LOG
From Panama to Australia

 

 

October 13, 2010

We had a good sail up to the Torres Straits and went through the Albany passage which is a milder version of the Corryvreken. We only had about 3-4 knots of tide with us so it was very easy, but we kept this tide with us all the way round to Red Island so we had a very quick passage. The village at Red Island was very rustic, but we did manage to do a little provisioning. It's main claim to fame is that lots of Aussies drive up the Cape York peninsula to Red Island in their 4x4's and then have them shipped back to Cairns by boat, so there are lots of these sitting about covered in red dust.

We left Red Island on Thursday (23rd) morning for the 350 mile crossing to Gove. We had pretty good sailing most of the way, but had a massive wind shift on the Thursday night and had to motor until the wind shifted back behind us a couple of hours later. We arrived in Gove on Saturday afternoon. The anchorage at Gove is right beside a Boxite smelter so it is not pretty, but it is a convenient stopping place to get the timing right for the 'hole in the wall'. The yacht club at Gove is a bit like a wild west scene as it is the only place that serves alcohol in the area. The membership mostly consists of fishermen and Aborigines and it is best not to be there later at night.

We left Gove at 0500 on Monday 27th to go through the 'hole in the wall'. We were treated to some dolphins, which we hadn't seen for some time. The 'hole in the wall' is a narrow passage between islands which saves quite a distance, but the tides run up to 9 knots so you have to get the timing right. Aspen went through exactly at high tide and had no tide for or against. We and Lucy Alice went through just 30 minutes later and we had 4-5 knot of tide with us, pushing us through at almost 11 knots. One of the boats went through at 14 knots!! We had a mixture of sailing and motor sailing for the 2 days it took us to get to Port Essington, another stopping place aimed at getting the tides right through the Dundas and Van Demien straits. We had planned to spend Wednesday night in Port Essington and had a party on Miss Tippy in the afternoon. However when we looked at the tides again it was clear that we should leave at midnight, so we had a couple of hours sleep then set off. We were a bit nervous that night as there was lots of lightening over the land and we weren't sure if it would come our way. We caught the tides right and had a very fast passage down to Darwin arriving on Thursday just before dark. As we were arriving I was down below doing the 6.0pm radio net, as Thursday is our day for being the net controller, when I felt the boat heel over and Susan shouted down for help. We had been hit by a very large squall with a torrential downpour and up to 42 knots of wind. We had to get the mainsail down very quickly and had to turn away from the very shallow water at the anchorage. We circled until it eventually cleared (approx 20 minutes). We had to anchor outside Darwin for 2 nights as the Government pays a contractor to stick ammonia up our water inlets and to check other drains for black mussels. This is needed before you are allowed into a marina.

We got into the marina on Saturday morning, which involved going through lock gates as they need these to cope with the large 7m tides and the very shallow water at low tide. We immediately got started on our jobs, washing clothes, the boat and getting the sails ready for collection. We had some problems with our mainsail, staysail and cruising chute and had organized for them to be collected on the Monday. We also had a guy organized to come and fix a leak in our dinghy, which I had tried to fix twice - unsuccessfully. We also went into town to check on trips into the outback. We hired a car with Ian and Glenda from Lucy Alice from the Wednesday to the following Monday to allow for 3 days in the outback and also for provisioning. We booked 2 nights in a hotel in the Kakadu national park. (Darwin Pictures)

Our trip started with a 3 hour cruise through the Corribree Bilabong, which is basically a lake with wetlands. The boat was a shallow bottomed aluminium open boat which held about 20 people and we had lunch sitting in the boat in the middle of a water lily field - wonderful!! We were extremely lucky and saw lots of fresh and sea water crocodiles, very close up, including one with a large catfish in it's mouth. We also saw lots of unusual birds including Jaburus and Sea Hawks. What a great trip to start our outback experience. We the drove into Kakudu national park to our hotel, seeing some Wallabies on the way. The hotel was quite nice and our package included one dinner and cooked breakfasts on both days.

On Friday we toured Kakadu, including a large site with Aborigines cave and rock paintings, The town of Jaburu, a river crossing where at high tide several Crocodiles gather to catch fish trying to get across the crossing. There were about 7 crocs and we saw them catching and swallowing the fish. On Saturday we travelled across country to the Litchfield national park and went to a large waterfall, where Susan, Ian & Glenda took a dip, and we went to a site of very large termite mounds. There were hundreds of what are called magnetic mounds because they are largely aligned North to South and this apparently helps them to keep cool, which is very useful as it was about 40 deg C. (Kakadu Pictures)

Sunday and Monday was spent getting ready to leave Australia, including customs bureaucracy, refuelling, provisioning, putting our sails back on and stowing the repaired dinghy. We left the marina on Tuesday morning and anchored outside Darwin. We had a very wet trip to the beach in Aspen's dinghy and then had the longest haul out of the dinghy. It was low tide and we had to pull the dinghy on a trailer for about 100 yards to allow for the 7m tides.

We are now (Wednesday 13th) on our way to Kupang in Indonesia and expect to get there on Sunday morning. We will be in Kupang for several days before making our way up the islands to Bali.

We are expecting very light winds but frequent squalls, which is largely what we have had today.

September 20, 2010

On Friday 10th we arrived in Cairns after an overnight passage where we motor sailed almost all the way. We berthed in the marina in town which is only 5 minutes walk from the city centre. Cairns is a wonderful vibrant city and we really enjoyed our 3 night stay there. We went on a really nice trip up an old railway to quaint small town called Kuranda and had some spectacular views over the countryside and then took a gondola trip back down the mountain over the rain forest canopy. We both felt that you could easily see yourself living here in Cairns. (Cairns Pictures)

We moved on to Port Douglas on Monday 13th and once again had light winds so motor sailed all the way. Port Douglas is a really nice small holiday town and was a nice walk from the marina to the village centre. We took a short cruise up the river in a replica paddle steamer and were rewarded with our first sightings of crocodiles (just a couple). (Port Douglas Pictures)

We then sailed overnight up to Cooktown and anchored in the river. When we arrived we spotted Fai Tira lying at 38 deg on a sandbank. They had misjudged the depth on their swinging room and were pushed aground when the tide in the river turned. They had been like that since 7.0pm the previous night and had to wait for the high tide in the next evening to get afloat again. The tides in the river are peculiar in that the morning high tide is minimal and about 1m less than the evening high tide. We went to the Cook museum and read up on Captain Cook's tribulations in this area. (Cooktown Pictures)

On Friday we sailed up to Lizard Island and had one of the best sails we have had for some time with 20 knots on the beam. We anchored in Watson's Bay which was secure holding, but there were strong gusts of wind funnelled through a gully. On Saturday we climbed up a pretty steep and rocky 'path' to the top of the island where Captain Cook climbed in 1770 and looked out to work out the best passages. We also saw a large, approx 3ft, lizard on the way up which was very nice and appropriate. The climb up and down took about 3 hours so we were pretty tired when we got back and we had a quiet night for a change. (Lizard Island Pictures)

We left Lizard Island early on Sunday (19th) morning and are now on passage to the top of Australia, through the Torres Straits and down to Red Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. This involves 2 overnights and we will arrive on Tuesday afternoon. We will then rest for a couple of days before crossing the Gulf to Gove (~350 miles).

We are both well and travelling with Aspen and Lucy Alice.

