Progress Reports
Left Russian Bay on 19th August after saying fond farewells to Andrew and Lisa taking with me a picture for Lisa’s brother in Port Elizabeth. Then 2 days in Hellville stocking up and easy sailing to Honey River and the Radarma Islands were I dropped anchor for the night then a 70 mile day sail to Marumba Bay where I arrived at 21.00 hours in the moon light so anchored just passed the entrance sand bar as the sea map charts are out by a quarter of a mile. The inner bay is guarded by black rocky islands which rise vertically from the sea on the north side and steep cliffs on the south. In daylight they were beautiful covered in Baobab trees but at night it was a different picture. So I slept in the entrance and moved in at 7.00 am finding 2 yachts where all ready inside at anchor. The bay was stunningly beautiful and as I anchored the skipper from the big aluminium catamaran came over in his canoe to let me know were the Lemurs where and to invite me over for a sun downer later on. Horrible dingy was soon launched and I did a recei of the near by beaches and just inland. A local fisherman sold me 2 large crabs for about one pound and so lunch was solved. The baobab trees are unbelievable you have to see them to comprehend there weirdness, the Malagash say they contain the spirits of the dead ??? The lemurs were the large creamy grey ones with reddish brown patches and blue noses ( I don’t know the name as I haven’t got an Observers book of Lemurs so there). Had a very nice evening on the cat Marula which is almost a super yacht at 60 feet long. They left next morning for Daresalam Tanzania, Prawn the skipper had chartered her to an expedition to the Island of Aldabra were there are giant Tortoise as per Galapagos and gave me the information on them.
Next day it was brought home to me how we cruisers have to be competent at first aid . The skipper on the South African sloop had been spear fishing around the rocks and when he went to retrieve a Cray fish he had shot grabbed a Stone fish which was in the same hole. His hand swelled to twice its normal size and he was in agony it took 15 minutes to get back to his boat to put his hand I hot water which is the treatment along with electric shock. He has the antibiotics on board to stop gangrene but will have to have the dead tissue cut away by a medic.
After a days cleaning and fixing I left on the evening of the 27th just as the local boats were coming into harbour. There were Whales leaping about and smashing there flukes on the water to concentrate the prawns in balls ready for them to eat. This took my mind off the weather and I pressed on instead of going back to the anchorage. The wind just kept getting stronger and I ended up with just the storm jib up surfing down the waves which was all very exciting but meant no sleep as the automatic windvane steering went off line. The paddle had bent back, may be it hit a piece of debris, but I couldn’t see the problem in the dark. I didn’t have the time to navigate so went outside the reef into deep water and survived. It was bitterly cold and this was why the wind was so strong. At night the air on the highland Plato in central Madagascar is much colder than the air over the 30 degree reef water where I was so the hot air rises and the cold air rushes down to replace it, freezing me and blowing Cariad all over the place. By daylight I didn’t know where I was so I through out the drogue sea anchor sorted out the navigation and made a course for Baly Bay arriving at 14.00 and sleeping through till next morning. Then a day making repairs and off for another night sail this time around Cap St. Andre. The sand coloured shoal water is very shallow for miles out and the tide tries to push you on to the sandbanks 10 miles off shore. But Cariad was on form and the GPS corrects the course for drift so all I had to do was keep away from the prawn trawlers that are every where, day and night around the Cap.
I had hoped to anchor at the island of Nosy Chesterfield but it was a desolate spot, the sand banks were out of position and the water 52 feet deep so I sailed on for 20 miles hove too and went to bed, continuing on to Maintirano. This is a bad anchorage so I put down 2 anchors and a 15 metre length of 20 mm nylon rope to take the shock, but the bow still kept going under the water. Next morning the wind had dropped and I debated whether to try to go ashore, then the local Mosque started up and I knew it was not my kind of town. It was only 33 miles to The Barren Islands and I found a lovely anchorage off Nosy Andrano, an island with 4 or 5 seasonal fishing boats, had a swim, cooked and full nights sleep.
Then off to Morandau my last landfall in Madagascar. They don’t get many cruisers in there so I was surrounded by fishing canoes and decided to go ashore with one of the fishermen. No sooner was I in the canoe than it capsized fortunately I had money cards etc in a sealed polythene bag, so I did learn from losing the mobile phone in the last dingy upset. Did my shopping at the very good market and spent the last of my Madagascan money as it wont be any use else where. Back through the surf to Cariad up anchor and off to Africa.
We made good progress during the day and soon were outside the Reef then it was quiet and then went dead for 3 days with 2 days under 40 miles. But it stated to improve on the 11th and 12th then it went south westerly which is counter to the current that I was just getting into and the waves went big, once I feared that Cariad might not have the momentum to climb up one of them, she nearly slid backwards only the wave moving towards us quickly saved the situation. Then a fast motor ship appeared out of no where and gave me a reassuring weather forecast followed by a second ship that tried to run me down (I don’t think they were keeping any visual lookout and hadn’t got collision avoidance radar) so I dodged out of there way.
Next day the radio forecast came through loud and clear another south westerly was due for the 15th . I could not be sure to make the 388 miles to Richards Bay South Africa so I diverted to an anchorage off the Inhaca Light House in Mozambique and was greeted there by a mass of Dolphins, Pilot Whales and very close in shore 3 or 4 big Whales driving prawns into balls so they could have lunch. Anchor down at 16.00 welcome to Africa.
Tony
Mayotte is a very French Island 180 miles west of Nosy Be and the nearest place for me to renew my Madagascar visa. The island is about 20 miles north to south and 10 east to west with the highest of the rolling hills Mt Choungul rising to 600 metres. The facilities here are first world but there are some very bad areas of poverty were the economic migrants from the other Comoros Islands have come in illegally and are now squatting in shanty towns getting money from there relatives who have EEC citizenship and dole money as in England. This has happened because Mayotte voted to stay French in 1964 and the rest of the Comoros islands went independent and are now ruled by a Dictator and Shari a law ( they could sell a lot of spare organs but they don’t have a freezer to store them in, so I’m told) .
I arrived on the early morning on the 23rd of August 2007 and as there was no English speaker in the Port Captains Office I launched Horrible dingy and went ashore. It was great to be able to use the outboard without expecting to have it stolen (Madagascar is a very bad place for outboard theft). The booking in took only 45 minutes ever though very little English was spoken (the forms were in French and English) and it was free of charge. I then took one of the 3 times an hour ferries from the Petite Terre where the yacht anchorage is to the main Grand Terre island at a cost of only 0.6 Euros for the return trip. The town of Mamoudzou is nice with an industrial area that has quite a good stock of engine spares and boat repair items. The currency is the Euro and all bank cards work not at all like Madagascar. On Friday I filled my gas cylinders the last of which had run out that morning and during the weekend refuelled, filled with good EU standard water and explored the Petite Terre on foot.
Monday I took taxi buses and walked around the south of the Grand Terre where there are some very big Baobab trees, at last I have found some big trees. There have been no trees as big as those in England until now, all the islands, Panama, Borneo and Thailand were logged out in the areas I have been to. The hire of a scooter would have been 35 Euros a day but they demanded a 900 Euro deposit, the very good taxi buses cost me only 8 Euros a day and you get to meet local people who are good fun though being mostly Muslim they don’t have pubs or cafes as you do in civilization.
