 lots of financial “negotiations” before he could finally enter the room where the bride was. This was a canopied room within the house and once he entered the bride and groom then came out of the house. They sat in chairs of state underneath a canopy and were greeted by all the male guests who gave them a money gift. We then went in line and greeted them and that was it. The family and locals all went inside for a party and we left.

We have cleared out of Indonesia thanks to the help of a local agent called Jonny. We will leave tomorrow (24/10) to start the 400 mile trip to Malaysia. We will be splitting it into day sails as much as possible due to the volume of shipping around Singapore. We have enjoyed Indonesia but are now ready to leave and start our next adventure.

Lots of Diving and Dragons!

As intended, we split from the other yachts in the group and headed south to Hoga Island. After a lot of tacking against the wind, we arrived and had quite a job to find an anchorage as it's all very deep. We anchored near the jetty in 30 metres but the following morning the dive resort told us we could move to their mooring ball so that our anchor did not get stuck in the reef. Along the reef there were mooring balls marking the dive sites so we were able to secure our dinghy and dive very easily. The reef was lovely and we saw lots of Crayfish and Rays as well as lots of small reef fish and some lovely coral. There were some lovely Nemo's and we also saw some amazing purple shrimp sharing an anemone with one set! However, there are very few reef fish of any size as the fishermen catch them all.

We were the only boat there so became the local attraction. This was OK except that one of the fishermen ( a boy around 10 -12) took my bikini bottoms. I left the top hanging up but he never came back for it! It was a shame as after that we had to ensure everything was locked up or taken below, especially our snorkels and goggles which they were very interested in. Still, we had a good time there.

Our next stop was Takebone Rate Atoll where we anchored behind a small island called Tinabo. It was a lovely sandy beach with palm trees and only a rangers hut on land. There were lots of baby sharks in the shallows and they did not seem afraid of our dinghy or our feet! We had a lovely walk around the island and picked up a lot of lovely and unusual shells. It is a national park but this does not stop the locals from fishing and there are lots of them out every day and night. Another boat saw them still dynamiting reef which is amazing for a supposed national park. The other depressing thing is that the whole island was covered in plastic rubbish which is washed ashore and no one bothers to clean up. We went out diving with the ranger to a reef on the western side of the atoll behind Latondo Island. We did some lovely dives on the reef which was amazing and probably the best we have seen in Indonesia as we saw sharks, turtles, rays, lobster, eels and stunning coral.

It was very relaxing and peaceful at Tinabo but unfortunately time was pressing on and we had to leave. We sailed south to Labuan Bajo which is on the western end of Flores. Here we met up with friends Chris and Dave on CD. We had decided to extend our visas while in Labuan Bajo so we set off to the immigration office with our sponsor letter and passports.

We were anchored outside of the town so this involved a boat ride to shore and then a taxi through the town. When we got there the immigration officer would not accept our sponsorship letter because it did not have our sponsors stamp on it. So we were sent away to get the correct letter plus copies of lots of documents and to buy a pink folder each to put it all in! The following day we went back and waited over 1 hour just to get a receipt to say they had our documents and to be told to come back on Monday at 9am to be fingerprinted and photographed. We went back on Monday to be told our passports had not been stamped and to come back at 2.30pm. We refused to leave and said we would wait. With this, our photos and fingerprints were taken and our passports arrived duly stamped 2 hours later. We then had to walk to the photocopy shop and get a copy of the stamp they had just given us and then take it back to them for the pink folder! Its very bizarre that they have sophisticated electronic finger printing equipment but cannot afford a photocopier.

While we were waiting for our visas (this has been just as frustrating at every place where cruisers have decided to go through the process!) we organised a dive trip in the Komodo National park. There are big currents so it is unwise to dive without boat cover and a leader who knows where to take you. Our first dive was like swimming in an aquarium there were so many fish, and we saw some big ones too. The second dive was a drift dive and we were being carried along at about 3 knots hoping to see Manta rays. We saw one manta briefly. We had been told to get down low and hold onto the bottom to stop when a manta was spotted. Unfortunately, the current was so strong that you ended up still moving but taking the bottom with you!