September 9, 2010

On Thursday 12th we heard that Aspen were having charging difficulties and were in danger of losing the use of their autopilot and also possibly their engine. I was the SSB net controller for the day and had to co-ordinate the response from the fleet. For the next 2 days Aspen said they did not need assistance and were monitoring the situation. By the 14th their battery situation had got worse and we agreed that they needed assistance. I arranged for Jackamy and Simanderel, who were the nearest boats to rendezvous with Aspen in case they needed a tow. We were 24 hours from being able to catch them up but we were in a position to give them 2 of our batteries, whereas neither Jackamy or Simanderel's batteries would fit. We caught up with Aspen on Sunday morning and decided to tie up together to transfer our batteries, rather than have to do a transfer using dinghies which would have left Maria on Aspen on her own for a while. We managed to tie up without incident but the rolling of the boats, despite very calm conditions, was a bit alarming. We got the batteries transferred and then Steve had to shut down his engine, which he was very nervous about. After 20 minutes of checking connections and swapping batteries, came the moment of truth, Steve turned the engine back on and found that not only did everything come on but the charging system now worked. He later found that 3 of his batteries had developed faults.

We had a gentle motorsail in convoy through Hydrographers passage in the Barrier Reef and were treated to a pretty good display from a number of whales, although they were thankfully quite a bit away from us. We arrived into Mackay at 10 minutes to midnight on Monday 16th August, exactly 1 year since we left the Clyde on 16th August 2009. We had a bit of a party on the Customs pontoon with Aspen, Jackamy, Simanderel, Island Kea and Fia Tira who had arrived earlier. There are very strict rules about consorting with other boats before you have cleared quarantine and customs, but there are not many people about at 4.0am!!!

We spent the next 12 days in Mackay relaxing, resupplying the boat and getting a few things fixed. We had bent the genoa pole again, so we had a new larger and stronger pole made, the same size as our main Spinnaker pole. We had all the fridge/freezer parts replaced with a 12 volt system, but using the existing compartments. It is much better but the insulation is not very good so it will never be great until we can improve the insulation. We had our rigging checked over as more boats had problems on the last passage. We had a number of minor things that we had to put right and were advised to keep a close eye on very minor cracks in the weld of a couple of 'tangs'. The rigger thought they were very old and tiny cracks on a bit of welding which was not significant and that we should just check them to ensure they do not spread. We also had wear on the gooseneck where our boom attaches to the mast and this needed a bit of filing and new washers fitted. (Mackay Pictures)

We are finding Australia pretty expensive as the Aussie dollar is very strong and the pound and exchange rate is pretty bad, but if you are careful where you go it is not too bad.

We left Mackay on Sunday 29th August to travel through the Whitsunday's. The first hour or so was pretty uncomfortable as we had to beat into a 20-25 knot headwind to get past the rocks and shallows outside Mackay. Once we were able to turn north the sailing was much better and we made very good speed up to Brampton Island. We passed one very camera shy whale just yards from the boat, although it seemed to be sleeping and thankfully ignored us. We had quite a scenic anchorage although it was a bit rolly. On Monday we sailed up to Shaw Island in good winds and were treated to a couple of whales breaching in the distance. The anchorage at Shaw islands was fairly sheltered most of the time, but every now and again we would be blasted with a wind 'bullet' of about 30 knots, so we were glad of our extremely good anchor.

On Tuesday we sailed up to Whitehaven beach on the Whitsunday Island. We once again had strong winds and a good sail and saw another whale, that was 3 days running. Whitehaven beach is famous for it's very white sand stretching for about 3 miles and the popular part at the south was very busy with visitors from the mainland. We went past the beach and into Tongue inlet and picked up a visitors buoy. We then went ashore and climbed up to a lookout post which gave a great view of the coast and the Whitehaven beach. We then went down to a part of the beach which was deserted but it was not very warm so we just had a pleasant walk. The moorings in the bay were very rolly so we didn't stay the night but went up to Macona Inlet on Hook Island to anchor for the night. We were finding that sailing in the Whitsundays at this time of year, their winter, is quite like sailing on the west of Scotland, although without the frequent villages and pubs.

On Wednesday we sailed to Airlie Beach to get our Gooseneck fixed by the Rigger and also we had developed a charging problem with our engine so wanted this looked at. We went into the marina as we thought this would make it much easier to get our work done, however we didn't realise that their charges were extortionate 89 AUS $ per night, that is over ?50 and over double what we had paid in Mackay. However we did get the boom fixed and the electrician was very good and identified that our engine alternator was faulty. Luckily we had a new spare alternator so after about 3 hours at 88 AUS $ per hour we were back up and running. We moved out of the marina on Thursday and anchored outside so we could go ashore and explore Airlie Beach which was a real tourist town with treats like Baskin & Robbins ice cream. We were also treated to the spectacle of quite a large number of boats taking part in a race very close to the anchorage.

On Friday we had a nice beam reach across the bay into Butterfly bay on the top of Hook Island and picked up a visitors mooring buoy for the night. This was a mistake and we should have anchored. The mooring buoys are badly designed, with the buoy on a separate line from the one you attach to. This means that the buoy is free to float down the side of the boat and bang against the side, making it both annoying from the noise point of view and it attacks the antiflouling, which we have recently renewed at considerable cost. (Whitsunday Pictures)

On Saturday 4th Sept we sailed overnight up to Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island, which is just off Townsville, the largest town in the Northern Territories. The anchorage was in a very large and attractive bay with a few shops and restaurants on shore. On Monday we went with Steve and Maria from Aspen on the island bus then ferry to Townsville for the day. As we were walking past the Townsville marina we happened to spot Ian & Glenda from Lucy Alice and they also joined us for lunch and some shopping etc. I had forgotten to take my cap and was suffering from the sun so was on the lookout for a cheap cap. In the end I spent 77 AUS $ on a leather Aussie hat – well you sometimes just have to do these things. Ian & Glenda sailed across to Horseshoe Bay later in the afternoon and we had a bit of a party on Enchantress in the evening. (Townsville Pictures)


We motor sailed up to Orpheus Island on Tuesday in very light winds and anchored in Pioneer Bay. This made a good starting point the next day to go through Hichinbrook Channel on the Wednesday. This is a very pretty channel through passing mangroves and lots of inlets, although the weather was not very good so that limited how much we could see. We then stopped at Dunk Island at a very nice sandy bay where we still are. We and Aspen joined Laraaboo and Sol Maria at the anchorage, 2 new boats to the rally, and went ashore for a couple of drinks while they had a barbecue. We will be leaving Dunk Island later this afternoon to sail overnight up to Cairns where we plan to stay for about 3 nights and do some exploring and pretend we are tourists.
 

August 11, 2010

We are now well on our way to Mackay, Australia. We have had a couple of days of strong winds and rough seas, which was forecast but has been a bit more than expected. The winds have been 25-30 knots with gusts up to over 40 knots and 5-6 meter seas. We have however made good progress and the winds and seas have started to calm down a bit and we have had a reasonably sunny day.

The main problem we have had is that the saloon table parted from the floor and after trying to put it back in place a couple of times I have now given up and it is now lying down on the floor, wedged in to stop it moving about. I will fix it in Mackay.

Susan has had a problem with an ulcer in her eye and has been treating it for both bacterial and viral infection. It is now quite a bit better and she is not in as much pain.

We heard today that there was an earthquake in the water off Vanuatu and this caused a tsunami of about 25cm. Gaultine were still in Port Villa in Vanuatu and they had one of their mooring lines break under the strain. Lucy Alice were at sea but only 20 miles from the epicentre and their whole boat shuddered the mast and rigging shook alarmingly, they also felt some aftershocks. We are not aware of any damage, but we were pleased that we were out at sea.

We are expecting very light winds over the next few days so our progress will slow down, but we have easily enough diesel to motor all the way to Mackay if need be so we still expect to get there by Tuesday. We are both in good spirits and excited about getting to Australia which we see as a real milestone.
 

