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!

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

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!

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

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!

A Month In New Caledonia

We had a good passage to New Caledonia. The winds co-operated and went east which gave us a good angle to sail. As we neared the coast of New Caledonia they went very light and we had to motor for a while but that was OK as we had lots of help from the current. We had a lovely sail into the Havanah passage and arrived in Baie De Prony late in the day. We had arranged to meet friends on Steel Sapphire at Ilot Cassy. They had a spare fuel pump for our generator as ours had broken again in Vanuatu!

After a relaxing night we continued our sail into Noumea to clear in. We had a good sail and the scenery was lovely. The soil is very red which contrasts with the scattered Pine trees and the blue of the water and the sky. On the way we had a pod of big dolphins with us for quite a while. We stood on the bow watching them play in our bow wave.

Noumea is very French as in it has lots of French cheese, pate and bread. There are a number of museums, so we spent out time visiting a few and having a good look around the city. We also walked around the bays to the aquarium which was well worth the walk. We left Noumea before our arteries hardened completely and headed out to a small bay just south of the city called Ilot Uere. We spent a few days in the protected bay catching up with some of the boat chores we had neglected while we had been moving so much in Vanuatu. It was a nice bay but it was very busy at the weekend with being close to Noumea.

After a few days we visited Ilot Amedee for the day. This is home to the tallest lighthouse in New Caledonia. We climbed the lighthouse and had a snorkel in the lovely clear water. Its not possible to spend the night there so we sailed back to the mainland. The bay we had chosen had unfortunately been taken over by a fish farm and the surrounding land was being extensively mined. We stayed the night and then continued south back to Baie De Prony the following day. We wanted to stop at an anchorage on Ile Ouen on the way but the anchorage was not protected enough so we moved around to the bay next door but this was too deep to anchor safely so we moved again and headed into the Baie De Prony. On the way, the winds increased and we were heading into 35 knots barely making headway. We made it to Baie De La Somme in torrential rain and strong winds. It's a pretty bay on the west side of Prony and we spent a few days there.

While in Baie de la Somme, we ran into some OCC members that we had met in NZ. Avril and Graham on Dreamaway, they are also Brits and we spent a pleasant evening drinking wine with them. There was a marked walk from the bay through Prony village to a waterfall which we did one day. It was awful to see all the erosion from the mining, there were huge big gullies which had washed away as no one had ever replanted after the mining to preserve the soil. Part way along the walk we came to a river which we needed to cross. While trying to find a good place to cross we met a local who had built a 'house' near the river and was living there in the middle of nowhere. He invited us for drinks which we accepted so we never got to finish our walk. Instead we just headed back to the boat.

We then had a good weather window to sail south to the Isle de Pine. We anchored at Kuto which is the main bay on the island. While there we met up with friends Richard and Alison on Vulcan Spirit and Avril and Graham on Dreamaway. We climbed the peak Ngo which has views over the whole of the area but it was hard work climbing and we both realised how unfit we are! Probably made worse by our taking an accidental detour through some heavy bush and having to climb up and down to get back on to the track which we had somehow missed!

We wanted to hire a moped and drive around the island but none were available. As an alternative Avril and Graham suggested going horse riding. Mike sensibly declined as did Richard so Avril, Graham, Alison and myself set off for our adventure. It started badly with the guy not turning up but eventually we set off. In hindsight we should have taken this as an omen and just gone back to the boat. The guy was awful and constantly shouted at us that we were doing things wrong but wouldn't tell us what to do instead. My horse bolted twice and the guy ended up falling from his horse in pursuit of mine and being dragged along the ground. The whole experience has probably put me off horse riding for life!

We left the Isle De Pine with Vulcan Spirit to anchor in the southern lagoon which is supposed to have good snorkeling. The first anchorage was too choppy for us to get the dinghy down so the following day we moved to Kouare. This was more protected and we managed to do some snorkeling even though it was quite windy. We also did a walk around the island which was covered in lots of nesting birds. New Cal has lots of sea snakes and we saw a few making their way up the sand and there were also a number of sharks in the shallows which vanished when Alison tried to snorkel with them.