As soon as we got back to the boat with our completed visas we went to Rinca to see the Komodo dragons. We anchored close to the rangers station overnight and were ashore before 7am the following morning for a 2 hour guided walk around the island spotting Dragons. Before we had left the dock we had monkeys in our dinghy and as soon as we rounded the corner we saw our first Dragon sunning himself by the entrance. The guides stay on the island and lots of the Dragons hang around the kitchens waiting for scraps. So at the start of our walk we saw lots of dragons, wild pigs and deer. On the walk we saw a few water buffalo and then we saw one that had been bitten by a dragon and was being guarded by it. They bite their prey and will then guard it for weeks until it dies. They are not poisonous but their saliva is full of very nasty germs so bites are always fatal (eventually). Friends who went a few days later saw the remains of the Buffalo so it must have died not very long after our visit.

The next few weeks we spent sailing from Komodo to Lombok along the north coast of Sumbawa. One of our anchorages was in a very deep bay on Banta Island where the anchorage is a narrow shelf. We found a nice spot and were fine even though it was windy. Unfortunately, overnight the wind changed and we had to leave at 1am. The up side of this was seeing a lovely sunrise behind the volcano just off the coast of Sumbawa. The anchorages on Sumbawa were also very deep and you ended up anchoring very close to the beach to find water shallow enough to drop the anchor. Needless to say we didn't spend very long in any anchorage as wind shifts make them all a little too exciting!

Our first stop on Lombok was on the NE corner behind 2 off lying islands. The coast was full of fishing villages and at night the whole channel was full of big fishing boats. There lights were so close together they looked like street lights and we wondered how a fish ever made it through the channel alive. Great flat anchorage and no worries about wind shifts.

Our next stop was Medana Bay 'marina' on the NW side of Lombok where we anchored initially but then switched to a mooring when one became free. Here we met up with Sue and Stefan from Charlotte and later CD. It was a little rolly sometimes but had a nice restaurant, laundry services and a very helpful English owner/manager. We stayed a few days and the 6 of us (Charlottte and CD) organised a tour of the island. We visited 2 temples which were a little disappointing, fed the monkeys (fun but they would snatch!) and visited a traditional weaving village. We asked to have lunch somewhere where the locals would eat rather than a touristy place. It was very nice but a few of our stomachs thought differently the next day!

We left Lombok and did an overnight sail to Bali which is where we are now. It was quite a bumpy crossing with 25 knots gusting 40 knots of wind and we couldn't relax at all as we had to dodge all the fishing boats. Most of the boats do not have proper navigation lights. If you are lucky they have a flashing red, green and white light so you haven't got a clue where they are going! We have met up with all the Sail Indonesia rally boats in Bali and there are about 35 boats in the anchorage. Over the next 3 days there is a festival for the rally with lots of traditional dancing which we will be going along to. Then we have a trip in land organised to see something of the island. We are just hoping it is not too touristy.

Having Fun In Indonesia!

We received our paperwork for Indonesia at 2am on 26 July and we had left Darwin by 10am! It was a 300 mile sail to Saumlaki and with good winds we had a fast sail and arrived on Monday 28th. We were not allowed to leave the boat until we had been visited by quarantine. The quarantine officer was brought out to our boat on Tuesday. The guy driving the boat he arrived in did not have a clue about boat handling so we were busy fending them off while the quarantine officer jumped onto our boat. We escaped without any damage but they did manage to ram one boat breaking a port and damaging the side. The quarantine guy was very nosey and went through all the boat, he also kept asking everyone for whisky!

We were then allowed ashore and were invited, along with the other boats in the anchorage, to attend a welcome ceremony. The chiefs of the village did a small ceremony, then there was speeches followed by cakes and lots of photos. Everyone had a smart phone with a camera and wanted their picture taken with the foreigners. Everyone was incredibly welcoming and friendly, there were lots of 'hello misters' from the children and lots of smiling faces.

The following day we were taken on a tour of the island with a police escort which was very funny as the police car would make all the vehicles coming the opposite way get off the road out of our way. Even though, it was a wide 2 lane road!! We were being treated like visiting dignitaries. We were taken to a village to see a stone boat. Our tourist guide was very upset and was crying because they had given money for the villagers to tidy the village ready for our visit and they hadn't so she was very ashamed of her country and thought we would be upset.