August 08, 2010

We had our trip to Tanna and it's volcano on Thursday and Friday. We flew down to Tanna very early on Thursday and booked into our hotel, which was a series of chalets. It was a bit rustic but the food was very good. In the afternoon we went in a 4x4 right across the island to the volcano. The roads were horrendous and the trip was very bumpy, particularly for the 3 passengers in the bench seats in the back of the pickup, including Susan. Our driver and guide was quite informative and amusing which helped a lot. The volcano was spectacular and pretty scary, there were constantly very large eruptions sometimes with just gas and smoke, but quite often with a large amount of lava. It was more spectacular than any fireworks display and a bit scary both because of the enormous noise of the gas escaping and the distance that the very large pieces of lava went. Susan did say at one point "do you think we should really be here". On Friday we went to a village where the put on a welcome ceremony for us and then went to a market in the main town, before flying back to Port Villa.

We are now getting ready to leave Vanuatu for the 1200 mile trip to Mackay in Australia. We will book out tomorrow morning and leave about lunch time. It will take 8-9 days for the trip and we should arrive on 17-18th August. We will give occasional updates as usual on Yachtplot.

 

August 01, 2010

We are struggling to keep the website up to date, the internet access has been pretty intermittent and we seem to be either relaxing, partying or on the move and find it difficult to have the time to do our duty!!!

We are now in Vanuatu, which was voted by it's inhabitants as the happiest place in the world. It is really pretty wonderful and quite a contrast to some of the more expensive places we have been.

We had a pretty exciting sail across from Fiji with winds up to 40 knots, but it was fast and furious. We did the 520 miles in 3 days and 2 hours whereas we expected to take another 24 hours. Lots of the fleet had traumas with water going into the boat and destroying electronics, having electrical fires, being knocked down etc., but once again we had a relatively good and enjoyable sail. It is a bit worrying that we seem to have continually "got off lightly" and it could be our turn next.

With our new antifouling and polished hull the boat just seemed to be smoother and faster after the servicing and it felt really good and pretty fast. We were doing 7.5 - 8.5 knots for a lot of the time.. We also had the WindPilot steering overhauled in Vuda Point and it performed wonderfully on the crossing to Vanuatu.

Port Villa in Vanuatu is a really nice place, it is the 30th anniversary of independence and the whole town is buzzing, despite the unseasonable wet weather. There is a 3 day party with the best fireworks display we have ever seen, we have a grandstand view from our mooring!!

Although the charges to enter the country are pretty steep the cost of living is very reasonable and I plan to restock with malt whisky as we can get duty free Glemorange and Glenlivet at ?20 per litre. We have a dubious reputation for providing "wee drams" and need to have a reasonable stock. We are not in a bad position as Ian from Lucy Alice brought us back a bottle of Talisker as a thank you for helping his wife Glenda to get their boat from Savusavu in Fiji to Musket cove in Fiji - a 5 day trip.

We are going to be in Vanuatu for the next 9 days before setting off on the 1200 mile crossing to Mackay in Australia. We are planning to book a tour to Tanna, where there is one of the worlds most active volcanoes. The tour involves a flight to Tenna, a southern Vanuatu island, then a 4 wheel dive to the Volcano, followed by a hike up the volcano in the evening, that's the most spectacular time, then an overnight stay in a chalet and the flight back the following day.

Well it's after 11.0 pm so it's time to rest from another hectic day, yes we are having a wonderful time!! (Vanuatu Pictures)
 

July 26, 2010

We left Tonga on Monday 5th July and motored most of the way to Savusavu, as there was no wind. We passed through large patches of algae which looked like red dust and at times smelled quite a lot. We arrived in Savusavu on Thursday 8th and tied up to a wharf attached to the Copra Shed, which was a Bar/restaurant/showers etc. We had quite a social time and enjoyed the interesting town, with lots of somewhat strange shops, which seemed to sell almost everything. (Savusavu Pictures)

We left Savusavu on Thursday 15th July along with Camomile and Lucy Alice. Ian from Lucy Alice had to go back to the UK to go to his daughters graduation so we and Camomile provided an escort for Glenda on Lucy Alice to get her to Musket Cove, a 5 day trip through Bligh Water, which was full of reefs and had to be sailed during daylight hours only. It was a really nice trip with some good sailing when we were in open waters and very scenic motoring through the reefs.

We split off from Camomile and Lucy Alice on the last day to go to Vuda Point where we had the boat lifted out for a half way maintenance. We had the antifouling renewed with tropical strength antifouling and had the hull polished. This made\a huge difference to the boat and it looks much prettier. We stayed in a Bure (a thatched chalet hut) and had a luxurious 4 days in a really nice resort right next to the marina/boat yard.

We then sailed to Musket Cove to join the other rally members and had a few days in this really nice resort and got the boat ready for the next leg. (Fiji Vanu Levu Pictures)

Just a quick note to let you know we are both very well and enjoying Tonga. We got here last Saturday and had a couple of days relaxing and then had an official welcome party on Tuesday. On Wednesday we all sailed round to a small island and had a dinghy race using our inflatable dinghy's with home made sails - we weren't quite last, but I think we should have won a prise for the prettiest design. In the evening we had a traditional Tongan feast and a very good dance show, quite a bit better than the official welcome on Tuesday. The feast was quite a spread although sometimes you didn't know what you were eating - maybe just as well!!

On Thursday we sailed a short distance to another small island and had a BBQ on an idyllic beach with the sun beating down. It was Charlie from Miss Tippy's birthday (13) so we all dressed in pink at her request. Most of us were reasonably normal, but Pete and Jay from Fia Tira borrowed pink clothes from Susan and Glenda. Pete wore a sarong with a pair of Susan's thongs underneath, hopefully we won't see any pictures!! (Tonga Pictures)

Susan has gone on a tour of the main island today, but I have stayed behind to try to catch up on some of the outstanding boat maintenance. We plan to leave for Fiji on Monday and will arrive on Friday 9th and will be there for 2 weeks, although in 2-3 different locations.

 

June 29, 2010

We had a great time in Niue, it was pretty eccentric with a wonderful yacht club run by retired ex-pats who have never sailed and a number of locals and ex-pats who made us extremely welcome. The island is very rugged with lots of very interesting formations, such as caves, arches, sea water pools and even a palm tree oasis in between the rocks. There is even a rather famous American photographer (Geoff) on the island who made us very welcome to his beach house, with a spectacular view over the bay where we were anchored. He was, I think a bit gay, as he said that many of the models in one of his amazing books came to him as they new they were safe with him because they wouldn't be molested. He was 83 and should have been dead 3 years ago with cancer, but  said that Niue had kept him alive. He called his 'Beach house' 'Restoration Reef'. (Niue Pictures)

We then sailed with good winds to Tonga, yes we are really here, almost half way round the world. Due to a quirk in the international date line we are now 13 hours ahead of UTC, i.e. 12 hours ahead on British summer time.

June 17, 2010

We left Rarotonga on Monday 14th and sailed North West to get away from an area with storms. We had a really good sail for 6 hours before the wind dropped and we then had to motorsail for the next 28 hours, until the wind returned, this time from the East and we were able to head direct for Niue. We have now had about 40 hours of good sailing although the seas have been a bit uncomfortable, probably due to the storm to the south of us. We are now just 180 miles from Niue and expect to get in there by Friday evening. The entry is fairly straight forward in the dark with mooring buoys which all have reflective strips on them. We will stay in Niue for 3-4 days before heading off to Tonga (220 miles).

June 13, 2010

We arrived in Rarotonga on Wednesday 9th afternoon and tied up, Mediterranean style, to the dock in the small harbour. It is a commercial port so a bit noisy and dirty, but it is very near town so there are compensations. We have hired a scooter and travelled round the island a couple of times, enjoyed some eating out at a couple of nice restaurants. It is much more reasonably priced here than in French Polynesia.

