Pursuit

"He was a wise man who invented beer"-Plato

Vessel Name: Pursuit
Vessel Make/Model: Liberty 49
Hailing Port: Toronto, Canada
Crew: Gary and Tara
17 October 2012 | South China Sea
14 October 2012 | Kumai, Borneo
27 September 2012 | Bali, Indonesia
27 September 2012 | Bali Marina, Indonesia
03 August 2012 | Marlin Marina, Cairns, Australia
25 July 2012 | Cairns, Australia
26 May 2012 | Scarborough Marina, Queensland, Australia
22 October 2011 | Port Bundaberg Marina, Queensland, Australia
25 September 2011 | Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu
21 August 2011 | Noumea, New Caledonia
07 August 2011 | Soso Village, Yasawas, Fiji
26 July 2011 | Yasawas, Fiji
25 June 2011 | Viani Bay, Fiji
06 June 2011 | Sixty miles south east of Fiji
28 May 2011 | South Pacific
12 May 2011 | Slip F27, Opua Marina, New Zealand
06 May 2011 | Slip F27, Opua Marina, New Zealand
26 April 2011 | Slip F27, Opua Marina, New Zealand
25 April 2011 | Slip F27, Opua Marina, New Zealand
12 April 2011 | Slip F27, Opua Marina, New Zealand
Recent Blog Posts
17 October 2012 | South China Sea

Back in the Northern Hemisphere!

Just a quick blog, because it's been a long time since we have been sailing in the northern hemisphere. We crossed the equator today en route to the island of Batam, Indonesia. It has been almost 3 years since we left the northern hemisphere (in the boat) and it felt great to cross back into it. I feel [...]

14 October 2012 | Kumai, Borneo

Person Of The Forest

The island of Bali was our introduction to the "other" side of Indonesia; the side with tourism, action, noise and [TRL: more] pollution. It was also the side of age-old culture. We rented a car and spent a few days driving around the island. We stopped in Ubud and watched the ceremonial Legong dance [...]

27 September 2012 | Bali, Indonesia

Incredible Indonesia!

We had a long sail up the coast of Australia to Thursday Island, where we finally cut the strings with Australia and jumped into another world. The winds were high and coming directly from astern but fortunately the seas were relatively calm due to the protection from the 2600 km long Great Barrier Reef, [...]

27 September 2012 | Bali Marina, Indonesia

Stowaway

We have spent the last two months sailing about 2,500 miles from Cairns, Australia to Bali, Indonesia at a pace far faster than we are generally used to [Gary will blog a bit more about our travels up until now so stay tuned]. We are now happily parked at the Bali International Marina (which sounds [...]

03 August 2012 | Marlin Marina, Cairns, Australia

Cairns…or Cans. Whatever.

Cairns (pronounced "cans") is certainly a great little city. It definitely is the launching point for the Great Barrier Reef and all the biggest, best and busiest reef tours anywhere on the coast. The city is built around tourists. They arrive to the marina early every morning (waking us up [...]

25 July 2012 | Cairns, Australia

Nothing Nice to Say

We have been moving up the northern Australia (Queensland) Coast from Brisbane. We've had terrible weather with mostly rain and lots of wind. Our moms taught us if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. So, there you go.

Person Of The Forest

14 October 2012 | Kumai, Borneo
Gary & Tara
The island of Bali was our introduction to the "other" side of Indonesia; the side with tourism, action, noise and [TRL: more] pollution. It was also the side of age-old culture. We rented a car and spent a few days driving around the island. We stopped in Ubud and watched the ceremonial Legong dance at the Ubud Palace; it was amazing. The incredible choreography and movements snapped and twitched and played out to a musical rhythm that was almost mesmerizing. As we drove throughout the island, we passed beautiful green rice terraces and numerous temples. It seemed a million miles away from the busy tourist pack streets of Kuta beach, with an endless amount of tourists and hawkers to match. Though, like all things, it was a must to see.

In Bali we met up with our good friend Jeff from Canada while he was touring around Indonesia. It was great to be able to spend a couple of days swapping stories about each others travels and stories from back home also. Jeff has been traveling around Central America, Australia and Indonesia for the last couple of years and has become quite an accomplished surfer along the way. He gave me my first lessons in surfing and I think I may be hooked. Maybe when we get back to Pursuit I'll buy a surfboard?

We left Bali finally and headed for the island of Borneo. Tara and I had started talking about how things may get harder with her progression in her pregnancy, so we asked a friend we met in Australia to join us for the trip to Malaysia. Chris had some sailing experience and was a traveler and the thought of seeing Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia was something he wanted to do, so it worked out well for him. I would like to say that we had a great sail to Borneo, but as we get closer to the equator and the season starts changing from the SW monsoon to the NE monsoon, the winds are getting very light. So, we motored; pretty much the whole way. OK...the whole way; 420 nautical miles. What a drag. But we have to keep moving.