Along with Vulcan Spirit, we decided to try another atoll further north but when we got there it was not tenable with the amount of wind so we headed to the east side of Ile Ouen and Vulcan Spirit went back to Noumea. After an overnight stop, we sailed back into Baie De Prony to meet up with friends Matt and Jean on Superted who were anchored in Bonne Anse. We all walked to the light house together and had a few get togethers including drinks with Sue and Stefan from Charlotte who we hadn't seen since Fiji.

We had time for a last visit to Ilot Cassy for Mike to clean the bottom of the boat and to have a walk around the island before heading back to Noumea to clear out. While there we met up with more friends that we hadn't seen for a while from Ladybug, Blue Rodeo and Evergreen

We left after a few days as the weather was good for our trip to NZ. So having stocked up on bread, croissants and cheese we sailed out of the reef into some fairly rough seas. The first day wasn't pleasant but the seas improved once we were clear of the reefs. We then had a really good trip to NZ which means we had no wind in excess of 25 knots and no seas bigger than 3m, much better than last year. We arrived in NZ on 9 November exactly the same day as last year.

Goodbye Fiji and Hello Vanuatu

We stayed in Fiji slightly longer than intended due to the adverse weather. Jean from Superted had a suprise birthday party while we were in Musket Cove and we all had a lovely evening with lots of our friends. We then left and headed to Nandi bay but after a few days Superted, Gypsea Heart and Astarte joined us there. We had a girls day out in Nadi shopping and sightseeing and managed to do a few boat chores. Then after more goodbyes we sailed to Lautoka to clear out of Fiji. This took longer than anticipated because the immigration guy had got the day off but had taken the passport stamp home with him so we had to wait for it to be delivered to the office so that our passports could be stamped!

We eventually left Lautoka on 26 August and headed out through the reef to Vanuatu. The wind was blowing about 30 knots as we left and the sea was very rough. I (Karen) was ill and it was very unpleasant. As we left the land behind the wind and the sea calmed down and the remainder of the sail was fast and fairly pleasant. We made it to Anatom in Vanuatu in 3 days and it was a fast passage for us.

Anatom is the most southern of the Vanuatu islands. We tried to clear in the day we arrived but the official had gone fishing so we had to wait for the next day when a group of us cleared in at the same time. The following day we joined friends from Blue Rodeo, Evergreen and Victory for a walk to a waterfall. It turned out to be a 6 hour trek through mud with lots of river crossings where we had to use rocks to cross. Unfortunately, as our shoes were so caked in mud we slipped off the stones and ended up with very wet and sore feet. Our trousers were covered in mud and Karen's shoes had to be thrown away. The waterfall was OK but certainly not worth the walk!

The following day Karen dived the pass between the main island and a small off lying one called Mystery Island. Mystery island is where all the cruise ship passengers land for the day. The cruise ships are so big they dwarf the main island and given the island only has 500 inhabitants, they certainly have more people! The dive was OK but not as good as Fiji and the water was pretty cold.

We left everyone behind again and headed to Tanna the following day to see the volcano. We anchored in a very pretty bay and organised a trip to the volcano. We went in the back of a truck with 4 other cruisers. Due to a mix up with the village our truck was late leaving and the driver was driving quite fast to get us to the volcano before dark. It was very uncomfortable and he ran over a dog on the way. The villagers were very upset and there were lots of raised voices for a while. It was resolved by the driver agreeing to go back and take them Kava!

We did get to the volcano in time and it was very spectacular. You can stand right on the edge of the caldera and watch lava being shot up in the air with lots of loud bangs. As it got dark it was even better as the orange and red from the lava became more intense. It was very cold on the rim and we were glad of our fleeces and jackets. On the way back down the mountain it poured with rain and we were very wet sitting in the back of the truck. Still it was worth it!

