Port Douglas appears to be on a river but is in fact on the Dickson Inlet which is a Mangrove lined channel through an area of low lying swampy ground. The Town is a very swish holiday centre not far from Cairns Airport and close to the Great Barrier Reef. It has banks one of which had my cards waiting for collection so I victualed Cariad ready for the continued voyage north.
Anchoring in a narrow navigation channel requires setting bow and stern anchors to keep in line with the channel but as this is a tidal inlet the warps (ropes) went slack in the middle of the first night and I drifted out into the navigable channel so launched Horrible dingy and laid a warp to the mangroves QED then as I made a cup of tea the thought struck me that this might be Crocodile country??? Next day I saw a parade of tourist boats going around the creek Croc spotting. Perhaps it was Horrible dingy that put them off. The weather was a mixture of sun and tropical showers so I was happy to be in Port for a couple of days. Then on the last day of June I set off at 5 am the 70 miles to Cooktown passing Cape desolation and taking in the Endeavour Reef on the way. I wanted to see why Cook crashed here in 1770. The wind was south east at 20 knots much as it was for Cook, I got within 200 metres of the reef (acording to Cmap) but couldnt see it as it is on the lee side so no waves break on it. Cook hit it at night so it must have been much harder for his lookout. Cooktown is another 28 miles passed the Hope Islands which Cook had been avoiding when he hit Endeavour Reef this must have been a very difficult time for them with the ship slowly sinking and an inhospitable coast till
Cooktown.
The entrance is over a sand bar then it gets shallower so as it was low tide I kept going very slowly till Cariad touched bottom then anchored and let the wind and rising tide wash us into a deeper spot ( not exactly text book but it worked out fine). The town is odd because the roads were laid out during the 1870 Gold-rush that raised the population to 30,000 so its big in scale but as there are only 2,500 living here now its all far apart (not a problem if you have transport). The little museum is worth a visit, it doesn't have lots of Cook stuff but it does have the stuffed crocodile that was brought into the bar scene by Paul Hogan in the film " Crocodile Dundee". The weather was really nice so I did some walking up Grassy Hill to the lighthouse and down to the beaches on the Southeast coast (the Endeavour River is unsafe due to Crocs) then back through the botanical gardens where I found about 20 Kangaroos and this only 2 miles from where the first Englishman ever saw one (there's a monument detailing this fact near the lighthouse).The only hiccup was on Saturday night when I expected a lively time in this frontier town as Friday had been a good night, but the state traffic police came several hundred up from Townesville and set up "traffic spot checks" so almost every body stayed home. This seemed to be an omen so next day I moved to Cape Bedford sailing in lovely weather past massive hills of white Silica sand. Then next day an early start for
Lizard Island.
I anchored before lunch and set off to climb to Cooks lookout, it was from here that he was able to see an escape route out through the barrier reef as the inside passage north of here is just a maze of Islands, Reefs and Keys. As I returned to the boat close to a small exclusive resort at the northwest corner of the Island I came upon 2 Monitor Lizards .each about 4 feet long and most impressive hope the photos come out. Next day it was off through the maze to Cape Melville on a day of high wind, rough sea but with only small sails I made rapid progress to
Bathurst bay
Where I anchored in the lee of the Cape.you would think a big hill between you and the wind would act as a complete barrier to the wind but it doesn't the wind builds up and strikes you with bullets of wind instead of a steady flow. The anchorage is very isolated with no signs of human activity on shore. So it was just an overnight stop then away at 6.00 in light winds and a calm sea for a change this reduced my speed but it was nice to have a quiet sail until 14.00 when the wind picked up sufficiently to get me to the tiny
Morris Island
just as it was getting dark. This is a Coral Key 150 metres wide by 500 long but with a submerged coral reef 3 miles long and 1 mile wide to windward giving good protection from the sea but very little from the wind which got up to 25 knots during the night. So I was off in the morning with a 25 to 30 knot trade wind. Cariad went well but the skipper could get nothing right. This was a day I was lucky to survive due to an over sight reading the electronic chart where I miss read 1.9 meters as 19 metres, fortunately I was at the chart table and saw the depth reducing alarmingly and turned 90 degrees back into the shipping channel which I was only just outside of. It looked like a rock on the fish finder so I was very lucky as the waves were about 2 metres high. then as I was feeling my was to anchor I bumped into coral heads at
Portland Roads
It was time for a rest but this was not the right place as it was full of prawn fishing boats waiting for the mother ship to resupply them and take there catches. My navigation was double checked, small sails were selected, the reefs are now so close together to windward that they provide good shelter from the sea and a conservative route chosen around the Islands that surround Cape Grenville which protects
Margrets Bay
Two days rest were needed as the next section is the crucial one around Cape York. Horrible dingy was launched after cleaning up inside the boat which included getting rid of almost a quarter of a liter of clothes washing liquid which was in the bottom of the cuboard under the sink as a result of the plastic cap being smashed 2 days ago.
I met a couple with two 8 or 9 year old girls who live on there boat sailing the Australian coast and surrounding cruising grounds now they have done there circumnavigation. They sent me to the site of a wrecked WWII fighter plane on the beach which they wanted to know about. As far as I can tell its an American Bell P39 Aerocobra. Its 10 metre wingspan, mid engined with a V12 single overhead cam behind the pilot, shaft driven to a planetary gear drive to a 3 bladed prop so that a cannon could fire through the prop boss. There were twin machine guns in each wing. Photos to to follow. Can anyone confirm this is correct please???
On Tuesday it was off at 4.45  on a quiet weather forecast for
Escape River
It was great to have full sails up for the whole day and I probable should have had the spinnaker up to so I didn't arrive at the river mouth bar until 17.00. Its a big river but there was only 10 feet of water at the shallowest and I was glad to be over it. Then I found the river had been turned into a Pearl Farm. Some lads said anchor up the river so I did but they meant miles up and I meant 1 mile, once the anchor was down I would not move again. So it was tinned Steak and vege followed by rice pudding and off to bed. 2 years to the day since I was pushed out of the mud at Uskmouth.
At 6.45 on the12 July 2006 I crossed the bar taking the northern route towards the Cape the wind was very light but I was in no rush yet and a motor sail-er passed me going south so the tide could only just be turning. The Cape is not the problem its the Islands just south. I used the Albany channel which I entered at 9.15. There was strong turbulence on the west side of the entrance so I stayed on the east. as the wind was very light I had to put the motor on to guarantee stearageway.then I looked at the speed 9 knots we shot though the channel in glorious sunshine (hope the photos come out) and as we emerged Cape York was 3 or 4 miles up ahead. The speed kept going and with a slight increase in wind the engine went off.
So the sail around the Cape was great with no problems. I arrived at Sesia an Aboriginal settlement and camping holiday site where the ferry goes to Thursday Island and there is a supermarket.


