07/11/2009, 19 331.54'S:169 29.75'E, Pacific Ocean

Port Resolution
Position: 19 31.547S 169 29.754E

Sunday 8th November 2009

Above photo: The chief's son Stanley and his daughter Naomi presenting me with a bunch of bananas.

Earlier this morning whilst munching on fresh pineapple I could see steam coming out of a rock crevice opposite us. On the other side of the hill is Mt Yasur the live volcano. We are enjoying many interesting experiences here! When Bill got home last night he said the kava was disgusting. Basically Johnson and Stanley chewed the root and spat it into a bowl and with certain rituals mixed it with water. They then passed the bowl around. He said it did nothing except his lips went a bit tingly. Johnson is the village dispenser and nurse. He delivers babies and gives medicines. He has also been given a 'gift' by his father in that he can prevent weather calamities etc (cyclone hitting village). The kava night is just for men where only "men's things" are talked about. The kava is supposed to slow you down a bit to discuss things quietly and slowly. Johnson and Stanley had bows and arrows made from bamboo and were going off hunting for flying fox last night. Bill said they were invited to taste it today. It's raining here so we don't feel like going anywhere at the moment. I went to bed at 7.30am and had my first good nights sleep in ages. The first night we were rolling around in the swell so yesterda y Bill put out a stern anchor by rowing it out in the dinghy then we pulled Valiam in a straight line so she stays in the one position. So much better!

Saturday 7th November 2009 Bill has just gone with Adam to chew kava with the men in the local village. I am happy to have a quiet few hours to myself. After we went ashore in the dinghy we discovered the Port Resolution Yacht Club. It's a bit like Suwarrow - An open shed like building with flags and bits of coral threaded on fishing line for decoration. No - one was there except for a Norwegian couple renting a thatched bungalow nearby. A mother cat with 3 ginger kittens lay on one of the tables. The surrounding garden is cool and shady. There are many flowers creeping and growing every where. As I sat in the little rough hewn rotunda on the cliff edge I could see Valiam bobbing on her anchor in the harbour along with La Barca and one other American yacht.

We met Stanley who is the one who assists yachties. We found him in the nearby village of small thatched huts. A group of women and children sat on woven mats in the centre of the 6 or so huts. We were welcomed warmly and everyone spoke beautiful English. Bronwyn and Adam had brought photos of their visit with the locals 5 years ago. Everyone gathered around the photos eagerly. One of the ladies in one photo - Nora was found coming back from church. New photos were taken to celebrate La Barca's circumnavigation. I couldn't resist cuddling one of the babies. He was called Ruben and wasn't frightened of me. Stanley's little girl Naomi who has a head of tight blonde curls shyly gave me a bunch of bananas. Bronwyn and I discussed with Nora the idea of inviting the local children to the yacht club to do some art, singing and sharing. As only the year 8s are going to school this week, it's a good time to do something with the little ones.

The volcano was glowing orange last night. I can't wait to see it close up! On Monday we are going to Lenakel (4 hour round trip) to organise the yacht formalities as well as get some local money. The volcano is owned by one of the local families and they benefit from the tourists going there. According to Johnson one of the men in the village "There is a dispute at the moment. About who owns the volcano"

We celebrated La Barca's circumnavigation last night when they negotiated their way in after dark by tooting horns and calling out. A champagne breakfast this morning with everyone wearing la Barca shirts continued the celebrations. Adam was looking at the pigs in the pen in the village thinking about buying one to roast on a fire later this week. I think that's what this evening's discussion whilst chewing kava may be about. Bill said "It will be an experience I've never had. It will be worth going." I can't wait to ask him what it was like when he gets back.

It's so nice to experience this island before getting home to Australia. Life is simple and uncomplicated. One wonders why we have so many material things when the Tanna people we met today seem content with so very little.

Looking forward to our time here.....

Friday 6th November 2009

We are anchored rolling gently side to side in paradise. After an uncomfortable 3 days sail in a strong southeasterly from Fiji we arrived in Port Resolution, Tanna island, Vanuatu. It looks gorgeous from the boat with the volcano glowing at night. Early this morning we could see the island of Tanna with Mt Yasur's distinct outline and smoke. We were apprehensive as we came closer towards the island. We had information from La Barca with approach and entry waypoints. It was a bit disconcerting as C Map is totally inaccurate. As we slowly entered the small harbour the electronic chart showed us going across the reef and land! The GPS way points we were given were correct and our eyeballs confirmed our position.

We look forward to seeing this volcano close up. Apparently we can go up to its rim and see lava, flying rocks and sparks! There is one other American boat here and La Barca will arrive tonight. We have given them the GPS waypoints and they were here 5 years ago. We look forward to a week of learning about the local culture. It looks a bit like PNG. Our friends Adam and Bronwyn and children Jack and Amy will have 'closed the circle' when they get here. A celebration is planned at the little local yacht club. Anyway it is tempting to stay here until our return to Australia! More details later as we explore this island paradise. I'm not sure if there is internet here (probably only in Lenakel)

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05/11/2009, 19 15.22'S:171 1.59'E, Pacific Ocean

5th November 2009
Time: 8pm Position:19 15.22S 171 1.59E
It's exactly 2 years since we left Mooloolaba. I remember we sailed out with just the dolphins to say goodbye. It was overcast and a 20 knot southeasterly just like it is now out here. We didn't actually leave Australian shores until 25th November 2007 from Townsville. We think we might be back in Brisbane by the 25th of this month. There is so much to think about and emotions to deal with. I keep imagining the moment we see Australia after sailing Valiam around the globe! But in the meantime we will enjoy the last couple of places. We've never been to Vanuatu so we're looking forward to seeing somewhere new. I guess that's what keeps cruisers going - the anticipation and excitement of experiencing and seeing somewhere new. In 2005 we sailed to New Caledonia and back from Mooloolaba so we will officially 'close the circle' with Valiam in New Caledonian waters. Each milestone is worthy of celebration! I still have a couple of bottles of South African champagne for these occasions. We've done all our sailing without extra crew. We like it with just the two of us - Valiam has enough space for each of us to spread out or find a corner to retreat in.

The sea is still a bit rolly but we are getting used to it. It's a good trade wind and the swells have gone down a bit. We are also only using the jib to make life easy for ourselves. The wind wont drop off in fact it looks like it will increase - so using just the jib stops Valiam going like an express train and makes it less work for the captain. As long as we maintain at least 6 knots we'll be in port Resolution in the morning. If we went fast we would get there in the dark which is no good! We did 155m the last 24 hours. We're a bit tired so it will be good to get there. I just checked outside again. Its pitch black because of the clouds. There is no moon yet and the wind is quite cold. It's easy to feel away from reality when inside with all our comforts. But there isn't much between us and the cold wet ocean..