We had hoped to leave here on Monday, but there is a bit of a storm brewing out towards Nuie on Wednesday, so we might be stuck here for another day or two. I think we will manage ok to chill out however and just enjoy the sunshine, good food and do a bit of swimming etc. (Rarotonga Pictures)

June 8, 2010

We motored up to Fare village on Huahine on Thursday morning (27th) and did some provisioning. (Huahine Pictures)

On Friday morning we set off to go the 25 miles to Raiatea and got there early afternoon. We picked up a mooring off the old Sunsail centre and went on a dinghy trip up the river with Aspen and Camomile. It was very peaceful and tranquil, but not a great deal to see. On our return Fia Tira had also arrived so we had everyone on board Enchantress for some pre-dinner drinks. (Raiatea Pictures)

On Saturday we travelled a short distance up to the village of Uturoa and did some shopping, but the quayside did not look very comfortable for the night so we set off to go to the other side of Raiatea. We had gone part way when we were engulfed in a tropical downpour. We couldn't carry on as I couldn't see anything, so we circled for about 30 mins until it started to clear. It was still murky in the direction we had intended going so we changed plan and went to Baie Hurepiti on Tahaa, where there were moorings available for people who went on a botanical and vanilla tour. We stayed there Saturday night, but as the tours were not operational at the weekend we couldn't do the tour.

On Sunday we went round the corner to an anchorage near a Motu off the west coast of Tahaa just opposite a large beach hut type hotel. There was great snorkelling between the Motu and another small island, looking out towards Bora Bora. We stayed at this anchorage for 2 nights it was so nice and had the anchorage all to ourselves on the second night. (Tahaa Pictures)

On Tuesday 1st June we sailed the 25 miles across to Bora Bora and picked up a mooring at the Bora Bora Yacht Club, just really a bar with a number of moorings off it. On Wednesday we cycled right down the west coast of the main island and along the bottom. On the way back we went to the famous Bloody Mary's restaurant for lunch and had a very nice and reasonably priced Jimmy Buffet Cheese Burger. They have photographs of all the film stars, and other celebrities who have eaten there, but they didn't ask for our photograph.

On Thursday we went round the top of the main Boar Boar island and down the east side, through some very narrow and shallow passages through the reefs, to an anchorage off Moto Piti Aau. This anchorage is one of the most beautiful we have been to. Behind the boat was the dramatic main island of Bora Bora, with the impressive Otemanu mountain, and in front of us we had lots of aquamarine water then the Motu Piti Aau reef and behind that we looked over to the islands of Tahaa and Raiatea. It was quite stunning and on Thursday night we had it all to ourselves.

Initially we were disappointed in the snorkelling as the area we were led to believe was best the coral was all dead and there were no fish. On Friday morning Fai Tira arrived and we all went to an area off the bottom of Bora Bora to check out the snorkelling. There were, in Susan's estimation, hundreds of thousands of fish on the reef, varying from a large Moray Eel to Seahorses , Angelfish and loads of other types.

In the afternoon we were joined by Lucy Alice and we all went ashore to a beach hut restaurant and had very nice bbq'd mahi mahi and only ?8 a head, which for Bora Bora was amazing. Bora Bora is very expensive to eat out or in the shops. (Bora Bora Pictures)

On Saturday we set off up round Bora Bora and headed off for Rarotonga in the Cook Islands (540 miles). This marked the end of our time in French Polynesia and we were sad to go as we have had a wonderful time there. We saw many beautiful and spectacular sights, lots of very different sea life and a great welcome from all the people on the various islands. We are now heading for the Cook Islands which I am sure will be equally exciting and have a slightly different flavour, with the Maori and New Zealand influence.

Despite the forecast, being very light winds, we have managed to sail or motorsail lost of the way so far. We are now less than 150 miles to go and are currently passing some of the smaller Cook Islands. We expect to get to Rarotonga tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon and will stay for 4-5 days before heading off to Nuie (560 miles) and then Tonga (220 miles). It is currently sunny and warm with only 6-7 knots of wind.

May 26, 2010

We enjoyed Tikehau, but it wasn't as interesting as Manihi. We did a bit of snorkelling and Susan saw a Spotted Ray. We left Tikehau on the early afternoon to go to Papeete in Tahiti, we were expecting very light winds so expected to arrive early Monday (10th). We actually had much better winds than forecast and arrived in Papeete very late on Sunday 9th May. We decided to go into the harbour in the dark and managed to contact Paul, Derry and Amy on Jackamy. They had actually gone to bed but had left on their VHF and Amy heard us calling for some assistance. There was lots of space and with Jackamy and Jeremy from Rayla's help we had no trouble reversing stern to the pontoon, despite the fact that our bow thruster decided to fail at a crucial moment. We of course had to invite Paul, Derry, Amy and Jeremy on board for a wee dram to say thanks. The night got to be very long as Camomile came into port at about 1.30am, Lucy Alice at about 2.30am and then Norsa at about 4.30am. We eventually crawled into bed at 7.0am after watching the sun rise.

Lots of other BWR boats arrived during Monday morning and we were nearly all backed on to one long pontoon right in the middle of Papeete, so there was a real party atmosphere and it meant that many of the boats which had joined the rally in the Caribbean or Panama had an opportunity to bond with the more established members of the fleet. All the boats were asked to 'dress overall', so we all had our flag sets raised which made a rather nice spectacle. Papeete is a large bustling city and was a real contrast with the places we had been to recently, which were mainly small islands with few people. On Tuesday we had a skippers briefing on the Papeete festivities and information on sailing in the Society Islands in the afternoon and in the evening we had a welcome cocktail reception, hosted by the Mayor and tourist board. This turned out to be a very elaborate affair with lots of food and drink and a really good traditional dance display, with lots of shaking hips in grass skirts and tattooed men shaking their legs etc. I managed to be at the back and avoid being dragged up to dance, but Susan was trying to take pictures and was enticed on to the floor. (Tahiti Pictures)

On Wednesday we had a tour of the island which proved to be a disappointment, mainly due to it being wet for most of the time. We spent most of Thursday and Friday doing jobs and restocking with fresh food. On Friday night we had a pontoon party with each boat contributing food and supplying their own drink. On Saturday we went to a marina round from Papeete for fuel and decided to stay the night as we got reports back from other boats that the crossing to Moorea was pretty uncomfortable and slow. On Sunday morning we had a typically French experience of walking along to the supermarket for baguettes and croissants before setting off to Cook's bay in Moorea. We had an uncomfortable motor to Moorea with very confused seas and the wind on our nose, but at least it was only about 4 hours.

We had barely anchored before Brian and Annie from Miss Tippy swam across to say hello. Then the Jackamy crew arrived and I invited them on board for a beer. Shortly after Bill from Camomile arrived and this was the followed by Sue from Camomile and Sheila and the other 2 kids from Miss Tippy. We managed to be reasonably sensible and only had a few beers or wine and we then went on to Camomile for Pasta. On Monday (17th), Susan's birthday, Susan went with most of the other ladies for a demonstration of Tahitian headdress making and Pareo (Sarong) tying and she came back looking very sexy in a pareo which really suited her. In the evening Bill and Sue came on board for beef stroganoff and some nice wine. On Tuesday we were due to go on a scooter ride round the island, but we postponed as it was pretty wet. On Wednesday there was a BBQ at the Club Bali Hai Hotel with a Polynesian dance show. We did go on a scooter ride round the island on Thursday, despite it raining and being probably much wetter than it was on the Tuesday. This was the first time I had been on a scooter for many years and the first time ever for Susan. We managed fairly well, although it was a bit hairy on some of the hairpin bends. It was even more interesting when we went to see a waterfall and had to drive up a very long dirt track with lost of pot holes etc. We got absolutely soaked on the trip, but had a great time and managed to keep up with the other 7 scooters in our group.

On Friday we were going to go to the next bay but we delayed as it was Peter on Peregina's 60th birthday and we all had the equivalent of a pontoon party at the hotel. It was a real surprise for Peter and great fun as Mark and Chrissy of Blue Magic did a disco and lots of us did lots of dancing.

