'Under the Arms of the Sky' - Book Release!

So it has been a long time since I last posted, partly because I have two small boys keeping me busy, and partly because I have been writing a book 'Under the Arms of the Sky - A Sailing Adventure'. Which is now released! 

You may think that you have read everything that we did, but there are some huge stories that never made it to the blog. And you'll just have to read the book to find out.

If you like it, share, post and recommend to family and friends. 

Check it out at:

Amazon AUS 

Amazon US

Apple ibooks

Kobo AUS

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The Wind, It Is Always About the Wind

Our whistle stop tour of the Philippines continues, as we sail east, this time leaving Palawan and making our way to Panay and the northern island tip of Boracay. A beautiful small island that has been completely swallowed up by tourism on steroids. A place that receives 1 million visitors per year and where you can go parasailing, sailing on a small bamboo trimaran, roll down a hill in an inflatable ball or just blitz yourself at the hundred plus beach bars that compete with each others sound system for the loudest venue.

We decided to come to Boracay to wait as typhoon Neoguri blasted its way west, some 200nm north of the Philippines. While we were well out of its path, we certainly experienced heightened monsoon winds and rain, 30kt squalls and sheets of falling rain battered the boat for the best part of 3 days. While I had a cold, I hunkered below as any trip ashore was quite an unattractive option given the big winds and chop that they developed over the sea. On day 3 the sun peeked its head out and we hung out everything to dry and stretched our arms and blinked in the light, deciding to take the dingy on the long expedition to shore. When we arrived there all we found was street after street flooded as we waded through, up to our shins in water. Business and shop owners were vainly pushing water from their premises to the street. Many shops were built at a lower level than the street, so it was a circular process of flood management. We learned later that these types of rains are not uncommon in the wet season, and this flooding happens every week for 5 months of the year. With the low season still seeing thousands of tourists visiting Boracay each week, there was little down time to manage any large infrastructure projects and the governing council did not have the political will to make it happen. Such is the case with so many desperately needed projects in the Philippines, whether it is tax syphoning, lack of political stamina or outright corruption, minor and necessary projects just do not get done. In addition to the flooding, the other obvious issue with the weather (the southwest monsoonal wind and breaking shore) was the erection of 4m high plastic walls on the west facing side of the island by restaurant owners to try and protect their attractiveness with high winds buffeting them for the next 5 months. Instead of sending patrons scurrying for cover when gusts blow bullets of sand into their eyes (and more importantly their cocktails), patrons wander around behind the huge screens looking more like zoo animals. It was a bizarre experience. 

Hugh, the prolific Boracay zoo tourist

With glee we left Boracay and headed south to visit the towns of New Washington and Kalibo managing to sail for half the day with the light winds puffing out about lunchtime. We had been traveling with Will and Trish off SV Shanghaied and we had also befriended an English sailor Andy on his boat SV Shah who had been doddling his way around the Philippines for three years. Andy was playing the role of tour guide for us, and introduced us to his Filipina friend Megs who worked for a charity group that raised funds for cleft palate surgery for Filipino children. She provided some really interesting insight into the challenges that she faces being the logistics manager for that organisation and we had long discussions about the current state of the country. After lunch with Megs and a tour of a mangrove sanctuary we took the long tricycle ride into Kalibo and visited the enormous fresh market. The museum had some interesting facts about how the island of Panay had been settled by Malaysians from Sabah and the anniversary of that arrival in the Philippines is marked with a huge fiesta in January (shame we missed that one!). The center of town was crowded with tricycles and was a busy connection point for people getting off planes and catching the boat to Boracay.

Following the wind we kept on sailing (more like motoring) around Panay and stopping in at the picturesque island of Bantayan, where we anchored just a short 3nm dingy ride from the tourist town of Santa Fe.  

The sun was beating down and showing off all the gorgeous
colours of Santa Fe when we arrived.

