Holiday in Indonesia - Kevin to the rescue!

Date: 19th August 2025

Location: Pulau Besar, Flores

Holiday time.

Mehalah's boat stamp which made checking in so much more fun.

Yesterday morning Kevin heard a big "wumpf" and then Shawna saw a big cloud of smoke appear behind our local volcano. Turns out it was Flores' big one called Lewotobi Laki-Laki with a very impressive eruption of its own that hit the international news sites, with ash being thrown 8km up in the air. Here's a picture taken at the time.

One big bang.

There are active volcanoes wherever you look here. Two nights ago we could see three of them and in the morning the decks are covered in black volcanic dust. All pretty surreal really.

One night's black volcanic dust on the deck.

Anyway, back to Kupang. It's big, busy and bustling. Mopeds everywhere bearing gas bottles, up to three children and long lengths of bamboo. Matthew organised for us to visit the veggie market where we as white folks caused quite a stir. Still not used to the massive bank notes I'm pretty sure we were ripped off but with a 50,000 rupiah note being worth only £2.50 it was a very worthwhile experience. Sweet corn, onions, tumeric, avos etc - we stocked up for the next leg of our journey to Flores.

Kupang - the fuel dock!

Kupang style transport.

The veggie market at Kupang.

Matthew, our Mr Fixit organised for us to take a car trip to some of the close by sights of Timor for a day. I have to say the sights were not that amazing but we saw a nice waterfall (they really don't know how to make the most of these places) and had lunch out at a famous pork(!) restaurant where they cook the meat over a fire.

The day started with pre-study dancing with some college students.

Attractive waterfall....

...but a lot of rubbish - no one seems to care.

Now that's what I call a real BBQ.

Ablutions, Timor style.

The following morning we were off at 10am for the 110 mile passage across the Timor Sea to the main island chain of Indonesia. It was blowing 20k behind us so we anticipated a fast sail. But after just a few miles Meraki radioed us to say they had problems with the furler, it wouldn't, and with the autopilot which was not working. They were going back to Kupang to fix them. What would we like to do? Although it meant bashing back to windward for a couple of hours we decided to follow them. After all we are buddy boats. Buddy boats don't stop buddying when the going gets tough. So we had another day in Kupang. Their autopilot was quickly fixed (something had knocked a switch and switched it off). But the furler was more of a problem. This is the thing that allows you to wind the front sail around the stay when you aren't using it. Several hours later they determined the top swivel had lost its bearing race leaving a couple of the remaining ball bearings on the deck. Amazingly they had bought some spares in Fiji(!) so they slotted them into the swivel, closed the little entry holes with tape and rehoisted the sail. Unfortunately our anchor windlass had also started jumping again and was getting pretty dangerous.

Kevin at the top of the mast fixing the furler.

So off we went again. And again a lively sail at 7k in 20+ knots of wind. We worried we might arrive at the pass between the next two islands before light and we knew there was likely to be a strong current up between the islands - best done in daylight. And then the wind stopped. Just like that. From 20+ knots to 5 knots in 10 metres. Weird or what? Engines on and with the wind now ahead of us and a nasty swell we motored uncomfortably through the night to the beginning of the Lamakera Strait. We approached the southern end at 5.5 knots. And then Meraki who were ahead of us suddenly slowed to 1.1 knots and were only travelling sideways. We had hit the famous 6 knot adverse current wall. Water swirled around us, big eddying pools, overfalls and all the time water rushing past us. We slowed even further and with 16 miles of this ahead of us we feared we would be forced to turn around and find shelter at the entry anchorage. But with no real idea of the tides maybe it would only get worse. We kept slowly inching north with the volcano to port barely moving. We cheered every five or ten minutes as another 0.1 of a mile was recorded even if half of that had been sideways. It wasn't the most stress free section of the route!

Sailing past another volcano.

After several hours we finally popped out the other end of the pass and into a narrow, reef fringed channel which led to Kroko Atol. What an anchorage! Possible the most spectacular anchorage ever and we arrived in perfect conditions. Deep at around 20m with a strong current flowing it was absolutely magnificent. We were the only boats there but a short distance away was "A" one of the biggest and most controversial private yachts ever built. It looks like a nuclear submarine and cost over US$300m to build for a Russian oligarch. It's since been seized by the west and we think is now owned by a Bulgarian guy. Anyway one of their lackeys came buzzing over in his giant tender and said they were coming up the channel to anchor and would we keep clear. Hmm. Not impressed. In they came, VERY close to us and dropped their anchor.