Thursday evening an immigration officer turned up to continue our clearance and Friday we finally managed to get customs to come to our boat to finalise the process. New boats were arriving expecting clearance to happen in a day and we had to let them know that it could take a while! Having got our clearance into the country we then needed to get clearance to leave Saumlaki. We were hoping it would be a quicker process and thankfully it was and we received our papers at the farewell dinner the next day.

The farewell dinner was quite interesting. We had lots of speeches from the local dignitaries and Captains (Karen) were presented with a scarf by the Mayor. There was a few singers and then it turned into a sort of Karaoke with the Police chief singing a duet and one of the heads of the state also singing a song. Not something we would ever see at home but performance of every sort is still a social norm here. Food was served after they had been convinced that none of us would get up and sing and then there was a sort of disco.

We did some food shopping at the market but stuck to fruit as we were not wanting to buy the live chickens and pigs!! It was a very colourful scene and everyone is so helpful and smiling, even though most speak no English point and smile seems to work well!

We left Saumlaki and sailed to an anchorage on the west side of Tanimbar Island for an overnight stop. We were expecting limited shelter and a rolly night but there was a little inlet and small fishing village and total protection. We then had a 200 mile sail to Banda. Banda is a small group of islands which are very important in the spice trade and still grow lots of nutmeg, cloves and almonds. We anchored off the main town across from the volcano Gunung Api. The harbour is very deep (200+ feet so we had to drop our anchor and reverse up to the shore and tie stern lines to trees. It worked well but we didn't get a lot of privacy as the locals (especially the children) would play on the wall behind the boat and we were the local attraction.

Aba, who is the local Sail Indonesia representative, invited us to his guest house for Cinnamon tea which was delicious. We went on a tour of the big island to see how they grow and pick the spices which involved a boat trip across the bay. Cloves are harvested by young men and boys climbing the trees and then stuffing the cloves in their shirts! Once they can fit no more in, they climb down and offload into bags. Nutmeg is a little easier to harvest as it looks like a small unripe plum which is pulled off with a special tool/basket on a long pole. The nutmeg is at the centre of the fruit and must then be dried before shipping. When we got back we had a lovely lunch at Aba's guest house.

A group of us had a snorkelling expedition to the lava flow from when Gunung Api last erupted in 1988. The corals have grown amazingly fast but all the fish were small. It was also surprisingly cold in the water not helped by it being cloudy that day. We only managed one snorkel as we were busy doing other things. We had a tour of the main island where we were anchored which included visits to the old Dutch forts and the old Dutch colonial houses.

These are beautiful islands but it is sad to see the amount of rubbish either lying on the ground or being thrown into the sea. A large ferry came into the harbour and everyone was just throwing their rubbish into the harbour. Plastic bottles are everywhere and there are also a large quantity of plastic bags under the water just waiting to go into our engine intake!

We had a lovely time at Banda but once again it was time to move on to our next stop in Wakatobi.
We had an amazing sail covering 400 miles in 53 hours which is our fastest trip ever. Wakatobi is a series of 4 islands and we anchored on the island of Wangi Wangi. We were inside a lagoon which is accessed by a pass which has been created in the reef probably by dynamite and a large digger on a barge. It's pretty narrow and a challenge for some of the bigger catamarans!

There were more boats here as some of the boats that were doing the southern route through Indonesia came north to join us. The town had a full schedule of events for us, it was non stop. There is a committee of young men and women who greet us whenever we go ashore and insist on escorting us wherever we go. Most of the trips have involved taking us to villages on the island where we are treated like dignitaries. The whole village comes out to entertain and feed us. One trip we were taken to a village on the other side of the island where firstly the elders did a welcome dance. Then we saw the men having a kicking competition. There are 2 teams of 2 men who hold hands and then kick their opponents. They are smiling while they do it! We were then taken to eat with the local chiefs and got to try lots of traditional foods.