4th November 2009 The wind is consistently from the SE and stronger than 20 knots most of the time. The grib files are always wrong! (Supposed to be 15-20) It's a bit rolly and bumpy and occasionally a wave from the side splashes into the cockpit. We are inside most of the time. I'm a bit over ocean passages and want to be able to stop for a while! We are sailing with just the jib and averaging 6.5 knots. I'm not sea sick any more - hooray! I've watched 3 movies and we had fish curry for lunch and dinner. We fiddled with the ship plotter program and think we have it working.... It only shows big ships. (Well it's supposed to - haven't seen any yet). Not long ago we saw a rusty boat come close to us. It was motoring very slowly into the waves. It wasn't getting very far and didn't look that seaworthy. It wasn't a fishing boat so we don't know what it was. (Refugees?) I'll be glad when this passage is finished. It's not that comfortable. ETA Friday morning Port Resolution, Tanna, Vanuatu Current position at 6.30pm : 18 33.21S 173 42.51E 3rd November 2009 After anchoring at Muscat Cove (Malololai Island) for the night we went through Wilkes Passage at midday. It's a narrow pass between reefs and breakers into the protected waters of Fiji. The wind has been consistently 20 knots plus with bouncy waves and a side swell. This makes me feel a bit ill but I am controlling it with Cinnerazine (same as Sturgeron) and staying in the most stable part of the boat - starboard saloon. Bill pulled up a long skinny fish with sharp teeth which after describing it to Adam on the radio he said it was a barracuda. He said it was a 'fishy' tasting fish and not his favourite. However Bill cooked it in a bit of butter in the fry pan and it was delicious with potatoes. Position at 6pm 18 03.3S 176 25.6E 396nm to go to Port Resolution, Tanna Island, Vanuatu. We saw some nice photos the other night of the La Barca family with 2 wee ones there in 2005. They have done well on their 35ft boat. We can't see them any more behind us but will be in contact by email/sat ph sms if we are too far away to talk on radio. We look forward to celebrating their circumnavigation at the little Tanna yacht club with a suckling pig. Bronwyn and I are going to wear our saris.

2nd November 2009 We decided to anchor at Muscat Cove tonight: Position: 17 46.30S 177 11.19E so we are still in Fijian waters! It was getting late in the afternoon to get through the pass and another night's sleep was welcome. It was a bit of a boisterous trip here anyway from Lautoka. We were nervous negotiating the reefs into Muscat cove but La Barca took the lead and we followed as well as checking things ourselves. It looked a bit like Oz here - brown hills, windswept beaches and mangroves. The resort and marina is an obvious landmark. There was no time to look around this trip. Southeasterly trade winds are predicted so we should have a good run to Vanuatu. If the wind is consistent we should do at least 150 a day. But we'll see......

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31/10/2009, Viti Levu

Naidu the friendly Lautoka taxi driver
31 October 2009
Vuda Point Marina

This is our last night here. We are all provisioned up with food, fuel and water. Valiam has nice clean painted bottom and ready to go. However she is looking a bit cluttered inside. I have collected so many things along the way, they are hanging up, stacked around and bulging out of lockers... It is very difficult to keep things tidy.

Due to the customs rules in Fiji we have to take the boat up to Lautoka, anchor in the harbour then clear out. We are not allowed to take a taxi into town from Vuda Point (10km away) to get our clearance papers. The officials don't look at the boats in the harbour but if they find out a yacht is still in the marina a fine is issued. (Usually $200) So tomorrow we must sail up to Lautoka before leaving Fiji. We also found out that quarantine fees in Australia for incoming yachts are $330. This is a lot of money. The most we've ever had to pay anywhere else in the world is $50. Rules, regulations and fees are all part of cruising overseas. It's been interesting how different each country is in their treatment of overseas yachts.

During our last shopping trip into town today I had to buy a few more saris. They are so beautiful and not expensive. They will look lovely draped as curtains or made into stunning outfits. The majority of people here are Indian. Bill says he did a head count today.
"Easily two to one. I was watching the people in the street while you were in the sari shop"
It's not only the Indian ladies who wear saris. The Indian lady in the sari shop said
"European ladies come in to buy. And Fijian ladies too."
From what I observed here, the Indian and Fijian population work and live quite happily alongside each other. The Fijians enjoy eating curry and the Indian men wear 'Bula' shirts. (Fijian flowery shirts) However it seems rare that they marry each other. There are some political issues obviously as the Fijian landowners only allow the Indians to lease their land.

On the whole we've found the people here in Fiji extremely friendly and helpful - much more than most countries we have visited. I am looking forward to our next landfall. Tanna Island in Vanuatu looks beautiful. Adam and Bronwyn (La Barca) showed us their slides from the start of their circumnavigation five years ago. I think it may be a bit like Papua New Guinea. We also hope to visit the live volcano whilst we are there

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29/10/2009, Vuda Point Marina

Valiam is now back in the water where she belongs. Its nice to have our home back to normal again. We did miss our nice big bed! Looking at weather forecasts it is looking ok to go to Vanuatu next week but we will reassess this on the weekend. The grib files we receive from saildocs as well as passageweather.com indicate fairly consistent southeasterlies. There are a couple of lows forming that we need to keep an eye on.

Above is a photo of me modelling my posh sari. I am still learning how to tie them correctly. They are lovely to wear but may be difficult climbing on and off the boat!

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28/10/2009, Fiji

First Landing Resort
Next to Vuda Point Marina
Fiji
28th October 2009

Valiam is now out of the water propped up in the boatyard a few steps from here. Safety Sstandards are a bit different here. As the travel lift hoisted Valiam up out of the water we were still on board. It was exciting to go for a ride on land! (Brought back memories of dreams we've both had of Valiam driving on land!) Our little budget room is cool, shady and has unlimited water. It is such a pleasure to turn on normal taps and have hot jets of water run down my back! Bill is supervising the painting of antifouling paint. He is pleased with the Boabob Marine workers. They know exactly what they are doing. Not so with one of the tailors in Lautoka....

I felt very excited to see the tailors today. Bronwyn and I went to see Sunil first who operates upstairs in the main shopping street. But alas he had made many mistakes. He cut the wrong fabric for the sari and the sundress fitted very badly. He also made mistakes with Bronwyn's outfits - tops instead of dresses etc. We expressed our dismay and took the fabric he hadn't cut yet. Our first tailor Jtendra however did a beautiful job. Everything was stitched beautifully and pressed. I love my teal coloured sari. (It looks blue in the photo). Even Bill thinks the sari looks elegant!

Both the La Barca family and myself found an embroidery machine place to do our 'Around the World' shirts. It was recommended by the shirt shop but so difficult to find! It is down a back street behind a locked grill door and no sign. We only found the place by driving around with the taxi driver (who didn't know where it was) and jumping out and asking people. Anyway a beautiful young woman named Ranita made our designs on the computer and a row of computerised sewing machines did the job in half a day. Fantastic! Now we have lovely mementos to give to our families and friends.

Valiam should be back in the water by Friday. We had hoped to be on our way to Vanuatu but the weather may be a little unsettled after the weekend. The SPCZ (South Pacific Convergent Zone) is moving quite close to northern Fiji so we will wait and see. We will be ready to go as soon as the weather is suitable. We are hoping to go to Port Resolution but in a northeasterly it is unprotected. We are hoping to have mostly south easterly winds to get home to Oz.

