Bound for Australia

Vessel Name: Sirius
30 November 2013
30 November 2013 | Coffs Harbour
30 November 2013 | On route New Cal to Oz
30 November 2013 | Noumea
23 November 2013
19 November 2013 | Vanuatu
28 October 2013 | Erromango, Vanuatu
28 October 2013 | Port Resolution, Tanna, Vanuatu
17 October 2013 | Mt Yasur, Tanna, Vanuatu
16 October 2013 | Port Resolution, Tanna, Vanuatu
16 October 2013 | Vanuatu Group
16 October 2013 | Fiji
01 October 2013
23 September 2013 | Tonga
23 September 2013 | Tonga
23 September 2013 | Tonga
18 September 2013 | Tonga
09 September 2013 | Nuie a very small country
09 September 2013 | Suwarrow
09 September 2013 | Suwarrow Atoll Cook Is
Recent Blog Posts
30 November 2013

The Last Leg to Bundabah

Anchored off our land in Bundabah November 21 - to be concluded

30 November 2013 | Coffs Harbour

Arrived Australia Sunday 10th November 2013

It's good to be home at last

30 November 2013 | On route New Cal to Oz

The Last Passage

With winds coming from the south southeast it made heading south quite difficult and not particularly pleasant but we continued staying as close to our desired course as possible. Once again it took a couple of days for most of us to find our sea legs, though Andrew never seems to loose his. Having Scott [...]

30 November 2013 | Noumea

New Caledonia

After spending the Friday night at anchor in the main Noumea bay we were lucky enough to secure a pontoon in the marina and were nicely tied up just in time for Scott, Mark and Jayden's arrival. Scott is my brother, Jayden is his son and Mark is my sister Patricia's youngest son. They joined us to do [...]

23 November 2013

On the way to New Caledonia

On to New Caledonia – the last stop before Australian waters: We waited about 5 days for a weather opportunity to move on to New Caledonia, along with a dozen or so boats heading South, almost all to New Zealand, but a few going our way. By late November, the Summer cyclone/typhoon season comes to the tropics including Vanuatu and New Caledonia, so by late October, all the cruising boats get ready to move on, most South to New Zealand, or some Australia, but a few also head North back across the Equator to Indonesia or the Philippines. We left on Tuesday 22nd October, which would get us into Noumea, Capital of New Caledonia, and the only port of entry by Friday with any luck, in time to meet 3 more family guests there on Saturday 26th. We had been more or less heading West since Panama with the prevailing winds, but now had to make 340 miles to the South West. For a while it looked like we would not be able to sail this way at all, and would have to make the long journey around the top of New Caledonia adding 200 miles to the trip and lots of motoring, but finally the wind had just enough East in it to let us sail to Noumea direct, although this was our first passage sailing into the wind since Belize back in March. We made good enough time to come through the outer islands of New Caledonia on Friday morning and get into Noumea Harbour by sunset. The Harbour was to our surprise packed with hundreds of sailing boats, most at anchor as the two small marinas were overflowing. Who they all were and where they were all going we never really found out. We worried that arriving after hours on a Friday would cause all the usual problems with officials, but not here – this is part of France and the EU, so everything is helpful, easy going and free. The photo is our Halloween party onboard - explanation in the next blog from Noumea.

19 November 2013 | Vanuatu

Port Vila

Just 20 minutes out of Port Vila we had drawn a complete blank on the fishing. This was a big disappointment to Margaret, who was very keen to catch just something ahead of brother Mark and uncle Scott coming onboard in Noumea. Then fish on and the reel buzzed. Margaret hauled it in, Warren gaffed [...]

Suva, Fiji

01 October 2013
AJ
We dropped off from our mooring ball in Neiafu, Tonga, at 7:30 am on Tuesday 10 September and were tied up at the customs dock by 7:45 to clear out of Tonga for Fiji. We wanted to be first in line partly to minimise the time spent hanging around, but mainly to be on our way to make landfall by Friday. 430 miles in 3 days was going to be a challenge but weekend overtime fees for checking in in Fiji are legendary and to be avoided if at all possible. After a lot of form filling, running around and waiting we were cleared by noon, and the diesel tanker had been to the quayside to fill us up with fuel. We said goodbye here to Warren and Trish, who went off to spend the day whale watching. In the end we made a fast passage and arrived outside the reef pass into Suva, capital of Fiji, before dawn on Friday 13th. We reefed down to one small sail to slow down, and entered the harbour at first light. We anchored where all the sail boats do off the Royal Suva Yacht Club. More patience needed - we called Suva Port Control at 6:00 am to announce our arrival, and the Yacht Club also kindly called up all the officials for us, but they did not start to arrive until 3.00 in the afternoon, and we were not allowed ashore until all the paperwork was done. We had been told to expect a rigorous onboard inspection with confiscation of all our left over fresh food - we had carried the minimum from Tonga with this in mind. In the end, it was raining hard and our officials decided we should go ashore to meet them inside the Yacht Club instead. Since it was now 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, the whole process was in the end very quick, and the weekend beckoned.

Our good friends on Blue Moon had planned to leave Tonga at the same time as us, but a few places behind us in the check out queue, they had not left until late Tuesday, and so pulled in late Friday, but as all the officials were on site processing Sirius, Blue Moon was dealt with almost straight away. However, they had a windlass failure, so that all their anchor chain fed our unstopably and they could not get it up again. Three burly Fijians from the Yacht Club, with some guidance from me, pulled their anchor up by hand, and moved the boat onto a mooring, and then they arranged an electrician to fix it all on Saturday morning. All round the Yacht Club was very welcoming and helpful. We enjoyed dinner in the restaurant, our first long hot showers in months, and set of to explore the City on Saturday morning. Suva is a bustling commercial port - our first stop like this since Panama. The harbour was a little dirty and packed with all sorts of fishing and commercial boats, and even a few unmarked wrecks. We enjoyed looking round the modern malls, and our best internet for 2 months. The fresh market on the waterfront is vast, chaotic, and has everything there is in fruit, veg and sea food, although compared to the catch of the day on Sirius, some of the fish looked decidedly old. We visited the palace and took photos with the guards, and wandered round the arts and crafts stalls. Sunday was spent with our new NZ friends on Black Jack, including their 3 kids, exploring the state forest in the hills above the city, jumping into the rivers and swinging into big plunge pools off a rope with lots of locals also having a day out there. All the kids had a great time in the playground at the Yacht Club after we got back from the hike. Since Suva is almost the last place with an Australian Embassy before Australia, Monday morning was spent by me filling in lots of forms, copying papers and paying fees to get my visitors visa to sail into Australia. That done the kids and the Black Jack kids were allowed a trip to Mcdonalds. More shopping and playing later we set off on Monday afternoon on the 100 mile trip around Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji, to Denarau - the smart holiday resort end of the island right near the main airport at Nadi. We were tied up in the modern marina by Tuesday lunchtime, in time to pack up and clean and the boat and explore a little before my flight home on Thursday 19th.
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