The following day was a boat trip across to the island of Kapote. Again we were looked after very well. It was hard to understand what was going on as a lot is lost in translation. To start with a series of girls came out of a building wearing ornate clothes and a huge headdress which their mothers had made. The girls were very sombre but all the female relatives were dancing and cheering and getting very over excited. The girls were led out to the street where carriages with big bamboo handles were waiting. 2 girls went into each carriage with a helper on each side to help hold their headdresses. The carriages were surrounded by very excited young men and were then lifted and thrown into the air. The girls looked terrified. The carriages were then run around the village. The whole thing was chaotic with hundreds of people and us being led from one area to the other so that we didn't miss anything. At the end we were invited to dinner at the local Chief's house which was amazing food. We have managed to find out that the ceremony is to celebrate the girls becoming women and there were also lots of boys of about 5 also dressed up and they had been circumcised. One of the cruisers found out that the girls are also circumcised so no wonder they looked so miserable.

We have also had another welcome dinner with dancing and speeches and we were also invited to the Independence day celebrations on 17 August. There was a ceremony in the morning where we got to sit with all the local dignitaries. It was a little strange as after the official bit there was a marching band where the female band leaders were wearing very short skirts and white boots. This doesn't sound strange except that this is a very muslim country, practically all the women have their head covered with a scarf, wear long skirts and we (women) have to be careful to keep our knees and shoulders covered when we are in public.

In the evening we were invited to the Mayor's house. We thought it was going to be a party but it was lots of speeches and giving of medals to locals. We were on the main podium with the local dignitaries so had to try and look interested even though it was very boring. The evening didn't start until about 8pm so went on very late. We asked if we could leave and the Mayor gave us permission provided we had one dance. What they failed to tell us was that the song was incredibly long. They had 3 singers and they would keep alternating. Still we gave the locals a good laugh, they found our dancing very funny, and then we were allowed to leave.

The following day was a very early start as we all got a local boat to Hoga island. It was a 3 hour ride each way in a very uncomfortable and incredibly noisy boat. It had 3 air cooled engines, no silencing and the captain steered by sitting on a plank with his head out of a hatch in the roof and his feet on the wheel!!We were seated on wooden benches and the boat banged around in the swell so lots of back ache and sore bums!!The island itself was lovely and we had a good snorkel but not sure it was worth the pain of the journey.

Our final event was a ceremony to get rid of evil spirits. The village make a boat and fill it with food and dolls they have made. We were then all invited to put a hand full of rice in the boat. The boat was then carried outside by the young men of the village. They had to turn the boat 8 times one way and then 9 times the opposite way to confuse the spirits. Then it was carried through the streets to the sea where they waded out into the harbour with the boat and it was then sunk. We all followed the procession with hundreds of locals. There were lots of photo stops to have a picture taken with the local children and then we all escaped back to our boats. The events are so intense and busy that we are all saturated by the attention and need some peace and quiet for a few days. It has been amazing to see the traditions though and we are glad not to have missed it.

So far this really is an amazing country, we could not have been treated better and the people are incredibly friendly and welcoming. We have also never had our photo taken so much! We are hoping to have a few days rest soon as we will take our boat to Hoga Island so we can do some diving!

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North To Darwin

We arrived in Darwin on 8^th July after a very lonely trip north and east after sailing 2100 miles from Bundaberg . We left Lizard Island with friends Ula and Christa on Circe and enjoyed a lovely evening with them at Flinders Island. We left ahead of them and anchored at Morris Island. This was the last place that we were anchored with another yacht until we reached Darwin. It's very surreal anchoring every night in bays with no signs of any other civilisation. Australia really is a big empty continent. Cairns was the last time we had any signs of civilisation or internet though we did see a supermarket and other humans at Red Island, which was just after we rounded Cape York.

Although we anchored most nights the anchorages were not very memorable. This was not helped by not being able to get off the boat. There are lots of Crocodiles in the north and apparently they like to bite inflatable dinghies. No one swims anywhere and if you walk along the shore you are never sure where a croc may be hiding. It was like seeing the place through prison bars.

Going around the top of Cape York was memorable. We motored between the Cape and York Island which is a very narrow gap and anchored on the west side of the Cape. Here we did dinghy ashore and walk to the northern tip of Australia. Rounding the cape was like landing in a different country, suddenly the weather was hot and sunny and the sea was a very milky blue. We could finally put away our trousers and jumpers and coats!