We wandered around town, surveying the damage that typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) had caused in November 2013. A number of businesses were closed (never to reopen) but others had new roofs and walls. The local churches had new roofs or were undergoing complete and detailed renovation. The locals told us that the streets were comparatively bare to this time last year, as many trees were uprooted or their foliage shredded in the storm. After hiring bikes and making our way across the other side of the island we got to see that the inland part was dedicated to agriculture and chicken farming. Along the way we could see the flattened landscape and we visited several communities that were undergoing repair work and were adorned with UNHCR tents and tarpaulins. The locals had a stoic attitude about it all, every year some part of the Philippines is devastated by a natural disaster, it just depends on the location whether the same place will be damaged again. The Filipinos just pick themselves up, dust off and get back to it, such a resilient race amidst such gloom! We also visited a social housing project funded by a mainly European charity – Gawad Kalinga (GK), where dozens of houses were being built in an effort to alleviate poverty for Filipinos. The design was reminiscent of my social housing days and we all talked about how they would fare over time and whether they would become ghettos. Whatever the opinions, the people had a roof over their head and the housing development also included a farming component, so that the residents had something to do and also a way to make money/ feed their families. The most positive aspects of the development were the piped sewer and neat (and safe looking) electricity. The GK employees also talked about the education and training program that they put the budding residents through so that they understood their obligations and responsibilities in the village and home ownership and their contribution of 300 hours sweat equity.

Social housing development which had suffered damage from Yolanda,
proud homeowners give us a tour of their village

Continuing our cross-island odyssey, directly west we found the town of Bantayan a working port with an enormous fresh market (with shredded corrugated iron roofing) still bustling at 7pm on a Sunday night. After having a refreshing beer and watching the sunset, we made our way back across the island to Santa Fe. Upon arrival we found that our dingys were stranded as the spring low tide had exposed the rocky beach for hundreds of meters, we figure 2 hours ought to do it and went to find some dinner. The dingy trip home was not as pleasant as the ride in, as we were battling a rain squall with water bullets stinging our eyes as we searched for protruding reefs that would bring us unstuck. But we made it back, and of course upon arrival at our yachts, the rain stopped and the moon shone through. 

The following day we upped the anchor and to our surprise there was wind! Out comes all the canvas and we are off, making our way around the island of Cebu. There was a tropical storm on the brink of becoming a typhoon that was predicted to track west into the Philippines, so we were keen to find a cyclone hole to put the boat while it passed over. As the day wore on, we realized that we would be parting company with our friends as we made the overnight journey to Surigao, 140nm south and east. We popped the kite and were going along nicely with a light wind of 5-8kts with no seas. We gybed a few times and made our way through the Cebu shipping channel when a squall developed right behind us, as Hugh was struggling to pull the sock down to smother the kite, a 35kt gust ripped through and blasted the kite, shredding it horizontally into two pieces (but leaving Hugh on the boat thankfully). Oh dear. The boat had stopped moving and the pieces of the kite were being retrieved, the squall and its sudden downpour moved off, THANKS! This was not what we were hoping for as we would likely need our spinnaker for the 5 day leg to Palau. Conferences with our friends on the VHF and Andy the tour guide advised us of a great sail maker in Cebu. A change of course and we were headed south to Port Carmen where we would lick our wounds and take the kite the 1 hour tricycle ride into Cebu (the second largest city in the Philippines) to have repairs done. 

At 12:01 am the anchor was down and another day of adventure on the sea was finished. The wind…

15/7/14

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El Nido, the Phi Phi Don of the Future?

It seems that everyone is putting their hand up for involvement in the Hollywood movie – ‘The Beach’. While it was filmed on the gorgeous Phi Phi islands of Thailand, El Nido is purported to have been the location for the writing of the book. We went to Phi Phi Don last year and it was a beach that had max-ed out its tourist industry with dozens of boat operators jostling for your custom to drive you to Phi Phi Ley to sit in a ‘secluded’ beach with hundreds of other people. The real drawcard to those islands are the stunning limestone rock formations that rise up out of the water and often enclose golden sandy beachlets that look picture perfect. El Nido has those same limestone formations and is absolutely stunning, without the horrible hectic tourist element. The town has a rough grid street pattern dominated by small shack-like single story shop fronts, the end of the streets at the east of the town has rock wall structures rising to the heavens bounding the town in. Low shrubbery clings to the sharp flat rock faces and gives the town a really enclosed and almost secretive feeling. One morning when it was raining a low band of cloud hovered over the rock peaks and eerily swirled revealing glimpses of the rockscape behind. Bars, restaurants and dive operations line the beachfront and you can stroll along going for a leisurely bar crawl, moving north along the beach to get the best sunset view as the evening rolls in.