Mindblowingly amazing.

Slightly miffed but we were considerably mollified when the rib returned with two bottles of 2020 Châteauneuf du Pape to thank us for our inconvenience! We have decided one bottle for Gilly's upcoming birthday and one for Kevin's. The holiday starts here. Just 200 miles to do in 6 weeks before we meet daughter Emma and Chris.

The yacht "A" and its little dinghy. Now well past us.

Very nice indeed. Thank you "A".

We lazed around, swam, watched the sun go down and played games (anyone for Mollkë) on the little sand island. So so good after the slog up the east coast of Australia and long passages to get here.

Our very own volcano.

Playing Mollke as the sun sets.

The end of a fabulous day.

Next morning the wind was up and we had to move for "A" to leave anyhow so we decided to push on to the village of Sagu just 7 miles away. Delightful. A rather muddy tricky bay but good holding. Small dugout canoes propelled by little children puttered out to see us. "Book?". "Pencil?" A few old guys came out too. I gave them some of the fishing hooks I had bought for the purpose back in Gladstone.

The following morning we braved the shallows and pulling up onto the black volcanic beach. Immediately we were surrounded by schoolchildren smiling and laughing. Indonesia is pretty poor but what a happy country it seems to be. Everyone wanted their photo taken - either with our cameras or with theirs. We walked on into the mainly Muslim village. Little groups of young children everywhere, all smiling and giggling.  Shawna had some pencils to give out and she was soon surrounded by more children. We met some of the school teachers and asked where was the market, the pasar. The other side of the village. We walked on. More smiles, more selfies. A truck with tuna and a motor cycle passing us and then returning for yet more selfies. Great fun. As we made our way back to the dinghy a young woman approached us. Her English was better. Did we want some fresh coconuts? We did. Five minutes later we were in a big coconut grove. At the top of one of the trees is a guy with a machete dropping coconuts down to the ground. We watched as he shinned up the near vertical trees to reach the coconuts at the top. When he came down the whole family prepped the coconuts for us and we first drank the fresh water before chewing the slimy flesh. How much for the coconuts? "These are not for sale". Before we left the young woman wanted Shawna's Instagram address so they could be friends! I'm not sure how everyone has a mobile phone and each family a moped when the people seem so poor.

Three little cuties.

Pencils for the Muslim girls.

Boatbuilding. Painted drink cups for the safety barrier.

Tuna en route from the market.

The girls school.

The boys school.

Up the tree we go with machete in one hand.

Watch out! Here it comes.

The coconut family.

A lot of the anchorages here are really deep with the seabed rapidly rising from several hundred metres to a coral reef lying just offshore leaving little room to drop an anchor. Our poor windlass even with its new gypsy was skipping badly threatening to jump off entirely taking 100m of chain hurtling to the sea bed. As we arrived at one of the deepest anchorages this came to a head and I needed to do something about it urgently. Kevin came over as we mulled over our options. The real issue is that the windlass is not high enough above the bow roller and it can't be raised because the furling drum is too low. We needed a way to hold the chain down as it came off the gypsy. I was pretty despondent and wondered how we could survive with it jumping so badly until we reached Malaysia. I suggested somehow holding the chain down and then Kevin went off to find some bits. He returned with an old anchor shackle, a stainless hook and a small stainless shackle. A few minutes later we had the solution that you can see in the photo. Really neat and the sort of thing you need to think about when your raw materials are limited and you have a problem. Fantastic Kevin. Rescue number one!

Kevin's Mk1 chain safety shackle.

We tied to Meraki that evening to allow the repair to be devised and implemented. It was calm so we were all comfortable to be sharing the Meraki's anchor even though we were in more than 20m of water.

Rafted up with Meraki 2.

16 miles from here to our next anchorage at Wodong so we upped anchors and motored most of the way weaving through the fads (fish attracting devices) and marvelling once again at the amazing so recent volcanic landscape all around us. 

A typical fad. That's why we don't want to sail at night.