Tuesday I set off for the north of the island to do one of the footpath treks in the guide book. Doug and his wife from an American boat had lent me a very detailed map so I was able to find the start of the trail from where the bus dropped me off. It was well way marked for all the way up around Mt Duzani with breath taking views of the reefs and passes out over the sea. Then I came to new road construction on the line of the track completely obliterating it and the way marks I followed the new road for about 3 miles down hill where it just stopped with a turning area. Go back up hill 3 miles, not me. So as there was a dry stream bed through the jungle I set off down it and then I heard this sort of woofing cough and the Jackfruit tree above me was full off small Lemurs all looking at me it made my day they are so lovely. After a mile or two of rock hoping I came to a track crossing the stream. A (Zebu) cattle herdsman directed me as to the right way to go on the path which was way marked but not the same as my first path and 2 miles later came out on a road I know not where. The trip back to Mamoudzou was difficult because there is a gap in the taxi bus system that the locals could not explain to me but as soon as I left the bus stop I was given a lift to where there were lots of busses, it’s the same the whole world over there are either no busses or three come at once.
The trip back to Madagascar started at the sensible time of 9.15 on Friday the 31st August as I didn’t want to go through the narrow passé Bandele until low tide close to slack water. It was a great passé but only 8 metres deep over the bar with several canoe fishermen people on the reef collecting sea cucumbers or lobsters. I motored for 3 hours then picked up a light breeze from the west. At times it was so light that I put up the spinnaker with 2 poles to hold it out. Cariad is a great light weather boat and made the 178 miles just inside 2 days with only 6 hours on the motor and we were hove too for 3 hours waiting for daylight and a storm to clear before entering Russian Bay, Madagascar. 3 days later in Hellville I met an Australian skipper who I had booked out from Mayotte with me, he had motored nearly all the way after tearing his jib as a result of repeated slating.
Then back to Turtle Island in Russian Bay helping Andrew with work on his old wooden Warren catamaran. I have all the woodworking tools and can make the bitter twisted pieces of plywood that are needed to fill the holes after the rot and Termites have been cut out. The big problem is materials. Andrew cadges epoxy glue and polyester resin off visiting boats and we use the plywood from the deck pod that is not to be retained, this means all the ply is second hand and covered in resin and paint which blunts the tools. By the 15th September we were out of epoxy glue and it was time to prepare Cariad for the trip to South Africa. On the 16th Lisa, Andrew wife returned from Port Elizabeth. She was very pleased with the progress on the old boat as she knows there own sea transport is vital if they are to make a paying business out of Turtle Island.
Good luck to Andrew and Lisa they are at 13 33.7 S 48 00.6 E and welcome visiting yachts, they have a small shop selling mostly to the local Malagasy, water and Cold Beer. Andrew is a charter skipper, diver, radio and electrical technician and Para medic, they both speak Malagasy. The beach by the house is great for drying out on with 200 mm of sand over coral.
I have saved money staying at Turtle Island and learned much more about running a boat around Africa, but now its back to the circumnavigation.
Tony
The 3 month visa issued to me in the Seychelles for Madagascar expired on the 20th August so I had to leave or have the visa extended for a month. This would have meant a bribe to immigration and may be an official fee, you never get the real facts as to your entitlement while in Madagascar, official knowledge is power and power is money. So I cleaned and vaselined my tools loaded them and the generator at Russian Bay. After fitting a new anchor light LED with Andrews help I said a reluctant farewell and off to Hellville to book out and take on a few provisions for a 207 mile sail to Mayotte. Cariad needed cooking gas, diesel and clean water all difficult to get in Madagascar, my tank water has a salty taste and the drinking water came from a spring at which I had to move an 8 foot python before filling my bottles (its also got sediment in it to but tastes good, just a hint of python pooh).
In Hellville I met up at lunchtime in the Spanish Civil War theme pub with the crews of Ocean Spray, St. Ledger, Reanan, Ty Mohr and Fenton whose boat name I cant recall. They are all waiting for the weather window to South Africa to open, except Harry on Reanan who says he’s off now against all the advice and weather lore.
I decided to try a 22.00 hour start as the night winds were often south easterly and the tide was defiantly from the east. I expected very light winds for up to 40 miles as the high mountains of Madagascar deflect the south east trade winds to the north of the island. 5 of the first 7 hours of the trip were on the motor so very little sleep due to noise and looking for local unlit fishing pirogues. By 9.00 we were making 5 knots under sail. The wind was light and variable as forecast but there was a 3metre sea from the south where the rough weather is making for a rollie journey and only 70 miles a day but I only had to use 3 hours of motor and Its nice to be at sea again.
By 18.15 on the 22nd I setting up for a dawn arrival at the entrance into the north Pass through the Reef at Mayotte when a Yellow light appeared ahead. It was a ship may be a fishing boat, but then it turned broad side about 1.5 miles ahead and I could see it was a war ship. The VHF radio came on with a French accent no indent on the warship but wanting my details. It was well done with minimum of chat and no problem much better than the Australian air patrols, I had been spotted from way over the horizon by some radar. Mayotte has a major problem with illegal immigrants from the Comoros Islands of which Mayotte is geographically a part, but didn’t vote to leave French control in 1974. It is now virtually part of the EU like French Polynesia, Novel Caledonia and thousands of French controlled islands all over the world supported by EEC funds ( that means English taxpayers fund French Civil Servants on very high overseas pay, ask you Euro MP about It for me please). So Mayotte is a very much richer island than the Comoros which also has Shria Law, this is a people smugglers mandate. Which sometime goes wrong like a few weeks ago when 28 people, including 8 women and 2 babes were being smuggled by boat were spotted and tried to escape by speeding over one of the Reefs where no French patrol boat could follow. The problem was there was not enough water for them either so 24 drowned or were cut to death on the coral only 4 were saved the rest were bodies. And its rumoured that there were more on boards who have not been found.
By 21.00 the northerly wind had died so I hove too and was please to find a 1.5 knot current taking me towards Mayotte. I awoke at 2.30 to find a southerly wind was starting and set sail soon getting 5.5 knots under sail, with the lights of Dzaoudzi and Mamoudzou 13 miles away confirming my position. The Mzambor passé was 22 miles to the north with the reef between me and the island. As dawn arrived later than in Madagascar I was pleased to arrive at 6.30 instead of 6.00 when it was to dark. The reefs where a mass of foam and spray with the entrance markers taking a real beating but there was little current and the navigation markers were excellent (paid for by the EU??). I motored against the wind for the 8 miles into Dzaoudzi harbour and took up a mooring beside a concrete yacht that was wasted up on the shore, hope this wasn’t his mooring??
Tony
Russian Bay, Madagascar, is an inlet of about 5 square miles in the shape of a Horse Chestnut tree leaf providing good all round shelter from wind and waves. The water is full of marine life with Turtles, Dolphins, massive Crabs and Lots of fish. The bay got its name when a Russian warship the Vlotny was sent to fight in the Russo-Japanese war in 1905, the Uralian crew liked Madagascar so much they decided to stay here permanently rather than return to Russia or fight the Nips. The ship was hidden in the reaches of Russian Bay, and twice emerged to pirate trading vessels in the Mozambique channel before they ran out of coal for the boilers. The crew were quickly decimated by malaria and other diseases, but those who survived settled in Andassy Be, building a large Uralian style dormitory, the ruins of which are still here. They quickly adapted to there surroundings, living by fishing and trading parts of the ship, but were never accepted by the local Malagasy, and stayed isolated in there own little community. The last crew died in 1936 and parts of the ship can be seen at low tide.