On Saturday we went round to the next Bay on Moorea and did a bit of Snorkelling, well Susan did and I used the aquascope from the dinghy. On the Sunday (23rd) we went on a dinghy trip to the other side of the bay to an area famed for seeing stingrays. The area is on a reef and most of the area the water is just chest high. Some tour operators feed the rays which is partly why there are so many, but it is truly spectacular. There were a very large number of very large stingrays swimming round peoples feet and just a few feet further away there were lots black tipped sharks. In the afternoon we set off for an overnight sail to Huahine, one of the other Society Islands, unfortunately we had very light winds and had to motorsail most of the 80 miles.

We spent Monday in a very nice bay all on our own and had deliberately tried to get away from the fleet for a bit of a rest. It was very nice as we were anchored just a bit away from the village of Maroe and in the evening we could hear their drums and chanting coming across the water. We think it was associated with a bank holiday.

We sailed round the top of Huahine yesterday and the travelled 8 miles down the inside of the reef to a very lovely bay where we are still anchored. The weather has been pretty mixed, with lots of squalls, some of which bring rain, however we have managed to scrape most of the weed which had once again grown round about the waterline. We will probably go back up the 8 mile channel tomorrow  and anchor off the village of Fare, before heading 30 miles across to Raiatea and the associated island of Tahaa. We will then go to Bora bora in about a weeks time. (Society Islands Pictures)

May 5, 2010

We had a great time in Manihi, Xaviers island was fascinating and lovely and he is a really charming and welcoming man. The pearl farm visit was interesting and I bought Susan some local pearls for her forthcoming birthday.

On Sunday we went with Camomile and Lucy Alice to the only hotel on the Atoll for lunch to celebrate Sue's (Camomile) birthday. The hotel is very luxurious and expensive but the food was very good and we then used their pool for an hour or so.

On Monday we went up to the other end of Manihi to an area called the Blue Lagoon, due to the turquoise colour of the water and the lovely sand beach. There were only our 3 boats, no buildings, and it was really beautiful. We continually have to pinch ourselves to be clear we are really here in paradise. We reluctantly left there this morning and are now on our way to another Atoll called Tikehau and will arrive tomorrow afternoon. We will stay a couple of days and then make our way to Tahiti to arrive on the 11th.

April 30, 2010

We arrived in Manihi Atoll, in the Tuamotu islands, yesterday morning (Thursday 29th) after a 4 day passage. We had good sailing for the first 2 days with a beam reach and 15-20 knots of wind, but then the wind died and we had to motorsail the rest of the way. We had some very nice night sails with a full moon so it was almost like daylight and it was very warm and we just needed t-shirts and shorts overnight.

The entrance into the lagoon was fairly narrow and we had about 5 knots of current against us at one point, but this made it easy to control the boat. There was good buoyage to mark where the coral heads were so it was fairly easy to get to the anchorage. It is quite stunning in the lagoon as all around the reef has lovely beach with palm trees. The Atolls are a great contrast to the Marquesa islands which were mountainous with huge rock spires and now the Tuamato islands are generally no more than a few metres above the water level with much of it about 1 metre.

Susan has been doing some snorkelling on the reef and I have started some of our outstanding jobs. Last night we shared our first boat Chinese carry out, delivered by boat from the village, which is about 2 miles across the lagoon, with Camomile. There was enough chow mein, dauphenoise potatoes, and sponge gateaux to feed 12 people so both Camomile and our selves will be eating it for the next 2 days. We are going to visit Xavier this afternoon, he is an ex French navy admiral who owns an island in the lagoon and has set up a Sailmail station which is what we use for our SSB email, so it will be interesting to see the setup and his house is supposed to be stunning. We are then having a barbeque/picnic on the beach this evening.

Tomorrow we are doing a tour of a black pearl farm where you have to dive to retrieve a string of oysters and then you choose one and you keep the pearl inside and it is just luck whether you get a really valuable one or not. It is quite expensive for the tour, but reportedly well worth the money. We will stay here for a few days and then go down to Rangiroa, the largest atol for a few days before heading to Tahiti. (Tuamotu Islands Pictures)

April 24, 2010

We have had a wonderful time since we arrived in Fatu Hiva on Wednesday 14th. The Bay of Virgins in Fatu Hiva is truly spectacular, with amazing pinnacles and rock formations and the whole experience was one of the real highlights of our trip so far. We arrived about 4.0pm and had the inevitable party after a 3000 mile crossing. There were 6 BWR boats in the anchorage when we arrived so we were immediately dragged on board another boat for drinks, I overdid it as usual.

The next day we went ashore and did a 1 hr hike and clamber up to a 200ft waterfall. The waterfall was impressive due to its height rather than water content as although it is supposed to be the wet season it has in fact been very dry. The walk up to the waterfall was wonderful due to the amazing landscape. In the evening 8 of us went to a ladies house for a traditional meal. We had Poison du Cru (marinated Mahi Mahi in lime then soaked in coconut milk), Chicken, breadfruit, lots of different banana, some marinated, some cooked, etc, etc. The husband of the matriarch played the Hawaiian Ukulele and the grandchildren danced. It was just wonderful.

On Friday we sailed up to a beach on Tahuata and had a relaxing evening. On Saturday morning we spent a few hours cleaning the hull of the boat, which had an amazing growth right up the hull from the Pacific crossing. We had to use a metal scraper on the fibreglass to get the growth off. In the afternoon we set off for an overnight sail up to Nuka Hiva, which was our main base in the Marquesas.

On Sunday we had a formal welcome to the Island with some dancing, our briefing for the next leg to Tahiti and a traditional pig roast dinner with more dancing in the evening. Some of us even had to take part in the dancing, I am told that Phillis has a video of my dancing - oh dear!!!

On Monday we all sailed to Daniel's Bay for a picnic on the beach and the next day we went back to the main anchorage. On Wednesday we went on a 4x4 trip round the island and this was very enjoyable due to the extraordinary landscape, great variety of trees and fruits and beautiful bays. We also had a super fish lunch in one of the bays. We spent the next 2 days getting the boat ready for the next leg and left this morning and had a great sail to Oa Pou, our last Marquesan island. Tomorrow morning we will set off on a 3-4 day sail to one of the Tuamotu Atolls (Manihi). The Atolls are all Coral Reefs, the largest of which (Rangiroa) is 40 miles long and 17 miles wide. They generally just have one or two entrances into the lagoon and they are very narrow. This is what we bought the forward looking sonar for, i.e. to be able to see the coral heads just under the water - we will see if it was a good investment.

We had very poor internet access in the Marquesas but hope it will be better when we get to Rangiroa and Tahiti.

We are both having a great time and really feel we are into the South Pacific experience now. (Marquesas Islands Pictures)

April 14, 2010

We are now just 30 miles from the anchorage at Fata Hiva and are looking forward to getting in and celebrating.

We have a busy week ahead. Today we are getting the boat and ourselves spruced up for meeting other people. Tomorrow we will go ashore and see the village and have an hours walk to a waterfall, and do some jobs on the boat. On Friday we will sail 40 miles up to a beautiful bay on Tohuata and stay there until lunchtime on Saturday. We will then sail overnight to Taiohae bay on Nika Hiva, arriving at about 8.0am on Sunday.

On Sunday morning just after we arrive there in a welcome party with local food and dancers on the quayside. This is followed by drinks at the yacht club at 12.30 and then the rally briefing for the next leg to Tahiti. In the evening there is a Hog Roast dinner with more dancing and music. On Monday we have to book in with customs etc and then we will sail to Daniels bay for a picnic and overnight stay followed on Tuesday with a long walk to Takatea waterfall and then a return sail to Taiohea bay.

We will probably leave Nika Hiva on the Thursday. We will not have internet access until we get to Nika Hiva and may struggle to do Skype calls until next Wednesday. Note that we are now 9.5 hours behind the UK time so any calls will have to be made in the mornings.