Famous for its chilled out Happy Dive School we dropped anchor at Wodong and reversed back to make sure it was set hard. All good. Except. What's that fishing line doing! Oh no, it's wrapped around the prop shaft. I should have reeled it in before we anchored. Gill was not a happy bunny and I received several earfuls of justified abuse. You'll remember Gill's free diving skills are minimal (her bum comes up but her head won't go down) and mine are non existent. Not ideal but we are with Kevin and Shawna and there's a dive school here. After explainiing the situation to K&S they came over equipped with masks, snorkels and fins. With knives and pliers at the ready under they went. Gill had already seen there was a lot of line wound around the shaft. The question was had it worked its way into the cutless bearing? Soon they had my favourite lure free and then fistfuls of short lengths of blue line were passed from K&S to Gill and to me on the transom. Finally the remains of the metal trace were recovered and thankfully the line had not forced its way inside the cutless bearing. Thank you both. That could have been disastrous. And it's Kevin's second rescue in as many days.

You don't want that lot wrapped around your shaft.

We were still anchored off the dive school at Wodong along with the first two cruising boats we had seen since Kupang. Their occupants had gone into nearby Maumere for provisions when Kevin called me on the radio. "I think that beautiful Neel 45 is dragging its anchor." It was. I was making bread and water at the time and Gill was cleaning the hull. We quickly reallocated jobs and I sped off with Kevin and Shawna in their dinghy on the next rescue mission. The yacht was still drifting and before long it would be on the unforgiving coral reef. We tied on to the big trimaran and tested the anchor windlass. Nothing. Engine. Nothing. Boat locked. But what's this? Shawna had found a small hatch open. I made myself very small and squirmed in on my back. I let the others in through the patio door (this is a big boat) and we hunted for a main breaker switch. Kevin found the emergency switch in the engine room which did the trick. Engine on, anchor raised and we headed for the shore. Just then the French owner couple Bruno and Pascale arrived back on shore and raced towards us in their dinghy. We explained what we had done and left them to it. That evening they took us all out to dinner at the dive club to say thank you. Quelle excitation and Kevin's third rescue in three days and Shawna's second!

Bringing the rescued trimaran back to the anchorage.

And finally. We mostly use Navionics as our chart application but here in Indonesia their charts are not too accurate. Add that to the fact that Garmin who own Navionics have decided to withdraw their Indonesian charts for several months and we are using an open source app called OpenCPN which is excellent. It uses satellite images rather than traditional charts. The problem though is that the images are pretty dark in the glaring light of the tropics so we have to improvise.

Port 15 degrees please Gill.

Indonesia - never a dull moment.

Passage to Asia

Date: 2nd August 2025

Location: 160 miles from Kupang, Indonesia

It's 23.29 on Saturday night. I'm wrapped in a blanket with my left arm curled round the port staysail winch and my right foot wedged against the frame of the companionway. There's a nice half moon shining so the stars aren't all that bright though I have spotted Scorpio my favourite constellation up above me on the left. Half a mile ahead of me I can see Meraki's orange stern light.

Around me hisses a moderate and confused sea with occasional waves jumping the hull sending seawater swirling down the side decks. The day after tomorrow we should arrive in Kupang..

To check out of Australia we had to leave our anchorage in Fannie Bay (a great name by the way) and motor a couple of miles to the Customs  Dock at th entrance to Cullen Bay Marina. There's a fuel dock there too so we filled up both tanks and our jerries to ensure we had sufficient fuel for the four day passage to Indinesia.

It was hot as Border Force arrived. Our passports were checked, Mehalah's Control Permit was scrutinised and regulations explained (extension misplaced but then found - phew no fine or jail!). Leave Australia immediately, call us if you need to return, no stopping in Christmas Island or Cocos Keeling. Rules are fairly strict but you can reclain GST if you are lucky. I had prefilled the form in advance electronically to save time but apparently I had failed to inform some office of the fact so I had to redo it all again manually anyway.

And then it was time to leave. Mehalah and Meraki motored out through the shipping channel and then turned left. [Oops, just been thrown off my cushion and across the cockpit!].

We expected two days of motoring but at first we had lovely conditions. Flat sea, nice breeze and a strong west going current. But the wind soon died and the motor was started. Yup. A whole day with the engine droning in the background and very little to report.

And then the predicted wind kicked in. Dead downwind we poled out Kevin's spare genoa which is larger than our yankee. With our new sail and a clean bottom we flew along. The wind built over the next hour. Not gale force but not far off. Apparent winds of 22-25 knots plus boats speeds of 7-8 knots. All good but we're no longer protected behind the Great Barrier Reef. Big, big waves around four metres with a short period. Shawna calls them lunkers. Stuff starts to fly around. It's hard to move below decks without a bruise. A red wine bottle (Pepperjack, the best) breaks. A white wine  breaks. The green cabbage goes into orbit. Oranges and one tomato fly out of their basket. Gill's glass coffee percolator smashes. We moan a bit, set up the downwind pole (twice at 40 minutes a time, clipped on and safe) and take in another reef. Nothing breaks and the repaired forestay furler holds up fine.

