Sunday 06 November, 2011

It is early Sunday morning, 1.30am, and we are approximately 60nm out of Dili. The moon is back with us tonight, and just as well, as there is very little else - no wind, no whales, but also - no waves. Calmer seas at least make for easier reading, cooking, and sleeping. We are tick tacking (mainly ticking) our way up Selat Wetar, the straight between Timor Leste and Pulau Wetar. Motor sailing gives us the illusion that we are not using half the oil reserves in the Timor Sea just to get home. I eye up the jerry cans on the deck and re-calculate for the umpteenth time their capacity versus our consumption - should be fine even if we have to motor all the way back to Darwin! (According to the weather reports, that is looking highly likely - Skip Tone is grumpy but resigned - any sailing we get will be a bonus.)

I listen to the gentle purring of the diesel keeping us on track in the light winds, before checking the engine temperature. It's good, which is a surprise given the sea temperature is 27.3 degrees and can't be doing much to cool the engine, which has now been ticking over for more than 15 hours.

Thunderstorms are flickering all around, and at 2.00 am the moon disappears behind an ominous bank of clouds. It was due to set at 3.00am as it is not quite full. Already I miss its friendly face in the sky. We even saw what looked like a moonbow during one evening thunderstorm, a perfect grey semicircle, shaped like a rainbow but in monochromatic greys. A few weeks earlier, on a bright full moonlit night, I marveled at how much we could see, and at the depth of the shadows the moon cast. Is it possible to get moonburnt? Even though the thunderstorm ahead is more Sturm und Drang than actual wind and rain, I need to tack. I'll leave you to google whether you can get moonburnt and moonbows - can't believe I would be telling people one of the things I miss about home is the ease of access to google!

Post script: Been sailing (engine off!) for 5 hours with 8-12kts of wind since midday, TM very happy. Photo Note: Afternoon moonrise - Irish Melody's mainsail!