Tony

Bundaberg to Cairns
This section of my journey was supposed to be in the calm area within the barrier Reef this turned out to be false the seas were as big as the Pacific but much shorter due to the depth which seldom exceeds 200 feet deep, much like the English Channel. When Roy McKibbin told me about his trip across the wide bay into Bundaberg and his 47 foot Bowman was hit by a wave that tore the cabin table from the floor plus my own roughish time in the same area I guessed it would be tuff.
So on the 8^th June at 16.00 I set out from Burnett Heads boatyard heading north with the idea that it should be possible to night sail at least part of the way to Cairns thus cutting the time in half for these sections. The first night was hard work and I was still not on top form after the food poisoning the wind was SE 20 to 25 knots but the sea was 2 to 3 meters of short chop. There were also new sights to see such as the what appeared to be 15 fishing boats all in a line off Gladstone at 2 in the morning these turned out to be fifteen 100,000 ton ships at anchor with there navigation lights on. As we passed Cape Capricorn I wondered where the warm weather had gone, its now tropical Queensland and I’m still in a full cold climate sailing suit. Still we made 135 miles in 24 hours and put in to Great Keplle Island and anchored for the night.
As I left Luke a local skipper who had set off 5 days earlier from Bundaberg day sailing with backpackers as crew was anchored astern of me so we had a chat then off we went but, with wind was all over the place and the sea still big. Would have liked to put into port Clinton but the book had severe warnings about it being a military training area so I just pointed Cariad away from the coast and then through the shipping lane which is very well used by the large bulk carriers and tankers. It then turned horribly wet all night so I heaved too put the anchor light on and went to bed. At dawn all had changed the sun came out and the wind was from the SE light at first. Course was set for North East Percy Island and a passing ship gave me a fair weather forecast. By the time I got to the Island the wind was 30 knots and it was getting dark, the chart showed Blunt Bay to be easy to access so in we went and there was a Dutch yacht who put his deck light on to guide me in. Next day was lovely weather but I had to carry out essential maintenance to Cariad resulting from the rough treatment she had taken in the last 4 days. The weather went down hill big time and was a force 8 gale on the 13^th so stayed in the neat harbor formed by the 2 Percy Islands that sort of overlap to give good protection in normal SE winds, we had 40 knots and a spring tide so at high water there were white horses passing the boat. The islands are uninhabited and covered in forest, unless they were used for sheep grazing years ago like middle Percy where serious erosion has taken place.
With a strong wind warning in force I left at 4 am for Refuge bay on Skidaw Island. I just had the jib up as we were down wind and I could make 7 knots with ease and arrived at 15.30 in a bay that gave complete protection from the SE trades. There is a local authority free camp site and picnic area on the island but as a single hander it’s too much hassle to get Horrible dingy out for an hour then have to re stow her. So just had a beer and watched the Sea Eagles soaring and fishing.
The islands where now coming up thick and fast as we approach the Whitsunday’s. I could not be sure to make Airlie Beach in one day so opted for two short 40 and 30 mile days instead with a stop at Shaw Island. This gave me time to see these beautiful Islands many uninhabited but some with high security resorts for the mega rich. Airllie Beach is the tourist port for the Whitsunday Islands and is full of mostly backpackers so there’s good Internet and the sailing club with great food and Cascade beer on draught.
After an excellent Saturday night I decided to move a little further on as the weather was getting much better and I felt like a sail. So sailed through the night passed Bowen where the ships were waiting for pilots. Then on the stroke of midnight Sunday all the ships up anchored and it was like to middle of the English Channel for an hour. I was inshore all this activity but there were fishing boats about so not much sleep. Then into the small city of Townsville at 11.00. The marina is absolutely jammed with boats and yachts mostly live aboard, it seems boaties come up here and just stay. The top rudder bearing was on its last legs so dismantled it and found a machine shop that made me a new one next day and was able to replace the solar array stays with adjustable steel wire rope. Woolworths delivered enough grocers to get me to Darwin even if my credit cards don’t turn up at Port Douglas.
Then a short 36 miles to Great Palm Island, North East Bay, which was rather Rollie, but the book warns that the best anchorage at Casement Bay has a lot of crime as a result of the aboriginal settlement, so I stayed in the swell. Next morning off to Fitzroy Island which has a resort catering mainly for day guests from Cairns which is 10 miles to the north.
I had decided to miss Cairns as it has a reputation for overcrowding so after a walking around Fitzroy for a day I set sail for Port Douglas 46 miles to the north. It has a sand/coral bar which is very marginal for Cariad and as low water was around 15.00 I took my time sailing past Cairns which looks to be quite a large town, the airport was very busy with jet liners landing every 10 minutes throughout the day. I arrived at the bar at 16.30 just as a very big sailing catamaran arrived with 50 or more passengers and 3 high speed day trip ferry boats all having been out to the Great Barrier Reef for the day. So I followed them in on the flood tide and had 2 or 3 feet to spare under the Keel then up the river and anchored. Hope my Bank Cards will be here in the morning.

Tony

Bundaberg,
Arrived on Wednesday the 16^th May and hoped to get straight into the boatyard at Burnett Heads, which is at the head of the Burnett River that runs through the quite large farming town of Bundaberg. This could not be done as the yard was very busy launching boats for the start of the winter cruising season and I was finally haled out on the 23^rd. In the meantime my credit and debit cards  got lost having fallen out of the inadequate pockets of my cheap Fiji shorts (the wrong trousers strike again). The bank in Guernsey were very good and got money to the boatyard by electronic transfer and this kept me solvent.
Cariad needed quite a lot of work below the waterline and this is not the time or place to do it so all she got was an inspection, scrub, new rudder bearing, new anode, ground and greased sea cocks and two coats of antifouling.
As the yard couldn't launch me on the agreed day I accepted Roy McKibbins invitation to go to Nousa, his adopted town at the south end of Frazer Island for a couple of days. This was a lovely break during which I met many great people and saw one of the most beautiful parts of Australia. Roys sister is a very good cook so we ate very well and a visit to a beach village on Tuesday was a real treat, with a 10 mile drive up the beach then having lunch with the most charming Italian Australian (born in Bologna). On the way back Roy and Chevaun tried disparately to show me Kangaroos and Koalas but they were to bashful or perhaps they are extinct and its being kept secret !!! The train journey back was on a tilting train almost identical to the one I saw in England in 1979 when it was being tested prior to its scraping by British rail. They may well have done the right thing as its had lots of problems here and was an hour late on my journey causing me to arrive back at the boat yard at 11 pm just in time to sail Cariad out and anchor. Next day I replaced the old worn 8mm anchor chain with new 10mm, but found that during the launching the toe rail on the port side had sustained damage which needed a new piece splicing in. So out with the woodworking tools again, also had to replace a gas bottle which is too rusted to get filled in Australia.
My life then started to centre around the dammed lost wallet with the new cards not arriving and after 2 weeks in the post one part of one card arrived. I went to an Australian bank opened an account and will have it all sent on to Port Douglas near Cooktown.
The weather had started to turn cold at night and this is just not on so having recovered from a bit of food poisoning/fever I left the Burnett river on the 8^th June heading north towards the sun.