The next morning we left for an overnight sail to Port Villa on the island of Efate. This is the capital and is very civilised compared to the outer islands. We visited the fruit and veg market and the supermarket which was stocked with lots of French goodies. After a few days rest, we had a short sail around to Havannah harbour. This is a big bay with a number of different anchorages. On the way we dived Pauls reef, which was a fairly shallow dive but dive operators feed the fish there and they follow you around so you get to see some big fish up close.

Next we sailed to Lamen Bay on Epi and then on to Gaspard Bay, Malekula. Gaspard Bay was by far the prettiest bay we found. We went there to see Dugongs and were not disappointed as we had about 10 of them around the boat including a mother and calf. They never got closer than half a boat length away and as soon as we tried to swim with them they disappeared!

We continued on up the east side of Malekula to Urie Island, Port Stanley. As soon as we anchored the village elder came out in a canoe and asked if we could fix their generator which 'had a leak'. The following morning we went ashore with tool box to have a look. Mike spent all morning getting the generator motor to run but it still wouldn't produce power. The leak turned out to be in their aluminium boat so that was the afternoons job. In between we did manage to snorkel in the giant clam reserve which was the reason we had gone there.

We left the following day as we were eager to get to Santo and organise diving on the S.S. President Coolidge. We anchored in a lovely protected bay behind Oyster Island. The resort there have a good restaurant so we had a meal out. We had been told that Vanuatu beef was excellent and it was good but not outstanding. The resort on the island helped us organise our diving and transport into Luganville.

The next morning, our taxi into Luganville did not turn up so we hitched a ride on the back of a truck. Unfortunately, the truck overheated just outside town so we had to get a taxi the remainder of the way and just made it to the dive company on time. The SS President Coolidge is a big US Liner converted to a troop ship which hit one of its own mines in the harbour during WW2. It's still intact and very close to the shore so it makes an excellent dive site.

We did the introductory dive so saw the bow of the ship and the front holds but didn't even make it to the bridge. There is still loads of ammunition, guns and tanks in the holds so it was quite amazing. It was our first wreck dived and it is probably the largest in the world! an. In the afternoon we did another shore dive at Million dollar point. After WW2 the US wanted Vanuatu to buy the unwanted equipment used for building roads etc. during the war. Vanuatu was governed by the French and the British at the time and they refused to pay for it. So the US built a jetty and simply drove all the equipment off it into the sea. Its amazing to see as it's like a giant scrap heap under the water. Its very eerie as nothing is growing on it presumably because of the pollution and its such a waste.

We spent a few more days at Oyster Island catching up with friends Liz, Colin, Zinnia and Cosmo off 'Pacific Bliss'. Then it was time to start the upwind sail back to Port Villa to collect our replacement washdown pump which was waiting there for us.
We did the sail in day hops and had to stay in Port Sandwich, Malekula for a day to wait for bad weather to go through. It was hard work and one day we sailed 60 miles to go 30 miles between anchorages!

We stayed in Port Villa long enough to stock up on duty free wine and spirits, collect our pump and recover. Then we headed to New Caledonia while the weather was good for the crossing.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Preparing to leave Fiji

We spent a few more days in Koro. The wind dropped and we spent a few days snorkeling both the inside and the outside of the reef. The coral was lovely and there were a few bigger fish, including a shark, on the outside. We couldn't find the dive spot or rather we think we did but were not happy to leave the dinghy unattended. One of the resort employees said he would take us out but by then we were ready to leave.

A British couple, Stefan and Sue on a boat called Charlotte joined us in Koro. The four of us went on a walk/ hike through bush to a waterfall and we spent a few evenings with them. We were finally driven away from Koro by the birds. There were hundreds of small martin type birds who decided our boat was a good place to rest which was fine, except for the amount of mess they left behind. We had to wash the boat off twice a day and as soon as we did it the decks were covered again! So after a few days, we decided it was time to move islands.