Just south of the cape was where we stopped at Red Island. This is the end of the road in the northern territory and lots of camper vans stop here. We are not sure why anyone would want to live there but they did have a supermarket and a laundry.

When we left Red Island we had a 3 day passage across the Gulf of Carpenteria. It was a good passage, though the shallow seas do make for short choppy swells. We compared the Gulf to the north sea only warmer!

The anchorage in Darwin is a big shallow basin. We are anchored as close as we can but it is still half a mile to the shore. When it gets near to spring tides we have to move further out otherwise we would be sitting on the bottom at low tide. Even so, we were very relieved to be here and to see other cruisers.

We had the boat lifted last week as we had a problem with our engine shaft alignment following our leak in NZ. The yard where we were lifted was up a creek that is only accessible at spring high tides so we had to be back out by Friday. The place was so horrible that we were very pleased to leave as quickly as possible. The yard is surrounded by mangroves so we were eaten alive by sandflies and mosquitoes. Also the staff will certainly not win any awards for friendliness and are poor ambassadors for the Australian people. They are not very yacht friendly either which comes from handling lot of steel commercial boats.

It was lovely to go back in the water with the boat in one piece and with minimal damage to the outside. When we got back to the anchorage friends Chris and Dave on CD and Stef and Sue on Charlottte had arrived. It is so nice to have company again and it has really made us realise how much this whole experience is better with good company and friends to share it with.

We are hoping to leave for Indonesia as soon as possible. We haven't enjoyed Australia and of all the countries we have sailed in it goes bottom of the list.

Australia, The Sunshine Coast - Not!

We are currently sitting anchored at Lizard Island with 30 knots of wind blowing and rain! Who said Australia was sunny and hot. We have been here a month and it has rained probably 50% of the time. Even though we are in the tropics we are still sailing in trousers and a coat! The bad weather has meant we have done lots of sailing and very little snorkeling and no diving on the reef.

We had a nice few days at Lady Musgrave Island. The wind dropped and we had a good snorkel on the reef and a walk around the island which was covered in Noddies. They are pretty birds but make walking under the trees a dangerous pastime unless you have a hat on!

Our next stop was an overnight sail to Great Keppel Island. A pretty anchorage but very rolly so we did not get a good nights sleep. We had only stopped here to get internet access and arrange our lift out in Darwin so after a quick stop, we continued north to Pearl Bay. In our guide book it said this was a lovely anchorage so we had high hopes. Unfortunately, when we got there it was a big disappointment so we didn't stay. Instead, we went another 10 miles north to Island Head Creek which was very pretty and very calm water. Navigating the river entrance was quite a challenge as there are sand bars and it was low tide but we managed not to hit the bottom. The river has very big tides so there was a swift current running. We had a lovely evening with friends Stefan and Sue sharing the prawns they purchased in Bundaberg.

We continued north to the Whitsunday's with a quick stop at Hexham Island. This was an interesting overnight sail as off Mackay the chart showed a ship anchorage area. Usually these areas have maybe one ship in them but this was full of at least a dozen ships. Dodging through them was quite an adventure. Our first stop in the Whitsundays was CID Harbour, Sawmill Bay which was lovely and calm, then we headed into Muddy Bay, Airlie Bay to provision and meet up with Roy and Liz off 'Evelyn' who we had met when we transited the Panama Canal. Unfortunately, we did not see Liz but had a good catch up with Roy who gave us lots of information for our trip north.

We had a few stops in the Whitsundays, first was Blue Pearl Bay, Hayman island where we had a few snorkels and saw some big Trigger fish. Then we headed to Butterfly Bay, Hook Island where unfortunately much of the reef had been destroyed by a recent cyclone. Our last stop was Hook Reef but this was a waste of time as it was so windy we could not lower the dinghy let alone contemplate a snorkel.

After a very uncomfortable night we left and had a really good sail to Shark Bay, Cape Upstart. After a quick overnight stop we had another good sail to Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island. The following day we left for Orpheus Island where we were hoping for a walk but it poured with rain! As there was nothing else to do we left and headed into the Hitchinbrook Channel. The entrance is very shallow and tidal and interesting as you sail past a very long sugar conveyor belt which is 3 miles long. The channel is about 25 miles long and passes through between lots of hills and mangrove creeks. We saw very little as it was raining the whole time!