Anyway, we arrived up river in Kumai and were greeted by a cloud of smoke that enveloped the whole river. One of the major industries, besides illegal forestry, is palm oil. Palm oil is a relatively recent industry addition to Indonesia. The burning comes from the need to create vast tracts of cleared agricultural land quickly. The rainforest is logged and then the remainder is set ablaze. This burning causes incredible smog to form over the whole area and spreads many miles offshore. These massive clouds of smoke can even reach as far as Singapore, causing problems with the shipping traffic. Some cruisers have even claimed that they heard foghorns during the day, because visibility was so poor. It was so bad in the morning and evenings before the wind picked up, that we couldn't see the other boats in the anchorage, even though they were only 100 metres away. Horrendous! I cannot even imagine living there. Unfortunately it is the place we had to go in order to travel up the river to the Tanjung Putting National Park. It is one of the only places in the world that one can still see wild orangutans (which comes from the Indonesian word for Person of the Forest) and it was a fantastic experience. We chartered a traditional Indonesia klotok boat, complete with captain, cook and guide to take us up the Sungai Sekonyer to see the orangutans in the wild, and it was wild. As we chugged amongst the walls of pandanus that fringed the river, we stopped at several feeding stations along the way and got real close to the semi-wild orangutans that get re-introduced into the wild, as well as seeing many wild orangutans while cruising up the river. In the evening we would pull to the edge of the river and just tie off to the palms and listen to the night in the jungle unfold. The jungle was full of sun bears, proboscis monkeys, gibbons and 200-plus bird species. Around 15 proboscis monkeys congregated in a tree above us and watched us as we watched them. It was unbelievable. We were awoken in the morning to them starting their day with huge leaps and feats of acrobatics. Sadly, after returning to Pursuit, we couldn't wait to leave that decimated area. The Indonesians are slowly destroying an amazing habitat. The illegal cutting of hardwoods and the rainforest burnings is destroying island and atmosphere.

Again with little wind we are motoring towards Batam. The final island and where we will check out of Indonesia, and from there onto Singapore, then Malaysia. There are a few little islands that we are going to stop at along the way in order to break up the passage, so hopefully there will be some good snorkeling and swimming soon. After the dirty little area of Kumai, we need it.

So, the engine hums along and the continuous white noise it makes lulls everyone on boat to sleep. It's my watch and I am just sitting in the cockpit watching the night go by. Off in the distance I see the glow of approaching ships in the shipping channel and occasionally there is a flash of lightening in the distance. Let's hope both stay far away! This life on the sea is rarely dull. I try to enjoy these moments as much as possible, because I know that in the next couple of months I'll be back in Canada. It is exciting, but I can't help but be sad about leaving Pursuit stored on the hard, waiting patiently for our next adventure to begin.
Comments
Pursuit's Photos - Main
Preparing Pursuit for storage and the trip home.
16 Photos
Created 24 March 2013
Cruising into Singapore and Malaysia
11 Photos
Created 24 March 2013
Cruising some of the 17,000 islands of Indonesia
116 Photos
Created 27 September 2012
Photos from Down Under
53 Photos
Created 3 August 2012
Some pics from our drive across the US on route to LA for the flight back to Australia
73 Photos
Created 27 April 2012
Various photos from our wedding in Niagara Falls, Canada
41 Photos
Created 27 April 2012
Where The Adventure Began!
118 Photos
Created 4 November 2011
New Caledonia cruising and road trip
47 Photos
Created 23 October 2011
Sailing through the islands of Vanuatu
103 Photos
Created 25 September 2011
Pictures from around the islands of Fiji
103 Photos
Created 16 July 2011
Things that have been done in New Zealand.
64 Photos
Created 12 April 2011
Cruising down the Pacific coast of Central America
50 Photos
Created 22 February 2011
Road trip west across Canada on the Trans-Canada Highway.
52 Photos
Created 22 February 2011
Road trip east to NFLD on the Trans-Canada Highway.
88 Photos
Created 22 February 2011
Road trip through the New Zealand South Island
107 Photos
Created 26 January 2011
Road trip through the New Zealand North Island
49 Photos
Created 19 January 2011
19 Photos
Created 20 October 2010
39 Photos
Created 5 October 2010
80 Photos | 2 Sub-Albums
Created 10 August 2010
29 Photos
Created 5 June 2010
20 Photos
Created 5 June 2010
34 Photos
Created 8 May 2010
40 Photos
Created 8 May 2010
32 Photos
Created 8 May 2010
45 Photos
Created 13 April 2010
41 Photos
Created 13 April 2010
106 Photos
Created 8 February 2010
22 Photos
Created 27 January 2010
22 Photos
Created 10 November 2009
22 Photos
Created 4 November 2009
Various pictures of Pursuit
29 Photos
Created 12 October 2009
Lots of work!
38 Photos
Created 4 October 2009
17 Photos
Created 4 October 2009
23 Photos
Created 12 September 2009
Cruising around the San Blas Islands
27 Photos
Created 12 September 2009
May 11th, 2009. Panama Canal transit
32 Photos
Created 12 September 2009