Our next stop was Makongi which was about a 5 hour sail. On the way we caught 3 fish which topped the freezer up nicely. Makongi was the old leper colony for the whole of the pacific. It was closed in 1969 when the cure for leprosy was found but many of the lepers stayed on the island as they would not be accepted back by their home islands despite the cure. There are still a number of the old buildings but most have disappeared just leaving foundations. The island is now used for breeding giant clams and we had to do our sevusevu and present our kava to the manager, Kamle, of the reserve. He gave us a tour of the leper colony and explained about the clam breeding. They have a job for life as catching the clams has not been banned so as soon as they put them into the wild they are harvested and eaten!!

Kamle asked if we had a head torch to help him hunt crabs at night so we gave him one of ours. In return we were invited to Sunday lunch with him and his wife. Friends Stefan and Sue also joined us which made conversation a bit easier. We had crab and fish!

We did some snorkeling in the bay and also dived a coral head right in the anchorage. It was lovely with an amazing variety of fish, lovely coral and giant clams. One evening the village put on a show for a visiting dive boat and we were also invited. The children did traditional dancing and we got to have lots of kava. The kava is very bitter tasting and not very nice though the locals seem to love it.

We left Makongi to head south to Suva so that Mike could go to the dentist and to collect our new pump which we had ordered from the US. We stopped off at a small resort called Leluvia for a few days to avoid some rough weather. It was pretty but it was too windy and choppy to snorkel. As soon as the weather was good we left and had a very pleasant day sail to Suva.

Suva is surrounded by reef which is just littered with lots of wrecked ships from the cyclones. The harbour was full of container and fishing boats and was fairly dirty looking. We moored on the opposite side of the bay to the main docks which was sheltered behind a number of small islands. It was a taxi ride into town but it was much more pleasant. We spent the time shopping, refuelling, visiting the dentist and collecting our parcel and then we left as soon as possible.

While in Suva we met up with friends Chris and Dave on CD and we arranged to leave at the same time for a sail south to Kandavu and the Astrolobe reef. The forecast wasn't great but it was the only day we could leave before the wind went south for a week and we would have been stuck in Suva, so we left. We knew the forecast was for 20 knot winds reducing with a 2-3m swell but part way through the sail the winds increased to 30-40 knots and the seas grew to 4-5m. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride and we were glad it was only a 50 mile sail. We had to hold on as the boat was being thrown around a lot but we it was a really quick passage. CD said it was one of their roughest crossings and wished they hadn't followed us!

We stayed in a bay on the island of Ono to start with and managed to do so some snorkeling but we were driven to move by the swell which started to come straight in the bay making the boat roll and sleeping very difficult. So we moved to a bay at Vatulutu island on the SW corner of Kandavu itself close to a pass in the reef called Nagoro pass. We had been told by other cruisers that there was a dive master near by called Bruce who would take us out for a reasonable cost. Via other boats we organised to do 2 dives with Bruce in the pass.

The morning we were collected there was a wind blowing and in the pass where we got in for the dive, the water was fairly rough. We dived the south side of the pass going out of the pass and saw mainly Grouper which were congregating ready to spawn. It was very cold and we were all shivering by the end of the dive. We surfaced outside of the pass which was also very rough as the boat was sitting very close to the start of the surf zone near the reef. The afternoon dive was much better which was on the north side of the pass, unfortunately I was so cold that I didn't do it and I missed one of the best dives according to Mike. That side of the reef is unfished and has more, and more adult fish than seen anywhere else in Fiji. It is quite a shock to realise that you have mostly seen young fish and juveniles and the difference when most fish are adult is extreme (Mike).