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26/10/2009, Viti Levu

Monday 26th October 2009

As we were eating our dinner at the yacht club last night we noticed a green masthead light near the narrow entrance. "There must be another yacht coming in" I said. The mast head light turned from green to red. It was now further towards the right.
I said to the others "I wouldn't come in at night. I hope they know what they are doing"
Bill watched thoughtfully. "They're probably tying up to the buoy out there."
Not long after French skipper Hughes of yacht Lo rushed past us. "I have some very bad news. The yacht out there is on the reef" Everyone at our table watched intently at the red mast head light and barely visible yacht hull in the distance. We all felt upset and thought of what could be done. Already several dinghies had gone out with torches. A local motorboat also went out. We went down to the jetty and saw a man with a mobile phone. He turned to us and said "It's taking on water. The guys are up to waist level."
Adam was keen to take his dinghy out to help. He and Bill took off with a torch and hand held vhf radio. Half an hour later they returned and said the 3 men of the stricken yacht had already been taken off along with their valuables.
Bill said "It's a really nice yacht. Such a shame."
We all felt sad that night. It's something that could happen to anyone.

Monday morning we woke up early getting ready to have Valiam hauled out of the water. Bill went to look at the yacht on the reef. When he returned he said
"It's Bravo. You know the Brazilian yacht we saw in Jacare and in Tobago. They've got their yellow flag up."
I said "They must have been tired and couldn't work out where the entrance was. They must have sailed from Samoa or Tonga" I thought it was risky to attempt to enter a foreign entrance at night. It wasn't long before we saw Bravo being towed in with water being pumped out. The travel lift was ready to pull them out. There was some concern as Bravo had not officially cleared into the country. The officials from Lautoka arrived not long after.

All this was going on when Valiam was supposed to be hauled out. We found out that as Bravo now had the last props we had to wait until another boat went back into the water in 2 days time. Bravo will be in the boatyard for some time. After Bill talked to the guys he said "The sail drive hit the reef which punched it up through the hull. The propeller was twisted and there was a big hole. They blocked the hole with bits of wood and pumped the water out with a big pump brought from the boat yard. They were lucky it happened right outside the marina and boat yard."

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24/10/2009, Fiji

The ultimate in Indian dressing - I have had my own sari made too! More pics in the Fiji gallery

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24/10/2009, Viti levu

Linda, Bronwyn, Jack and Amy outside the market in Lautoka.

Saturday 24th October 2009
Vuda Point Marina
Fiji

Considering we are berthed close to other boats it is surprisingly quiet and relaxing here. A gate and pathway to the resort next door "First Landing' makes it feel like a real holiday here. We have been able to access the bar, pool, restaurant etc which is situated in a rainforest type garden. Last night we were treated to a dance display meant for the guests but we got to enjoy agile half naked bodies dancing to music from different parts of the Pacific. One of the girls was really a boy but did amazing hip shimmies!

Valiam will be lifted out of the water on Monday for antifouling and a few minor repairs. We thought it was a good opportunity to do it here where it is quite cheap and we are still in 'boat mode'. Once we are back in Australia family matters will take over and we'll be busy traveling between the Sunshine coast and Townsville. We have booked a room at the resort next door for the 2 nights Valiam will be out on the hard - such a luxurious way to have the boat done! We will even have local workers doing most of the work! (Not like our experience in Durban, South Africa in a dirty boat yard last December!!)

I have been having a great time in Lautoka visiting the Indian dress and fabric shops as well as tailors with Bronwyn. We are having half a dozen outfits made each varying from the exotic sequined sari to strappy sundresses. It is all so cheap and lots of fun. The fabrics are just beautiful and are all from India to cater for the large Indian population here who still dress very traditionally in elegant colourful saris. We wont look the same but it will be fun trying!

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21/10/2009, Viti Levu, Fiji

sardine living! At least the showers aren't far away...Just checked out the resort next door - there's a spa (massage.....) right behind the marina!

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21/10/2009, south of Lautoka, Viti Levu

The photo above was taken by Bronwyn Zemanek (La Barca) on our way to Savu Savu.

Vuda Point Marina
Viti Levu
Fiji
22 October 2009
Position : 17 40.84S 177 23.17E

Its 7.15am and it's quite bizarre to wake up in the middle of this pond like marina surrounded by a circle of boats. We took the dinghy ashore last night and enjoyed dinner at the yacht club which is right next to the narrow entrance to the marina and looks out to sea. The prices are very reasonable here (about half Oz prices)
We are waiting for the staff to arrive to assist in manoevering us into a berth so we can just step off the boat to use the facilities. I managed to get wifi internet straight away (with the help of visa card!!) Bill is going to investigate haul out for Valiam here to do a quick antifoul job before we sail to Oz. We'll only do it if we can be in and out in a few days.
There are buses into town (Lautoka) and taxis are $F15 (about A$7). We look forward to doing some exploring (and retail therapy !!)

Wednesday 21st October 2009
We arrived in Vuda Point Marina (south of Lautoka) at 4.30 pm after motoring at a minimum of 6 knots since 7am this morning. The channel was clearly marked on our chart plotter and it was a bit like Moreton Bay or inside Fraser Island. When we arrived in this small circular marina we were directed to the central buoy where we had to tie up. We feel a bit like the evenings entertainment in the middle of all the yachts. An email I received from the marina said there were 'plenty of spaces' but we cant see many at all and it will take some manoevering to get Valiam tied up between 2 boats all spaced like sardines in a circle maybe 100m diameter.
We'll have to launch the dinghy if we want to get off the boat this evening. Obviously we arrived just before knock off time and will have to wait till morning to get our allotted sardine space. The travel lift and people working on boats are all very close so I imagine I will access the side gate to the adjacent resort 'First Landing' to lie beside the pool.

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19/10/2009, 17 17.97'S:178 13.02'E, Bligh Water

Tuesday 20 October 2009

We've just anchored in a tight little harbour surrounded by reefs off Nananu-i-Ra island - I thought Nanny's island is easier to say!! La Barca's friends recommended this spot as there is supposed to be pizza and beer ashore. It looks a bit quiet but there are a number of buildings dotted about. Just spoke to an Aussie from Sydney in a small motor boat who said he owned a place on the point. Lonely Planet says this island is occupied by Europeans (white people as opposed to Fijians). After another 5.30am start it's time to relax. (its now 4pm). There's lots of navigating through reefs tomorrow to get to Vuda Point. (near Lautoka) The bloke in the runabout just came back with a couple of beers - what a nice Aussie welcome! Thanks John! Ciao for now Position: 17 17.974S 178 13.021E

Monday 19th October 2009

Valiam is anchored at Makongai Island position: 17 26.465S 178 57.230E. It's peaceful here and there is a small village where there used to be a leper colony. We went for a bit of a snorkel to look at the coral and a few small fish. A small striped sea snake greeted Bill when he descended the ladder of the boat! We had a pleasant sail here and it should be the same again tomorrow where we'll anchor at another island by the afternoon so we don't have to negotiate through reefs at night. We may even reach Vuda Point by Wednesday (10k from Lautoka). Strong winds are coming in again in a few days but we should be safely berthed by then. We'll spend a week at Vuda Point until there is suitable weather to cross to Vanuatu. All is well.

