We are here, here or here! depending on which system we checked into last.
Tell us what you're doing! email Dave and Pattie at vhn9638@sailmail.com
or Paul & Judy at vjn2927@sailmail.com. ; Give us something to read!
If you tried the vk2ahb@winlink.org address and it bounced, please use this one.
And so we say a fond farewell to Gove, Gateway to the north. We left at 4:15pm having refuelled and replenished our stores and LPG. No grog, alas. It wasn't a clean getaway though, our anchor chain had wound itself around an old mooring, and it took Dave and the crew a lot of effort to free ourselves.
The 4-day forecast looks good, with mild conditions although the wind will inevitably be on the nose. Our destination is Seisia on the western side of Cape York Peninsular.
Today's maintenance: Change oil and filters in both engines, replace port (left, red) navigation light, a bugger of a job.
To be continued in Section 3.
From Wigram Island we set off for Gove past Cape Wilberforce. Anchored off the Gove Yacht Club at noon and visited by Customs (who also act for Immigration) and Quarantine at 2pm. All paperwork was in order, the AQIS man took some cooked pork, fruit and veg. It took an hour to go through all of the paperwork. With that out of the way we were free to go to the bustling metropolis of Nhulunbuy. Two trolleys of groceries, fruit, veg and meat and 6 jerries of diesel were loaded onto the minibus taxi and delivered back to the yacht club. Our plans for dinner in the club were thwarted by their being closed on Mondays.
After a good night's sleep and breakfast, we headed for the HITW, about a mile away. It was almost slack tide (low) so we had an uneventful trip through. The maximum current we saw pushing us was about 3.8 knots. Now anchored at Wigram Island, a short run of 18NM. Tomorrow we enter Australia officially at Gove.
Repairs for the day: anchor bridle this morning, mainsail clew and genoa this afternoon.
Very mid, uneventful conditions - mostly 5 kts initially from the East, then NNW then NNE. Naturally one of the motors was on all the time. At least we had flat seas so that we could all sleep when off watch. We caught two tuna which were filleted and frozen. Judy and Pattie have been using up all of our supplies that could be taken by AQIS. Do you know we pay $330 for the privilege of having the boat inspected? $660 on a weekend! We should arrive at the Hole In the Wall, about 40NM from Gove around midnight tonight.
Tom's Birthday! We arrived about 10am after anchoring 12 miles away last night. The previous two days had been mostly wind on the nose, so motor-sailing against it. Tried to bear away to keep the sails working but in the end, the VMG was going down and we were way off course. Yesterday afternoon the wind swung to the south and fairly strong, about 20 kts apparent. The waves came up and SLAM! Seawinds are not the most comfortable in these conditions. After a bit of this, the clew in the mainsail let go, the stitching was rotted, so the first reef was put in. We had two motors going to make headway against the wind and waves.
Today was spent refuelling and a small bit of provisioning at the markets. We were helped immeasurably by Mathias (0821-9763-5898) in getting the diesel at the right price. He and his wife Linda and children came out for afternoon tea and a boat inspection.
Tomorrow we head out for Gove, a distance of about 420 NM, so about 4 days depending on the weather. GRIBs look promising for the crossing.
Pattie's birthday! Minor celebrations at breakfast but more to come later. After attending to some chores on the boat, we went to the north-side of Tanjun Api for some snorkelling. An interesting sight was a crowd of small, yellow- striped fish feeding en mass, and being chased by larger fish. Later, the green coral gardens were as spectacular as the first time we saw them.
Later this afternoon, Dave and Pattie had an interesting walk around town, meeting people and visiting the Fort.
The birthday dinner was once again held at Abba's Mutiara Guest House where Abba had decorated the dining room with balloons and birthday greetings. We dined on pumpkin and nutmeg soup, snapper, prawns, Banda salad and rice. All of this was followed by a beautiful birthday cake that Abba's wife Dila made.
Tomorrow we will leave this marvellous group of islands, full of history and wonderful people. We certainly recommend Banda for a holiday destination with a difference. Abba (banda_mutiara@yahoo. com Ph +62-910-21344, +62-81-3303-43377) certainly made a big difference to our enjoyment while here. An A/C double room (incl breakfast) is Rp160,000 or less than AUD20, dinner is Rp75,000, less than AUD9.
Last night we had dinner in Abba's Mutiara (Pearl) Guest house. Some European house guests provided company while we ate an excellent meal of Banda cuisine - soup, tuna, salads, rice and dessert were very well prepared by Abba's wife Dila.
Today Abba took us on a half-day tour of Banda Besar where the major nutmeg and almond plantations are found. We had done this tour last year but it was much more interesting today. From the nutmeg areas we went to an old Dutch fort, the remains of the ramparts and powder magazine are all that remain. This afternoon the main party visited the museum while Paul had a $3 haircut.
Another night, another squall, again at 2am. All hands on deck getting wet as we had rain this time. Arrived in Banda at 11am (456 NM and 3 days from Bitung) after the rain had cleared, but still heavily overcast. Entrance to Banda is spectacular, being between the volcano Tanjun Api (which last erupted in 1988) and Banda Besar, the largest of the three islands. Abba, the proprietor of the Mutiara Guesthouse met us and escorted us to our anchorage in Banda Naira. We had been given his name by Cool Bananas who met him last year on the rally. Abba took us on a quick tour of the markets (yellow fin tuna $1/kg) before taking us to his lovely guesthouse for afternoon cinnamon tea and cake. We will go back there tonight for dinner.
Noon-to-noon distance about 165NM. Had up to 3.8kt current with us this morning. Two squalls overnight, the rest of the time quite calm, so motor-sailing. Should be in Banda by lunchtime tomorrow for a bit of R&R and celebrate Pattie's birthday on the 7th.
Noon-to-noon distance 177NM. Some excitement overnight as a squall came through with winds over 30 kts. Of course it was 2 am, and all hands were on deck to reef sails, then let them out again after the squall finished. Not a lot of sleep last night.
How many sailors does it take to change a light globe? Dave noticed during the night that the port (red) navigation light was off. This morning he decided to investigate. Two hours later we had the "sealed" unit off. It wasn't sealed, in fact it was awash. Salt water and electronics are not good together, this one is junk.
The previous two days had the usual mixture of motoring, motor-sailing and sailing in diminishing order. The winds were generally 5 - 10 knots east to northeast with current up to 1.5 kts against. The GRIB files were fairly accurate in their predictions. We arrived in Bitung at 2pm, anchored just off the fish markets. This afternoon we made a quick trip to the supermarket while Dave found some diesel. Bitung is not a great town.
Motor-sailed most of the night, tried some sailing but wind eventually too light or too close to the course. This morning we went about 80 degrees off-course, trying to sail in the wind available. Not successful. We have seen some large unidentified objects, like steel tanks a feww metres long. We were visited by fishermen in small canoes with single-cylinder engines - quite fast, they came out of nowhere. They signalled that they wanted water, so we gave them a large bottle and 3 cans of soft drink. One offered one of his fish but we declined. The question was: where did they come from? The closest land was 100NM away in the Philippines.
Soon after this encounter, we spotted fish jumping so Dave put out the line. No sooner had it set than he had a strike and landed a large Striped tuna. We now have several kilos of fillets in the freezer.
Last Updated