Andrew and his wife Lisa have 19 hectares of land which is turtle shaped near the middle of the Russian bay. Andrew was a charter skipper and he and Lisa are South African. There are no roads and it’s a 2 day walk along bush tracks to the road so all access is by sea mainly to Hellville 20 miles away on Nosy Be island. The local Lateen sailing pirogues take about a day each way trading sea cucumbers and charcoal made from local Mangrove wood. Andrew and Lisa are trying very hard to make a go of there land employing a local family (Bruno, Patricia and 3 little girls) they live in there own house they built in a couple of weeks from local materials and the girls go to school in Hellville. The house has a fabulas view over the bay and its own beach and boat mooring. They are selling a couple of holiday homes which they will build starting in a few weeks time.
Andrew was given an old wooden Warren Catamaran which is in a bad state of repair with rot a few Termites and a hole in one hull. It’s a big boat around 40 feet long and I have worked on it for the last month trying to get the worst of the damage sorted. Its just the right boat for crossing the 20 miles to Hellville for supplies etc. and if it can be made good it will set Andrew and Lisa up until they can afford a better boat. It also keeps me occupied and current with my tools.
I am probably going to Mayotte in 10 days time. Its a French island 180 miles to the north-west where I can extend my visa.
Tony
Nosy Be (The Big Island) is 14 miles NS, 12 miles EW, (13 20 E 48 15 S) with Vanilla, Yalang Yalang (perfume), Banana, Sugar (Rum) plantations, lovely beaches Lemurs and no dangerous animals so far. However its desperately poor and there are few services so no rubbish collection, water of very questionable quality, intermittent electricity and the worst roads so far with a large rapidly growing population, who appear to be fit and well.
The scenery is very stunning with good anchorages and the sun not too hot some good walking and nice local beer.
There are quite a lot of French tourists but no Brit tourists However the 2 biggest local businesses are run by Englishmen and one has a collection of Lemurs some in the wild and old and infirm ones in enclosures. They are very territorial and the wild ones would not allow the old ones in there territories which are close to the house. They have to be supplementary feed because they are all ex-pets or invalids and have lost the ability to completely fend for themselves particularly at this time of year when there is a shortage of wild fruit. The fishing here is very good with locals catching very tasty small fish and Prawns and game fish for the tourists off shore. One Frenchman had caught a Sailfish a Marlin and Tuna on his 2 day trip to the north tip of Madagascar and was very pleased. . Dolphins regularly swim through the anchorages some of them are the acrobatic Spinner Dolphins the coral is very pretty and while snorkelling you find Turtles and can swim with them .
In a couple of days I may move to the Mainland of Madagascar initially to Russian Bay.
Tony
The booking out procedure at Victoria is a 2 day job with layer after layer of bureaucracy. I had managed to get a Madagascar visa so this should make things easier at that end.
I set off at dawn on the 18th May and was more up tight than usual, the weather was OK but it’s 3 days ahead that matters and the forecasts were for only 1.5 metre waves and 25 knots of wind at Cap d’Ambre this seemed to optimistic.
The buoyage around the Seychelles is very poor as they don’t replace and damaged markers this caught me out as I had left at low water and when I was on the route taken to the boatyard 3 weeks before even though I was on the correct side of the marks I ran aground at 7 am . What a good start to the voyage, but I wriggled off and put Cmap on and by 10 am the sails were up and I was clear of Mahe heading for the Wizard Reef and Providence Island 350 miles southwest. The wind was steady at 15 knots from the southeast and we made an average of 120 miles a day despite the odd heavy shower which made me think of those 5 days of storms a month ago and had me reefing down too much. The waves were up to 3 metres by the Wizard reef but then went back down to 1.5 as I got shelter from Providence Island. This was what I expected so by Cap d’Ambre at the north tip of Madagascar I expected 3 to 4 meter waves. This was the start of 30 hours of fast sailing with 3 and 4 reefs in, waves to 4 metres and 2 day runs of over 135 miles.
I enjoyed it and have overcome my worries Cariad was great and now takes green water over bows as routine making only token water in the bilges.
As I got close to the Cap Cmap indicated an area of shoals and as I didn’t have the time to check the route out properly I opted to go west of the shoal bank putting me about 40 miles off track but giving good shelter from the waves which were still 3 meters. By night fall all went calm and I hove too and had a good sleep then I was able to plot a route through the shoals and caught some very tasty fish. I started the engine the morning of the 25th to get an early start, the throttle was open more than usual and on start up a rubber tooth tore off the water pump impeller. This should have been no problem as I carry 2 or 3 spare but couldn’t find them (have I thrown then out in Thailand ) so I sailed very slowly into Hellville, Nosy Be, Madagascar.
Tony
At 11am on the 26th of April, I arrived at the customs dock, Port Victoria on the main Seychelles Island of Mahe. Cariad had damaged sails, a loose rudder and I was still a bit out of sorts after the 5 days of storms. It took quite a time to complete the booking in formalities as 5 groups of officials and officers needed to come on board so I went up the mast which afforded me an excellent view of the new missile battery and fire director at the forward midships of the American destroyer tied up 10 meters in front of me, the US guards were getting edgy but I had to get my mast head light down so as to order some new LED’s from my brother in England. The 40 watt bulbs just kill my battery’s and with the new deep charge domestic one wrecked I need to save electricity at night (the solar panels work great in the day).
When the booking in was done I went to the yacht club and was given a mooring and told of a boatyard 6 miles to the south. I took a bus and they agreed to lift me out next day. So after a night in Port Victoria I went to the Marzocchi boat yard and lifted out, rudder off and then back in while work on the rudder middle bearing was done. Charlie Marzocchi had all the lathes etc to make a sleeve and machine the bearing. Getting back into the water was more difficult due to the Mayday holiday and the crane driver having a day off. During the lift in there was no one fully in charge as the 2 assigned labourers thought they were in charge this resulted in my waterproofing getting scraped by one of the support stands it looked nothing but I was worried. The rudder worked well and we lifted in and I went back to the yacht club mooring.
It was my original intention to stay for about a month but the other skippers in the anchorage said we must go so as to pass Cap d’Ambre, at the north tip of Madagascar, before the end of May this sounded feasible and as my brother got the LED replacements to me very quickly I revised my departure date to fit in with there’s. This reduced my tourist time but with the excellent bus system and some determined walking I saw most of Mahe, Praslin and La Digue islands. Little problem on the 8th when I was rock hoping around the cliffs at the section of coast where there is no road. I slipped between 2 rocks and had to have 4 stitches in my head.
I had been introduced to Maxim a sail maker for repairs to my jib and main sail. He was very difficult to handle as he would make seemingly reasonable requests that I would agree with then find almost impossible to carry out. He wanted payment in Euros to a sailcloth company in Holland this cost me a fortune in phone cards to my bank and made me lots of problems as you cannot buy foreign currency in the Seychelles which I didn’t know. The country has been bankrupted by its Socialist government, who have spent money, such as that given by the EEC and the UN for repairs after the Tsunami to bribe the voters and win another term in office where they can continue to steal the counties money. This is a big problem long term as they have let contracts to multi national leisure companies who have ways of getting around this. So many of the tourists now pay for there holidays outside the Seychelles and spend very little locally as all is packaged for them, the result is very little money filters through to the local Seychelles people. Maxim next wanted to crew for me to Madagascar and without thinking it through I said why not (the 5 days of storms still fresh in my mind). Matt Brown sorted this out for me by saying it’s your boat your skipper if you don’t want him don’t take him, as a result I am still on for round alone.