Just out of interest weather guru Bob McDavitt said that this is an 'el nino year' and he doesnt think there will be any cyclones in our path for several weeks or a month

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17/10/2009, Fiji

Photo: Little Fijian girl eating curry next to us at Watui Marina. The men sitting in a circle next to her are drinking kava

Sunday 18th October 2009

Savu Savu is a happy little town with a mix of cultures. It's been quite festive here the last few days as the Indian community prepared for their Diwali celebration (festival of light) It felt a bit like Christmas with lots of people rushing around doing last minute shopping, buying fireworks and food. The shops shut here at midday yesterday and it's a holiday Monday so we also stocked up on food and you guessed it - fireworks!

We were invited to celebrate with an Indian family who run the restaurant at Waitui marina last night. But after some deliberation knowing it would be a very late night we decided not to go. Normally we would leap at the chance of enjoying cultural activities but we are still so very tired. The time spent at sea and night watches as well as the last bad night at sea have taken its toll. Like old people we need to be in bed at a reasonable time to be able to function the next day!

Instead Adam had the idea of making a fire on the little island opposite and sending off our own fireworks early in the evening and then heading back to our boats. It was very enjoyable watching the sunset next to a fire whilst the children (big boys too) let off the fireworks. Steve and Dee arrived on Seren yesterday so they joined us - a small Aussie gathering celebrating Diwali! All night long there were fireworks so we went to sleep (or tried to) with fireworks going off around us. Early this morning a group of locals began setting up speakers etc in the park opposite. Right on the dot of 8am we were treated to a loud tirade of religious babble. Ready to move the boat further down the river, by 9am they had thankfully finished.

We are now preparing for our day sails down to Lautoka. This afternoon we will anchor 5miles down to outside the Costeau resort then early tomorrow begin sailing to our first anchorage 45 miles away. We expect to be in Vuda Point marina by Thursday or Friday. I am glad we will be able to anchor each night as I am not ready to do any night passages at sea! The weather has cleared and it's a beautiful sunny day. Oh for those who are wondering - yes I did buy a beautiful rainbow coloured glittering sari! The Indian ladies looked so beautiful walking around town and working in the shops Amy and Jack (children on La Barca) were enthralled. We have also been eating fantastic curries every day. There will be more to come as Lautoka also has a large Indian population

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16/10/2009, Fiji

Bill enjoying a red in his favourite enamel mug.

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14/10/2009, Fiji

Thursday 15th October
Coprashed Marina (mooring in the river)
Savu Savu
Fiji

Valiam is sitting quietly here in the river with small town noises in the background. The local park is directly opposite where we see locals relaxing under coconut palms. The main street is walking distance away and has everything we need. Yesterday we noticed an interesting mix of shops selling food, cheap items and also Indian shops with glittering saris. I will need to have a wander on my own without Bill! We just received a message from La Barca on our satellite phone (they email using HF radio) that they expect to arrive at 2pm today. They are rested after that traumatic night at sea. We heard customs contact Copra shed marina this morning about the whereabouts of La Barca. So it does look like Fiji customs keeps a close eye on yachts here. We have organized for a cruising permit to sail to Lautoka as there are some islands yachts are not allowed to go to. Curly's Bosun has a chartlet book with waypoints to stop along the way. This will be excellent as we don't want to do any night sailing through the reefs on the way.

Food and drinks are very cheap here. Yesterday we enjoyed a delicious curry for A$4.50 and beer at the marina is A$2. It only costs F$10 a day for the mooring here (A$6) which includes HOT showers! We could stay here for the cyclone season quite cheaply! But once rested we'll be on our way again to get back to Oz. We'll just have to come back one day.

We are still tired and still have to clean up the boat after 5 nights at sea.....all in good time. For the yachties reading this I would like to put in a good word for the lovely Dolly the contact person at Copra shed marina. She assists yachties on the radio, by email and in person with everything we need. Thanks Dolly!

I am putting some photos we took en route to here with La Barca in the album "Fiji" as well as some local scenes of Savu Savu.
Also - very exciting for us : If you click on our position you can see our start of our circumnavigation from Mooloolaba, Oz. Gives me goosebumps!!

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13/10/2009, Savu Savu, Fiji

Wednesday 14th October
Copra shed Marina
Savu Savu
Fiji
Position : 16 46.677S 179 20.162E

Above photo: rainbow before the 2nd storm

Not long after we arrived I sent this email to the family:

I sit here bleary eyed with a cup of coffee glad the night is over. Just after we passed the date line at 180 degrees at 7.30 last night at an exciting 8 knots the weather turned ugly. There was no way of avoiding the huge black clouds coming towards us. We were now in Fijian waters with islands all about us with hardly any visibility. We had to run with it continuing in the direction of Savu Savu past the first large island. The wind continued to increase to 30 knots and Valiam was flying through the darkness like an express train at 8.5knots. Thank goodness for our chart plotter so we could work out where we were. Out in the open ocean it's easier to deal with this type of weather as we have lots of sea room. Once past the first island we aimed for a patch of open water 20 miles from land. We had to slow Valiam down. She already had 2 reefs in the main and no jib. Bill had to go up to the mast to put in the 3rd reef with me in the cockpit supporting him. We both had full wet weather gear on and were tied on with harnesses. With his head torch he could see what he was doing untangling lines. The wind was screaming in our ears so communication was done by shouting at the tops of our voices. With the 3rd reef in Valiam continued to blast along at 7.5 knots. We could see a couple of boat lights in the distance but couldn't work out which way they were going. Mona Lisa the electric autopilot struggled to keep us on course so Bill had to hand steer several times. It was difficult for him to hold a course by hand and we jibed several times. By 1.30am we had had enough and decided to hove-to. There was absolutely no way we would enter a strange harbour at night in these conditions. We needed to get the jib up again and manoever Valiam in the right position. With the wind roaring and sails flapping we eventually got Valiam steady in hove-to position. She was still sailing along at 3 knots! This was ok as we had enough room now between the islands and we were slowly heading in the right direction towards Savu Savu. We made cups of tea and took turns to be on watch. Bill hardly slept at all. I managed an hour or two. By 7.15am we were on our way again. We had traveled 12 miles towards Savu Savu whilst hove to. Sailing briskly along with just a triple reefed main we were still doing 7 knots. During the latter part of the night we lost contact with La Barca some 20 miles behind us. Later I received a satellite message saying they had anchored behind a headland to rest as they too were exhausted. We expect to see them later today or tomorrow.

After an hour or so we were near the entrance to Savu Savu harbour. There is a very long submerged reef on the starboard side with a beacon near the end. Our electronic chart was accurate. Once in the harbour the relief was enormous. The nasty waves disappeared and we made our way into the harbour not far behind a large red ferry. To our amazement we saw 3 yachts leave the harbour. It's so calm in here that it is difficult to believe the conditions outside!