Another quick overnight stop in Mourilayn Harbour and then we headed into Cairns. It was a lovely sunny afternoon when we arrived but the remainder of our 3 day stay it rained! We met up with John, the Ocean Cruising Club Port officer, who very nicely took us to chandlers to buy parts. We then spent the remainder of our time there fixing the boat! We had discovered that one of our leaks was a hose from the cockpit drain which was completely in hole. We changed both hoses which took us a whole day as we had to remove so many other things to get access to the back of the boat. Even so accessing the hoses involved Mike in being a contortionist!

After provisioning we left for a short 40 mile sail to Low Islets. It turned out to be a motor as there was no wind. The island was very pretty and we had 2 sharks circling the boat looking for food. After no wind all day, we had lots of wind overnight and the anchorage was very uncomfortable. So we were up early the following morning for a long sail to Lizard Island. We had lots of wind and for a time we were doing over 10 knots. We then reduced sail but still did 103 miles in 14 hours, a very good speed for us.

The wind has continued to blow since we arrived and the rain has stopped for a few hours. We walked up to Cooks lookout yesterday afternoon. It was a brisk hike as we left it till the rain had been stopped for a while and it was quite late in the afternoon. As it was a bit of a scramble in places and potentially slippery when wet, this turned out to be a food idea! From the top, we understood the problem Cook must have had trying to find his way through the reef as we could see very little!

We plan to leave here tomorrow morning to continue north. We can spend very little time anywhere as we are on such a tight deadline to get to Darwin and we still have a long way to go. The wind is forecast to stay at about 30 knots so it should be a quick trip. We are told the winds get stronger as we head north and the Crocodiles get more serious!

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In OZ and Before!

We arrived in Bundaberg Australia on Sunday 18 May after one of our worst passages. Not 'the worst' but certainly not far from the bottom! We departed Opua NZ on Monday 5 May and hoped the trip would take 10 days. Our departure started dramatically as when we got to the entrance of the Bay of Islands the winds were so strong we decided to anchor and wait rather than bash into them and a big swell. We waited a few hours and then the wind dropped and we set off.

The first day was a nice sail though not in the best direction, day 2 we had to motor and then we had a few days of good winds but not from a very good direction. This meant we went much further north than anticipated without making any progress west. Then there was a few light wind days when we didn't get very far at all and we were getting quite bored. That soon changed when the winds increase to 25-35 knots for 4 days. We had big swells and were being thrown all over the place, at times the boat was just like a pendulum with one side being submerged and then the other. By the time we reached Australia we had sailed 1700 miles instead of the anticipated 1350 and it took 13 days.

To add to the excitement we discovered that we had a leak a few days out of NZ and the bilge was filling with water. This was the second time we had had a leak so we were at panic stations. We thought the problem was the shaft seal which was the cause of our first leak (more details later!) but no, it was actually the rudder. It continued to gush water until we got to Australia so the first thing we had to do on arrival was dry out lots of the underfloor storage, again!

Our check in to Australia was very painless. We had heard so many horror stories from friends who were made to empty out their entire boat for inspection that it was a great relief and was all over in a few hours. That left us the remainder of the day to sort ourselves out and get some fresh fruit and veg. Behind the supermarket we saw our first Kangaroo!

Friends Stefan and Sue on S/V Charlotte arrived at the same time so we hired a car together and did a bit of sightseeing. We had a lovely walk around the botanical gardens and the Hinkler aircraft museum then we stocked up with food and alcohol for our trip north. After quickly stowing everything, we had an early night before getting up at 2.30am to leave for Lady Musgrave Island which is where we are now anchored. This was another awful trip with lots of squalls but we did catch a big narrow bared mackerel, about 20lbs of meat. With the 20lbs of Mahi mahi we have in the freezer from the crossing and all the meat we purchased we now have a very full freezer and Mike has to stop fishing for a while!

Friends Chris and Dave (CD) and Don and Kay (Karinya) are also anchored with us so we are looking forward to a good catch up. We have not seen Don and Kay since we left the Galapagos in May 2011.