Tony

Noumea to Bundaberg,
Noumea is a lovely place and I would have liked to have spent much more time there and visited more of New Caledonia, but I must get around the globe first. Sight seeing can be done another time when there is no press on pressure. So booked out re-fulled and said my good byes to El Caddero (Ken and Vidia) Tuesday and left on Wednesday 10^th May 2006 at 6.30 am. The wind was SE trades and Cariad was in her element making very good progress out through the reef and into the Pacific heading 248 degrees for Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia.  By the end of the first day 152 miles had been covered but the wind was getting up to 25 knots so a rolly night with 3 reefs in and still making 6 knots.On Thursday morning I was surprised to find a ship heading across my path then a large tanker heading in the opposite direction but straight for south west Australia, they confirmed it is a shipping lane but it is not on my ocean passages of the world , you live and learn. Friday went well with another 140 miles covered and 2 reefs in most of the time. Saturday 4 reefs in and a big sea running which continued till the early hours of Sunday morning, a weather forecast from a passing cruise liner was very helpful as it confirmed my belief that it was not going to deteriorate further though there was a short sharp storm just as it got dark on Saturday night with the wind up to 40 knots for about an hour, no beer for 2 days and very little hot food as I didn't want to get scolded.
This area of rough weather corresponded with the Argo bank where the ocean is only a few metres deep when the general sea bed is 2,000 metres so a rough sea is to be expected with the SE current. At 4.00 on Sunday morning I started to put on sail to maintain at least 5 knot average speed the day just got better and I had a great sail. Had an excellent bath in salt water at 16.30 then a couple of beers, made a Reindeer meat stew (got to have no strange unmarked cans when I arrive in Australia) and just  marvelled at how Cariad can make 7 knots out of 15 knots of wind. Monday started with very nice weather but the closer we got to Australia the more cloud and rain there was ahead. At 18.00 reached the pillar buoy which marks the north end of break sea spit to the north of Frazer Island. I had been worried about finding it as my astro navigation is giving 20 mile errors ( but the GPS and Cmap are spot on). The problem now was to take 14 hours for the next 50 miles so as to arrive in daylight without getting on reefs and having some sleep close to land. The wind kept increasing as I approached Bundabergh half the night I only had the main sail with 3 reefs and the up haul tight to scandalize it. At 4.00 I decided to go for Bundaberg as it was impossible to stay on the wind going slow.
There was spray and rain all the time and when I finally reached the shipping channel where I had to radio for clearance the volunteer marine rescue operator was wanting all my passport details etc that I had emailed custom before I gave him more help than I should have then told him the boat needed my attention (which was dead right, aviate, navigate, communicate springs to mind) and then sailed to the new marina where we cleared in with no problems but a 165 dollars Australian charge for quarantine, they must think I am a sea dog.
I am now just south of the Tropic of Capricorn so its wearing summer cloths and covers on the bunk, but great for working in a boat yard which is were Ill be for the next few weeks.
Have now crossed the worlds biggest ocean. Two done and one to go.
Tony

Suva to Noumea,
I arrived at Suva the capitol of Fiji on 20^th April 2006. It is the largest port with the Federal buildings and prison, but the main airport is 3 hours by bus at Nandi at the other side of the island on the Coral Coast. Booking in and out was the usual third world system with forms asking the same thing 20 times over and they don't seem to check if you put different details down each time as they haven't computerized it (computers are only used for word proceesing as yet). The city has broad band internet and quite good shops etc. The Royal Suva Yacht club is just on the north west edge of town a 2 dollar (60p) taxi ride from the city centre. The food was very good after Savusavu though the showers were a bit dingy, anchoring was in the bay in shallow water with good holding in mud. When Finesse and Cariad arrived we were the only visitors but during our 5 day stay 3 boats came up from New Zeeland and The Spannish Strole from Savusavu. Up from New Zeeland was Richard  Clifford who I haven't met since French Polynesia he is spending this season cruising the Western Pacific and writing more articles for the yachting magazines. So we all had a very good weekend with Katie from US peace corp over for dinner on Saturday night.
Booked out on Monday against my better judgement but Roy has to get his guests back to Australia on schedule and the weather is for very little wind for the next few days. Tuesday set off together in beautiful sunny weather, motored passed the reefs but Roy wanted to keep on motoring (he has an 800 litre tank but mine is only 100 so we split and I crept through the night at 1.5 to 2 knots under sail, but by morning I was out of the Kandavu passage and into the Pacific. By midday we had done a 106 miles and the weather looked good at first then as it got dark it first went flat calm and quite rolly. Then midday Friday there were thunder storms followed by more flat calm. At bout 4.00 I could see an LED light to the south I called on the VHF at 6.00 and Vidia answered on El Corrdero (so nice to hear a friendly voice) they were 8 days out of Savusavu and had had very little wind. By midday the wind went right on the nose El Caddero tacked south towards the forecast south easterlies Cariad taked north into the front which at least gave me winds which by evening put me on course for the entrace into the channel around the south of New Calidonia (Canal de Havannah). On Tuesday at 9.00 a pod of 4 whales passed 100 metres to the north going towards Fiji. The Prony Bay in the Canal de Havanna is a whale breeding area so whales are said to be common here.
By 7.00 on Wednesday the Cape Reine Charlotte was in sight too late to make a daytime transit through the channel and as I got into the entrance a nasty short choppy sea set up probably caused by the outgoing tide, my first plan was to get inside the first coral reef at Goro, but as I got close to the reef the sea calmed and the adverse current almost disappeared so it was logical to press on to my intended anchorage in Port Boise bay just passed Cape Charlotte. This is a lovely bay with excellent French navigational buoying as its used by the pilot boats which help ships through the channel.
As there was no pilot boat in I borrowed the mooring, had a couple of beers, cooked and refueled ready for an early start. This turned out be very early as the pilot boat arrived at 1.30 in the morning and I had to move and anchor in amongst the coral in the pitch black, all part of lifs rich pattern I suppose. At 6.00 (Fiji time) I set off in the half light through the reef pass and out into the channel which was calm and very beautiful. 8.00 the sails were up as we passed Prony Bay and into the Woodin Canal where a large cargo ship and the pilot boat passed me. Nounea was soon in sight and I was escorted by a war ship with no flag and no offensive weapons on show. It turned out to be an ex US navy submarine hunter the A14 which is now the New Zeeland navy survey ship Resolution (don't think they have had it long as all the US names are still visible and they must be saving up for an NZ white ensign). The last bit into Noumea was great with ferries tugs and small craft all around. The marina is very nice and the match of any good one in France, customs immigration and health were all done on the boat after an excellent lunch with Roy, Laura and Brian on Finesse who have been here for days having done most of the trip on the motor.
Next day El Corrdero came in and is moored next to Cariad, we did very well to get in a day earlier as Ken her skipper is a very experienced Swedish sailor.