Limestone rockfaces enclose El Nido town

We are here in the southwest monsoon which is also the wet season period. Every day, mostly in the afternoon or at night, a ripping breeze pummels the cove and gusts of 40kts send boat owners securing their washing and tying down anything loose.  Next comes the rain, not usually too much but the strong wind drives it into your face and sends you running for cover. So it is the low season for tourism, which suits us just fine. While the daily storm and rain periods are inconvenient, it means that the town is not so busy with tourists.

I made the tricycle trip to the market on Wednesday (the good day apparently). The deafening sound of pigs and goats being led off to the slaughter place (open area behind the market) was my greeting. Bright colours of fresh bananas, avocados, mangoes and oranges filled my eyes. The sight of fruit was exciting as it was not something cherished on Peninsula Malaysia and I made a beeline for the mandarins and oranges. Still the animals were screeching, and pigs can make a good scream if you just look at them funny. At least you know the meat you are buying is fresh, the sound of pigs was a stark contrast to Malaysia, where pork is forbidden. I picked up loads of potatoes, bananas, watermelon, tomato and some replacement ginger for the next batch of ginger beer (more about that later).

As we dropped anchor in the bay, who did we spot but our old friends ‘Shanghaied’, Aussies who we had met in Saumlaki on the Indonesia Rally. While we had stayed with the rally for the 3 month period travelling west through Indonesia, they had left at Banda Neira and sailed north to Ambon and onto Raja Ampat, before spending the next 8 months exploring the Philippines. We invited them over to EJII along with some new friends on ‘Free Spirit’ to indulge in some boat brewed hooch - ginger beer. I made up the wort batch in Kota Kinabalu, and it had made the rough passage from Borneo and up the coast of Palawan before its taste testing in El Nido, explosion free which was an excellent outcome! To the surprise of the tasting participants “it was actually ok”, and a few more bottles were opened and shared around. Abe had predicted the brew to be somewhere between downright awful and slightly tolerable, but he was happy to throw down a few glasses!

Boat brew success! Thanks to my tasting team, Shanghaied, Free Spirit and EJII

Another gastronomical (and social) experience was when Hugh and Abe went ashore at Balalo Bay, a tiny fishing village just 40km south of El Nido with no mobile phone reception and one house with electricity (petrol generator). We were hunting for a spot to anchor and dozens of children came running out on the pier, jostling each other and jumping up and down whooping and hollering while waving. They sure were excited to have visitors. With ideas of a fish curry for dinner, the boys went ashore, to be mobbed by all these children. Falling back to our old faithful ‘cross cultural-win’ with children, the high five, Hugh and Abe made themselves very popular with the kids. Hugh is 1.98m tall so when he puts his hands up at his shoulders, they are high off the ground. Filipinos are not a tall race, but the enthusiasm by some kids to high-five Hugh led to much jumping and super-human strength! Such fun kids. 

Enthusiastic High-Fiving!

Eventually Hugh and Abe were able to ask where they could buy fish, and like the pied piper leading the children, they made their way through the village with dozens of kids all pushing to be closest to them, to the man with the fish. Some negotiating done, three small fish were purchased and it was two thumbs up for fish curry for dinner. Abe passed on some exercise books and pens as gifts for the kids, hopefully they will find them useful, and they made their way back to the boat.  It was such a contrast to see this remote village, cut off from other parts of Palawan as there was no serious road access. It was so close to other places that were tourist hot spots, El Nido even has an airport, yet they lived a completely different life. We wondered whether mobile coverage would extend to this location and how long this village would remain in its isolation.

