Windlass Woes

As eluded to in the previous story, our time at Koh Lipe was not quite the start to our Thailand adventure that we had hoped. With the tropical low passing through a new threat lurked in our midst, the windlass (winch that pulls up the anchor) was on the blink. As we attempted to leave Koh Lipe in search of calmer waters, the windlass failed to work. After much head scratching,...

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Tropical Low Pressure System - An Introduction to Thailand

The 25nm amble from Telaga Harbour (on the Malaysian border-island of Langkawi) to Koh Lipe (west coast of Thailand) was supposed to be a cake walk. Instead beam swell, 30kts of wind on the nose and pummelling rain attacked us halfway through the crossing and made for the start of a very unpleasant 48 hours. The rain let up long enough for us to anchor in 16m on the north...

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Malacca Malaise

It was a slow day, mainly motoring after a short-lived sail down the Johor Strait from Johor Bahru, the northerly turn up the muddy Malacca Strait was proving to be less enjoyable as the wind was on the nose, if existent at all. After weaving through dozens of anchored cargo vessels and dodging some fish traps and fish nets, we decided to drop anchor at 11pm after the current had changed, and was turning the boat around taking distance off us that...

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Singapore - A Planner's Diary

Singapore is in and of itself, a fascinating western enclave in the middle of developed and developing South East Asia. The history of the place and its growth as a self managed Asian centre pre and post colonially makes it a unique and layered society, worth the closer look. The striking thing about Singapore is the height and density of the buildings. Singapore is a...

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00'00'.000N 104'54'.709E

It was so still yesterday that I could hear the sweat beading on my arms before it ran down. The dark clouds built over Pulua Lingga just 100m away and hovered menacing before shirking off to dump their contents on the ocean to the south. At night we were entertained by a lightning storm which lit up the clouds appearing as a shadow pantomime where the lightning (the...

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Things We Have Learnt About Indonesia

Everything must be amplified and once it is amplified, must be at full volume. There is no such thing as too loud, if it is not distorting it should be turned up. In Indonesia, people think the radio will travel further when they shout into it. This also goes for microphones. Cassava can be in any food, be it sweet, savoury or other. If you are not sure what you are...

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Is this War?

You could be mistaken for thinking that, with 25 navy vessels in the harbour (including one from China and one from Singapore), our yachts being searched for bombs, helicopters doing circling routes over the beach and navy officers clogging up the streets, cafes and port. Thankfully no, this was all in preparation for the President of Indonesia's visit to Labuan Bajo, a bustling town which owes its mark on the tourist map to the Komodo dragons and...

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Kakadu and Darwin

Ubirr sunset With 10 days to go until our great launch out of Australian waters, Hugh and I took a car to Kakadu for a couple of days to escape the hustle and bustle of boat preparations in Darwin. After walking through the cultural centre and watching the people standing in the water, fishing in Cahills Crossing (not minding the 'beware crocs' sign) we went to Ubirr...

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600 miles

We left Horn Island with Solstice bright and early, waving goodbye to our new English friends on Bonaire (who we had met in Hamilton and Lizard Islands) who had sailed in late the night before. We rocketed through the Torres Strait, enjoying a joyous 10kt ride thanks to some free 4kts of current (hence the early wake up call). The joy was short lived as we were spat out at the western side of the Strait and right into the Gulf of Carpentaria...

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It's a Long Way to the Top

Distance marker on the small hill at Cape York Cape York, the northern most point of mainland Australia, we made it! 72 days since leaving Sydney, we have sailed the coasts of NSW and Queensland to make the trip to the tip (including passing the eastern most point of Australia at Cape Byron). Some stats of our trip so far: we have travelled 1884nm we have spent 16...

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Queensland, Windy One Day, Bloody Windy the Next

Late May 2013 We've reached the jewel in the crown of Australia's sun seeker holidays; The Whitsundays. Currently we're moored off a little known place called Goldsmith Island. We have the whole anchorage to ourselves the only sign of human life is a tiny bungalow nestled by the waters edge, with the largest TV antenna I've ever seen. Apart from us and this TV loving...

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Jaws

It was a day where rain clouds would come and go, it was late in the day and we had just arrived at a renowned anchorage - Butterfly Bay. There was a window of opportunity where the sun had overpowered the clouds and we had glorious sunshine lighting up the reef that was a few hundred meters from our boat. Krissy, Hugh and I quickly grabbed our snorkel gear and plunged...

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Reunion

After spending the best part of 2 months talking to each other and putting up with our own jokes and sea madness, Hugh and I were to be joined for a week by my friend Krissy as we tottered around the Whitsunday Islands. It also happened that we would catch up with our friends aboard the good ships Hokalea and Solstice, who we met at Woolwich marina, after their 2 year journey to Sydney from California. Hamilton Island was the rendezvous point,...

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A trip to Paradise

I'm sitting in the centre of a blue circle. The circle isn't solid and its watery contents rolls beneath me, some 80m to the ocean floor, there is a blue domed roof above me. A golden light peeks over my shoulder and makes the lower part of the dome blush a dull pink. A band of whipped meringue spreads like a belt across half of the dome, but it is powerless to stop the warm...

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