Tony

Savusavu to Suva,

    It was with a great deal of regret that I slipped my mooring in the Nacama creek at 6am on Wednesday the 19 April 2006. The rain was persistant but warm and the visibility just adequate to make out the unlit ferry mooring bouy at the harbour entrance. Cariad was in company with Finesse a 47 foot Australian ketch skippered by Roy Mc Kibben (originally from Northern Ireland but now an Australian). I led to the Point which is a fixed light on the end of the point passage reef at the entrance to Savusavu Bay the overcast was not too bad and the wind direction was ideal at just south of east so I radioed to Roy that I was going and he agreed. We then had 3.5 hours of great sailing with Finesse romping past Cariad at speeds up to 8 knots ( down the waves with wind aft of the beam) these conditions should have continued when we rounded the south end of the Namena reef and went wing on wing. But even though the wind was 10 to15 knots both boats just dropped to 4 knots caused by a 2 to 3 knot tide against us which was made worse by my having a Genoa  wrap up as I changed heading compounded by my tugging at the sail and tearing it.
  We progressed slowly past Makongui island the old Leper Colony where I was able to contact Barbra on the yacht Spanish Strole, friends who left Savusavu 2 or 3 days ago. We turned south towards Ovalau round a foaming reef half a mile to port. I was a bit concerned about going into Levuka harbour on Ovalau at 16.30 after hitting the reef going into Wallis but Roy who had been in 3 times previously lead through the reef which has an excellent marking light house and lit transit. We anchorded off the small town just down wind of the fish factory the smell from which made me very hungry. We had an excellent meal in town and a quick tour round during which Roy said by the way I have to be in Suva tomorrow so no time to sew the sail.
    Thursday 20^th April out though the reef at 6am and into a very nasty short chop just about the worst wave length for Cariad, there seemed to be 3 sets of waves the main swell, a smaller set in the same direction but a quarter of the wave lenght and a 3^rd set at 45 degrees. We motored through this keeping the reef on our staboard side and after about an hour the frame carrying the solar panels started to work lose so out with ropes to make it safe. Slowly the the sea eased but the big swell breaking on the reefs fringing Vita Levu was spectacular. I was please to reach the Nanilai light house so that the motor could be dispensed with and sails used for the 5 hour run to Suva. The reefs were enhanced at the Belcher Rocks with a corona of spray 20 to 40 feet above the surf, then a Chinese type fishing boat up on the coral 4 miles from Suva. The wrecks then became a common feature marking the edge of the safe water. Roy was waiting for me at the harbour entrance (he had to motor as his sails slatted badly when he tried sailing). Finesse then led to the Royal Suva Yacht Club where we anchored.
    That was just the right sort of day to start receiving my old age pension. Yes its 65 and a load of fixing to do on Cariad.

Tony

Arrived back at "Cariad" yesterday mid afternoon having spent 42 hours traveling from London. It’s a long way but with a  fantastic view from the plane, Siberia and the Gobi Desert were in full sun most of the way. I have never seen so much empty space you could make a fortune if you could move some of it to London, Bristol or Val Loire and use it for car parking.
    The hand baggage section at Heathrow were very interested in my fridge unit which I had wisely decided to take in the cabin where it is pressurized to not much less than atmosphere. Once I had had it passed by LHR the other airports just looked at it on the X-ray and said what’s that so I said it’s been thoroughly inspected and tested with all sorts of instruments at LHR and they passed it through. Until I got to Fiji where they charged me some nominal customs duty, which I’m off to claim back after lunch.
    The temperature here is a little cooler than when I left with lovely hot sun by day and not to bad at night. Roy on "Finesse" went to Tonga while I was away and got caught in a tropical storm that fortunately didn’t start to rotate (thus becoming a Hurricane) the Islands were all boarded up just in case. Glad I was in Bristol and Ross.
    I now have to start installing the equipment I have brought back with me ready to move out around mid April.

Tony

It's only 4 months since I arrived here but it seems much longer because I've met so many interesting people coming and going from this beautiful mooring area every one of the cruisers has at least a few good stories to tell and some have dozens. The local people are great and as they all speak English communication is no problem. The locals do have difficulty understanding our desire to see the world and how we yachties have detailed knowledge of places  tens of thousands of miles away when they hardly know this island (the island is only partially accessible by road, some is just jungle tracks). There are hot springs here that are used to cook food in, you just bring a chicken in a polythene bag put it in the water and an hour later it?s cooked. The downside is the area is volcanically active so last week there was an undersea earthquake 200km to the north but fortunately no significant tsunami.
Cariad is improving slowly as I try to put in at least 6 hours a day working on her. But its slow work with the temperatures is in the mid 30's and the humidity pretty high. Tools are difficult to get at unless they are the ones used on passage so just getting a paint brush means a major upheaval in the main cabin so you can imagine the chaos when I have to install heavy cables from the winch at the bow (sharp end) to the batteries near the stern (blunt end).
The web site has had to take a back seat while this work is pushed through but when I set off to Australia next May I will have a way of putting photos on the site without having to send prints to England. I will always try to answer messages and Emails.

Have A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Tony

Here at Savusavu, in Fiji we are having lots of hot sunny weather. This has been a bit of a pain as all my sun shades are off for renovation and to have another solar panel added. The threat now is the approaching cyclone season which starts in November and I am preparing my mooring for the possibility of gusts up to 80 knots, above this it's in the lap of the gods.
Some news from home would be nice if you have the time to type.
Tony