After 6 days at El Nido we decided to move on. We had had a fun time eating ashore, enjoying the edible delights of Adobo (meat stew with potatoes) and diving the beautiful waters. This sure was a nice place to visit and I hope that it does not become as over populated as Phi Phi Don, because that place was real tourism overload! A teary goodbye to Abe-l Seaman Abe (we're not above a cheap pun on this boat), as he left to fly out from Puerto Princessa and we continued our whistle stop tour of the Philippines.

27/6/2014

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The Balabac Strait

A crossing that reminded us of the nasty beam swell and uncomfortable seas like the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Arafura Sea. The Balabac Strait bridges the waters between the Sulu and South China Seas, a veritable spin cycle. Abe went to sleep and dreamt that he was in a washing machine with jeans and a belt...the sensation was that close, except without being smacked in the head with a belt buckle. 

Swirling sea, nightime snap off the aft deck

The boat wanted to heel to starboard, but the 3m enthusiastic swell coming at us from the port side was not going to play nice. So began 3 days and 2 nights of an extremely uncomfortable trip making our way from Kudat in northern Borneo to Ulungan Bay on the western side of the Philippine Island of Palawan. You may recall that we were planning a different route east over the top of Borneo, however our plans changed dramatically, but you'll just have to read our next instalment to get the full story on that one.

The southwest monsoon had finally decided to turn up this year, better late than never! It brought a constant 15-20 kt wind and swell with it for the ride. With squalls bringing torrents of rain and 40kt wind gales, we were in for a not so fun passage, though Abe was in for a treat as we 'hove to' waiting one storm out (thankfully it was a short one). 'Hoving to' is a maneuver turning the boat into the wind, dropping the sails and waiting for the storm to pass, some boats have stayed in that position for days at sea waiting for a system to pass through. A break in the rain showed off the stunning and rugged coastline, tall sharp cliff faces with low shrubbery, very different to the jungle clad Borneo coast and lots of steep mountainous terrain. It was with much relief that we turned into Ulungan Bay, so flat and calm that we could finally put the 2 minute noodles away and cook some real food, roasted vegetable pasta it was!

After a good sleep Hugh and I Ieft Abe as boat sitter the next day, and went on the 50km over-island journey to Puerto Princessa (PP), the bustling city of the island and home to some 6000 tricycle cabs (motor bike with a metal buggy and roof structure which could comfortably carry 4 passengers, but could certainly fit 6 judging by the locals!) But first we had to get to town, via the 3 hour jeepney trip. A jeepney's distant cousin was the land rover, maintaining the bonnet and axle design, but with a 30 passenger bench seat capacity thrown in behind the driver and 1 tonne strength roof (for carrying 30kg bags of rice, 30ltr blocks of ice, slabs of soft drink, fuel containers, meat and vegetables). Oh, and adorned with rainbow colours, religious paraphernalia and tinsel, nice! The jeepney driver turned out to be the postman, the payer of bills on behalf of the rural villagers, the corner store delivery guy and the guy who gets your fuel cans filled. He also has a team of able young men carrying all these items up and down from the bus and acting as the reverse sensors with a loud 'tap tap' on the roof of the bus. The trip was long and slow, but it was great to see some of the island hinterland and see how amiably the locals got on with each other, a real community spirit and thoughtfulness.

Bright Jeepneys being loaded up for the homeward bound journey

The town was busy, with tricycle cabs zooming along and squeezing into unsqueezable spots. The immigration office was our first stop, to get our all important 'country arrival' stamp and then down to the customs office to check the boat in. Thankfully our tricycle cab driver was in the know and the drive across town to the far flung offices. The lady at the customs office was great and was helping us learn some Tagalog, she also helped us by identifying which words are the same in Spanish as Tagalog. She spoke almost perfect english and it turns out that three decades of US colonialism is still evident in their education system today and many Filipinos speak excellent english, which is a real bonus for us.

Indulging in some barbequed chicken for lunch (with unlimited rice, as is the selling point here in PP), picking up some donuts for Abe and some more fresh veggies and we were back at the bus station, ready to catch our jeepney home. It had been raining while we were doing our admin chores, but that wasnt cause enough for the driver to lower the front windscreen from its open horizontal position as we sat in the front seat, back on went the sunnies to prevent dirt and insects from lodging themselves in our eyes. Well it was a whirlwind tour of PP with highlights being the immigration and customs office, experiencing a new country and its checking in procedures, travelling by boat is always a different tourist experience. 