I had contacted Copra shed marina by email so now called them up on vhf. After finding our way through lots of boats in a creek a friendly man from the Copra shed marina came to meet us greeting us with 'Bula!" in a dinghy. He showed us to our mooring buoy only a few metres from the shore. Within half an hour 3 separate lots of officials were brought to the boat by a marina dinghy completing all the necessary forms with friendliness and efficiency. How relaxing to not be on guard as in previous countries such as Galapagos and Panama.

Although tired we will go ashore shortly to shower and have lunch at the marina clubhouse.

Savu Savu looks like a relaxed friendly town from here with the supermarket and Westpac bank visible from our boat.

All well on board

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11/10/2009, 15 49.3'S:177 04.5'W, Pacific Ocean

En route to Savu Savu, Fiji.
Position at 8am (Samoan time):15 49.3S 177 04.5W.
Water temperature: 27.6 degrees.
215 miles to Savu Savu.
total nautical miles since leaving Mooloolaba: 26,315.
11th/12th October 2009.

The sun is shining brightly and it is already hot as Valiam glides gently over the waves. The motor is chugging away to give us a little more speed as well as charge up the batteries. We are crossing an imaginary date line on this passage as our position changes from West to East at approximately 180degrees and we lose a whole day! La Barca is not far behind and again we have been able to stay within vhf radio range to chat several times a day. In fact yesterday we managed to come close to one another and take photos of the yachts just before sunset as we were passing a small Tongan island called Niaua Fou'ou.

I'm finding ocean passages somewhat tedious at times and feel constantly tired and lethargic. Due to time constraints we can't linger in Fiji as we would like to and feel the pressure to return home before the cyclone season. With just under 2000 miles to go to Australia we will probably arrive around mid November. In many ways I do not want this trip to end and wished we could have stayed longer in some countries but on the other hand I miss the family and look forward to seeing them very much. It's a year since we have seen the grandchildren and they will have grown up a lot in that time. We plan to spend quality time with them when we return.

The future is wide open for us when we return and hopefully there will be opportunities for doing things we didn't have time to do in the rush before we left Australia in 2007. Our life for the last 2 years has been navigating, provisioning, planning, officialdom, anchorages and marinas. We have spent more than 30% of our time at sea which is more than most cruising boats. Valiam is our home, our cocoon and I feel safe within her. I am surrounded by pictures, carvings and memorabilia of our trip to remind us how far we've come. I am used to ferreting for items in lockers and having to put things back again. Email on board has been the best thing for someone like me who likes to communicate regularly with family and friends. It's also been invaluable for weather information, keeping in touch with other cruising yachts and writing to marinas and officials.

I have really enjoyed sailing in company with La Barca over the last few months and know we have made lifelong friends. Bronwyn, Adam, Jack and Amy have been our 'family' at sea. We are keen for our family to meet them in Oz.

Drawing what I see has been therapeutic for me as I tackle subjects I have never drawn before such as the Galapagos marine iguanas and Suwarrow birds. I hope to find time to draw in Fiji. I now use a small notebook and black pen which is easier to transport than pastels or paint. We have taken thousands of photos which I have backed up on an external hard drive as I don't trust our computer! It's been wonderful to have photos of Valiam sailing taken by other yachties. She looks sleek and beautiful and we are very proud of her. We are more than pleased with her performance as she nearly always makes faster passages than most cruising yachts. I remember a friend who circumnavigated the world with his family said 'A fast boat is a safe boat'. I agree with this as we have been able to reach a safe harbour before bad weather hit on many occasions.

The next month we will be reflecting on our voyage and looking forward to our return home as well as enjoy the next few places - Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia. It's nice to know the South Pacific is on our doorstep and we look forward to returning to spend more time here in the future. Our ETA in Savu Savu is Wednesday morning (same day as Oz!)

Keep those emails coming in and DON'T FORGET TO DELETE MY TEXT before you hit the reply/send button! (every kb costs to download with our satellite phone). Look forward to hearing from you with any feedback or questions etc

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08/10/2009, Samoa

These guys were terrific to watch!

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08/10/2009, Apia, SAMOA

Typo error?
Apia
Samoa
8 October 2009

My head is full of impressions, thoughts and planning for the next few weeks. This is our last day in Samoa and I am so impressed with the way Samoans are gentle, happy, helpful and honest. I said to Bill we must return to the Pacific to cruise more extensively. It is relaxing to speak English, not watch our back and worry about being conned. We can put our credit cards, licenses etc back into our leather wallets and walk around with them. Valiam is moored in the harbour marina right next to the road and we have never had to lock her. This is great in a hot climate so she has air flowing through her whilst we are out and we don't return to an 'oven'. The people in the shops and banks are genuinely friendly, helpful and efficient. At the post office my post cards were stamped and posted within minutes and not looked at with perplexity at the word 'Australia', as has been the case in most of the countries we have visited on our circumnavigation.

I can hear singing and guitar not far away as today is a holiday in Samoa dedicated to the lives lost in the tsunami. Samoans love to sing and are very religious. On our drive through the countryside yesterday we saw a record number of churches! The men here mostly wear lava lavas (cloth tied around their hips rather than trousers). The policeman who stopped the traffic yesterday at a pedestrian crossing wore a lava but it was fashioned like a pair of business pants with pockets sewn into the straight navy blue fabric.

Whilst driving around the island yesterday with the La Barca crew we enjoyed the lush landscape and tidy villages. Samoans have fales as part of their homes in their large gardens. Fales are open structures either square or round with a peaked thatched roof. Many are quite large and have lounge suites and household appliances inside. It must be nice and cool - a relaxed place to hang out in full view of everyone going past. Obviously crime is not an issue here with everyone's belongings exposed to all an sundry. We were keen to explore the waterfalls and swimming holes so drove to Piula cave pools in the grounds of a Methodist training college. Whilst driving towards their we listened to reports on the local radio station about a tsunami alert. It became a warning so we stayed where we were as we were parked on a hill in the college grounds overlooking the sea. It was quite scenic actually so we had a picnic next to the church. We weren't allowed to swim in the cave pools. For an hour or so we gazed out to sea looking for any changes in the sea's behaviour over the reefs. It was decided that it was best to continue our sight seeing and head for the waterfalls in the hills. There are several places here where naturally formed rock pools and waterfalls are amazing places for swimming. The 'Sliding Rock Pools' were a big hit with everyone. It was just like a water park with slides except it was all built by nature! A really beautiful place is Togitogiga Falls. It is cool and shady with overhanging rocks and vines. There are two rock pools joined by a waterfall where the adventurous jump down between the two. (not me!)

A quick look at a small section of the coast where the tsunami hit last week revealed most buildings still standing and the Samoans going about their normal lives. We saw one section where some sheds had come down in a river. We weren't inclined to look further along where the low lying resorts had been destroyed. From the misty cool mountains we were back in Apia within an hour. Unfortunately Robert Louis Stevensons house was closed but the grounds looked very impressive from the road.

