After a week of TLC farewell Alegria and Hello Donetes. Catalan for Little Women, the name is a reminder of our wonderful girls, the times we have shared and will share in the future. They will travel with us.
Well there we were, boat refuelled, jerry cans filled and secured, boat loaded, even called Fremantle Sea Rescue to log our trip: Snug and comfortable in our newly enclosed cockpit we departed, having carefully consulted all of the weather forecasts. But sometimes the weather just does not behave. That north-westerly front built quickly, hitting us with 25 knots of take this and not only turned the prospect of our trip to Mindarie into an uncomfortable one, but the weather window for our subsequent two day trip to Geraldton slammed shut with a resounding thud.:-( Faced with the prospect of an uncomfortable 4 or 5 five days paying extra fees in Mindarie Marina, which is quite exposed in north-westerlies, we reviewed our options and reluctantly decided to return to Fremantle. On the bright side we have a few extra days to stow the boat contents and complete some of the tasks left outstanding. Weather opens up next week, so mother nature has shown us who is boss an
It is certainly a trap for young sailors. We have been so busy doing, we (I) have been too slow in writing our blog. For those on my Facebook I hope you have enjoyed the photos and videos and snippets of information. This edition catches us up to date from Wakatobi to Belitung. After leaving Wanci on Wangi Wangi in Wakatobi ( try saying that quickly five times J ) we negotiated the tight entrance to the sheltered anchorage at Hoga Island, still in Wakatobi. After several days of very dark, wet and blowy weather we abandoned our plans to sail NE to Raja Ampat. As beautiful as it is, the wet season conditions prevalent in that area during the SE Monsoon were too depressing a prospect for us. Before heading back west we were surprised and delighted to receive an invitation to visit the Bajo Village. This fascinating village on stilts occupied by the so called Sea Gypsies was humbling and very interesting. We are constantly amazed by the friendliness, happin
Our voyage from Broome to Timor was our longest single voyage on a yacht to date: 497 Nautical Miles over 77.25 hours trumping the 365 NM over 53 hours from Dampier to Broome. The differences were that we pretty much paralleled the coast to Broome whereas to Timor we were over 200 miles from shore and in water up to 3 km deep. We had a good routine to Broome taking 6 hour shifts at night with Linda taking the 6-12 pm shift and I the midnight to dawn. The nature of this trip was such that we took shorter shifts and mostly we slept in the cockpit. Linda was unwell and needed sleep. The weather as we departed Broome at 10:45 am, Clearance in hand, was ideal with a 14-15 knot easterly wind on the starboard beam. We were flying, averaging 6 knots plus. Unfortunately our glee was short-lived as at 13:27 the wind died completely and did not return for two days :-( With the exception of a few short bursts we pretty much motored all the way to Kupang. This did not help Linda&
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