20/6/2014

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Covering off Sabah

Kudat, a strange yet very welcoming place. The former capital of the Borneo state of Sabah, now a town that seems to be lost in another time. Shop houses with timber second stories, footpaths that are used for walking on (not parking scooters or stacking shop wares) and cheery locals that grin at Hugh and shout "hello, hello mister, I love you" before giggling. The man that stopped us in the street to show us the large glass ball that he was holding is his mouth was strange indeed, but funny nonetheless. It seems that tourists from western countries do not visit here much and the locals are stoked to get a chance to practise their English skills.

Kudat main street, neat two-storey shop houses and landscaped median strip

We had spent a few days making our way north after quickly popping in to Kota Kinabalu (KK) - a busy and vibrant tourist town (also the current capital of Sabah). While it is a brilliant city to visit, it is a nightmare of a place to take your boat with no good anchorages in the current south-west monsoon and the single resort marina is slowly becoming more and more member focused, charging an outrageous amount for the simple luxury of using their dingy dock. So it was a quick provisioning stop to top up on cheese and other western delights, some fresh food from the market, oh and collecting our friend Abe who would be joining us for a couple of weeks aboard and we were off again.

On our way out of town, we were busy looking for a fuel barge that we had heard was anchored in the strait between KK and Pulau Gaya. We were following the channel markers and thought we could spot it, but we were not sure so we were asking off the bow of the boat to locals coming past if it was...they just smiled and waved...lost on translation I think. As we were in a precariously shallow part of the channel, we saw it and just came up beside throwing ropes and fenders over the side to secure us in. It was located in a particularly highly trafficked area, but we just had to tie on the best we could and hold on when the wake came crashing through. Seeing the fuel attendant smoking a cigarette next to the 'no open flames' sign, ready to create a floating bomb was just par for the course. The fuel pump was set for super yachts and fishing boats that use hundreds of litres an hour, so Hugh had fun trying to slow the flow for our comparatively meagre tank without sloshing it all overboard, making for another fun refuelling adventure.

All fuelled up we anchored on the northern side of Pulau Gaya, with a picturesque view of the jungle covered hill. There was a small family development nearby who took their canoes out fishing with nets in the evening. We followed their lead, though we had no luck with our fishing attempts, so had to settle for veggie stir fry instead.

A few days of uneventful sailing and motoring and we arrived in Kudat. Possibly the hottest place we have been to yet, though the afternoon storms do something to quell the searing daytime heat, the subsequent mozzies that come after it are less fun. Diving off the boat for a quick dip while we were underway helped manage our overheating en route. 

Abe taking a refreshing mid-sail swim

Kudat has an interesting history, stories about it being abandoned as the capital of Sabah varied depending on the source with tourist brochures referring to the British relocation of the capital due to the inability to secure a fresh water source, others refer to the repeated sacking of the town by neighbouring Filipinos. The town was then forgotten by authorities and remained remote, with the first road being constructed connecting it to KK in the 1970s enabling the old town to retain its charm and constrained its development or role as a trading port. A brilliant fresh food market makes it a great provisioning port for us. We were treated to some amazing hospitality by the marina managers, who took us out for lunch to gorge on some local Chinese delights and also to the local chamber of commerce to get a 'permission' letter to buy extra fuel (ie, more than 20lts), which made our time here fun and always interesting.

Our hosts - local city Councillor Johnie and his son John

Having seen the main attraction on our way past (the northern most point of Malaysia), we had little else to do here. Impatiently awaiting our package of rope for our furler posted from Australia (which may have been lost in the bowels of the Malaysian postal system) and watching our new 12v to 240v power inverter blow up were just other fun things that remind you why not everyone is out here sailing.

Happy Captain, package success!

10/6/2014

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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 actor) was shielded from view by a layer of clouds (the screen) and our imagination was left to draw a scene of the gruesomeness of the destruction made by the actors behind the screen. The actors danced away into the distance, nonchalant about the devastation they had left in their path.

