We arrived at Great Keppel Island this morning at 0900. The “sail” (it was really a “motor”) last night and this morning was relatively easy. While the skies were overcast, the air was clear and we could see the other boats and ships near us very well. There were a few times when a flashing white light would appear that surprised us. A couple of the capes that we passed have these amazing strobes lights that flash for a fraction of a second and then are off for about 10 seconds. They are so strong that when they flash, they appear to be from a source that is very close to you when, in fact, they are 10 to 20 miles away. We have never seen anything like it. In one instance, I changed course about 20 degrees because I thought the light was representing a FAD (fish attracting device) that we have seen a few times in the South Pacific waters. Later on, I figured out that the strobe light was actually marking a cape that was 20 miles away! Wow! Now that is some light!

I had checked our chart and it only identified the light as flashing and white. Usually the chart will tell us how long it is on and how long it is off. However, neither of the two strobe lights we saw had that information on the charts. How strange is that?

The “sail” ended up being a little frustrating for me because the winds shifted to the SW and they actually increased during the night and early morning. Here we were with the sails down and I could have been sailing for 6 or 7 hours, instead of running the engine. I hate motoring and I need to learn to love it since we are told that is all we will be doing a lot of in Indonesian and Malaysian waters.

I wanted to at least raise the headsail and sail with just the genoa. However, because we are a catamaran we have no backstay. The Lagoon manual makes it very clear that one should never sail with just the headsail since it puts too much unbalanced strain on the shrouds. While we see other cats sailing with just their headsails, my guess is that they are doing so because that is what they were used to doing when sailing monohulls. That or our manual is just blowing smoke up my skirt…

Anyway, we are nice and snug at our anchorage on the north side of Great Keppel Island. We are facing a long (a mile or so long) white sand beach and are anchored in 10 feet of water. There are only two other boats here so it is nice and quiet. Just the way we like it.

We have been adopted by a score of fingerlings. I am not sure what type of fish they are but they are about 3 to 4 inches long and are just swarming around the hulls. It is kind of mesmerizing to watch them.

I am hoping to go ashore tomorrow to enjoy the beach. However, that is up in the air right now. A blow of 25 to 35 knots is heading our way with rain for the next couple of days. That may end up keeping us on board Leu Cat.