Hey, what's this? Out of the waves comes a pretty Indonesian fishing boat. Beating upwind just a couple of boat lengths away. Big prow with a fisherman somehow keeping his footing as the boat rears up over each wave. And 20m ahead of them a red flag cutting through the water. They must have hooked and speared a really big fish. I wondered how far they've chased it and what it is.

Over the few hours other boats slope passed. They are a long way offshore but look pretty fragile. We think they are fishing in this shallower area that also sports several oil or gas platforms.

Date: 3rd August 2025

Location: Closing on Timor, Indonesia

150 miles to Kupang and we've slowed down to avoid doing the last tricky 20 miles in the dark. 4.5 knots for 20 hours should see us to the approach to Kupang early tomorrow morning. Sea much flatter and the sun is trying to peek through. It's all quite pleasant.

Date: 7th August 2025

Location: Kupang, Timor, Indonesia

After a beautiful sail up the approaches to Kupang we finally arrived in Indonesia. Tired after the four day passage we were looking forward to a sleep before checking in. But before the anchor was set in 22m of water(!) quarantine were on board. Wearing Covid masks they checked our drugs cabinet, took temperatures, checked our papers and finally passed us fit to enter. Then they photographed us taking down the yellow quarantine flag and replacing it with the red and white Indonesian flag. Four of them including one woman and Mr John who was pleased to share my name. Then came the document signing. "Do you have a boat stamp?" Yes we do (though it's never been used). Great excitement. Gill as skipper (more excitement and amazement) was then required to sign around six forms all with several signatures. After each signature I was required to over stamp with our beautiful new boat stamp and then they had to photograph each stamped signature! As she left Gill was admiring the quarantine lady's headscarf brooch. She wanted to give it to Gill, most unusual for a official!

By now we were in touch with Matthew our agent. We usually do our own entry formalities but because our visas had our entry port as Saumlaki not Kupang we decided on utilising Matthew the local Mr Fixit. For $200US (very expensive) he proved amazingly helpful as we next dealt with immigration (who had just implemented a new system that didn't work very well), customs (whose system for entering Mehalah to the country had broken whilst being upgraded) and finally the harbour master. It would have been tricky hiring taxis or scooters to move from office to office without any Indonesian so Matthew made things so much simpler at the same time teaching us about this new country.

Indonesia is very different from Australia. Although most of the 4,000 islands are predominantly Muslim Timor is a mix with the majority actually being Protestant. That doesn't stop the muezzin chanting their prayers every few hours though (in fact I can hear him now). There are a few official buildings and the odd supermarket but the overall impression is of a plethora of small businesses hosted in insubstantial huts or lean-tos. Matthew organised a visit to BCA (Bank Central Asia) to get some money from the ATM. Armed guards reminded us that Indonesia is the most corrupt country in the world though all we have seen is friendliness and helpfulness. With our £300UK pounds converted to 6,000,000 Indonesian rupiah it was off to the fruit market to buy snake fruit, bananas and oddly shaped mangoes for next to nothing. It is SO cheap here. A visit to the opulent Telcomcel offices for SIM cards took each of us, Kevin, Shawna, Gill and myself 

two and a half hours to complete. Final cost for a SIM card and 30 days worth of 38gB of data was just over £5UK. Amazing. Biggest laugh of the visit? When we told the lady that Gill was the skipper. When we also said Gill was the chef she asked me did I actually contribute anything at all!

As usual getting our UK propane gas bottle proved a bit problematic until Matthew found a way to (over)fill it. I needed to make up yet another hose to allow him to decant from another larger cylinder. Rules are slightly more relaxed here than in Australia.

Anyway after two and a half days all formalities were complete and the four of us celebrated along with Michael and Nina from Serendipity who arrived just after us. Our destination was the 999 restaurant on the water's edge. Formerly famous with cruisers as Teddy's Bar it serves the most amazing smoked tuna collar bone together with tofu vegetable soup, tuna in onion, rice and a VERY hot but delicious red chilli sauce. Beers flowed from giant coolers resembling shishas, the night was warm, conversation was great with both old and new friends and here we were finally in Indonesia and Asia.