Last night Bill and I decided to walk up the road to Aggie Grey's hotel to enjoy a show and buffet dinner. The show was excellent featuring men and women singing and dancing traditional Samoan numbers. The young men were extremely energetic and great to watch in their short lava lavas. I particularly loved watching the women's hand movements - a dance and story in themselves. We couldn't eat as much as we would have liked from the fabulous buffet as our stomachs couldn't manage it! We noticed there were less journalists hanging about the place. There were so many there the other day squeezing out every dollar they could out of the tsunami disaster.

Its no wonder our family worries when most of the news reports are so dramatic and the images portrayed are made to look worse with digital enhancing. On the positive side friends of ours on yachts (Seren and Antipodes) have taken donated supplies to Niuatoputapu (we call it 'new potatoes'!) a small Tongan island south of here that was hit badly by the tsunami. The people there rely on boats for essential supplies. I made some room in my clothes locker and we also donated a dozen cans of tinned meat which we thought we wouldn't get through before we reach Australian quarantine.

Today we are preparing for our trip to Savu Savu, Fiji and hope to be on our way this afternoon. We are sailing with La Barca and will keep in touch during the 600 mile passage. We are getting closer to Australia and with all the tsunamis and imminent cyclones hope to get there next month! In my heart I don't want this circumnavigation to end and I am sure I will have mixed emotions as we 'cross the line' in New Caledonia. After Fiji we may go to Tanna Island in Vanuatu then on to Lifou, Isle des Pins and Noumea (New Caledonia). Then it will be the final leg to either Brisbane or Bundaberg depending on which way the wind is blowing. I cant believe we have almost sailed around the world! A look at Google earth (under our position map) reveals our track around the globe. Now wonder we are feeling a bit tired - 27,000 nautical miles in less than 2 years!

I hope you have had time to look at the photos of Suwarrow and there is some more in the Samoa album. (Click on the little camera on the right then scroll down)

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05/10/2009, Pacific Ocean

Apia Marina
Samoa
Position : 13 49.67S 171 45.5W

It was a relief to arrive safely in Apia at 10.30 am Saturday Samoa time. Harbour control was very helpful directing us into our marina berth. We are now comfortably ensconced between to Tara3 and Antipodes. La Barca and Seren are a few boats down from us on the pontoon. It's a nice change to be able to walk directly off the boat and not have to use a dinghy. We are not used to living so close to other boats but the convenience factor outweighs any of our feelings of 'caravan park like living'. Its great for networking with other yachties about weather conditions and information about places to sail to next.
I am feeling a bit tired this morning as we had many people on our boat last night for a party. Adam and Bill cooked up some of the big wahoo we caught yesterday in a tandoori batter which was delicious. Beer and wine flowed freely as the tsunami survivors told us their stories. All appears normal here in Apia and everyone is very friendly. The locals are anxious about visitors being turned away as the local economy relies on tourism. We are happy to be here and I will have great pleasure injecting funds into the local economy when I go shopping tomorrow! We also invited Liz and Mike on yacht Drina. Liz had written a book in the 80s about her voyage around the world with her family titled "Dolphins at Sunset'. Bil and I have read this book several times and have it on board. I had a long conversation with Liz about publishing and how to go about it when I write my book. It seems a literary agent is the way to go. I will have my work cut out for me next year!
Anyway all is well and we are very happy to be here. It looks like we are able to buy everything we need as most businesses are operating as normal and supplies have not been affected. Some of the other yachties brought lovely salads and fresh guacamole dip etc to go with the fish.
We have already heard the church bells twice this morning before 7.30! Apia is meant to have an extaordinary number of churches. When Bill went ot buy beer yesterday he saw several strange statues outside a church of angels (he thinks) stabbing a people with long weapons and blood spurting out. How lovely....

With the crew of La Barca we spoiled ourselves by going out ot lunch to the Aggie Grey Hotel. The interior is lavishly decorated with many different patterned tapa cloths, fabrics and carvings. The original South Pacfic movie was made here. It was so lovely to sit in a cool comfortable interesting restaurant and be served by happy relaxed staff. We are allowed to use the pool here so that is on our agenda along with the coffee shop with English gossip magazines!
We should be officially cleared in tomorrow by all the various officials that will visit our boat tomorrow.

Have a look at our Suwarrow photo album. (click on little camera then scroll down)

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02/10/2009, 13 41.0'S:169 29.8'W, en route Suwarrow to Apia, Samoa, Pacific Ocean

leaving Suwarrow under spinnaker. photo by Bronwyn Norris (La Barca)

Position: 13 41.0S 169 29.8W.
2nd October 2009, 11.30am.

TSUNAMI IN SAMOA As we were saying our goodbyes to John, Veronica and family on a beautiful sunny morning in Suwarrow on Tuesday 29th September, American yacht Carina called Suwarrow base on vhf radio with news of the tsunami that just hit Samoa. John did not seem concerned as he has had tsunami warnings before. But as further news reached us throughout the day we were concerned for our friends who were in Pago Pago and Apia. Carina and Antipodes had already left Suwarrow and La Barca, Spica and Valiam left Suwarrow around 2pm.

We had difficulty getting Valiam's anchor up after 3 weeks in Suwarrow as the chain had wrapped itself around coral heads several times. There was no choice but for Bill to swim with snorkeling gear to see how to get Valiam's chain unwrapped. Whilst Bill was in the water he called instructions to me to motor around the coral heads and winch the anchor chain up in stages. My heart was thumping as I did not want to run over my husband! I had to run up and down to the bow of the boat and back to the cockpit to steer. Of course the circuit breaker on the anchor winch tripped several times so I had to jiggle the switch inside. After about an hour Valiam was finally free and to the accompaniment of one of the boys blowing the Suwarrow conch shell we departed. Spica and La Barca left a little before us. At this stage we weren't concerned about the tsunami as we were 500 miles away and the best place is to be out at sea.

A beautiful 10-15 knot south easterly was blowing and the sea was flat. We caught up to La Barca and motor sailed alongside for a little while then Valiam moved ahead. Not long after that we passed Spica. Bill and Adam had discussed pulling up the spinnakers and taking photos of each other and soon we saw La Barca looking splendid with her new Australian flag spinnaker billowing out. La Barca surged ahead so Captain Bill went into the fore locker to prepare Priscilla our temperamental monster purple and green spinnaker. After half an hour of sweating Bill got Priscilla up and Valiam began to fly along at 8.5 knots! As we passed La Barca we took lots of photos and video footage and they of us. After a couple of hours we were well ahead and it was getting late in the afternoon so Priscilla came down without getting tangled.

Back to a more sedate speed of 5.5 knots we sailed along and by nightfall we were called up by Carina who could see us just behind them. I think they we were worried we would run them over! By morning we had passed Carina.