There was definitely a political problem on Wallis Island with groups of locals sitting around sometimes in the middle of the roads. I could get no sense out of the French residents who were ignoring the problem like they do when the French farmers have a strike.
On Friday 23^rd September I walked around about two thirds of the island and found most roads had trees felled across them and heaps of burning tires to stop cars and the people at these barricades were hoping I would not cross there line but as they couldn?t or wouldn?t tell me what the problem was I just said "no parlivous francey" and walked on. When I returned to Fiji other cruisers said the people of Wallis wanted the King to stand down but he was refusing to do so and Nobility from other Islands kept coming over to support him. The expatriate French did not want to inflame the situation so stayed on the side lines and the police stayed in there air-conditioned offices.
On Monday the local monthly supply ship the Southern Warna arrived. How the captain gets a medium size container ship through that narrow pass is a serious feat of seamanship, but you could tell from the way he docked in a strong wind that he was very good at his job. The ship was 4 or 5 containers wide (40 to 50 feet wide) with 2 large cranes 3 Italian officers and a crew of about 15 Pilipinos.
The weather was very unsettled with heavy showers and strong winds gusting to 35 knots. Poor old "Cariad" was straining on her anchor and with a Coral reef only 100 meters behind her. Just had to move out so booked out on 27^th and left early on the 28^th so as to catch low water in the Honikulu Pass at 7.30. There are photos of the reef with the partly missing marker which I will be sending back to the UK in the next week or so. The waves were about 2 meters and the wind 15 to 20 Knots from the South-east so good conditions. By night the sea was 3 to 4 meters and the wind up to 30 Knots the auto helm had got water in the electronics so I was using only the Windpilot which can steer an erratic course if the wind is variable in direction. At 2.00 am I saw ship lights astern and a call on the radio confirmed it was the Southern Warna on its way to Fortuna, the captain asked if I was OK as his ship was being thrown about a bit, "Cariad" was happy . They had me on radar and visual but I just couldn?t sleep until the ship was ahead of me then I put in a fourth reef and had some good one hour periods of sleep. At dawn I decided to keep to the south of the islands instead of going between them because there was the possibility of a venturi effect which could double the wind speed. To the south the wind slowly dropped and the waves reduced to 2metres in heavy showers and before long all the reefs were out but the waves stayed at 2metres. These are bad conditions for the windpilot so it had to be disconnected and I hand steered for 4 or 5 hours when the wind came back steadily increasing until 22.00 hours by which time it was force 8 gale which kept on until 2.00 and for a short time was force 9. The sea didn?t increase as we were starting to get protection from the reefs to the north of Vanua Levu. By morning I was tired but my luck was in and the autohelm started up again so sleeping during the day was safe until late afternoon when we closed with the Great Sea Reef on the north coast of Vanua Levu. Navigation was now critical as the Round Island Passage is surrounded by Coral Reefs and isolated Coral heads and I decided to go in during the night. The moon was a bit on the small side but I got sights of Round Island which confirmed my position on the Cmap electronic chart. As the night progressed the wind strengthened, this was fine while under sail, but at midnight I had to turn into the wind waves and current using the engine to fight my way to the anchorage at Yandua Island. The jib was in such a strong wind stream that it wrapped much tighter around the forestay than usual and as a consequence it didn?t fully furl (roll around the forestay). The foredeck was underwater quite a lot of the time and it took me 20 minutes to decide what to do the deck light is very powerful so visibility was no problem it was deciding on a plan and having the nerve to implement it that mattered. So took a large adjustable spanner tied on (which I hardly ever do now as I feel safer not having the safety line pulling at me) went to the bow and rotated the forestay with the adjustable spanner until the sail was furled then tied it off with a short cord which is kept tied to the pulpit rail. It was during this time at the bow probably while up to my chest in water that I thought out the reason for the water penetration into the fore cabin. Water is poured into the anchor locker though the locker lid access hole, the winch chain access and the drain holes, the boat then rises 8 to 10 feet throwing the water in the locker at the wall with the fore cabin creating high pressure at the top seam where you would think only splashing could occur. Well now all I have to do is lots of work in the cramped anchor locker (such is life) and this 5 year old problem will be solved.
It took 12 hours to motor the 35 miles to Yandua Island and there was no time for sleeping the Pro Plus pills were a great help. The anchorage was absolutely picturesque, but as soon as I had set the GPS anchor watch I went to bed and slept for 5 hours followed 4 hours later by a full nights sleep. Then it was dry out the boat followed by repairing the jib which had suffered damage to stitching on 3 of the top panel joins, I?m getting quite good with needle and thread, the main sail will get me to Savusavu with luck then its going to be lots of very heavy sawing.
I could not go ashore on this lovely island as I have to clear customs into Fiji first and so after 2 days recuperation I set off for Coconut point now navigating inside the Coral reefs that ring Vanua Levu the lage northern Fiji Island. This is the most unspoiled large island I have come to with no large developments to spoil the forest and mountain views. After spending the night at Coconut point I was underway by 6.00 and into the Sonisgai Passage by 10.30. This a 500metre wide passage but through it tries to flow the whole of the sea hitting the south east side of the Fiji Island group and you cant get a quart into a pint pot even if the pint pot is the size of Bligh Water (yes its mutiny on the Bounty country round here). it was very rough for half an hour but as the tide was with me it was just hang in as you do in the Bristol Channel when its wind over tide. Then 3 hours of great sailing across the bay to Savusavu which I now think of almost like home.
This 750 miles of hard sailing was a test to see if Cariad and I are up to doing the Cape of Good Hope (The Cape of Storms as it was known) and the answered is that we are up for it in December 2006. We have improved beyond recognition from the rag tag outfit that crossed from La Palma to Tenerife 12 months ago. All that has to be done now is the work that I should have done before leaving England.
Tony

Left Savusavu on 13^th September at 10.15 after spending an hour and a half waiting for the immigrationn waller to open up his office. This left me too little time to get to Fawn Harbour so I motored to the point by the Custoue resort and anchored for a swim and a quiet night. At 6.00 next morning with the anchor up a Chilean singlele hander (Alan) rowed over and started guisingng me about my new LED powered anchor and navigation lights he got me so engrossed that I had to apologisee to an anchored boat for almost drifting into them. As soon as the point was rounded sails went up and we had a lovely sail to the pass at the entrance through the coral reef  at Fawn Harbour, this is a twisty channel only about 100 metres wide. As it was high tide the entrance through the Coral Reef was under 1.5 metres of water so you have to keep running up to the bow to check the colour of the water ahead, the most prominent reefs have wooden posts on them but these can be demolished in storms so it,s all a bit nerve wracking but once inside you have a harbour big enough for 100 boats and only 4 in there. Next day I lead out in company with Alisha ( Weymouthth yacht), it was very calm so the engine was on and after about half an hour the exhaust note changed up a bit, well as the inlet filter had been checked only 3 days ago it couldn,t be that??? After a few minutes  I went below and the engine was very hot so shut it down but not before the plastic bend into the exhaust box had melted "Alishasha" Towed me for about a mile as we were not far off the reef in no wind. Then a breeze got up and with navigational help getting through the reef in Viani Bay where the sea map charts are more than half a mile out I sailed in and dropped anchor still under sail.
The Viani village is 7 kilometers from the nearest road but on Friday (next day) a boat goes to Tavenuni the island 7 miles to the west. I promiseded to pay the fuel and the village school teacher picked me up next day. The open 5 metre boat with 30 hp outboard raced across the 7 mil Somo Somo straight in less than 15 minutes. We bought fuel and some school supplies which had been arranged the night before on the same American boat that I met in the cook islands (Sally,Christine is very worried about the 60 children at school who are very lacking in paper pencils etc. the state only provides slates and chalk). Now they have enough paper, pens and pencils to write Tolstoy'so War and Peace 100 times Tavenunii is called the garden island of Fiji, it,s lovely and not commercialercial so the Hussain hardware store (so this is where Saddam has come to) had a 90 degree bend and a straight connector from which the local welder fabricated my exhaust part in half an hour. This left me 4 hours to sight see before the boat left Wairiki where the 180 Meridian passes through the middle of the village. The date line has been artificially moved east to miss these islands as it would be a problem if half the island was on a different day.
On 18^th September left Viani bay for Wallis Island 350 miles to the north east. It was a very fine reach all the way and Cariad had her lee rail under water quite a lot of the time, but we only had to tack once and that was to avoid a fishing boat at 1.30 in the night. The first 100 miles was all close to the Ringold Isles and the reefs to the north east of Fiji then out into the Pacific keeping Wallis,s sister islands Futuna and Alofi on the port (left) side. Why are they not the Grommet Islands?? I suppose the French only allowed the islanders to watch Asterix the Gaul cartoons.
Arrived 10 miles from Wallis,s reef pass 6 hours after low water at midnight (the book say,s go in in the middle of the day at low water, and it,s right). So I hove too for 4 hours and then went to have a look at high water(6.00 am). It was very impressive only about 75 metres wide and 300 to 400 metres long, but with big surf breaking on the east side. The pass was well marked on the starboard side with 2 green poles but only one red on the port side opposite one of the greens there is a very short post that looked as if it marked an isolated rock. In good day light I would have seen it was the base of a storm damaged port hand marker. I decided to go in Cariad surfed through to the first markers under power and sail with no problem. In calm water in the pass I had to decide which side of the isolated rock marker to go and as there were more red markers further on to port made decision to leave it to starboard and the keel lodged on the coral reef (no big bang or damage at impact) so full reverse against the sail and Cariad came off on the next wave.
The force was with me.
Anchord at Matu Uta 2 hours later having been very careful navigating the lagoon.
Tony