A final 750 mile passage and still in Australia!

Date: 30th July 2025

Location: Fannie Bay, Darwin

Having decided to leave Australia from Darwin rather than Thursday Island or Gove we had a final 750 mile passage ahead of us across the top of the country and into the Wild West of Northern Territory.

Passage to Darwin.

We left Horn Island and its collection of boats waiting to start the more organised Rally Indonesia early one morning in order to catch the tide. As I mentioned earlier the currents around here in The Torres Strait are huge with three oceans meeting at the north eastern tip of Australia. Winds are strong, tides vary from island to island and the water is shallow with plenty of rocks around to catch the unwary. As it happened we caught it all spot on. We zoomed between the islands and squirted out to the west at 9.4 knots at least three of which was current induced. We were following and intended to cross the big ship channel but as we approached the crossing point a large ship arrived too. After a brief radio chat with the captain we agreed to slow down, run parallel with him until he was past and then cross behind. A nuisance and a bit tricky but all was fine. Meraki who were a mile ahead of us crossed in front of him without incident.

And then we were free of the islands and on a bearing across the 350 miles of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Well, we got the pole erected for some more downwind sailing just before conditions became pretty horrible. Shallow water, confused seas and winds gusting well over 30 knots made for a very nasty passage for the next 30 hours. Gill even began to feel a bit sick which is most unusual.

Still, these things don't last for ever and eventually the winds moderated, the sea state eased and we enjoyed a couple of days and night of pleasant trade wind sailing. The Gulf of Carpentaria is pretty empty. We just saw a few ships on the first day plying their way between the east coast of of Australia and Indonesia. Other than that nothing at all really except for a solitary dolphin and a few petrels zooming just above the waves.

After three days we finally spotted land again. It was night as we approached and we saw the light on Cape Wessel flashing it's welcome beam on us every five seconds. Halfway to Darwin. We continued along the coast of NT but eventually the wind died and we first motor sailed and then motored to the entrance of Van Diemen Gulf. Here we had the option of stopping in an anchorage for the night or pushing on for Darwin, still well over 100 miles distant. Gill and I were keen to stop but Meraki said "we've just made the tide so let's continue and get it over with." In fact we were an hour later than planned but that meant we were already riding a big current into the gulf. The Gulf is an enormous expanse of water with narrow entrance and exit points and with six metre tides the water roars through. It's a long passage, around 15 hours, that you can't make in one tide so somewhere the current will be against you. We picked up speed and were soon flying along at over 10 knots with just the fore sail helping us along. The water swirled and gurgled throwing us off course from time to time. It was flat and featureless with no sign of land to left or right. The final challenge is the Howard Channel where the water is squeezed through the Vernon Islands before we exit Van Diemen Gulf and out into the approaches to Darwin. Another 10+ knot rollercoaster and we're through just beating dusk. 25 miles later on the first absolutely dead flat sea we've seen for months and just before midnight we arrived in Fannie Bay after negotiating the mass of lights, anchored ships and the main shipping channel into Darwin. Lights, civilisation and a city for the first time since Cairns many miles behind us. Sleep!

Through Van Diemen Gulf.

Next morning we made our way past the city and up the shallow Sadgroves Channel to catch the high tide and enter the lock protecting Tipperary Waters Marina where we would spend the next ten days. Actually we missed the entrance to the lock and had to turn round to reach it - rather embarassing!

Locking in was uneventful and we ended up with a nice easy berth to get in and out of with Meraki following behind. Robbie the dock master and his son Robbie made us very welcome and helped with our many questions. This was the first place that we were seriously warned to be aware of the Aboriginals though to be fair we never saw any trouble during our stay.

Passage over it was jobs time - big time. Darwin is the last place to get things fixed for many miles. For Meraki Japan may provide some facilities otherwise nothing much til they return to Vancouver Island in Canada. For us maybe Langkawi marina in Malaysia but otherwise there's not much until we are back in Europe. So. New wind indicator, new windlass gypsy. Sort out diesel issue (where will we get that nitrile tank seal from?). Laundry, doctor, Indonesian embassy, dentist for Meraki, new battery charger, gas bottle filling (actually not - we illegally decanted from an Australian bottle). Buy lots of provisions to store away to keep us going for the months in Indonesia. Gill and Shawna get haircuts.