The Seychelles are fantastic with lovely small white beaches, Granite rocks like Cornwall, lots of shady trees clear water with wonderful coral. If you go off the beaten track there are the most unusual sights such as rock plateaus covered with Pitcher plants, Forest with Orchids, Coco de Mare trees which have the biggest seeds in world and make the best Coconut cream for cooking fish which there are lots of and there’s Giant Tortoises wandering around the roads on La Digue. They originate from Aldabra Island (a world heritage site and very hard to get to).
It’s not expensive if you come and pay in foreign currency using local accommodation, you get twice as many Rupees to a Euro on the black market as you do through the state controlled banks and every local who needs to leave the country for a holiday or business needs foreign money.
It’s twice as nice as the Caribbean and very friendly you’d love it
Tony
I had been in Male the capital of the Maldives for a week and was not happy to stay any longer than necessary, it’s Islamic and even though most of the people don’t seem to go to the Mosques the laws, customs and goods for sale are Shariar whether your Muslim or not. I was told that this does not apply at the Atoll resorts but I’m sure there will be a hefty premium . I had had to use an agent to negotiate the beurocracy (Abdullah cost me $100 US) and on clearing out it took 6 hours of waiting for the Port Captain to sign the onward clearance form. So I received a clearance to leave on the 5th April before midnight at 20.30 and my boat an hours journey away. So I left next morning at 6.00 after a bad nights sleep due to a local charter boat anchoring very close up wind of me. We had some strong gusts and I had the feeling his anchor was insufficient, many of the boats that go to the Atolls use Coral picks to anchor as they cause less damage to the reefs and are less prone to jamming in the coral, but there poor for anchoring in sand which we where in.
It was good to be off even though the weather was wet and by 20.00 we were out into the Indian Ocean but heading south instead of west. The wind continued light and from the west north west with about 5 hours flat calm after midnight and after 4 days we crossed the line back into the southern hemisphere where I had to keep going south as the wind kept going more into the west. The current was against me at 1.5 knots and any stopping resulted in a loss of ground which was a problem as my daily distances of 60 to 70 miles was only half what I normally make, this area is where the fishing ships come to catch tuna so a good lookout was needed day and night. Ten days out and only half way when I was hit by 6 days of storms and squalls with periods of very light wind between them my best furling Genoa was ripped in half the main sail had to be repaired by hand sewing 3 times and the replacement jib twice. At night it was very difficult after the moon set at about 11.00 you just ran into storms with 40 knots of wind without warning. On the night of the17th. I got swallowed by a storm and was reducing sail as fast as I could when lightning lit up the area it was like a painting by Hernomus Bosh. The rain was so heavy that it flattened the waves and covered the surface with a 2 feet layer of bouncing rain drops for 15 minutes then it would calm down and after an hour the storm would pass and I had to check for damage and make repairs. Then it was put up as much sail as possible to keep moving against the current. The sea was beginning to build up and at times was up to 3 meters but not breaking to badly, though “Cariad” must have been thrown about as one of the fire extinguishers tore out of the cabin wall and landed on the cooker.
The 23rd was a much better day and the wind went south west so I could make my way north. I had been worried about going south of 5 degrees as this is where storms can start to rotate and become cyclones.
On the 25th I was 64 miles from the Seychelles and my sextant readings where way out on longitude because I’m so close to the equator so as I should be at the Topaz bank I looked into the water and you could see the bottom 70 feet down as clear as crystal so that fixed my position. The wind was now very light and fuel was getting low but the current had disappeared so I just drifted slowly into Port Victoria on Mahle Island arriving at 10.00 on the 26th April, 20 days to cross only 1200 miles this will have to change. So now it’s sort out the damage and prepare for the trip to Madagascar. The Seychelles are beautiful and I hope to see a lot of them.
Well that was my worst trip so far and I am still up for the section around Cape of Good Hope this coming winter.
Tony
The capitol of the Maldives is a very small island just 1 mile long and 0.6 miles wide but it has 100,000 population, so it's a small city.The fish and veg markets are very very good with boats bringing goods from the islands right up to the markets then reloading with stores and returning to the islands. Some of the boats are trading schooners with sails, though they mostly use there motors now. I have been able to get the alternator fixed, fuel up recharge the gas, have a yellow feaver vaxination and get in a good stock of food only problem it's "islamic", so I can't get any rum. Will be trying to run the fridge on my trip to the Seychells to keep the beer drinkable.
I have found it very laid back here and it dosen't suit me, Thailand was more my style but it's probably OK for a holiday if you like diving or the beach.
They have a big fleet of sea planes which takes tourists from the airport to the atoll resorts where they land on the water. Some are De haviland twin turbine Otters that can carry about 20 passengers.
The 2,000 islands are very extensive but only 200 are inhabited and most are only partly charted so I am keping my distance as you can't be at the helm and up the mast looking for reefs at the same time. Have decided to go direct for the Seychells as the Chagos islands which are British controled are very difficult to get pemits for. The wind at the moment is in my favour but it will probably go south west during my trip until I can get back into the south east trades again.
Tony
I had a feeling that this leg of the trip was going to be a long one so I had stocked up on books while I was in India.
Cariad was rushed out of the boatyard as the tide window was closing at the Royal Phuket Marina. The manager very kindly lent the pilot launch to lead me out through the narrow channel so I gave the tiller to the pilot and spent my tine checking out the new through hull fittings and all the intakes and outlets. All was in order except the ignition light that would not go out. As soon as we were out of the channel I cut the engine and sailed to Ao Chalon bay where I anchored and spent one day booking out and finnal provisioning. Then had a last meal at the yacht club and left on Monday morning the 13th March at first light. I got the anchor up by hand and sailed out without using the engine.
There were then 3 days with the wind with me and I made 100 plus miles a day.Then I had to cross the main Singapore to Europe/Middle East shipping lane and the wind died. I disconnected the alternator drive belt and used the engine, it's a deisel so does not need electricity to run only to start and the solar panels can do the recharging. However this ment no fridge and there for no cold beers, the next 10 days were boring with no wind from midnight to five almost every night this ment staying up as the wind pilot automatic steering cannot work without wind. Electricity was a problem every night if I used the electric autopilot. The wind was forcing me more and more southwards and into the equtorial counter current so I had to tack. We then had thunderstorms and lots of lightening and no sun to charge the battries. Fishing boats were about most nights and sleep was hard to get, but at least I could have a freshwater shower instead of a saltwater bucket bath.
I decided to us the engine to get north as tacking would mean going 30 degrees backwards, it worked well and I was back on track in 10 hours. The last night it went completly flat calm at 18.00 hours and I motored the rest of the way to Male arriving at day break on Friday the 30th of March.
17 days at sea thats 2 longer than the Atlantic crossing and most of it hard on the wind. Now to get the alternator fixed.
Tony
I have been here for 4 months and done masses of work on CARIAD spending about 10,000 pounds to prepare her for CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. I must do a great cape to prove I am a real single hander not just a trade wind sailor.
Have just had a 2 week holiday skiing in Gulmarg, Cashmere, India, on the Pakistan border. Lots of Indina army troops around but lots and lots of snow.
I am now refreshed and ready for the Indian Ocean if there is any wind as I am 2 weeks late leaving.