After a few more days we moved to the NW side of Kandavu to a village called Drue which is fringed by the Namalata reef. We did our sevusevu and fortunately, the elder who we presented our kava to said he used to be a dive master and would take us diving for a very reasonable fee. So ourselves, Dave from CD and Sandy and Rankin from Gypsea Heart went diving the following day. The first dive was called the yellow wall and there was lots of beautiful yellow soft corals. The second dive we saw a huge lobster and lots of other invertebrates. The corals were lovely but there were not many fish as the reef has been very heavily fished. We did a very interesting dive the following day with lots of caves and grottos which certainly tested our buoyancy control.

Our third and final days diving was a site further from the village where the sharks used to be fed. We were hoping to see lots of sharks but the first dive we saw none. The second dive we saw one fairly aggressive black tip shark who followed us most of the dive. This meant we all spent all our time bunched together watching the shark and missed lots of lovely corals!

By this time we all needed a rest so had a day off diving. Instead we visited the local town to get a few provisions. The town was a few shops, a bakery and a market that had some green beans. The same day we met up with CD and Gypsea Heart for a BBQ ashore and then we all burnt our rubbish. It was a lovely warm sunny afternoon with a wonderful sunset. Once the sun had set we retired to Gypsea Heart for pudding, brownies and ice cream made by Sandy, a real treat.

Our sail from Kandavu back to Viti levu was very slow. The winds were light and we spent the day playing with the spinnaker. With the swells it kept tying itself around the forestay so by mid afternoon we gave up and motored to a bay on the south side of Viti Levu. The following morning we got up early again and sailed around to the west coast to a resort called Robinson Crusoe. The resort has a show of local dancing and dinner which we went along to. It was a little touristy but very well done and we had a good evening.

It was too windy to snorkel so we left and sailed to Musket Cove which is where we are now. Musket Cove is a big resort and very commercial but it is a meeting place for yachts and a good place to wait for weather to leave. We had a few days here before spending 4 days in Vuda marina getting our sail repaired and then sailed back. We are hoping to meet up with a number of friends that we won't see again once we leave Fiji. We also said goodbye to Chris and Dave from CD in Vuda as they are currently working on their boat there and won't be leaving Fiji for a few weeks. We may catch up with them in New Caledonia later in the season.

We are now ready to leave Fiji and are watching the weather to sail to Vanuatu next week. Its about 450 miles so if we get it right we should get there in 3 days.

Its Raining Again!

We are currently sitting on the island of Koro hiding from the rain. It seems to rain a lot in Fiji which is probably why everywhere is so green! Its a bit like Wales only much warmer!

We left Savusavu as planned and motored around the coast to a very protected bay called Dakanuba. The following day the weather was very calm so along with friends on Victory and Superted we snorkelled and then dived the pass through the reef into the bay. After that the weather deteriorated and so we spent the days working on boat projects and the evenings socialising. The day we were due to leave all the boats got together to help the family ashore fix their boat as the bottom had torn apart. This took most of the day so we decided to postpone our departure until the next day.

Our next stop was Viani bay which was only 7 miles away. There was a a passage there inside the reef provided the light was good so as it was a sunny day we went through it. We had to go slow and stand up on the bow to see the reef. It was quite tricky but we got through without hitting anything!

Viani bay is very protected by the island of Taveuni and seems to have it own weather systems especially, it is dry and mostly sunny!! Taveuni is very hilly so the rain stops on the hills and never makes it across to Viani. It was lovely being in a sunny dry anchorage!

Our first day at Viani we dived the famous White Wall with a local dive company. It is rated as one of the top 10 dive sites in the world and we were not disappointed. There is a local called Jack Fisher who lives in the bay and he comes onto your boat and guides you to the best snorkelling and dive sites. What is really important is that he understands the local tides and currents which are very strong. Jack always seems to know somewhere to go where they aren't a problem.

We took our boat to a site called the fish factory which was amazing. 7 of us went snorkelling while Jack watched us from the dinghy. Another day 8 of us went on a trip to Taveuni with Jack on board 'Victory'. Jack watched the boat while we all piled into a taxi really meant for 6 and visited the waterfalls. It was quite a long bouncy drive around the island to the falls so we only had time to visit the first of the 3 falls. Still, it was very pretty and we all enjoyed a swim in fresh water. On the way back to the boat we all did lots of shopping and somehow managed to fit it all in the van!