Our last few months in NZ

We had 6 weeks in the UK in Feb/March. It was lovely to catch up with friends and family and to meet our 2 grandsons Teddy and Alex. We also managed a week skiing in Les Arc, in the French Alps. Given we had not skied for 6 years we both did very well and got back without any broken bones. The 30 hour flight was very tiring and it took us a while to get over the jet lag. Then we both came down with a horrible bug we must have got from the plane.

Work progress on the boat was slow but we did get most things done and also stocked up for the next few months with things we knew the Australian quarantine would not confiscate. Our plan was to leave Whangarei and head north so that we could spend a few weeks cruising the Bay of Islands. However, the boat had other ideas! After motoring down the river we left the bay and sailed around Bream Head to anchor in Tutukaka. About 15 miles from our destination we noticed the boat was very sluggish in the seas. When Mike looked down into the bilge, it was full of water. We had a panic, turned on bilge pumps and turned around to head back to Whangarei. We found the leak was the shaft seal which had separated. Mike pushed it back together and stopped the leak but we still had to find out what had caused the problem. So we arranged to get lifted at Riverside Marina where we had been lifted the previous year. The water had made its way into practically every locker. We had soggy kitchen towel, first aid stores we had to get rid of and we had to wash and dry everything in the lockers. It took days. Needless to say the bilge pump is now permanently on!

We were lifted just before Easter and we then spent the weekend replacing the cutless bearing and shaft seal. We still don't know why it separated so replacement was the safest option. It was a horrible job and tempers were very frayed by the end of it. In fact we have both said we will never do it again, we are paying someone to do it for us next time!

After launching we left Whangarei for the second time. This time we had a lovely sail to Whangamumu in company with Don and Deb (Buena Vista) who crossed the Pacific the same time as us but who we hadn't seen since. After an overnight stop we headed into the Bay of Islands and straight to Opua marina to collect our generator parts. We had purchased the generator in November but still did not have it running! The final electrical connections were completed in Whangarei but then we discovered the fuel pump was not strong enough and so had to purchase an additional one which was sent from the UK. Once installed, everything worked first time much to our surprise. While in Opua we did manage a final visit to Ake Ake vineyard for Sunday lunch which was delicious as usual. With chores done we then got the boat ready to depart for Australia. A final Sunday roast in the yacht club with Sue and Bob (Mawari) and then we left.

Circumnavigating New Zealand

Our first weeks in NZ were spent fixing the boat. Well, not so much fixing as the generator was beyond repair and so got thrown away. We then ordered a new one from the US to collect once we had circumnavigated the North Island of NZ.

We were in Opua for 2 weeks before sailing north towards North Cape to head down the west coast of the island. The weather looked good for a sail to Nelson. This was our first lesson in understanding that the NZ weather forecast is very rarely right! We had to motor north up the east coast with an overnight stop in the lovely anchorage at Houhora. The next day we had a good sail around North Cape and Cape Reinga but then motored most of the way to New Plymouth. We had to make an unscheduled stop in New Plymouth as the forecast for further south was 50 knot winds which we did not fancy.

There is no marina in New Plymouth, it is a working port with some private moorings. We were able to use one of the moorings for the week we were there. The port had a lovely view toward Mount Egmont and there is a public walkway which runs along the water front through the town and out the other side. We had a few nice walks into town and beyond and also managed to get a few chores done on the boat while we waited for good weather to continue south.

Our sail to Nelson was one of our better sails with good winds all the way. The marina in Nelson was very friendly and we met some lovely people. We also spent time with Matt and Jean from Superted and Richard and Alison from Vulcan Spirit. We didn't spend long in Nelson as time was running out to get to Wellington for Christmas.

We spent a few days at Adele Island which is in the Abel Tasman National Park and very beautiful with lots of bird song. We then sailed across the bay towards the Marlborough Sounds to a very isolated bay in the middle of D'urville Island. When we arrived there was one other boat in the bay. The gentleman on the boat was cleaning his hull from his dinghy. A while later we noticed his dinghy was floating free so dropped our dinghy to go and help. Unfortunately when we got there  we saw that he had drowned and was floating next to his dinghy. We got the body into our dinghy and called the coast guard. Due to our location it took the coast guard and police nearly 4 hours to get to us. We had to give a police statement while his boat was searched and then they took the body away.  We did later receive an email from his family who were glad to be able to bury him and that he died doing what he enjoyed. It wasn't a nice situation and we were both eager to leave the anchorage.

