Gone With The Wind
05 January 2017 | Pulau Woha
Thursday 5 January 2017
Early start yesterday had us cleared out in only 5 1/2 hours including lunch. Woohoo! It only cost a million eight for going 3 days over visa expiration. Huh!? Careful perusal of passport showed we had been laboring under a false assumption and should have renewed by 1 January. Oops! Visit to immigration for advance intel previous week had not triggered appropriate revelation. Bugger! Still, 135 USD was much better than the 600 Jan initially assumed. Phew!
Notwithstanding that both Customs and Harbour Master indicated we could remain in Tual an additional day or more to avoid inclement weather, Imigrasi, who know diddly about boating, might not be quite so charitable. Pondering that they could conceivably borrow a boat with weaponry and that sailing big seas is more comfortable than an Indonesian lockup, we took off this morning before likelihood of them noticing we were still in town.
Turns out that wind and wave were much less than anticipated. Easy sail 25 NM to Woha where we'll hide out to rest and clean the bottom before beginning passage tomorrow morning. Latest forecast (if one believes those sorts of things) shows wind abaft the beam (cool nautical talk) at 15 to 20 knots and no seas over 1.8 meters for a day or so before both gradually decrease. A perfect sail is unquestionably in the offing. Confidence knows no bounds... except for one wee caveat.
Arrived at anchorage mere moments before onset of squall gusting 37 kts. Continuing unsettled weather of last several days, which extends all the way to Darwin, imperils previously mentioned sanguinity. No worries. We're comfy in the lee and will ignore such things. In the sagacious words of Miss Scarlett, "Tomorrah is anothah day". Whar's mah mint julep, Prissy?
Jack