August 26, 2024
The start to the passage would be exposed to the tradewinds and seas. In an attempt to be as comfortable as possible we got underway just after 5am, which was before before sunrise. It worked as planned and it was a comfortable start with the full main and jib coming out after sunrise and off when the engine. While the…
August 25, 2024
On the hunt, sort of, for the dugongs. Yesterday the villagers pointed to an area where we might find them, but our real reason for the change of anchorage was to have a good launching spot for the following day’s passage. The new spot was just three miles away but involved navigating all of the reefs again. With our track…
August 24, 2024
We jumped on the paddleboards and headed into the village to speak with the chief and to explore a bit. With the shallow draft we were able to go straight over the reef making for a shorter paddle. Once on shore I walked up to a villager to ask if we could leave our paddleboards. Bill was very kind and…
August 23, 2024
For some reason the morning hours seemed to slip away and just before eight o’clock Carl was ready to lift the anchor. Heck, I had not even had breakfast yet! SV Seeka had anchored close to our anchor and we found out just how close as we raised it up, coming within 5 meters of them and needing to motor…
August 22, 2024
After the big adventure day yesterday, we were up for a lower paced day. A few boat projects were checked off the list and around 10:30am Roxy was feeling it was our best chance to snorkel the reef and look for dugongs (similar to manatees). It had been raining off and on all morning and so we all suited up…
August 21, 2024
During morning coffee, we noticed one of the boats hauling their anchor and then realized that at supply ship on a mooring (that we thought looked sketchy) was dragging towards them. Huh. A bit later we noticed the dragging was continuing. Coming back from the village SV Blue Beryl stopped by the supply ship to make sure they were aware.…
August 20, 2024
Arriving yesterday, it was time to check in with the chief and ask permission to stay in his anchorage and visit his village. But first I baked some bread, one of loaf went to the nice couple who gave us the fish yesterday and one yummy fresh loaf for us. Then it was time to get to shore into the…
August 19, 2024
With a sixty plus mile day ahead of us the plan was to have the anchor up at 5am. All was going smoothly, everyone was ready, in position, and the chain was nicely falling into the locker. With about 20 meters to go there was a clunk, clunk, and the chain stopped. We were snagged on something. I should mention…
August 18, 2024
It was a short hop across the bay to our next anchorage. We attempted to anchor at the location in the RocketGuide but it was quite deep (15 meters versus 6 meters in the guide) and there did not appear to be any sand, just coral. SV Beluga, SV Blue Beryl, and SV Cleo were nearby and we went over…
August 17, 2024
Most important thing for the day was visiting the chief and asking permission to anchor and visit their village. Unlike in Fiji there is not need to make an offering. The villagers were friendly and when asking to meet the chief we learned he was not feeling well. We asked for the head man, were told they would find someone.…
August 16, 2024
Time to move further north, we released the mooring lines and motored our way out of the bay. We needed water, so the start of the passage continued under motor and a few hours later off when the motors and we began to enjoy a pleasant sail. The wind angle wasn’t ideal but we kept from gybing and once around…
August 15, 2024
The last couple of days were mostly work days. Prepping the boat and provisioning. The grocery store was really well stocked, and other than not finding any pork products, we were able to get everything we wanted. In the local market we had beautiful produce and vegetables to choose from and jumped from stall to stall finding the freshest items…