We left Viani to head to the north of Taveuni to anchor near the airport. A friend, Kevin, was coming to visit us the following week and we needed to ensure we could get ashore and meet him. Then we crossed to the island of Rambi where we spent a night in Katherine Bay. It was a fraught crossing as the charts are not accurate and it was too cloudy to see the reef clearly. After a rest we headed to the north of the island to Albert Cove. The channel on the west of the island is very deep and we caught a good sized Giant Trevally on the way there. Albert Cove is a lovely bay with a tree lined beach and is surrounded by reef. We went ashore to donate half the trevally to the locals but found only one elderly man. He was very hospitable and gave us some bananas but clearly didn't want company for too long. We had a lovely snorkel the following day but the remainder of the time it was raining and cloudy.

We left Albert Cove and were hoping to visit Kioa but within a short time of leaving the rain was so heavy we could not see the island. Fortunately we could follow our track back and stay in deep water. The visibility was very bad so there was no way we could explore new places and we had no option but to return to Katherine bay. The following day we had to meet Kevin's flight which meant a bash into 25 knots of wind and rough seas, not a pleasant experience as once again we could not see the reefs we were crossing.

Kevin arrived on time at Taveuni airport. After he had changed into clothes which could get wet we walked back to the dinghy and had a wet slow ride out to the boat dodging the reef as it was low water. We decided that it was best to head back to Viani bay and we had 4 lovely days there. 2 days we all went out with Jack on a Catamaran called Gypsy Heart with owners Sandy and Rankin. There were about 10 of us each time and some of us dived while others snorkelled. Kevin got to meet lots of our friends and it was a very sociable week.

We headed back to Taveuni for Kevin's flight to Melbourne. His flight was not until lunch time but we headed ashore early to go shopping in the town. On our way back we stopped at the airport to drop Kevin's bag before taking a walk. He was then told that his flight had changed and would not reach Nadi in time for his connection. At this point the earlier flight arrived and he was put on it and had left within a short time so it was a good job we had got ashore so early.

We headed back to Viani to rest and decide what we were going to do next. The anchorage was very busy when we got back and the following day the ICA rally arrived making it even worse. We managed to catch up with friends Ann and Mark on Blue Rodeo and Chris and Rani on Ladybug and get another snorkelling trip in before we left.

We decided to sail to Koro as most people were going the opposite way and we were looking for some peace and quiet!!. It was a 50 mile sail and we left at 5.30am to ensure we arrived with good light. However, the winds were very good and the passage was very fast but a little rough and we were moored by 1.30pm. The bay had mooring balls which are free for visitors to use which is good as the bay is very deep. There is a resort here but it is not for holiday makers. People buy plots of land and then build their own houses and the resort is for their use. We went ashore yesterday and met some of the residents who are from Germany, NZ, USA, etc. Some live here permanently while others use it as a holiday home. We are told the diving is good here so we are waiting for good weather to try it out. So far the weather has been raining and windy so not good for swimming or exploring!

In Fiji

We left Whangarei marina and headed down the river ready for our trip to Opua. We spent the night in a lovely anchorage near the mouth of the river but had to leave the following morning as the forecast wasn't good. We had a good sail up to a bay called Tutukaka which was very protected and very pretty. The following day we had to motor up the remainder of the coast into the Bay of islands. Once we were into the islands we had a great sail to an anchorage where we met up with friends Michael and Barbara from Astarte and Matt and Jean from Superted V. Barbara cooked us all a wonderful meal that evening to celebrate Mike's 60th birthday.