We had entered the Intertropical Convergence Zone  (the equatorial trough or more commonly known as the doldrums) the weather was less predictable with rain and wind squalls, lighting storms and wind coming from all sorts of unusual directions or just not at all. This makes for challenging sailing conditions and more patience sometimes than we can summon, which means using the motor to get to an anchorage in daylight.

At 1235hrs on 20/10/2013 as Elizabeth Jane II crossed the equator into the northern hemisphere, King Neptune unleashed his wrath, dumping a torrent of rain and squally winds upon us. We still managed to trim the sails, toast our glasses of rum and take a photo of our GPS as we made our way across the invisible line. And it was indeed invisible as we could not see more than 20m in front of our boat. The rain fell for the best part of an hour and it was incredible to watch the sea become flattened by the falling rain as if it were trying to retreat to shelter.

Disappointingly the wind was on the nose and we were beating to make forward progress, tacking across the equator 3 times, but the first was very exciting as together we entered a new stage in our voyage and Hugh and I officially became shell-backs (a shell-back is an experienced sailor who has crossed the equator). Importantly, we provided a libation for King Neptune with a glass of rum that we donated to him overboard (this was a gift and to provide us with good luck during our travels on the sea).

The evenings celebratory festivities included rum cocktails and spaghetti bolognese (with mince!!!) aboard Solstice with Bill and Olivia. Bill was an old hat at equator crossings, with this being his third. Once again we were reminded that much of the fun of cruising is enjoying special events with good friends!

23/10/2013

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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 the Komodo National Park just across the bay. So what do the lucky people of Labuan Bajo owe the pleasure of a visit by their very own Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono? A yacht rally whose participants have taken over the restaurants, cafes and the only bakery in town for 10 days as the three routes of the rally converge and continue their journey westward!

We had just spent the best part of a week in the Taka Bonerate National Park, a world class dive site, containing the worlds third largest atoll and some not very inhabited islands. It was a stark contrast to Benteng, our previous city stop, where we had guides walk with us everywhere and haggle at the markets while we tried to save 2c off our carrots. Other excellent features of our time in Benteng was our releasing of a 3 month old baby turtle into the wild (we named him Bruce) who had been protected for conservation by a small village. After this excitement and watching Bruce swim strongly into the big blue, we were taken to a remote village where we went through their welcome ceremony which included some women channelling a village spirit from the past, us being in a water fight with the local kids, all rounded up with a sing along and being swung on a giant swing. The local government officials and the Vice Regent of the island also joined us and they had a blast. All in a days work!

An overnight 150nm sail was marked by Hugh and I seeing a humpback whale for the first time. Gracefully swimming through the water and blowing water high in the air we were enraptured by its enormity being about 10m long. A most awesome sighting! And with that it slapped its tail and dove below! We also had our first night sail with the spinnaker up, sailing for about 16 hours in company with our friends on Hokulea and Kite, we made excellent time in <10kts of breeze. Our arrival at Labuan Bajo was a real introduction into full swing 'tourism dominated' Indonesia. Some people here spoke English, could not give two hoots about having visitors in town and enjoyed the business that we brought to town as we emptied them out of long life milk, beer and cheese. We had been warned by our guides that with the end of the eastern route of the rally, so did the innocence and relative naivety of the townships. We had to haggle for our trips on local transport which was either in a vemo (van that could seat 10 people), an ojek (motorbike) or the flat bed of a cement truck which we ended up catching one night home after dinner. But it has all been fun, and we feel quite spoiled by the hospitality and generosity that has been shown to us by our hosts in the various small towns on the way through.

We decided to leave Labuan Bajo and seek respite in the National Park. We will get as up close and personal as you can get to what are touted to be aggressive dragons. Unfortunately we will be unable to meet the President, but I sent him my regards and hope to have a coffee with him one day soon!

11/9/2013

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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 washing machine. With swell on beam and the boat pitching from side to side, memories of breakfast were not far away. This continued for about 8 hours and the 2 days that we had left to sail seemed like a life term. Fortunately the boat was unaffected by sea sickness and sailed nicely with the 25-30kt breeze right behind us. During my 11pm-2am shift I saw a boat zoom past, assuming it was a fishing boat as I peered at their speed with jealous eyes.