To morrow morning I hope to leave Savusavu for a 2 week cruise around part of Fiji's north island and over to Wallis Island. So I will be off line for most of the 2 weeks unless there is Internet at Wallis which is a French protectorate supported with EEC funds.

I have been nearly a month at Savusavu, Vanua Levu, Fiji resting up and maintaining Cariad.
It's a very good anchorage with a nice, small town on the south side set around the Copra Shed Marina.The north side is an island covered with palm trees and fringed with Mangroves. The east end is a coral reef over which you can see the centre of Vanua Levu with it?s rain forests and beyond the dry north coast. The west end is a narrow entrance with a ferry terminal (from Suva) and a small power station with the road back into town in one direction and to the Cousteau (Jack Cousteau's son) diving and holiday resort 3 miles to the south. Savusavu has an excellent market with local fruit, veg. and fish, shops, small supermarkets, Chandler, cinema, resterants etc. The cost of living is low and its possible to live fairly well on 100 pounds a week. I will be sitting out the Cyclone season here from November to May.
Yachts are continually coming and going, about 30% are circumnavigators like me 30% are Americans cruising the Pacific and 40% Australians and New Zealanders cruising the Western Pacific Islands.
In a couple of weeks Cariad will be ready to cruise the Fiji islands for a month and hopefully get to Tonga or Wallis Island. Hope to be in Australia next July and August then across the Indian Ocean to Madagascar and round South Africa in November/December 2006. Thats if we survive the Cyclones.
Tony

On the morning of the 8^th August I was up just before day break ready for a big day. The one man fishing canoes were just coming into the harbour to sell the fish they caught by the reef over night, They use open fires in there wooden dugout canoes to attract fish and act as navigation lights, when you first see the fires on the water at night it?s very weired like no other form of navigation lights
I was first in the queue for immigration, then booked out with customs and the Port Captain, the anchor was up by 10 am. The wind was very light and I had to use the motor at times. At 15.00 between the 2 main Western Samoa Islands there was an abandoned one man dug out canoe covered in weed floating like the "Marie Celeste" glad I didn't hit it as they are made from a 5 metre long hardwood tree and could have done "Cariad" some damage. The channel between the 2 main Islands is dotted with shoals and isolated rocks but the main line is marked by an Island with a Light House which I passed at 17.30. By this time the wind was up to 20 knots on the Port beam which put me clear of the shoals with a good nights sailing in prospect so I opened a beer and as I tipped the bottle back a whale surfaced 5 metres from me on the Port side, it was as long as Cariad. I went for the camera but it had submerged when I got back on deck, as I looked into the clear water there it was right under the boat fortunately it kept on diving. As this is a shipping lane the watches had to be only 30 minutes (and even thats a bit too long) so it was a wakeful night. By mid-day on the 9^th August I was on the date line which is on a 45 degree slope here to miss some islands but decided to continue with Samoan date and time until 180 degrees. It was just after mid-day when a fishing boat hove into sight and I had a chat with the skipper on the VHF radio, he sounded New Zealand but was out of Apia fishing for Tuna.
The wind kept rising during the night and by 3.00 on the 10^th it was about 40 knots and the 4^th reef was in the main sail for the first time since it was sewn in at Colon 5 months ago. The sea was very rough for 12 hours and we took some water in through ventilators and poor sealing windows etc.but as we passed Zephyr Reef it became more civilized the Nanuk Passage was even better and the Koro Sea seemed fine until  we got to Taveuni Island south cape where the waves breaking on the black rock cliffs were forming Cascades at least 30 metres high. Navigation had been a problem for the last 2 days with my GPS track and Cmap tracks not tying up by a bigger and bigger distance, chart plots and Radar distances to islands also disagreed with the GPS track.The way point for the south cape had been put in as 4 minutes west of 180 degrees and it should have been 4 minutes east (an error of 8 miles) my track made good being close to east west made it hard to detect until I saw from the chart that I had crossed the 180 degree meridian and as a result lost Friday the 11^th August.
The South Cape took the sting out of the conditions and I had a great sail to Point Reef 4 miles from Suvasuva on Vanua Levu, Fiji. The reefs extend for miles out from the land and are now marked with beacons, it must have been very fraught in the old days when charts where unreliable and there no reef markers.
Suvasuva is is a lovely little harbour with a small town, 3 sailing clubs all the facilities I need to set "Cariad" up for next season and reasonable prices. So I may stay until next April after cruising the Fiji Islands and may be Tonga if the winds are favourable.
Tony

