29th November 125nm from Samarai Is PNG
Position : 12.26 S 149.46 E
Its hot and sticky. We are definitely in the tropics. We motored most of today. No wind. We had an exciting start to the day however
Our sleep patterns are crazy due to one of us being on watch all the time. It's about 11am,no wind, sails flapping, motor droning. The sea is almost glassy. Our eta in PNG is more likely Saturday now.
Bill has just handed me a cold pure blonde beer in my favourite hot pink stubby cooler with a mermaid and Byron bay on it. I like beer with slice of lime now, especially sailing.
It was so exciting early this morning when I looked behind the boat and saw a fish on the line. I pulled it most of the way in and it wasn't hard as it had been there a little while so had drowned. I woke Bill "A fish! Afish!".( We had put out Phil's home made lure which was cut out from a piece of aluminium. We weren't sure it would catch a fish because it looked like a disabled fish that couldn't swim. Bill said the tuna must have been a really stupid one to think it was a real fish!) Bleary eyed he said 'It's a tuna!" and began cutting it open getting the blood and guts out. I can't watch this bit so I looked at the seafood cookbook Robyn gave us instead. There are 5 recipes for tuna so our biggest decision is how to cook it for the next 3-4 meals.(Bill cut it up in steaks, chunks and fillets)
Breakfast : tuna steaks fried in a little olive oil and salt & pepper. Serve with lemon wedges.
Lunch : 1. Tuna Sashimi with soy and wasabi.
slice tuna in thinslices
combine wasabi and mirin (I brought with us all these ingredients but wasabi not much left)
Stir in soy sauce and place in dipping bowl
place tuna on large serving plate with dipping sauce. Serve with chopsticks
suggested wine : unoaked chardonnay
2.Tuna tartare (CRASH! Boat rolling. My favourite small serving plate broken on floor! Didn't put plastic plates in front cos boat was steady before. I said some rude words)
onions, capers,parsely (have dried),olives, lemon juice,cucumber (will have to pickled intin) lemon wedges
Dinner: Kawati Fish Stew with black limes (thanks to Ruth for spices and recipes from Herbies - she hasn't got email so I
will send a card from PO in Samarai)
fish fillets
several spices, garlic, tomatoes (will use either sundried or tinned), onions, large green chilli, coriander leaves (have some in a tube) tomato paste, water, 2 tableps flour
Tomorrow :Aromatic Fish curry

Sound good? You probably aren't as keen on raw fish but fresh tuna is excellent.
Rolling around a bit now. Better take a seasick pill......to think there was a cyclone right here a week or so ago...

I started making the PNG flag yesterday with material, craft glue and sewing. The bird of paradise looks demented and the stars are wonky but never mind.

We are pretty happy living in our cocoon. It feels like a space ship at times but we are very comfortable. The only thing that is a real bother is the mast rattles and squeaks when we are sailing. As it as the foot of the bed in the main cabin it prevents the captain from sleeping. He's even talking about chopping it off at deck level.......

I've started reading my aunt Nancy's book 'Rhythms and cycles'. It's quite philosophical and just the right sort of book to read when in a meditative state of mind. It explores different religions, emotional health etc. Nancy said she would meet us in Europe. I wouldn't mind turning our trip into a book and I thought Nancy might help me. I know we were constantly looking for books about cruising....lets see....

I love Annika's words especially 'Bugger' for kookaburra!! Darlings your children are so precious to me - We opened Caylan's letters she wrote us as we sailed away from Townsville.I had a lump in my throat and felt that emotional pull that almost makes my tummy feel like it's tied in knots. I will miss them so much but this adventure is something we must do. I will be able to tell them lots of funny stories for years when I become and old Nanny in a rocking chair!

I am so happy to have the sat phone for communication. We haven't tried phoning on it yet but I am assuming it works. There have been a couple of call attempts but failed. I know Bill's father tried to ring and my brother Roy said there's a sat phone at the fire station. The signal sometimes weakens which is what happens when I email it takes a few goes. If you ever need to ring and it cuts out just keep trying. We've attached the car aerial that came with it through the toilet hatch which seems to have improved the signal.
Our GMN friend Luis says we really should have an external aerial with a particular type of cable. We did get one when we bought the phone but couldn't get a cable for it. We'll address this next time we are near a city.

I have to plug the computer into the data cable attached to the sat phone and keep trying till it connects. Fist it sends mail then receives. The receiving seems to take longer and takes a couple of goes. I am so glad we bought a spare lap top as it is the one that works. The original one seems to have a fault which can't be fixed until Philippine, Malaysia or Oz when we fly home. We are not sure when we will fly home. Probably Jan - Feb to see our new grandson. He's due next week! So is my 50th birthday....

I'll send this then start preparing the tuna.

I did prepare the above recipes. We felt like kings. Delicious!!!
We think that our timing for arrival may be not the best - most likely in the dark tomorrow night . This is not a good idea in a strange place we haven't been before. Anchoring in PNG will be challenging as the charts are not that detailed and typically there is very deep water abruptly becoming shallow with big tides too. We have Alan Lucas' original book of PNG from the 80s which is useful as well as 'Dim Dims and Dolphins'. Both have detailed drawings of anchorages.

More emails along the way:

28 Nov 2007

We are almost half way there! It's so cool to type and send emails from the middle of the ocean. It's not as easy as at the marina. At first we thought it wouldn't work at all but it does on the 2nd hand spare laptop we bought the day before we left! Lucky.... It's connected to the sat phone with a cable going up through the hatch with a little flat thing that sits on the roof of the cabin. It's meant for 4wd cars going to the outback. We have to wait for full strength signal before we hit 'go!". Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It requires a lot of patience but hey I don't have a lot to do out here except cook the captains meals and give him cold beer! I do occasionally hold the tiller and pull on a rope. Night shift out here was wearying last night. The wind was much stronger than during the day. The main cabin with our new rubber/latex top of the range queen size bed became a trampoline as Valiam punched through the waves. There is also an annoying noise rattling in the mast which Bill can't stand. So last night we had catnaps in the main cabin. The narrow bunk which was roomy for Caylan was a bit like an ironing board! The spare quarter berth needs rearranging because when Bill tried to sleep in there he had my art easel and guitar for company.
Whilst we weren't heeling yesterday we had a nice cold shower on the stern. Bill took sneaky pictures which I promply deleted!! I'm glad I am the communications officer!
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