On Sunday we visited the famous Sunday Market overlooking Fannie Bay. Street food, stalls, thousands of people, camel rides on the beach, impromptu groups of musical Aboriginals and the most amazing sunset.

Shawna, as the self declared 'fun police' declared one day off to explore a bit of the outback in our shared hire car. Scrub and more scrub but finally we reached Lichfield home of basic campsites and several waterfalls and gorges. Gill had been suffering from, we think, heat exhaustion so was happy to jump into the cooling waters. I, on the other hand, was tired from watching a YouTube of Southampton's pre season friendly match against Español in the middle of the night and was probably not the best company for the day! [Gill says 'you were grumpy as hell'!] At lunch a couple of water monitor lizards came to join us.

Friendly Water Monitor Lizard.

Lichfield is also famous for its termite mounds. Not just the normal Cathedral termites but also Magnetic mounds actually more like termite blades. Somehow the termites build them so they are sheltered from the harsh sun - it is very hot here and it is winter at present!

Cathedral Termite Mound.

Magnetic Termite Blade - running north/south.

A welcome cooling down.

Back in the marina the final jobs were completed - the nitrile gasket doesn't leak - yeah! 

The new diesel tank nitrile gasket.

By now our friend Gary who had been our next door neighbour back in Scarborough had completed his solo passage along much the same route as us. We are in awe of him. It's hard with two. On your own it's VERY hard. He sleeps for 30 minutes then looks around for five before setting his klaxon alarm for another 30 minutes. In the storms coming up the east coast he was thrown across Meshugah damaging ribs and spleen and in that final passage through Van Diemen Gulf he was desperately fighting to keep awake. What a guy!

Gary and Gill.

And so yesterday on the 10am tide Meraki and Mehalah left the marina and are now anchored back in Fannie Bay before making the two mile trip to the Customs Dock at Cullen Bay tomorrow morning. There we will check out and set off on the 450 mile passage to Kupang, Timor, Indonesia.

Cape York - The top of Australia!

Date: 24th June 2025

Location: Lizard Island, North Queensland

Wind, wind and more wind. All day, every day the SE trade wind howls well over 20 knots gusting over 30 knots. Slowly, slowly we creep northwards up the east coast of Australia and each night we seek a more sheltered anchorage before setting off again for another 30, 40 or 50 miles the next day Despite sailing conservatively things break. The masthead indicator that tells us the windspeed has stopped working and we lost the end of the boat hook trying to pick up a mooring in tricky conditions. Our friend Gary who has sailed these waters for 35 years says these are worst consistent winds he has ever seen.

But it's not all hard. We now only have just over 300 miles to go before we turn west and head for Gove in the Northern Territory when the winds should ease off a bit - 10 days, maybe two weeks. Today our Australian visas expire but new ones have arrived taking time pressure off us. Our Indonesian visas have finally been approved too.

Ah yes, visas for most countries are now completed online. That's great when the sites have some flexibility. The Indonesian one doesn't. Meraki got theirs without incident though it did take me and Shawna an entire frustrating day to complete the applications.

We received an email with a request for additional information and a link back to one of the pages of our initial application. The link took me to a blank screen. Eventually I found my application and was led to a big yellow message saying my photo did not match the requirements. This was true because I had submitted photos in the ratio of 6x4 rather than specifically at 3cm x 2cm. But the page I was on was the bank accounts page. I assumed it was the bank account details that needed uploading. The requirements had been ambiguous but I had also assumed we had to show incomings of at least $2k each for the previous three months. But all our incomings are to our joint account which is what I submitted. However to ensure our names were at the top of the file.........Oh, this is too tedious but you get the idea! Anyway in the end I ignored the photo message and sent individual savings accounts (which showed a balance of over $2k for the three months but no incomings). That did the trick but just indicates again that actual sailing is only a small part of the fun of this lifestyle.

26th June 2025

Location: Still at Lizard Island

And still the wind howls. There are eight boats here waiting for a slight dip in the wind. In two days time we do expect to leave. Another  nine days sailing it seems to the northerly tip of Australia with dodgy anchorages all the way and the islands of the Great Barrier Reef to be threaded through. This east coast is not for wimps.

We did catch fish on this passage too. Between us and Meraki we caught a couple more delicious Spanish Mackerel and some Striped Australian Bonito. Our bonito was chased to the boat by three sharks and by the time we got it aboard it had no tail left. To identify it Shawna used our photo on her phone. Clever AI told us it was a crab!!