Day 2 came around and Gove was shaping up in my imagination to be the promised land. The pod of dolphins that danced for us at sunset were beautiful, playfully dancing and jumping in the bow wave for about 40 minutes. Together with the cheese and cracker plate and the excitement of the mackerel that Hugh caught it was a lovely evening.

Day 3 and we dropped anchor at 7pm as the sun was setting behind the bauxite conveyor belt next to Gove Harbour. Hello Northern Territory! We set our watches back 30 minutes and enjoyed the late setting sun and ambient evening temperature. To our surprise, Bonaire was anchored up close to shore and returning from having a drink at the sailing club. This was the boat that I had seen while on the graveyard shift, as they rocketed past at 12kts. Having a racer cruiser certainly has its benefits, as they did the same 340 mile passage in less than 2 days! They were pretty smug about it too!

Gove was a red dust town, a regional centre for government services, a bauxite mine and ship loading facility. We visited an Aboriginal art gallery which was in disarray ahead of Kevin Rudd's PM visit to commemorate the 50 year anniversary of the historical and landmark 'bark petition' (and a week after Julia Gillards PM visit and memorial service for the passing of Mandawuy Yunupingu). Two different PMs in 2 weeks! What a hotspot on the map! A trip to Woolworths and we had 'done' Gove.

We left Gove, but it didn't leave us. Rust coloured dust coated the boat as we sailed through 'hole-in-the-wall' (Wessel Islands) and onto Port Essington. The Victorian settlement that time forgot. A settlement that lasted for 11 years (1838-1849) before most of the population died from malaria. An interesting experiment in pioneering that can only be accessed by boat. But one can visit the settlement ruins, pop by the quartermasters store, jetty, hospital and cemetery before wondering why such a desolate location was selected. Needless to say the name Port Essington was aspirational, as no shipping trade continued from this location.

The last push to Darwin was fraught with uncertainty. Tips from sailors ahead of us, guide books, electronic mapping and tide details that conflicted made for some interesting planning. Three Capes to round, another Gulf (Van Diemen) to cross and perhaps the biggest challenge of all was the Northern Territory Department of Fisheries to negotiate with upon our arrival in Darwin. We had to round Cape Don 4.5 hours ahead of high tide in Darwin in order to get a lift off the westward moving current, with up to 10kts rushing through. The Vernon Strait and Vernon Islands complicated the passage with strong current and the anticipation of locks in Darwin certainly got us excited. Darwin experiences 7m tides and the locks had been constructed to make marina and riverbank maintenance simpler.

Rounding Cape Don was great, we got a lift off the current and some new gusts of wind pushed us through the water. As we were sitting back enjoying the ride, we could see some overflows ahead. This is the effect caused by two tidal motions meeting with the appearance of a breaking surf and can sometimes look like a whirlpool as the water swirls and the dominant current takes over. The boat plowed into the overflow, causing 3m waves to crash over the bow of the boat and the bow to bounce through the 3m drop. Thankfully this only happened a handful of times and almost stopped the 10.5kt speed we had with the impact. Fortunately everything was tied down well and nothing was broken down below. The boat crept on and recovered, though the highest speed we have ever done in the boat was history as the current strength lessened and we had to be content with moderate wind speed.

The exciting events were over and we settled in for the final 15 hour sail. We entered the long Clarence Strait at sunrise to meet Darwin, our last Australian stop. The end of our 3 month sail from Sydney and the start of a whole new adventure with new challenges and experiences. Darwin would be our home for 2 weeks before we head for Indonesia and take part in the 'Sail Indonesia Rally' with some 100 other vessels from all over the world.

13/7/2013

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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 days, 19 hours underway
• we have spent 10 nights at sea underway
• we have stayed at 38 anchorages (thats an average of 2 days at each stop)

And we are only a small ways into the trip!

The passage to Cape York was very strategic. Rewind 72 hours and Hugh, I and our friend Bill aboard Solstice talked tactics over a beer. The tide time, tide depth and speed of the current needed to be timed to a T. Friends of ours had bumped the bottom attempting to enter the Cape York Bay just a few days earlier. We were fortunate enough to learn from their experience.