We spent the next few days heading across the sounds with a stop in Pelorous Sound en-route to Queen Charloote Sound. Our stop in Queen Charlotte was in a bay called Punga Cove and from there we were able to walk a section of the Queen Charlotte track which gave us wonderful views out over the Sounds. It was a short stop as the weather forecast was good for heading to Wellington. The weather in the Cook Strait between the south island and Wellington is notorious for bad weather so you need to take advantage of any opportunity that arises. Practically every day there is a gale or storm warning for the strait so we were very glad that there was very little wind and we had to motor most of the way.  For me (KB) the sail into Wellington fulfilled a dream as this is where I learned to sail when I was working in Wellington in 1990.

Wellington lived up to its reputation and was cold and windy. There were sunny days but even they were cold and practically every day the wind was blowing 50 knots or more. We spent quite a few days staying at Steve and Jackie's house in a comfy warm bed. It was lovely to spend time with their family and we did a few good walks with Jackie around the area. It was our first Christmas on dry land for 5 years and we enjoyed Beef Wellington and lamb for dinner and  some of Steve's family also joined us for the day. The day after Christmas we went back to the boat so that we could get ready for a good weather opportunity to head north. Given that the temperature dropped to 14C and it rained all day we wished we hadn't bothered!

We did get chance to meet up with James, a colleague of mine (KB) from when I was in Wellington working in 1990. We tracked him down on the internet and gave him a shock. He visited us on the boat and we had a good catch up.

Our weather opportunity arrived on 30th December so we left early in the morning to sail to Gisborne. Needless to say, the forecast was wrong again. We had to motor out of the Cook Strait and around Cape Palliser though it did allow us to be only about a mile offshore which is somewhere you would not want to be if there was any wind blowing. The only part of the forecast that was correct was the gale which blew the first night though fortunately the winds were not as strong as forecast. Then we had a NE wind when we were trying to go NE and finally it turned NW just as we wanted to go NW to head into Gisborne. The last part of the trip was horrible. It took us 4 hours to do the last 10 miles into Gisborne bashing into a short steep chop with 30 knots of wind right on the nose. It was New years day and there was a concert and fireworks in Gisborne but we were too tired to stay up and watch them. So our New Year passed with very little celebration, we had a bottle of bubbly, compliments of James, on our arrival and that was it.

We were stuck in Gisborne for 8 days waiting for weather. We met up with friends Pat and Glen from Northern Rose, who were in Gisborne visiting their daughter and did a few walks. There are quite a few memorials to James Cook around the bay as this was the first place he landed in NZ. One thing we did enjoy was the weather, it was warm and sunny every day which was wonderful after the cold of Wellington.

Our trip around East Cape and across the Bay of Plenty involved lots of motoring again. We sailed from Gisborne but in the morning the wind died and it was so calm that we motored between East Cape and East Island! Something which few people get to do as the seas are usually horrible around there. Our friend on Vulcan Spirit have just done the same trip and they had to shelter from 50 knot winds which makes burning the diesel seem not so bad! Our crossing continued with a major lightening storm at night. Spectacular but scarey! Immediately that was over, the wind died and the motor was on again. The end of our sail was at Great Mercury Bay on Great Mercury Island. The number of boats there was quite a shock after not seeing many boats at all for the last month and the anchorage was quite full.

After a rest overnight we spent the whole day sailing 20 miles to an anchorage on the Coromandel Peninsula, and even then we had to motor for an hour to get there before dark! The following day we had a really good sail around our final Cape, Cape Colville, and then we were back in the Hauraki Gulf which is the area around Auckland. We anchored in Chamberlain Bay which is on Ponui Island and have been spending the last few days recovering from our trip. Our plan is to head into Auckland tomorrow for a few days.

Having completed our circumnavigation we both decided we wished we hadn't bothered. It cost us a lot of diesel and we didn't really see very much. We think we should have stayed north and enjoyed the numerous anchorages between Auckland and the Bay of Islands. Oh well, hindsight is a wonderful thing!