We are both very well and have had a good sail across the Pacific, although pretty slow at times. We had the cruising up for 3 days and nights with just a couple of hours of motoring when the wing disappeared. We have however had the engine on for the last 20 hours due to very light winds and we wanted to get into Fatu Hiva before dark tonight.

April 10, 2010

We now have under 500 miles to go and expect to get to Fatu Hiva island by Wednesday. We have slowed down a lot in the past few days as the wind has been very light and we don't want to use too much diesel as it is often rationed in the Marquesa islands. We are planning to initially go to a bay in Fatu Hive called the 'bay of virgins'. According to out guide it was originally called the 'bay of penises' but a group of nuns arrived in the island and didn't like the name and added an i to the local name which changed it to the 'bay of virgins. The bay has a reputation of being very beautiful and well worth going to see.

We believe that we have now sailed over 10,000 miles since leaving the UK and will be half way across the vast Pacific Ocean when we arrive in Marquesa Islands. After the Marquesa Islands we will have much shorter legs and do much more island hopping on the way to Australia.

We are currently sailing with the cruising chute and plan to sail with this through the night. We are just averaging between 4 and 5 knots but just have 8 - 12 knots of wind. We have had to repair our cruising chute with a mixture of sail repair tape and Duck tape. We got a tear in the sail a few days ago when we were taking it down and it got caught on a navigation light. We initially repaired it with sail repair tape but this didn't hold and we now have a substantial repair with the multi-purpose Duck tape and it looks to be holding.

We had a quiz night on the radio last night and this was the 3rd on this trip. We initially adopted the name 'Homer and Marge', but changed it last night to the 'Granite City Rollers'. We were 1st equal on the first night, 3rd equal on the second night and about 5th last night, so we are going down hill!

I had my first experience of being the 'net controller' on Thursday. This meant that at 10.0am I had to call up all the yachts in turn and get their position reports and weather conditions. This is often difficult as some of the yachts cannot hear you and you have to get another boat nearer to them to relay their position. It takes and 3/4 of an hour to do it all. you also have to get a weather report and interpret this for the fleet. After the roll call you have to send a report for all the yachts to Yachtplot and Rally Control. I will probably do it on a regular basis now that I know our radio is working well.

We had another boat, Lucy Alice, suffer a rigging failure, this time to a 'baby stay', they managed to do a temporary fix using a Norseman fitting and a couple of shackles and are carrying on sailing. Their rigging was new when they left the UK so it is a bit of a shock that they had a failure. It has  made me think that we do not have adequate spares for our rigging and I will be ordering some spares to be taken out to Tahiti.  

Susan has been busy washing clothes etc, so that we don't have too many chores when we get to land. She also cut my hair with me leaning over the side of the cockpit so that the wind takes away the cuttings. It is an interesting experience as we were doing 7 knots at the time and bouncing around and Susan isn't always the most gentle of hairdressers at the best of times, but I don't seem to have too many bruises or cuts.

Well it is time for another night shift, looking at the stars, reading a book and listening to my Ipod.

April 5, 2010

We are now well over half way and I had a wee dram on Saturday night to celebrate. We had a few days of rather poor performance and found it difficult to get a sail plan that would get the boat moving at the speed we would expect from the winds we were having. We finally cracked it on Sunday morning, we are on a port broad reach and now have the genoa poled out to port, the staysail poled out to starboard and the main out to starboard. We have now been sailing like this for 30 hours and are averaging about 7 knots which is pretty good. The problem seems to have been the weight of the boat with 750ltrs of water, 740ltrs of diesel and lots of beer, wine and tinned food. This has meant that with a following wind we need more sail area than normal to get the boat moving.

We have been using the generator much more than we expected, mainly because in a pretty rolly sea and very gusty wind the WindPilot has been struggling to keep us on course so we have been using both the WindPilot and our electric autopilot, so we have been using much more battery power than expected. This has not been helped by the Wind Generator not working so that is yet another maintenance/repair job for when we get to the anchorage.

We have had some quite sunny days but we are surprised at how cool it is during the night, significantly cooler than on the Atlantic crossing, but we have had a pretty dry few days.

We have about 1300 miles to go, about 9 days, and I think that Susan in particular is looking forward to getting there. However we are both well and in good spirits.

April 1, 2010

We have completed over 1/3rd of the trip and things are going pretty well. We have been running the watermaker and have the reassurance of full tanks. We have also filled up some 5ltr containers to be able to give these away on some of the remote islands where potable water supply is scarce. Our diesel generator is currently working well and keeps the fridge/freezer at reasonable temperature and our batteries topped up. Our wind generator is not working properly but I think I know what the problem is and need to do a little rewiring. We do have a growing list of maintenance jobs and will need some time in the Marquesa Islands to catch up.

We had fairly light winds yesterday and flew the cruising chute all day and through the night. When we put the sail up I could see there was a twist in the snuffer sock, so when we took it down this morning, in fairly strong winds, the sail wouldn't snuff and we had to drop the halyard and pull in the sail manually. Unfortunately part of the sail got caught in one of our navigation lights and ripped the sail. It is not too bad and we may be able to do a temporary fix.

We both used some of our watermaker water to have a shower in the cockpit. It might not be everyone's idea of luxury, sitting on the teak grating having a shower whilst bracing yourself against the rolling seas, but there are compensations. Our solar showers actually give reasonably warm water, you get to look out on the blue skies with fluffy trade wind clouds and watch the sea rollers come up behind the boat, it's actually quite nice and you can dry out in the sun.

We had another slight drama in the fleet when Jaume on Bionic developed kidney stones and was in extreme pain. Miss Tippy quickly caught them up and Sheila, who is a nurse, went on board to look after him. Susan provided advice on what combination and dose of drugs could be used and a couple of other boats also went to provide assistance. Jaume was feeling better this morning and is now sailing the boat again.

We are both well and look forward to a celebration drink on Saturday when we will be half way there.

March 29, 2010

We are now well on our way towards French Polynesia and the Marquesa Islands. We have been making about 150-160 miles per day which is a good average for us. The weather has been very mixed but we have had numerous squalls lasting up to a couple of hours, although the silver lining is that we get more wind with the squalls and go faster. Susan and I were just saying yesterday that it was like sailing in Scotland with grey skies and lots of very heavy downpours, only a bit warmer,certainly not what we were expecting. Susan took a picture of me at the helm with my heavy duty waterproofs on, it doesn't look like it was taken near the equator.                   

We have had a brighter day today and we think we are now getting proper trade winds with a steady 15-20 knots of wind. I have just had an interruption to the blog with Susan shouting dolphins. We have had an amazing show with at least 100 dolphins going round the boats and doing aerobics etc. There could have been considerably more as there were over 100 near the boat but there were lots quite a distance away as well. These incidents help brighten up the day. 

We are both well and enjoying the sailing. (Pacific Pictures)

March 26, 2010

We left Galapagos at 11.0 am on Wednesday on schedule and managed to pick up both our stern and bow anchors without much difficulty. We used a halyard onto the first link of the 15 mtrs of chain for the stern anchor and winched it up using the mast winches. The chain was all the way up the mast by the time the anchor was out of the water, but the process worked well.

For we had very little wind on Wednesday and motor sailed all day. On Thursday we had a series of tropical storms and squalls and although the wind did not get above 20 knots we had a huge downpour. the biggest storm lasted for almost 2 hours and I got soaked through twice as I had to go and disconnect the WindPilot. We had a dry night and this morning we have had 12-20 knots of wind from the SE, sunny skies and great sailing. We have just had a show from a large group of dolphins and we are starting to enjoy the trip.

All the main equipment on board is currently working well so we are in good shape. Two other boats have had to return to Galapagos with broken down engines and generators, so we just keep our fingers crossed.