The following day we headed into Opua marina to begin our preparations for leaving NZ. Unfortunately, on the way north our engine battery had stopped working so we had to order a new one from Auckland. We then caught the coach back to Whangarei and collected our car which we drove to Opua and sold back to Phil the following week. While we had the car we took advantage of it and headed out to a vineyard near Kerikeri for a Sunday roast as another birthday celebration. Probably the best meal out that we have had in New Zealand and very enjoyable and relaxing!!

One of our last jobs to do before we left was to change the impeller in the water pump on the engine. It was very reluctant to come out and took Mike a few hours to remove. With this successfully completed the new impeller was installed and the cover replaced. Unfortunately, the last screw on the housing sheered off as it was being tightened. To remove it we had to remove the water pump but what we also discovered is that we could not remove the pump without removing one of the engine mounts! We borrowed a jack from Seapower and achieved this. After we had removed the sheered screw we decided to have the pump serviced while it was removed. So a 2 hour job eventually took 3 days!!

In the mean time we collected our meat order from the butcher in Kawakawa. We had ordered it on line as the butcher vacuum packs and freezes all the meat before you collect it. When we collected it we realised we had massively over ordered and have been struggling to keep the quantity of meat frozen in our freezer ever since. We need to become major carnivores to reduce the amount we have and to reduce the strain on the freezer. That said, the steaks are wonderful!!

Finally, all the chores keeping us in NZ were completed (I say this as all the chores on a boat are never done!) and we left NZ on Monday 29th April. The first 2 days of the sail we had fairly light winds and it broke us in gently to sailing again after 6 months stationary in NZ. The next day we had strong winds and the sea was very lumpy and uncomfortable. We had good winds for the next few days but the seas continued to be uncomfortable. After one day of no wind when we had to motor for 24 hours we then had fairly strong winds and uncomfortable seas for our last 2 days into Fiji. One highlight of our motoring day was that we caught our biggest Mahi-Mahi ever. It was 54 inches long and about 25lbs!

It was very cold on the crossing to start with and we were about 7 days at sea before we could abandon the thermals. We also had a passenger for most of the trip. On our second day a small yellow/green finch landed on the boat. He stayed overnight and the following day another one joined him. We gave them water and rice and they seemed happy. The following day the original finch drove the other one off the boat. He then continued to stay with us for 6 days. He would roost at night and come into the cockpit in the morning ready to be fed. He was incredibly tame jumping all over us and when he got the chance heading down below. The down side was that we spent lots of time cleaning up his pooh! We were hoping he would stay until we were close enough for him to fly to Fiji but he flew south the day we had no wind. Unless he found another boat he probably would have died as we were 900 miles from NZ.

The trip to Savusavu in Fiji took us 10 days. It was not an enjoyable sail, just one to be endured. When we arrived in Savusavu we were guided to a mooring ball at the Copra Shed Marina. They organised our clearance and brought Health, Immigration and Customs to the boat before we were allowed ashore. We then spent a few days cleaning up the boat, packing away all our warm clothing and finding our feet. We did struggle with the heat but are now getting used to it again. The humidity is very high and we do get a lot of rain at the moment.

The first week flew by working in the day and socialising at night. Friends on Superted and Victory had arrived before us so we spent a few nights swapping stories of our crossings in the marina bar. Our crossing was good compared to theirs as they were in 50 knots for over 2 days! Then we moved out to an anchorage off a resort 3 miles away. We had a few days swimming and snorkeling which was lovely as we had not been in the water for 6 months. We also had to spend 2 days cleaning our hull as the coppercoat anti-foul we had applied in NZ does not seem to be as effective as we thought it would be. We are told it will improve!

We came back to the Copra Shed to meet up with friends on Astarte who had just arrived in Fiji and our friends Chris and Dave from CD, who we had toured the south island of NZ with. We have been stocking up ready to start our trip out to the islands and hope to leave the marina again tomorrow (25/4).

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Canoeing the Wanganui!!