It was during these 24 hours we spoke on vhf to everyone sharing information about the tsunami. We had received numerous emails from concerned family and friends. We also received short emails from our friends in Samoa. Unfortunately Aussie friends Lisa and Garry couldn't protect their yacht Biscayne Bay in Pago Pago and she was severely damaged. No one was injured. Several yachts opted to go to sea but most evacuated with money and passports and headed for the hills as there was very little warning. This earthquake that triggered the tsunami was 8.3 on the Richter scale. One American yachtie lost his life in Pago Pago trying to secure his vessel. Our friends on Seren, Tara III and Mudskipper were all in Apia and only had time to run by foot 2km to higher ground. No yachts or lives were lost in Apia. Unfortunately on the other side of the island more than 100 lives were lost. At present all those still in Samoa are involved in the aftermath and clean up. We have been given t he go-ahead to continue on to Apia. The harbour and marina are fine and all shops and services are operating.

As we have been away from shops for almost a month we are looking forward to provisioning with fresh supplies. We also need to fill up with fuel in Apia. Now we are 140 miles away and should arrive around lunch time Saturday. As there has been very little wind we have been motoring since 1oclock this morning.We look forward to having a few drinks with fellow Aussie/NZ survivors in Apia.

The night before we left Suwarrow we had our final beach party. With Luise, Lars (Spica) and Bronwyn and Adam (La Barca) we decided that the dress code would be 'formal'! I put an announcement over the radio to that effect to the rest of the yachts in the anchorage but we 3 yachtie couples were the only ones who dressed up. It felt strange wearing nice clothes, make up etc after being a 'grotty yachtie' for so long. The men wore ties over their t shirts and floral shirts! We were all still barefoot as wearing shoes would be impractical on Suwarrow. After sunset cocktails we enjoyed a communal meal with John, Veronica and family with fresh fish as always cooked in varying ways. (I made a fish curry). I thanked John and Veronica for their incredible hospitality and praised the work they do in preserving the island. Later in the evening I put some belly dancing music on my portable DVD player and handed out pretty beaded scarves. We girls enjoyed dancing and incorporating some C ook Island hip shimmies shown to us by Veronica. What a wonderful last night at Suwarrow.

Feeling a little trepidation as we head closer to Apia we are reassured by our friends waiting there that all will be ok. I don't feel quite as excited about making landfall this time as the local people will be feeling sad after losing loved ones in the tsunami. If there is any way we can assist we will, even if it is only listening and moral support.

As soon as I am able to access internet I will be downloading lots of photos so keep an eye out on the website over the next few days. For those of you who have posted comments they won't go on until then either. (You will have to go back to a month ago to see all the comments.) Thank you to everyone for their concern for us over the last few days. Waiting at Suwarrow for an extra week for La Barca was the best thing we did!

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27/09/2009, 13 14.98'S:163 06.43'W, Pacific Ocean

Suwarrow, 27th September 2009

Yes we're still here in Suwarrow! Island life has certainly been good for us to rest, slow down and recover financially from the exorbitant prices in French Polynesia. We are living on freshly caught fish and whatever stores we have in our locker. It is good to use them up especially anything with dairy or meat in them as Australian quarantine will take them anyway. The downside to living on what we have is that I spend many hours in the galley cooking and washing up. This is hot work and almost impossible without the little battery operated fan. However, our nightly communal feasts are worth it. Nearly everyone is making flat bread now. The dough is like a normal bread dough (yeast is not compulsory but makes it taste better) and can be rolled out into thin pancake sized rounds and fried in a small amount of oil. I let the dough rise once before cooking and this made excellent pocket bread.

La Barca arrived on Thursday 24th after sailing 700 miles without any self steering. It's been wonderful to spend time with Bronwyn, Adam, Jack and Amy again in such a beautiful place. We have got to know the caretakers John, Veronica and the boys really well now and shared many meals ashore. Veronica's coconut pancakes made with the flesh of a sprouting coconut are delicious and very popular. With Veronica and some of the women here in the anchorage we have been learning to weave coconut fronds into belts, food platters and baskets. Wearing the belts, we enjoyed a bit of belly dancing incorporating Cook Island dancing to the barely audible CD music on the tiny portable DVD player powered by solar panels. The day we wove the food platters we used them for a communal feast. It's been good to get involved in the many pastimes here at a leisurely pace. It's interesting that we've still been a bit tired mainly because our almost nightly beach barbeque gatherings don't end until m idnight! The other night we enjoyed listening to some singing and guitar playing by John as well as Luise (German yacht Spica) It was great listening to songs in German, Russian , English as well as Cook Island language.

We will miss this island when we leave in a couple of days. Right now there is no wind and the water is so clear and so still. I decided to take a dip this morning and was rudely stung by a blue bottle. This was extremely painful. Bill poured on vinegar but icy cold water from the fridge was the only thing that took some of the pain away. The welts and pain on my arm lasted about 4 hours. We didn't see any more blue bottles just lazy black tipped sharks swimming lazily by. I have abandoned any more notions of swimming and snorkeling today! Bill went to warn Jack and Amy - it would be extremely painful on a much smaller body..

Yesterday whilst Bill and Adam made repairs to La Barca's autopilot Bronwyn the children and myself went by dinghy to Sister Islands as part of an excursion guided by John. Again I saw baby frigate and boobie birds but this time I had my small sketchbook ready. Bill says my drawings of the baby frigates look like little dinosaurs! I guess they do look like small prehistoric creatures! After a picnic we noticed a huge low black cloud hovering over the anchorage in the distance. By the time it reached us we were snorkeling around a coral reef. It was an amazing experience to be swimming in the pelting rain but underneath, the reef was calm and clear. There weren't many fish because John said some yachties had used spear guns indiscriminately in this area. (Spear guns are prohibited in this National Park). Jack and Amy swam about like little fish but I was pleased they wore their fluorescent life jackets so we could keep an eye on them. When we got back Bill and Adam had managed to make La Barca's autopilot to work and Valiam had collected lots of rain water. We enjoyed a special meal on board La Barca of our last brie, blue cheese, home made pizza and last bottle of South African red wine.

I have recently been in contact with Bob Mc Davitt a New Zealand based weather forecaster for yachties in the South Pacific. We are now on his weekly free mailing list which gives us a comprehensive report of the area we will be sailing in over the next 2 months. It will be a good time to leave Suwarrow in about 2 days. We will be aiming for Apia, Western Samoa to stock up on fresh food and duty free booze! Valiam and La Barca will be sailing close to one another on this final leg hopefully meeting up in various ports along the way.

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20/09/2009, 13 14.98'S:163 06.43'W, Pacific Ocean

Suwarrow Cook Is 20th September 2009

The calendar with its ticks on each day tells us we've been here 12 days already! We are now the 'old timers' as more boats come in. Our beach fire bbqs are now a nightly ritual with more yachties joining in each day. Of course the inevitable question "How long have you been out?" When we say less than 2 years, the same reply "Gosh you're going fast". This gets a bit annoying after the 50th time! We always say we don't feel like we've been rushing and have spent big chunks of time in many countries. I guess not going to the Med has cut our circumnavigation time down. Nevertheless we enjoy getting to know new cruisers as they come by. The German family on Spica arrived yesterday whom we met in Galapagos and spent time with in Nuku Hiva. I can see those children just having a ball here with John and Veronica's boys. We hear from La Barca almost daily and they are only about 4 days away now. Unfortunately their autopilot broke so they have to hand steer. Their 6 year old son Jack is now steering! We look forward to seeing them when they arrive. Then we'll hav e to push on as time is getting away if we want to be back in Oz in November.