Shark infected bonito.

Early mornings became routine as we were often covering 40, 50 or 70 miles in a day so 6.30 departures and even one 2.30am morning.

10th July 2025

Location: Horn Island, Torres Strait - The Top of Australia

Cape York - the top of Australia

Well, we finally made it though not without further incident. I could tell you about every anchorage but there's not much point as they were all either:

1. A tiny Barrier Reef islet protected from the waves by a shallow coral reef

or

2. A longer anchorage hidden behind the northern side of a headland jutting out to the east from the mainland and very exposed to the strong katabatic winds that hammered down to the anchorage.

The only anchorage for 50 miles!!

The former provided amazingly evocative locations, the latter some of the windiest anchorages ever. At Melville [Hellville] Bay we were subjected to 48 knot winds and breaking waves even though we were 'protected' behind the headland. The boats were bucking and yawing around and in the middle of the night the anchor snubber (which takes the strain off the chain and windlass) broke. Luckily for the first time ever I had attached a subsidiary snubber which did not snap. However when we decided the next morning that it was becoming untenable the chain began to slip off the gypsy (cogs) stripping the teeth as the bow rose up and down in the shallow water. Pretty scary. Since then we have had to be very careful raising and dropping the anchor to ensure the whole chain does not run out. Kevin suggested a clever technique of looping a line twice round the chain and attaching one end to a cleat. If the chain did start to slip I had to pull on the other end tightening the loops around it and hopefully bringing the chain to a halt. Even more scary!

Just before this the wind speed indicator stopped working so we relied on Meraki for gust reports. One plus from the Melville experience was that the biggest gusts got it working again. But only for a time and it is again out of action now.

And now we have a battery charging problem too. That must wait til Darwin.

We did have one idyllic anchorage though. Hidden behind a small island, Night Island, was completely protected from the constant SE Trade winds. What a relief but next day it was back into the wind again. At least the waves mostly weren't too big behind the Great Barrier Reef and that day's sail was almost perfect, a lovely trade wind day.

Gilly at large.

Another rare evening we were sheltered much better behind one of the headlands at Portland Road. Famous for its Friday seafood special we, Meraki and several other hardy souls feasted on a fabulous seafood platter before returning in the dark to the dinghies with strong torches lit keeping an eye out for the saltwater crocodiles seen there earlier in the day.

Well worth waiting for.

There are quite a few boats travelling to Indonesia. We meet some, we lose them and then we find them again. All nationalities, all with a story to tell. A GP, a big pharma exec, a health insurance expert, a lady who survived a fall over two waterfalls in Guadeloupe and was found the next day, a young hippie on the tiniest catamaran sailing home to the Philippines, Swedes, Brits, Canadians, Australians, Finns. You learn so much about other cultures at happy hour.

We are still travelling with Kevin and Shawna on Meraki 2 and becoming firm friends. Previously owning one of the most prestigious hotels on Vancouver Island they travelled in company with their daughter and her family in Meraki 1 from French Polynesia to Fiji. We first met them in Panama. We all enjoy the extra safety of travelling together and the comfort of a shared anchorage. We will be together through Indonesia before they head back home to Canada via Japan and the Aleutian Islands.

Shawna and Gill

11th July 2025

Location: Horn Island, N Queensland

Oh yes, forgot to say, because of the technical problems we have decided to sail to Darwin to check out. So tomorrow we leave Queensland for a 6 or 7 day passage across the Gulf of Carpentaria. Meanwhile we have been exploring Horn Island and neighbouring Thursday Island home of the Torres Straits Islanders. These guys, together with the Aboriginals form the First Nations peoples. The islanders here all seem happy and pleased to chat. Culture is very important to them and as we found out at the Cultural Centre they have great local artists and are so proud of their previously much maligned heritage. We like it here.

Torres Islander. Torres Island artwork.

Tomorrow will be particularly challenging as the Torres Straits have some of the strongest currents in the world as three oceans meet across this narrow, shallow area. We'll be pleased when we have escaped and can set a course for Darwin (which just has its 8m tides to deal with).

Hopefully see you in Darwin!

PS: Just realised I missed out our week in Cairns. Nice anchorage and the last place to stock up before Horn Island where we are now. Highlight of the week was watching the Ironman Pro. Those guys are nuts. Winner did 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and full marathon in 8 1/2 hours completing the marathon in just 2 hours 35 minutes. Respect!