Sorry for the lack of information but I hoped to do lots of internet at Gulmag but it was the end of the world with phone lines down and the only cyber cafe shut at 4 pm so it was ski or internet.
Saw a snow Leopard running up the mountain at 15,000 feet it didn't look big as it was at least 400 meters away. That evening I was having a beer with Alan from Risca and Anshcel from Banalore and there was a Snow Leopare skin on the Hotel wall. It was massive about two thirds the size of a Tiger, glad it was running away and not to-wards us.
Wish me luck on this next sectin where the main threat should be shipping and light winds but you never know.
Tony
1) The boatyard in Langkawi was no good the marina manager in charge of the travel lift was bone idle and only looking for a quiet stress free life. I would have changed him but he refused to lift Cariad out until the end of the month. So I only stayed in his marina for one night and came to Puket Thailand. The visas will be difficult but not as bad as the Thai embassy in Singapore made it out to be.
I move the boat to-morrow and lift out a day or two later. Then it's a lot of hard work.
2) 24/11/06 I am now at the Royal Puket Marina which is a very nice place to stay. The boat yard is very well run and the marina and hotel are very swish and though higher priced than the surrounding area it's good value as the service is excellent.
Cariad is now stripped back to the fibre glass drying out for a month or so, the engine is out ready to re-line the engine bay and inspect the engine. The cutlass bearing is out rudder and skeg off for repair and plans in hand for the replacement of the toe rail. Puket awnings have made me a white all over cover which has dropped the temperature 10 degrees on board. The head sail is in for repairs to the sacrificial strip which has been rotted by the sun. So I'm up to my neck in work.
Tony
Singapore to Langkawi
On the 11th October my 2 week visa for Singapore was up and I had decided to get the work done on Cariad in Malaysia after a visit to the Thai embassy where there was just no sensible visa rules as a result of the recent coup. I went initially to Johor Bahru which is linked to Singapore by a causeway from the north of the island. The 7 hour trip was done in very poor visibility which has been caused by the forest fires in Indonesian Borneo and Sumatra these are the fires I photographed being lit around Kumi by land owners clearing the forest to plant crops such as Oil Palm to make bio diesel which Indonesia hopes to use when the oil and gas run out.
The shipping was very dense and came from all directions so I was glad to get under the new Tuas bridge (33 meters clearance) which crosses the Johra straight on the west side of Singapore. Then on past the fish farms to Denga Bay where I anchored by the holiday complex which is being built on reclaimed land to the northwest of Johor Bahru. The river has very little water in it so there was no problem anchoring.
I went back to Singapore on the bus over the causeway to try to get my replacement credit card, have lunch with Ken and Vidya from El Cadero and a Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel long bar. On my return to Dega Bay I thought I had left the dingy at the south boat pontoon when I had in fact left it at the northern one, as I discovered next day having been told that the pontoon keeper had lent it out during my absence (if only I spoke the local language it would be so much easier). The up side of this problem was that I was taken by boat to a restaurant on stilts in the straights near the fish farm to buy beer. I returned there next evening and had a great meal of crab in pepper sauce. On the 16th October I booked out for Lankawi intending to keep out of the shipping lanes on around the 20 metre contour pulling into shallow water and anchoring each night. The visibility was very poor at about 1 mile lots of fishing boats and fishing nets strung across my course marked only with plastic bottles. First night I anchored on a mud bank 2 miles off the coast and the second by the Water Islands which look very beautiful though they were not easy to see in the fog. I then had 3 nights in the very swish Admiral Marina at Port Dixon were I filled with fuel hopefully for the last time this season. Then on to Port Klang which is the port for Kuala Lumpur Malaysia’s capital. I moored on the pontoon opposite the palatial club house of the Royal Selangor yacht club for only 2 pounds a night. The down side is the Klang river is the dirtiest river I have come across on the whole journey, But there’s a free ferry boat and the train fare to Kuala Lumpur was under a pound each way.
Kuala Lumpur is a very modern city with all most no trace of the past. I went up the KL Tower about 1200 feet at my guess the visibility was only 2 miles but I enjoyed it. Then back to sea first thing on Tuesday the 24th October 63 miles up the coast to a river mouth which I couldn’t see in the fog when anchoring but after thunder storms all night it cleared and I was quite close in. I then did a big 89 mile 16 hour day and anchored on a sand bank well off shore but in sight of Penang my next port. I had been told by a member of the Yacht Club at Port Klang that you couldn’t go under the bridge from Penang to the mainland so I took his word for it and went right round the island which I could see as the fog has at last gone. The other yachts all came under the bridge which has 24 metres clearance. I anchored off George Town the first night but then moved into a new marina by the ferry terminal. Penang is a busy Island and I hired a Honda Supra motor bike to get around (4 pounds 50 per day hire), the flexibility it allowed me meant I saw nearly all of the Island and had a lovely day in the national park at the north end. There were 2 different kinds of monkey lots of Sea Eagles and some very impressive trees.
On the last day of October I left for Langkawi 63 miles to the north on the Thai boarder it was a steady trip mostly on the motor or at least assisted by it. There were dozens of fishing boats and quite a few fast ferries. There can’t be any fish left around this area of any size as the life expectancy must be only a few months. I have caught no fish on my trawling line since Bali 2,200 miles ago. Langkawi is a duty free tourist Island with beer down to 2 ringgits from 10 at Penang. This means all my materials will also be duty free and the cost of living will be equally down in cost.
Well that’s the travelling finished till next April by which time I hope to have Cariad ready to face The Cape of Good Hope.
Tony
Borneo to Singapore.
At 4.00 am on the 18th September the Muller at the big Mosque in Kumai made shore I didn't over sleep. By 5.35 "Cariad" was moving under power down the river in convoy with 2 ships and a towed fuel barge. It was much easier than coming in as I now know the route and that the river is virtually shoal free from where Cmap ends. At sea it was excellent going with 15 to 20 knot wind just behind (abaft the beam as old sea dogs say). I had hoped to anchor in a bay 91 miles on but by 20.00 hours it was pitched black and there were no ships and very few fishing boats so I just kept on through the night and reached the Island anchorage at Bawal at 8.00 a few hours early. Cmap is very poor here and a local fishing boat showed me where to anchor. The rocks in shore and the Coral Reefs off shore are not shown on the chart, which warns it's incomplete. Then off across the big shipping lane at the south end of the South China Sea. By 23.00 hours I was at the pass through the Tagaphat Islands it was pitch black with no moon the Radar didn’t locate any thing solid it was dead quiet with fishing fleets that fish with banks of powerful lights to attract the fish to the north and south but none around the shoals I had to go through. Cmap notes said the chart was unreliable and other forms of navigation should be used. Well I got through but saw and heard nothing. I wonder how close I was to visiting an Octopuses garden in the dark. I have decided not to push my luck like this again.
The fishing boats had such powerful lights they could be seen from 8 miles so it was OK to have half or even three quarters of an hours sleep after spotting them. The next evening I pulled into Kentar island to anchor having just crossed the equator south to north and there was Gerry and “Scorpio” who had left Kumi 2 days before me. So Gerry came over and we finished the last of my Tasmanian beer. Gerry’s crew jumped ship at Kumi so he is sailing solo to Malaysia then leaving Scorpio to fly back to the UK for a short break. We both had a visit from a family in a dug out canoe who wanted food and clothes they had come 3 miles across a quite nasty straight in an unsaeworthy boat on the off chance of getting some help as there is no social security in Indonesia and not much work either. The issuing of short term visas and CAITS must be hitting the poor very hard but the minister that issues the visas is getting lots of money so he’s happy in his Jakarta office.