The trip has been a little slow so far but we expect to pick up speed as we get further south and west and pick up the current which should help by 0.5 to 1 knot and also stronger trade winds.

March 21, 2010

On Saturday morning we went to the local market and bought some local produce and had an interesting local breakfast in the market. We then went to the Darwin Centre, which is a wonderful mixture of Giant Tortoise nursery and collection of Giant Tortoises and Land Iguanas. It is very well organised and you have great access to the Tortoises, being able to walk through the enclosures.  (Darwin Centre Pictures)

We had a rally get together on the Monday at a great location in the 'highlands of Santa Cruz, we were able to relax in the pool after the briefing and had dinner and some live music, which turned out to be Andes Pan Pipes. The next night was Jeremy from Chsalanina's 60th birthday and all the males were requested to turn up at the restaurant dressed as Jeremy's harem, i.e. in female clothes. As you will see from the pictures a lot of us complied, largely in the same outfits used for the equator crossing ceremonies. I do not intend making a habit of this!!! (Initial Galapagos Pictures).

On Wednesday we started our 4/5 day tour of the Galapagos islands. There were all sorts of hassles beforehand because of delayed payments from the UK tour operators, however it mainly affected the people on the larger tour boat and we set off on time on Daphne. The boat was we believe converted from a fishing boat to a tour boat 12 years ago and has just undergone a refit in dry dock. It has 8 cabins and most of them have bunk beds with a 3/4 bed on the bottom. They all have en suite with showers and were pretty comfortable. They BWR group took 6 room and the other 2 were young Canadian travellers. We had Fai Tira, Camomile, LucyAlice, Mercury Rising and 2 people from Roundabout as companions and it was a super fun group. The crew on Daphne and the naturalist guide were also great fun and really looked after us and were really keen that we saw as much as possible and enjoyed ourselves. The food was also very good indeed. On Wednesday afternoon we went to Baltra Island and as soon as we approached the beach we were treated to a fairly rare sight of a huge flock of Blue Footed Boobies gathering and diving for fish. We then went ashore and started a trek which included lots of marine Iguanas, a Flamingo, a Stork and lots more. We then went to another location and had some snorkelling. We then had dinner and afterwards the boat took us to another small island called Plazas, ready for the next day's trip.

On Thursday we went ashore on Plazas and saw a large colony of Sea Lions, including lots of baby Sea Lions which had a sort of nursery area close to the shore in small lagoons. we also saw lots of Sally Lightfoot Crabs and mor marine Iguanas. on our trek we then saw lots of Land Iguanas, with the smaller almost drab females and the larger and much more colourful males. We also saw the cactuses the Iguanas like to eat with lovely yellow flowers which also attracted the Finches, and also lots of red breasted Frigate birds. After Lunch we went to another part of the island for snorkelling in the early afternoon. On the way we were escorted by several Frigate birds which seemed to enjoy flying just in front of the boat. In the late afternoon we went ashore again and saw lots more Sea Lions and birds and insects such as the Mocking bird. After dinner we then went down to Espanola, which was the base for our 3rd day.

On Friday we were on one of the oldest of the Galapagos islands Espanola. The morning trek included a different type of marine Iguana and lots of Galapagos Doves and Hawks, some Mocking birds and an interesting blowhole. There was more snorkelling with lots of interesting fish including a Galapagos shark and some turtles. In the afternoon we visited Gardner bay with a lovely beach and the nesting site of turtles. We then travelled to Floreana the site for Saturday, our best day. We started early with breakfast at 7.0am and going ashore by 8.0am. On the way ashore we were extremely lucky and saw a group of Galapagos penguins swimming near the shore, they are really cute at only 30cms tall. We then went to one of the oldest post boxes in the world, a barrel where whalers started to leave letters to be taken home by passing boats. The tradition is still upheld and we posted post cards for later boats to hopefully collect and deliver and we took a couple of post cards which we will post, probably in the Marquesas or maybe Tahiti. We then went down a Lava Tunnel and Susan swam in the sea water at the bottom. After lunch we went to an eroded volcano, called Devil's Crown, which is surrounded by sea and is one of the best snorkelling sites in Galapagos. The idea is to go in the water at the North on the Volcano and allow the current to take you round to the South of the volcano and the do the other side. I delayed going in as it was quite choppy and I am a snorkelling wimp, but most of the group did the whole thing. It was generally agreed that it was the best snorkelling they had ever done, including Pete who is a mad keen diver and snorkeller. They saw lots of fish, about 4 White Tipped sharks, a large Mantaray and a spotted Eagle Ray. several turtles, star fish, tuna etc. We then went to a lagoon with lots of Flamingos and then a superb beach which had several turtles near the beach waiting for darkness to get ashore and lay their eggs. there were also lots of stingrays, some of which swam over our feet. In the late afternoon we set off to go back to Santa Cruz. We had just commented that the only wildlife we were missing from the potential list was an Albatross, it was a bit early for them to arrive at Galapagos, and any Dolphins, when someone shouted Dolphins and we had a spectacular show of very large dolphins going at over 15 knots in front of the bow and leaping into the air around the wash of the boat. It just completed a wonderful wildlife day that will be extremely hard to beat. We checked that our boats were okay when we got back and then went back on Daphne to have dinner and a party.

Today, Saturday we went to the Highlands of Santa Cruz to see some Giant Tortoises in the wild and visit another lava tunnel and were then taken back to our boats. We will now spend a couple of days getting ready for our next ocean passage to the Marquesa islands - just 3000 miles (Galapagos Pictures).

March 12, 2010

We arrived in Santa Cruz in the Galapagos about 9.0 am on Wednesday 10th March along with about 7 other boats who had timed their arrival for daylight to make the anchoring easy. We all had to put out the normal bow anchors but also stern anchors to reduce the swinging space taken as the anchorage is fairly crowded. We had to move to another spot about lunch time as we were beside a commercial boat who runs his noisy generator, which is on deck, 24 hrs per day. This meant that most of the day was taken up with just getting settled and carrying out the entry formalities. We went to a pub in the evening which is the BWR watering hole and exchanged war stories with the other boats and then went for a nice meal. The next morning we started on some of our boat issues. We were woken up at 7.30 with the bilge alarm going off and found that the bilges were full of water. After some investigation I found that the water was streaming through the prop shaft dripless seal. This became the priority for the day and with some assistance I resolved the issue and started to relax as the boat  was no longer sinking. We then started tackling the problems arising from the flooding of the anchor locker and the drenching of the focstle bedding and all our spares and wiring etc. Susan made a start on this while I takled another problem of our generator, which had stopped working, which meant we couldn't run the fridge/freezer. I cleared the water filter and put in a new impellor in the water pump and this resolve the problem. We went ashore in the evening for a break and some refreshments. This morning we started again on the anchor locker/focstle problems, with Susan drying out all our spares etc and I worked on repairing some of the wiring to the bow thruster and sealing the gap between the anchor locker and the focstle.

It is now Friday evening and we have almost completed the repairs to the boat and are looking forward to taking the weekend off and going to the local market, the Darwin centre etc. We will do some more maintenance early next week then on Wednesday we go fo a 5 day tour of the Galapagos islands. As Susan says this will be our 'holiday'.

Just sitting in the anchorage and going ashore you can watch the variety of birds, the seals and turtles, we can't wait to see the real Galapagos wild life.

March 9, 2010

This has been a real experience on the Galapagos trip. By midnight Saturday we had done a new record for Enchantress of 190 miles in 24 hours, lots of really good sailing. This continued on Sunday morning, but at 0900 we overhead a VHF conversation from Camomile to say that at 0200 they had suffered a break in one of their lower shrouds which support the mast. They had done a temporary fix but the mast was still moving alarmingly and they could no longer use their sails. Lucy Alice, which was the nearest boat was going to their assistance and would stay with them. I contacted Bill and Sue and said that we would catch them up and would also give them support. It took 10 hours motorsailing to catch them up but we managed just as it was getting dark.