We had a week back on the boat to do our washing and a few boat chores before we set off on our last trip. Canoeing the Wanganui is one of 'the' great trips to do in NZ. Its basic, as in camping, but it is very remote and highly recommended. We were worried about being cold so thick clothes and thermals were packed. The trip started in a small town south of Taupo which is quite a drive so we stayed in Hamilton overnight with Brenna and Scott.

We had another scenic drive to Ohakune near Mount Ruapehu where we did a walk to a waterfall. Unfortunately, as the summer has been so dry the waterfall was not very impressive. It was a very clear day though and we had great views of the mountain.

We were collected by our tour leader, Jamie, the following day and driven to the river. There were 11 of us, a couple from the US and the other 3 couples were Kiwi friends of Jamies. We all helped unload the gear and leaned how to load up the canoes before we set off. The river was very shallow but there were a lot of rapids. Thankfully the rapids were small though one couple did manage to get caught up on a log and tip over fairly early on. The first day was fairly short and we arrived at our camp site. This consisted of a flattish bit of land, quite a distance above the river, a tap (rain water fed) and a long drop toilet! It was hard work carrying all the gear and cooking equipment up the hill. We then struggled to put our tent up and get ourselves organised. We had a lovely meal and a few drinks before heading to our sleeping bags. Jamie had provided sleeping rolls for us but it's been a while since we have camped and we found sleeping very uncomfortable. Lying awake at night we could hear rats and possums around the tent and the NZ owl called a Morepork was very noisy.

We were up at 6am the following morning and had our breakfast in the dark, a good warming porridge! After carrying all the gear back down the hill we were on the water by 8.30am. This was our longest days paddle and we were grateful when Jamie suggested we raft up together and he started a little outboard engine. It saved our aching arms but we did have to separate whenever we came to rapids.

The camp sight was up an even steeper hill this time but thankfully we were staying 2 nights. We had a lie in the following morning and after breakfast we went for a walk along a ridge above the river. We found the walk quite steep but one of the guys, Bob, did the whole thing in his flip flops!

One of the reasons we chose the trip was the food and it didn't disappoint. We had roast beef, stuffed roast chicken, scones, crumble and carrot cake. We all took our own alcohol and were grateful for the lighter loads we had to carry and paddle as we consumed it!

The next day we stopped off at the 'Bridge to Nowhere'. This is a road bridge that was constructed for the residents in a remote area but by the time it was competed everyone had left the valley so it was never used! Now it is just a tourist attraction. We had lots of small rapids and we all started to look forward to them as it gave us a break from paddling. Jamie did use the engine on some of the long slow stretches which was nice!

The final campsite was a Maori Marae. It was very busy but still as basic as all the rest. There was much talk around the camp about the final day as we would be going down the biggest rapids, the biggest being a grade 3 white water. As we approached the first big rapid we could see canoes in front of us going up and down like a bucking bronco. I was at the front of the canoe so was met by walls of water while Mike had a good view from the back but was responsible for keeping us straight through the rapid. We all got through without tipping except for one canoe. When we got to the biggest rapid the same couple capsized again! We managed to stay upright but we took so much water on board that we couldn't move as the canoe was so unstable. We managed to drift to shore and bale out before we tipped! The last set of 3 rapids we really enjoyed, we knew what we were doing by that point and having got the big ones out of the way we could just enjoy them.

By the end of the trip we were all fairly tired from sleeping in tents and desperate for a proper toilet and a shower. Even so we had a great time!

Since getting back to the boat we have been painting the wood around the outside of the boat again! We are fed up with varnish as it comes off so easily so we have covered it in gloss paint in the hope it will last at least a year. We have also provisioned the boat ready for leaving NZ. It is getting colder here now. We have had an amazing summer, the best on record for NZ, but Autumn is now here and we need to get somewhere warm! We aim to leave Whangarei this week and sail to the Bay of Islands. There we hope to meet up with friends on Astarte for Mikes birthday before heading to Opua to clear out and sail to Fiji.

PS As at time of posting we are in Opua after a good sail up the coast.