On 25^th July  the weather at Suwarrow Atoll was foul in the morning, with heavy rain and poor visibility, I booked out and "Cariad" was ready to go then at 15.00 the sun peaked through the clouds and we had to go because there is virtually no gas left for cooking. Now that I know the Cmap chart is accurate leaving was just like following tram lines, but it was straight into a strong north wind over a south going tidal current from the Atolls inner lagoon producing a choppy 4 to 5 foot breaking tide race for about half a mile. Then I could bear off for Turtle Island at the north-west courner of Suwarrow and head 254 degrees for Apia, Western Samoa.
Over the next 24 hours the wind dropped and moved into the west (on the nose) so I had to used the motor for a few hours as the wind moved slowly into the south and I could go back to sailing.
The light winds continued, but with a little motoring (dead areas seam to stay dead so if you don't motor out of them you can be becalmed for a very long time often with light winds only 5  miles away) and a generous use of the spinnaker we made the 506 miles to Apia, Upholu Western Samoa in 5 days.
The small harbour looked tidy and efficient so I called on channel 16 and was asked to anchor in the yacht area and report for clearance at 8am Monday. There were about 10 yachts all ready in the anchorage but there was room for 20 more. One yacht was about 110 feet long sailing under the British flag with a crew of 14 anchored waiting for the owner to come out from Spain the following Wednesday, it made the harbour look really special.
Horrible dinghy was launched and I went ashore at the sport fishing club then into town which was quiet (Saturday afternoon), but I got the supplies I needed. The prices were OK and the town was all very old colonial style but without the poverty.
The sport fishing club boats were returning when I got back and they had caught some reasonable fish, but seemed dissapointed. Later in the week they caught 2 big Sail fish (one over 60 kg.) and some big Tuna one of which was  Dog toothed so this made the smaller weekend fish look poor. There was a barbecue and beer was very rereasonably priced.
The club is run by the sport fishing club, but is part of the port so port security covers your dinghy and on booking in you are automatically a member.
This is the island on which Robert Louis Stephenson lived for his last years and where his tomb overlooks the town and harbour. His house "Vailima is now a museum and also the name of the local beer so he must have been well thought of. His books are still in print in the local Samoan Language as well as most major ones. Vilima museum is excellent (thank you Ricky and Sue for getting me that  book on RLS as a result of which the guide got a lot of penetrating questions). The tomb is a 45 minute climb up the hill and is inscribed with.

Here he lies where he longed to be:
home is the sailor home from the sea ,
and the hunter home from the hill.

I decided to bus and walk round most of the island and it's great, pretty rural with most workers carrying machetes in the countryside for use in the now overgrown but very extensive plantations mostly of Coconuts. Thousands of people must have worked on the plantations which replaced the original rain forest (a few old rain forest trees are still in evidence but I only saw one tree you could have made a big dugout canoe from).
Western Samoa is a very good place to visit for a quiet holiday or as part of a cruise. Don't mix it up with American Samoa which is dirty (3 yachts went into Pongo Pongo harbour last week, turned round and left without dropping anchor on seeing and smelling the pollution). The photographs show the water full of refuse which you have to row through as the polythene bags stop any small propellers.

Just to let you know I have crossed the date line at Fiji. It caused me a very hard nights navigation as I had used a way point with a 179 55 West co-ord that should have been 179 55 East putting me 10 miles out so that the Cmap, plots on the chart and the Radar didn't tie in with the GPS track.It didn't help that my way points where 520 miles apart as this had tied in to an island 150 miles on track within a mile or two.

On 15^th at 7.00 I set sail for a small Atoll called Suvarov and Suwarrow 700 miles west in the Cook Islands. I had been told this island was a must see by a charter skipper while I was booking out at Paperpeete and as it's virtually on the way to Samoa it sounds like a good break point. The wind was dead astern and wing on wing we soon passed an Atoll called Motu One with surf crashing all round it. We rolled on for 3 more days but I had difficulty sleeping as I was being thrown around so much 25 degrees port then 25 degrees starboard. This was solved by the issue of extra beer on the 4^th night out. But the 8 hours sleep put me 18 miles off track as the wind pilot stays on the same angle to the wind and it was too windy to use the auto helm which runs on a compass. Put up all the sail I could and at 9.36 I met another yacht single handed by a very brave french lady who is also going to Suvarov I think (as she speaks about as much English as I do French). I was not prepared to reduce my speed which was 6.5 knots to her 4 knots (she only had the jib up) as I needed to get into the pass in good day light, it's only 16 feet deep and narrow with a 90 degree right turn.
I arrived at 15.00 hours perfect, got the sails down as I wanted the option to reverse if I was unsure of the position of the south reef. So well prepared I went in and it got shallower  very quickly, by climbing up my rope ladder suspended from the spinnaker pole hoist I could see the south reef very clearly the Cmap worked perfectly, the GPS was spot on, the Mark 1 eyeball was up to the job and I anchored in 60 feet of water with 6 other boats.
The french lady arrived 2 hours later though she must have lost sight of me towards 15.00 hours. The American yacht next to me took me in for a beer and we watched a DVD of life of Brian after John and Veronica the husband and wife team who manage this bird sanctuary had left.
Next morning I was booked in to one of the few unspoiled spots in the Pacific there is a 50 New Zealand dollar charge for using the island and to help pay for it's upkeep. This turned out be a net saving as John and Veronica provided several free meals, a fantastic trip to Gull island and gave lessons on fishing, palm weaving (I now have a palm hat) and enjoyed playing host and hostess.
John is the local police so he did all the booking in, passport control and customs. Then he took me, veronica and the family from the American yacht to Gull island trawling for fish on the way. The island is a Motu covered with nesting terns and Frigate birds they are generally not as tame as at Galapagos, but Veronica has been feeding a Frigate chick for some time and it's now very tame and she can carry it around like a 12 inch high bundle of white down with a 2 inch very pointed beak. Kent-Harris the American 10 year old was amazed and the teddy bear they had which is probably being photographed for a book (a bit like Steve Thompson did with his heli bull) had pictures taken in all sorts of strange situations. On the way back we caught 7 Rainbow runners each weighing 5 to 7 pounds and a Tuna weighing about 10. Next day the Americans left for Western Samoa and John and Veronica gave a welcombe lunch for about 20 of us yachties. The fish caught yesterday and Coconut crab was the main dish and nobody went hungery. Friday I worked on the raised floor to a beach hut John wanted finished off and we had a tidy up so the hut can be a meeting place and barbeque site for boat visitors.
The island s the one in Tom Neal's book One man and his island so I'm told. Tom was a New Zealand and spent 20 years on the island leaving in 1977 to have cancer treated.
Saturday and Sunday where bad weather and yachts just poured in so by Monday we had 15 yachts, John says this is more than in the other Cook anchorages put together.
I had a lesson from Veronica on making hats from palm fronds as my cooking gas is virtually out I very reluctantly had to leave this bit of Paradise.
Tony