With the 4pm high tide jotted down, we had to calculate the hours it would take to sail from Portland Roads to the Cape. So what is the wind speed? At what angle? What sails will we put up?

With a breezy 25 kts of southeast wind blowing, we were going to fly there. Combine this with the 140nm distance, and 26 hours was the magic number. Excellent. Time to go ashore at Portland Roads (only accessible at high tide due to the wide fringing reef and local crocodiles) for lunch before departing at 2pm. A meal of locally caught and cooked seafood was just what the sailors needed.

Hugh and I picked up our anchor and set the double reefed main, we were off. Unfortunately Bill had dramas with his main and was staying behind to try and resolve. 2 hours later and Bill was off, in hot pursuit. 

After an uneventful night and morning sail of dodging merchant ships we entered the Adolphus Channel, we dropped our mainsail as we were running early and didn't want to beat the high tide. Even without sails, we were zooming through the passage at 4kts due to the current. We rounded the Cape at 3pm and started to enter the Bay, the wind was whipping up and the current was incredibly strong. We had the engine pushing at 3,500 revs to ensure we were going faster than the current. If we went slower, the current would take the boat and potentially beach us on the sandy shoal in the middle of the Bay. Well planned and full of skill, 10 minutes later the anchor was dropped, it was perfect! We made it without drama and Bill followed behind and aced it.  

We went ashore at about 3:30pm on an especially wet dingy ride and clambered up the rock formation of Cape York. We made our way down to the sign and popped a bottle of champagne. 

Northern-most point of the Australian mainland

Champagne and cheese

As we were sipping champagne with the setting sun glistening over the Bay, a ketch came gloriously sailing through the gap between Cape York peninsula and York Island. An especially tight gap with immense current rushing through. It was an amazing sight. We were whooping and hollering to cheer them in. It was impressive to say the least! Turns out they were locals from Thursday Island. The locals do it best!

We felt on top of the world! So pleased with ourselves that we were game enough to make our way back through the gauntlet to the dingy on the beach at dusk, perfect croc feeding time! 

Next on the list was crumbed mackerel, the monster fish Hugh caught the day earlier. Yum!

30/6/2013

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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 into the water. The chill sucked the air from my lungs and stopped the blood in my veins, but splashing about as if I am struggling for survival (also known as my version of freestyle) quickly got the blood flowing once again. 

Paddling over to the reef and constantly adjusting my snorkel gear, I finally got it fitted. The visibility was not great, so we were on top of the reef before we realised it, and in sea life utopia. There were hundreds of different types and colours of coral, there were sea cucumbers, big fish, small fish and every colour of the rainbow was represented. It was fantastic and something that we had been waiting for! Hugh saw a huge turtle slowly gliding through the water and tipping its body to turn left and right. 

I started to get a bit chilly and the sun was disappearing behind clouds, while the wind whipped across the top of the water. I was about to go back to the boat when I saw what looked like a tree that had fallen into the water, but as I looked closer I could see that it was an enormous and complicated section of coral with fluro coloured tips. I was just about to tell Krissy and Hugh about it, when I saw jaws slowly skimming across the sea floor, less than 2m away from where Krissy and I were swimming. I watched it slowly make its way and realised that it was not interested in me or Krissy and was just out looking for some more appropriately sized dinner. I could say that he was 3m long and stared at me with his teeth barred while whipping his tail around, but he was a small reef shark, dark grey in colour and about 1m long. It was quite a beautiful animal, simply getting about its neighbourhood. I looked over and Krissy was asking me with her eyes if I saw it too. I came to the surface and was convinced that it was not interested in us, so we continued to paddle around for a little while, but I thought I should let Hugh know, so that he didn't accidentally step on it or get in the middle between the shark and its preferred dinner.

Turns out Hugh thought we were joking and was quite disappointed that he didn't get to see it either. I am sure that we will see jaws, and we can only hope that we see him in a docile and non-threatening manner!

JAWS!

9/6/2013

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