We left together but I didn’t have as far to go as Gerry so I sailed all day and he motored and sailed. I anchored well off Besar Island but the noise from the Mosque still woke me in the middle of the night. Next day started with very little wind then at 9.00 a thunder storm came up turning the sea white with very strong gusts of wind and lashing rain so I had a very good fresh water shower and gave Cariad a wash down. The storm lasted about half an hour but was nasty and almost chaffed a jib sheet through where it had been running round the inner fore stay. The wind slowly came back and I worked my way up to the north of Bantam which is enjoying a building boom courtesy of Singapore investment. A radio call to the marina at Nongsa Point was answered by Vidya Petterson on El Cordero who confirmed the entry procedure which is in through a series of green and red piles. Nongsa Point was not as good as I had hoped. The ferry to Singapore would have only cost a few pounds but you have to get a new Indonesian visa for each trip making it prohibitively expensive we stayed 2 days and stocked up on beer and soft drinks which are more expensive in Singapore. Then set off together west to the narrowest part of the straights then across the 4 shipping lanes at right angles El Cordero lead but it was ever one for themselves. The English Channel crossing experience came in very handy as the gaps between ships was very small. We then cleared quarantine and got our passports stamped at sea by the quarantine launch. The sea was fairly lumpy and passing my documents to a man with a stick hanging on to the pulpit of a launch tossing up and down made me wonder how many sets he lost. Then into the new Marina One15 (its one degree 15 minutes north ) at Santosa Singapore.
Tony
Kumia
in Borneo (Kalimantan) is a port in the south west corner of the country. It's claim to fame is the 250,000 hectare National Park where they rehabilitate and help Orangutans to settle back into the wild. The Park works well for tourists and the Park organizers as the fit strong wild Orangutans live in the deeper parts of the forest and the dependant ones stay close to the feeding centres in the north where they can be photographed and looked over by the likes of I. When there are hard times more of them collect in these northern centres but at present it is the end of the dry season and there is a lot of fruit about. The Park is re-established rain forest having been logged out 30 to 40 years ago so there are no really big trees
The town is about the size of Ross-on-Wye but has 20 Mosques which have great big loud speakers and start broadcasting to the faithful at 4.00 in the morning. Unfortunately the message is also received at 100 decibels by infidels like me and most of the yahties so they only stay for a day or 2. The sale of alcohol is forbidden and it's Islamicly grubby and the ATM and Internet are15 kilometers down the road. Teres no daily rubbish collection here as there was in Bali, but its almost crime free the people are very honest and good natured with a sence of humour, good engineering skills and are friendly to visitors. I hired a Honda Supra this time for $7 per day off a local wheeler dealer and covered all the local area, while I waited for El Corderro, but Kenneth and Vidya didn't make it though they were reported as at an island anchorage close by.
The high light was the trip to the National Park it was done by shallow draft boat with 3 crew (Guide, skipper and cook) taking 2 days. I teamed up with Gerry and his crew Margret from the British yacht "Sorpio". On the way into the Park we saw what we thought was a very big snake swimming across the tributary of the Kumia river but it was a monitor Lizard about 1.5 meters long, it turned back as the boat approached. The river edge changes as you go up stream starting with Mangroves then water Palms in front and further up stream Bandanna's (a sort of wild woody sugar cane). Next we saw an Orangutans and baby on the none Park side of the river which is 6 meters deep and Orangutans dont swim.We then turned into a narrow channel for 7 kilometers to Camp Leaky to see the Orangutans being feed. The guides, assistants and friends of the National Park all know the names of the Orangutans who are not touched by anybody and act very naturally, there were about 12 Orangutans from large male (Tom) nursing mothers (Mary and Elisabeth) to several adolescents including Thomas aged 6 who is the star turn. Only 3 were at the feeding the rest were just hanging out looking at us visitors. They are very intelligent and get on well with each other Kissing and sharing food. But they know they are not to be interfered with so when it rained and Gerry had a very sheltered spot an adolescent just moved along side him and kept pushing till Gerry gave up his dry spot. They make hats and nests to stay dry and are very dexterous in the use of foliage.
We then went back to the boat, moved to see a Gibbon colony of about 50 then on to the Proboscis Monkey trees where we had dinner and camped on the boat in mosquito nets virtually with the monkeys. There were lots of brilliant birds and flowers, Gerry said there was much more wild life here than on a trip he did up a similar Amazon basin river and this trip only cost us $90 each for the 2 days.
Julia Roberts did a sort of documentary come National Park publicity film a year or two ago if you want more information, are guide was with her and the films not bad though Richard Attenborough it is not. I did an afternoon in school on my last day teaching conversational English and was a little disappointed that none of these local well off children or the second class of teanagers had seen an Orangutans or been to the Park it seems to be for tourists only at the moment. The park needs all the suport it can get as its surrounded by fires at this dry time of year as the local people here try to turn the forest into rice paddies. Indonesia is rich in oil and its rumoured there is oil under the park.
I enjoyed my stay at Kumia which was made much more interesting by hiring the motor bike.
Tony
At Bali the Marina had slowley filled up during my 9 day stay, Kenneth from El Corderro was keen to be off and I wanted to see more of Indonesia so at 8 am (1 hour before high water) on 6/9/06 we left Benoa harbour and headed out through the coral reef. The current was against us but we stayed close in to the reef where it was only 1 to 2 knots so we we made 4 to 5 knots along the coast. The experiance gained sailing in company with Finesse around the Fiji reefs gave me the confidence to go close in, "El Corrderro" and and an American boat "Nero" who was tagging along followed me. We made steady progress but the current didn't let up even when the tide was theoreticaly with us Nero put on more engine and slowly pulled away I stayed back with El Caderro who's engine has not been the same since Kenneth agreed to his advissers request to go as fast as possible in the Panama Canal. I had quissed my advissor about why we needed to speed up and proved to him that we would arrive at the Pacific end with an hour to spare at 6 knots. I told him that to push too hard was more likley to cause an engine problem and late arrival than proceeding at best cruise speed.
By 13.00 we had reached the sea side temple at Kusamba and the current eased so it was possible to go further off shore which El Caderro did but I stayed in close going inside Islands and gaining nothing, Nero crossed to the other side of the Lombock straight which is the deepest channel for it's width in the world. By15.30 I to had gone off shore as we had begun to round the eastern tip of Bali. A wave piercing catamaran ferry then passed well inside us and progress looked slow. I checked the GPS and speed over the ground was zero. Inshore the sail driven local fishing canoes (that look like spiders with there double outriggers) were still making good progress, I went inshore and about 500 meters from the cliffs there was a tide rip and once inside it I had current with me. El Caddero was way off shore when I radiod Kenneth and by the time he got out of the adverse current I was 10 miles ahead and had to keep going as the daylight was slipping away and I still had to round the Islet by the light house at the eastern tip of Bali the sea was 90 feet deep only 25 meters off shore and I was mixed in with fleets of local sailing canoes returing from there fishing grounds. Every village along the north coast of Bali has a fleet of these spiders pulled as far up the the beach as possible. Which is'nt far as the land is rissing 3,000 feet to the sumits of the volcanos only 10 miles in land.