Papapeete the capital of Tahiti the largest of the Society islands is a modern town with good shops and facilities but, just like the other French Islands no banks with ATM's for English or US cards. I decided to moor up at the Quay, which is right in the middle of town close to cafes and shops. It has all been renovated in the last 12 months and some of the landscaping is not quite finished, forget the old image it had of dossiers sleeping on the benches right by the boats this has gone with the benches. The other boat owners tied up were very helpful and friendly giving me a hand to moor stern to the Quay, 2 boats came in with dead engines and dropped anchor until the skippers organized dinghy tugs and a crew if required. This was mostly organized by Jill from New Zealand and Elane from Australia  the tugging was usually done by Doug from the US whose boat Indra was my nabour. There were other anchorages around the Island some of them free and quite crowded but I wanted some where to be moored up (Peter Kerby the blue warps from Stagazer were in use yet again and one of the small square riggers we looked at in Gloucester docks being repaired 3 years ago is here now and heading for New Zealand).
I had intended to stop at Paperpeete for the Bastille day celebrations on the 14^th July but a very noisy brake dancing stage and speakers set up close to my boat so after taking a bucket of salt water over and almost throwing it at the electrical circuits. I decided as it's not my country to set sail at 8.15 on 9^th July for Bora Bora which is reputed to be the most beautiful island in the world. I took my time as the annual canoe race to Morea set off at 8.00, covering almost 20 miles of open ocean directly on my route. The anchor pulled up a couple of old ropes from the harbour bed which is really foul with the debris of the old moorings. I was soon abeam Monrea which looked magnificent just wish I had the time and money to visit (the main hotel is the Bali Hai so I know It's beyond my pocket). Passed Huanine island in the dark, but could hear the surf breaking on the reef and Raiatea island at dawn, hope to visit them if I come round again. 15.00 hours came in through the pass in the reef at Bora Bora and what a pass it is, Cruise Liners can get in and out at any state of the tide. Turned in towards the yacht club when it bore 45 magnetic (the variation here is 11 degrees east) and saw Star off the West and Candedus moored up. Kim was over to a mooring with his dinghy and waived me in. I had no sooner got the beer out when Glen came over from Candedus and 5 liters just evaporated as it was Glens sixty fifth birthday. So party at the yacht club. To speed things up I used Horrible  dinghy, I knew it would end with problems and it did. As I went to climb back aboard Cariad after the party she just turned over without being asked. The water here is pleasantly warm but wet, money, credit cards and a dunked outboard are a bit of a pain (one day I'll burn that dinghy). So next day was spent drying out the outboard, the contents of my pockets then launching the inflatable. The yacht club has a washing machine so clothes were easy to sort. After 3 days the boat was clean inside and out and most of the equipment working, Cariad is now down to minimal instruments and just the hand held radio which is all we need as the wind strength, direction and boat speed are now instinctive. Navigation is GPS, Cmap backed up with the sextant, a 1 to 6,000,000 chart and the Landfalls of Paradise guide that Linda give me at Bequia last Christmas.
Tony

The islands cover a very large area between the Marquesas and the Astral islands and consist of about 76 coral atolls. They cultivate Black pearls in the lagoons of most of the islands and still sell copra to the trading ships, it is then used to make Coco Nut oil. The price for Copra is only 10$ for 50 Kg and you need a lot of Coco nuts to get 50 Kg of the white inside which has to be dried. So most people do Copra as a job on the side and live on the state hand outs.
I set off from Nuka Hiva on the the 13^th June and had strong winds close to the island then a day of light wind only making 109 miles in the day, to compensate for the light wind there was a magnificent sun set with a green flast as the sun dipped below the horizon. The wind picked up and  I had 3 reefs in over night and got 140, then 150 miles in the next 2 days. Arrived off the Tenukupa Pass into the lagoon at Ahe Atoll at 13.00 hrs. on 17^th June and decided to go straight in. Other boats waited hours outside for what they thought would be the best state of the tide etc. but as the tide was only 300 mm it should only produce a medium current so unless there was a strong wind against tide it would be OK and this proved to be true at Ahe. Inside the lagoon the water was very smooth, but there were coral heads and masses of pearl farm marker buoys to be avoided on the 6 mile trip to the village. The people on these islands all have access to fast outboard motor boats which are use as general transport and are very friendly and good natured.
It was here that I bought 50 black pearls for 100$ most are miss sharpen, but they should make earrings and a pendant. The odd shaped ones are  weired and a jeweler or if you took a  jewelry course at night school it may be possible to make something very nice out of them (suggestions to table 1). There was good snorkeling here and great shelter from a storm which was caused by a sort of mini Tropical Convergence Zone that came out of no where.
By the 23^rd June I was bored and move 93 miles to Rangiroa the second biggest Atoll in the world at 100 miles round the outer reef and with 2 lead in passes marked with illuminated transit poles. Very easy until you got inside then it was all Cardial marks and guess. I tried to anchor on sand but the water was 60 feet deep, I could still see Coral heads down there waiting to snarl up the hook.The island has an airport and hotels so it must be trying to attract tourists but only a few of the chalets on stilts out in the lagoon were not  occupied. It is a very good place for diving and there is a part of the lagoon where you can dive with black tip sharks so they tell me. The last shark I saw was at Plymouth aquarium with Matt Brown 3 years ago, round French Polynesia most of the sharks keep shops.
I decided to travel inside the reef 6 miles to the second pass, but getting the anchor up took half an hour as the chain was wrapped around at least 3 coral heads and it was unclear which way to go to free it. The anchor winch I fitted at Trinidad is very power full and if you pull too hard the deck flexes. At the anchorage by the Avatoro pass the sea bed looked really bad for anchoring and worse still I had to set a small stern anchor (kedge) to hold Cariad off a nasty big coral head. In the morning it took an hour to get out of the coral and poor old Cariad was not a happy boat.
Still we got off and through the pass which has the wrecks of 2 sail boats on the western side, then followed the reef for 30 miles at less than a mile offshore but in 1000 metres of water (10 times deeper than the herd deep in the English channel). Had a lovely days sail and by 13.30 on 28^th June Tahiti came in sight. As I had no chance of getting in during that day I heaved to early and set the anchor light and a second all round white light then went to bed setting the alarm for 1 am. At 23.00 I woke up knowing something was close but there was no sound. When I looked out off the hatch this Australian Yacht was less than 100 meters away just passing very slowly and when I called on the radio the helmsman said he was just looking to see if I was OK well I just couldn't get back to sleep so at midnight I set off again soon overtook the other yacht and slowed up after the Captain Cook lighthouse came into view marking Cape Venus and 10 miles to go. Arrived in Papeete, Tahiti at 7.00 and tied up at the Quay, looks like a nice port? The Australian yacht came in an hour or so later.

I have now arrived in Western Samoa at Apia where Robert Luise Stevenson is buried on the hill overlooking the town. It's a realy good place.
The journey is at a point now where I can continue west fairly quickly through the Tores straights between North Australia and Port Morsbey or put into New Zealand / Australia and spend nearly a year working on the boat and sitting about the place so I will probably do a few days work on the boat here and work my way to Puket in Indonesia??
Tony