As we arrived alongside Camomile and Lucy Alice a Red Footed Booby landed on our pulpit and it stayed there until 8.0am. We managed to shut off the engine during the night and keep pace with Camomile under sail.  

During the hard motorsailing on Sunday we discovered that the anchor locker drain was blocked and the locker was full of water and it was seeping through a gap into the focstle and down into the bilges. We had to run the bilge pump ever 2-3 hours to get rid of the water until I could look at it in daylight on Monday. I found a sheet of foam had slipped down the side of the chain and blocked the drain so it was relatively easy to fix, but we then had to try to dry out our cushions etc.

We sailed alongside Camomile all of Monday and Monday night and the difficult thing was to slow down to about 4 knots which was the speed Camomile felt was safe for them. During Monday Bill managed to improve the temporary fix on his mast and this gave them more confidence that the mast would stay up until Galapagos where they are having replacement parts flown to.

This morning at 11.0am, Camomile, Lucy Alice, Breit (who joined us in the morning) and ourselves all crossed the equator together and had traditional celebrations. I took the part of Neptune with a crown and scepter (3 fly swatters attached to a broom handle) and I wore one of Susan's bikinis with a sarong using the Scottish flag. Susan wore a variety of her and my clothes inside out and back to front. Our ceremony consisted of toasting Neptune, Susan kissing my foot which was covered in shaving foam, Susan throwing beer over me and my throwing beer, couscous and fairy liquid over Susan. We all took photographs of each others boats and the ceremonies, but we will have to wait and see how they turn out.

There have been a number of other less notable happenings, but they will have to wait for the next blog. We will arrive in Galapagos tomorrow morning about 10.0am and expect to have quite a celebration tomorrow night with Camomile.(Trip to Galapagos Pictures)

March 5, 2010

We left the Las Perlas Islands at 2.30pm on Wednesday and had to motorsail until 8pm when the wind picked up. We had a really good sail through the night and through Thursday until about lunch time when the wind dropped, however we only had the engine on for less than 2 hours when the wind picked up and we had an amazing sail through Thursday night and through today (Friday). We have had some current with us but have been averaging over 8 knots and have touched over 11 knots in the surf. If the winds continue for the next 6 hours we will achieve a new Enchantress record of about 190 miles in 24 hours. 

When we left Las Perlas we were treated to some wonderful wild life scenes. Approximately 2000 birds flocked into the anchorage as we left, a mixture of Pelicans and we think Frigate birds. Once outside the islands we saw some Mantarays jumping out of the water. It is a really good way to start a trip, and gave us a real taste of what we can look forward to in Galapagos. 

We expect to lose the wind sometime tomorrow and to slow down and perhaps motor. This is a leg which is expected to be very light winds, but with the amount of sailing we have already had we have lots of deisel to get us there.

 

March 2, 2010

After the Panama Canal transit we had a number of issues to resolve. The key ones were the repair of the Doghouse window, repair the Dell computer, repair our fridge/freezer system and fix a problem that occurred with our outboard motor when we were there.

Panama City can be quite a nice place and has lots of stores and facilities, however if you are trying to get things done and you don't speak Spanish it is a nightmare!!! Luckily one of the new boats joining the rally in Panama, Peregrina has a fluent Spanish speaker, who is also extremely friendly and helpful. Peter made lots of phone calls for me and accompanied me to a glazier in the city and even negotiated a really good price for the laminated glass I required for the Doghouse repair. He couldn't turn them into decent tradesmen, however this turned out to be a minor issue. We had the new glass in place within a few days and it is now much safer than when we bought the boat.

The Dell computer repair is still out standing and will now have to wait until Australia, unless I can fand the problem. We did get a guy to look at the fridge freezer and we agreed to have thr refrigerant replaced, however he just didn't turn up for the appointments to do the repair. 

Our 9 month old Suzuki outboard motor started jerking while driving forward and it became clear there were cogs which were slipping. After much 'discussion' with the Suzuki dealers about parts availability and guarantees, we manage to get a temporary fix, but were advised we needed the replacement parts fairly urgently. We had in the meantime recognized that a 2.5hp engine is totally inadequate for this type of trip. At the La Playita anchorage near Panama City we had to travel quite a distance from the boat to the outrageous dinghy dock and you really needed at least a 6hp  outboard to do the distance in a reasonable time, particularly when it was bumpy. After ages trying to get a 6hp or 8hp mew engine we discovered that Panamanians are only interested in big enginbes. Yhe smallest engine we could find to buy was 9.9hp. We finally bought a Yamaha 9.9hp 2 stroke engine and a reasonable set of spares. This engine is really good and I would recommend anyone doing this trip to get one, it allows exploring river and islands in a way not practical with lower powered engines.

One of the problems getting things achieved in Panama City was that we were there during Carnival!! Most of the city closes for 3-4 days. We only went to the carnival for one night, but it was good fun and interesting to see, although the best carnival locations were either inland or on some of the Panama islands.

After 2 weeks in Panama City we planned to leave for the Las Perlas Islands at 9.0 am on Saturday 27th February. At 7.30am on the 27th we were informed by Natabou, one of the BWR boats that there was a Tsunami warning for parts of the South Pacific, including the Panama Bay area we were in. Initially the warning was for 8.30am so we lifted anchor very quickly and headed for deep water. One of the real benefits of doing a rally is the assistance provided by other rally boats and this was really evident with all boats making sure that all the BWR boats were informed about the tsunami warning. We also told other boats but the priority was BWR boats. It was quite a sight seeing 40-50 yachts streaming out of the Panama City anchorages. As it happens we didn't experience any tsunami wave, although relatively small waves were experienced at the Galapagos.

After leaving Panama City somewhat earlier than planned we arrived at Chapera island in the Las Perlas a bit earlier than expected. As soon as we arrived we were whisked off by Bill and Sue from Camomile to one of the island beaches for an explore and a swim. A number of other boat crews also arrived and we had a really good get together. Miss Tippy ha caught a couple of tuna on the trip down and had offered one to us, however they also offered the even better option of sharing the tuna on their boat on the barbeque. We had a really good night with Miss Tippy and Camomile.

The next day we had planned to stay in the Isla Chapera anchorage but the wind picked up in late morning and a number of us decided to set off for Isla Viverous which was sheltered from the NE wind and swell. On the way Natabou, the Swedish Catamaran invited ourselves and the 3 other boats to a barbeque on their boat once we arrived at Vicerous. As it happens Fai Tira also came to the Viverous anchorage and Scot Free were already there when we arrived, so it was a slightly larger group than Natabou had planned. We all took some meat for the Barbeque but none of itn could match the T-bone steaks which Natabou had and shared. Another really good night. In the morning some really spectacular beaches were exposed byn the low tide and we tested out our new outboard\enging by following Natabou to a distant beach. Natabou gave a lift to Bionic but as they had a 20hp Yamaha outboard it was a real test to keep up. We had a really nice swim and exploration of the island before spending time cleaning off the muck of Panama City off our dinghys. We then went over 5 miles to another deserted island and swam off another really nice beach - we are incredibly lucky to be able to experience these delights, it really feels like paradise! 

On Tuesday 2nd March we motorsailed round the largest of the Perlas islands (Isla Del Rey) to an anchorage at the mouth of a river. This afternoon we took our dinghies up the river for a real tropical river experience. We drifted up with a rising tide and listened to a whole host of birds which we struggled to see, but could hear clearly, we looked though and traveled through the maze of mangrove trees and it was a real experience of untouched tropical forest and river. 

We are now spending one more day doing some last minute preparations before setting off for the Galapogos Islands. It is now 11.30pm and is very hot, but it is wonderful.(Las Perlas Pictures)

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November 14th, 2011