As it got dark I had my last radio contact with Kenneth and Vidia who had just rounded the islet. I was making 6 to 7 knots under sail free at last from the grip of the Lombock straight. Made a big meal of Steak mince and vegies (enough for 2 days) then settled down to a night thick with all kinds of boats from unlit canoes to 200,000 tonne tankers so not much sleap. Next day I took it as easy as possible had lots of 20 minute sleeps. This is OK for me so long as I wake up before the alarm, but if the alarm wakes me the sleep is of much lower value, being awakened from rapid eye sleep is nearly as bad as no sleep at all for me.
By miday we where passing through the channel between the Kangean Islands into the shallow Java Sea where from one position I counted 40 large Indonesian fishing boats anchored in 90 meters of water. The fishermen gave me a wave as the sight of Cariad under full sail wing on wing broke the monotony for them. These fishing boats are 30 to 40 feet long and not very sea worthy, light, shallow draft with high bow, very little free board amidships where the lines or nets are pulled in and a medieviavaly high stern castle where the fish are filleted, skinned, salted and dried (these are generaly not refrigarated boats). At anchor they toss about like trees in a gale and you can see the crew of up to 8 being rolled around as they move on deck, especialy the upper deck.
Over night I put in 3 reefs and took it easy resting as much as possible. The ships seemed to come in waves with no use of sea lanes, they were mixed in with well lit fishing boats. On day 3 as I aproached the coast of Borneo the shipping stopped and I sleeped a lot. The entrace to the Kumai Bay is amazingly shallow, 7 miles out it was just under 5 meters deep, I spent a lot of time watching the depth guage. It then deepened and went dark so I just kept pushing on towards the river untill it was only 5 meters and anchord at 22.00 hours.
It was a bit rolly but I sleept well, then up at 5.30 anchor stowed and into the river entrance channel which is very twisty. "Lone Star" had radioed back the coordinates for the turning points as Cmap is very inaccurate (there are transite marks and it would not have been too difficult without the coordinates). The river its 15 meters deep in the middle right up to Kumai town where I arrived at 9.00 on Bali time 10.00 local as we have passed into yet another time zone (GMT +7). the anchorge is on the opposite side of the river to the port and town which has a lot of mosque mineretts.
Tony
Bali,
After Australia Bali was a serious cultural change 5,000 people per sq. mile in Bali 6 in Australia is a massive difference in it's self but then add in the Hindu religion and everything is different. However most people speak at least a little English and driving is for the most part on the left. I had lots of cleaning to do and technical merit on "Cariad" but wanted to see as much of the Island as possible. So after booking in which was not too bad as my boat security clearance (CAIT) was faxed to me from Jakarta the Indonesian capital, with the original arriving in the post 2 days later.
Many old friends were in at the Bali Marina, Richard Alcott was there because it's cheaper to fly from Darwin to Melbourne via Singapore with a stop in Bali than it is to fly Australian internal flights and he has 2 days in Magical Bali.
Richard and Danial (from Carlisle) advised me to employ Katuk (a good local boy) to help with the work and act as tour guide. We worked well together and after 3 days Cariad was clean and the cockpit teak re-oiled sails tape repaired and engine checked. A day on Horrible Dingy and she was fitted with Iron Wood blocks to replace the wrecked aluminium rowlock holders. Then it was time to sight see, limited experience on Bali roads made it plain that a car was not for me. At 10$ US per day the hire of a Honda Supra small motor bike was the answerer so Katuk lead and I followed all over the Island up Volcano's round Temples through cities sometimes on the pavement even on the wrong side of the road. There seems to be only one rule "Don't run into any thing infront of you", at traffic lights it's a Grand Pr ix start with the bikes 4 abreast and the handle Barr's almost touching. I could not have navigated and ridden the bike so following Katuk was ideal. He was a good tour guide and as a Hindu helped me to understand all the Gods etc. the Great temple is the largest Hindu Temple in the world with shrine to every god, it's right up a Volcano with breathtaking views. But it's very comercial and I had to make it clear to the Sarong sellers that the entry price includes the loan of a Sarong, the tourist Police said I was right but the Sarongs were a bit taty. All other Templs were free and you got a Sarong. The terraced rice fields and agriculture generaly is a work of art you have to get well out of town to see it as the ribbon development spreads for miles with the fields behind the habitation. Much of the roadside is developed as light industry with Stone and Wood Carving Metal workshops and many other manufactures. Every week hundreds of containers of carvings and furniture are exported. The carving now is of a higher standard than it was in the past, it's helped by chainsaws and disc cutters doing the rough work. the stone is very soft so they have to be replace the statues every 30 to 40 years it keeps the cavers very busy on replacement of temple statues as well as for tourists and export. The wood carving is stunning and the wood from Java is of high quality Teak and Mahogany, boats are still made traditionaly in Iron Wood but they are getting short of good big trees.
The sky is full of kites some are just tied off and left to advertise etc. at the temple to the sea god they were making a 25 foot by 10 foot kite to celebrate a festival at the full moon. An old man in Densapour was teaching his grandson to fly a kite that was a parachute with a green man under this got my highest mark for originality and technical merit.
Bali is where the war on terror is causing serious hardship for the local people who rely on the tourist industry which has been decimate by the bombing in 2002 and the Australian government advising its citizens not to visit Indonesia at the present time ( when I was a child we in Chesterfield and more so in Shefield got bombed every night in 1941and my parent's said it had little effect just made people pull together). It's a fantastic place and you've got a thousand times more chance off being hurt on the road in England.
The surf is good here despite the ocean that generates the waves being small by Pacific standards. The people are very good looking and friendly especially the girls, there's lots of dancing and local culture so why not get a cheap flight and have some sun and fun. Packages use the tourist hotels but if you come on your own there are super deals to be had at local hotels and rentals.
Tony
Tuesday 15th August after provisioning Cariad for up to 40 days at sea I filled with fuel and cleared Customs out of Australia on the last day of my 3 month Visa ($205 Au to renew is too much).
Darwin has been a good place to stay but the Monsoon in SE Asia is only 6 to 10 weeks away and having seen the Indian Monsoon as a child I don't want to be at sea in rain that cuts visibility to a few meters especially with the big shipping lanes around Singapore coming up. Got some texts off as I left the harbor and made great progress until 9 at night when we became almost becalmed. If it had been daylight I would probably got 2 knots out of it but at night I try to do as little sail changing and trimming as possible and rest so progress was slow. But it got slower and at midnight I took the sails down until dawn to stop them slating. As I sat in the cockpit during the evening a green and black Sea Snake swam by it was very thin but 6 or 8 feet long. Friday and Saturday were both very quiet days but by constantly trimming the sails and course during the night I managed to get 74 miles out of the day.
The wind picked up to about 10 kts during the day and we made good progress towards the Oil Riggs on the Sahul Banks and passed them just before dawn so lots of watch keeping during the night.
By 11am Ashmore Reef came into sight then the customs ship Hervey Bay who gave me directions to the anchorage. There were several sailing boats working around the Reef and about 2 miles ahead of me seemed to go over the Coral marked as zero depth on my chart. I just did my own navigation but on entering the anchorage the depth was quite different from the chart being much deeper fortunately there are mooring buoys and the Hervey bay which uses one of them sent a RIB over with local charts and the latest weather report. The officers checked my papers and as I have several essential jobs to be done before leaving let me stay for free. The sailing boats are traditional Indonesian fishing boats (about 10 of them) with no keels so they can cross and explore the reefs at high water (there's 6 feet of tide here) seems like a great way to learn about Coral Reefs
I fixed the leaking diesel filter and checked the Main Sail as there were 2 chaff marks but no damage, but the Kitchen water pump is not repairable at sea and really needs a new part so I had to reconnect the hand basin pump (which leaks into the bilges) as an emergency measure. Then at 5.45 on Wednesday morning we set off for Bali in Indonesia. This change of route is a result of my slow progress from Darwin which means I should be able to collect my CAIT security clearance when it’s finally issued on the 29/8/06. The Hervey Bay customs boat and the gun boat Larakia both gave us a wave as we passed them under sail, then out into the Indian Ocean and soon we were doing 6 Knots and sometimes a little more which would get to Bali too early. I tried my best to get the speed down but it was not possible so when I came to a fishing boat at 2 am 25/8/06 I hove to for nearly 2 days and waited. It's no good arriving on a Sunday with no Agent to tell the customs why I have no CAIT.
At 10 am on 26/8/06 I set course for Bali Marina at the port of Benoa in Indonesia knowing that there was little chance of rest during the next 2 days. The first day went fine but during the second night as I crossed the shipping Lane between Lombock and Bail the sea went crazy with over falls caused by wind against the south going current it was no worse than the Bristol Channel but at 2 am with no moon it came as a surprise but didn't last too long. I got across to Mundi Island at Dawn with only 3 ships to avoid. The crossing to Bali started well then the tide turned and increased to about 7 Knots and the wind dropped right down Cariad can only do 6 Knots on the motor so it was a struggle to make progress. When the tide eased we had lost 5 miles but were only 2 miles from the Bali coast. This brought me close to a yacht that had been fighting its way north towards the same port that I was heading for. This yacht radioed and I recognized the voice as Vidia Peterson so the yacht had to be El Corderro who Cariad had shared the Panama locks with (our butty boat as they say on the cut). So we sailed into Bali Marina in formation Vidia having arranged berths for both boats by radio. Quite a lot of the customs and quarantine was done at the marine but I managed to put off the booking in until tomorrow when my CAIT security clearance will be with my agent in Jakarta, I hope.
Tony
Darwin
The capital of Australia’s Northern Territories is a modern small city with lots of tourists at this time of year when it's dry and 30 degrees C with sunshine that seems not to burn but just turns you brown. I have done my running repairs, got the computer to speak English and had a rest after the flog up the east coast and feel it's time to move on. Paperwork is catching up and my Australian visa will be out on 16th August, it's $205 to renew so as I’ve spent $300 trying to get a clearance for Cariad into Indonesia without any result I will leave for Johor Bahru, Malaysia adjacent to the Singapore causeway. It's 2,000 miles with the last 500 in one of the worlds busiest shipping areas so it’s a bit of a challenge.
I will miss the anchorage here at the Darwin sailing club with the dolphins wandering through and the Dugongs stirring up the sea grass as they graze. On Wednesday Alphonso the Ski guide from Chamonix turned up in his 26 foot yacht having had a very hard time in the Coral Sea with 35 knot winds and 6 meters seas (it was bad enough inside the Barrier Reef for me who could day sail glad I followed Joshua Slocum's route). Alphonso claims to have only used 6 gallons of fuel crossing the Pacific and 5 crossing the Atlantic I've used more for the dinghy's outboard.
The airport just up the from the anchorage is joint Civil and Military with F16's currently very busy even a B2 Stealth bomber came in from Guam 2 weeks ago. If only the Australians had had some of this kit here in 1941 the then town might not have been bombed flat by the Japanese. It’s interesting to watch the circuit patterns as they try to launch and land more efficiently with just the occasional go round when one gets it wrong.
Tony
Cape York to Darwin
On the 14th July at 11am I lifted the anchor at Sesia Cape York, it had been a nice stop off for a couple of days with a supermarket and cafe but no boating community and worse no pub as the local Aboriginal people have been almost destroyed by the demon drink. So I have now been to Townsville where the Slim Dusty song Pub with no beer was written for and Sesia the town with no Pub.
The best time to leave for tide to get me through the Endeavour straight shoals was low tide at Sesia so it was back over the sand bar with only 1meter under the Keel. Then a fast trip through the maze of channels, islands, reefs and shoals that mark the boundary between the Coral and Arafura Seas. It was good to be out of the shipping channels and away from the fishing boats. After a night of one hour sleeps I was having early morning tea when I saw the little 3 stars of Orion’s belt astern, back on track at last.
During the day the wind was up to 30 knots from astern and with 4 reefs in Cariad was happy it then went flat calm and the sails were down for 2 hours while I cooked a good meal (pork fillet, mashed potatoes and broccoli with trimmings). This was my last hot food for 36 hours as the wind came up from the west south west during the night. It didn’t get above 30 knots but I was hard on the wind (trying to keep from being blown to far north) the sea was now hitting me from the side so spray and green water was coming over the coach house roof all day and half the next night as the sea became 3 to 4 meters. Got better after 3.00 and at 8.00 I was in the lee of Cape Arnhem and then on to the sheltered anchorage at the company (Alcan) town of Gove
Gove Harbor
Is the most yacht friendly place I have yet found in Australia? The Alcan company have a mine and refinery plant which I toured during my stay, they seem to have set up the Gove Yacht Club so that workers can live on boats thus freeing up there limited camp and housing space. It's a large anchorage and the club bar and restaurant are very good, there’s a lot of yachting know how and it was a chart and photos on the club house wall that took me back to a chat I had had in Bundaberg with a guy who had crewed on a fishing boat in this area. Don’t go through "The hole in the Wall" he said so when I saw the chart and photos explaining how to negotiate the channel I just had to do it.
The wall is created by the peninsula and islands which stretch 100 miles north from the coast to Cape Wessel. The aborigines say there are bad spirits around this Cape. The hole is at 11deg. 33.5mins south 136deg. 22.2mins east is 48 meters wide about 8.8 meters deep and a mile long (check it out on Cmap or Google earth). Currents run at 9 Kts and it floods east and ebbs west. So the first hour after high water is ideal going west. I set off at 9.30 on Saturday 22/7/06 in company with Richard Alcotts 60 foot steel Ketch Blue Wave. We only went 27 miles to St Margaret’s Bay and anchored for the night. I swam over to Blue Wave for a sundowner while they Croc watched for me. The time to leave was agreed as 3.30 to catch the tide at the Hole. So up at 3.00 and off round the Pearl Farm nets in the pitch black. Cariad under full sail was a little quicker than Blue Wave on motor so I lead through the channel between Cotton and Wigram Islands then reduced sail to go through
"The hole in the Wall"
It is not hard to find initially but the channel is not square to the Islands so you can't see it till you’re virtually committed to going in. We had arrived 20 mins. After high water and the tide was at slack water so no problems, but it’s the only place I’ve seen the names of Navy ships painted on the rock walls (I assume these were survey ships). There was a great feeling of achievement on getting through what must be one of the great sailing challenges.
Blue Wave headed south to cruise Arnhemland coast while I set sail for Darwin 350 miles to the west. On the second night I decided to anchor on a shallow patch just off the shipping lane but 20 miles from land. At 2am the wind got up to 25 knots and I got no more sleep being very glad to up anchor at first light and get back under sail. We were lucky with the tides which took me all the way in through the rest of the Van Diemen Gulf and Vernon Islands to Darwin where I will have to wait several weeks for permits to go to Indonesia.
Tony