Yesterday was a wonderful day as John took us on a guided tour (we followed in our dinghy) of the motu with bird colonies. What a treat! The birds have been nesting on the ground and in low branches and we were privileged to see half grown chicks. The boobie and frigate chicks looked so funny with their little old man faces and big white fluffy coats. On nearby Brushwood Island were many tiny baby terns cheeping in the undergrowth. Parent tropic birds were protecting their young on the ground also. I managed to do a few small sketches of them. With so many birds flying and squawking overhead we were obviously made to feel like intruders. John doesn't like to disturb them more than once a week so waits until there is a large group to go out there. After a picnic under the trees we took the dinghies to a coral reef to snorkel. What clear water and bright luminous fish and large varieties of coral! Suwarrow is truly a nature lover's paradise both above and below the water. We fe el truly honoured to be here. Thank you to the Cook Island people.

I was amazed to learn that there are only 13,000 Cook Islanders living in the Cook Islands. Around 50,000 live in New Zealand. New Zealand still subsidises the Cook Islands and keeps an eye on things. This was obvious the other day when an Air Force plane flew very low over the island 3 times. Next thing we hear "Sailing Vessel Valiam this New Zealand aircraft Orion. Do you copy?" After responding to their call on 16 Captain Bill had to answer many questions about where and when we were in our last 3 ports and the next 3 intending ports. The usual questions about whether we had animals or firearms etc were asked. There was only Seren and ourselves anchored here so Seren was also cross examined. If they flew over now there would be many more boats to interview. They would be back in New Zealand before they had finished! It felt like an invasion of privacy and such loud disturbance to the peace when they flew over. It was a bit like Big Brother watching us!

We don't have to worry about enough food here as John catches fish each afternoon and give us huge chunks for our evening bbqs. Bill has also gone out fishing with Steve several times. As we brought 3 huge pumpkins to the island our diet is mainly fish, pumpkin and whatever tins, condiments we add to it. As our toilet paper supply was getting low we managed to swap 4 big American rolls for a packet of instant mashed potato which 13 year old Jacob on Biscayne Bay loves. Alcoholic beverages are also getting low so there is talk of trying to make wine from coconuts!

I have attached a tiny photo of a baby frigate bird. Lots of photos of Suwarrow will go on the website album when we get to our next port with internet. We would love to hear from our friends and family so let us know any news of the outside world and please send us an email !

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16/09/2009, 13 14.98'S:163 06.43'W, Pacific Ocean

Suwarrow Island Cook Is 16th September 2009

As we relax and slow down into remote island living, the outside world seems far away. The air is soft and clean, the colours pure and clear and the people kind and warm offering that quality I most admire - generosity of spirit. Suwarrow is one of those rare gems left on this planet and we feel very happy to be here. I have tried to capture the colours on film and in my sketch book - turquoise, deep blue, soft aqua, creamy beige, blue grey..

John and Veronica and their four sons Jeremiah, Jonathon, Augustino and Giovanni have included us into their lives here as they do all yachties who visit here. Their home is our home and sharing is the way here. We don't worry about running out of food as John catches fish for everyone. In return I have baked cakes and cooked my special spicy bami goreng(Indonesian noodles) for our communal meals. John has promised to take us out to one of the other smaller islands in this atoll to see the bird colonies and Veronica is going to show us how to weave palm fronds. I have asked Veronica if she will show me some Cook Island dancing and in return I will share some belly dancing. Whatever women are left in the anchorage by the time we get around to it will be invited to participate. The men will be encouraged to go fishing!

The only fishing that is allowed here is line fishing - no spear fishing, lobster/crayfish gathering. Suwarrow is a National Park and John and his family are employed as caretakers. A caretaker is not to be confused with National Park rangers. A caretaker here is expected to survive with very little and live close to and in harmony with nature. There is no refrigeration, telephone, internet etc. All they have is SSB and vhf radio. When John and the family arrive in March they are allowed only one pallet of food until October when they are picked up by small cargo ship. Water is rainwater and occasionally it has run dangerously low. They have tried to grow a few veges but it is a struggle. Basically fresh food stuffs are given by passing yachts to supplement their fish/rice diet. The family has run out of propane a few times and has been extremely grateful to the yachts that have brought some more for them. Cooking on open fires becomes a bit tedious for them. However this is their 5th year here and despite the shortfalls in funding from the Cook Island government they enjoy the life. The anchorage is never empty of yachts and John and Veronica and the boys make each and everyone of us welcome. We have enjoyed hearing John's stories especially about his ancestors who were reputably cannibals. Suwarrow was made famous by Tom Neal who lived here for 30 years as a hermit. John says that he has met Tom Neal's Cook Islander wife who interestingly doesn't get a mention in his book "An Island to Oneself".

Another odd thing the Cook Islands dept of National Parks has done is sent 2 spayed female cats to Suwarrow to control the rat population. Unfortunately the bird and small animal population has suffered also. One cat is left and John is seriously considering removing it from the island. In years past before John's time caretakers used to catch the bigger wild birds for food as well as cook their eggs. This is now of course strictly forbidden. Coconut crabs live in amongst the old copra plantation and it is also forbidden to catch them. I haven't seen any manta rays here but plenty of sharks! They are mainly small black tipped sharks reportedly harmless. To keep the sharks away from the anchorage it is forbidden to throw fish and food scraps over the side. On the other side of the island John and the boys sometimes feed the sharks there. We were surprised to see how close the sharks swim to shore in shallow water. We noticed some grey sharks as well as the black tipped ones. (There is a place to burn rubbish but cans and bottles will have to remain with us until the next port)

When we first arrived there quite a few yachts here including a mega yacht Kaori. One night Kaori (2 owners and 7 crew) invited everyone to a party ashore. We enjoyed a feast with everyone sharing food, laughter and stories. There were around 10 yachts here then. Yesterday morning there were only 2 of us yachts left, then the other one 'Watermelon' left leaving us alone. But not for long - our friends Steve, Dee and Nicky arrived a few hours later on Seren. It was very windy the night before they arrived blowing 30 knots (which wasn't on the grib files!) making sleep very difficult with Valiam bouncing up and down in the fore cabin. The wind settled down yesterday to a nice 12-15 knots and we were able to enjoy sundowners ashore with the Seren crew. Every evening the Cook Island flag is pulled down with one of the boys blowing the conch shell. One of the 8 year old twins blew it yesterday making a lovely profile against the sunset.

We have been spending lazy afternoons ashore reading in the hammocks, swimming and generally relaxing. I have managed a couple of drawings including one of the famous conch shell. Tonight we are having a beach bbq with Seren and John and family. I am really looking forward to it. I love listening to John's stories.

I will post the photos I have taken when we have internet again - mostly likely Apia, Samoa our next destination. (This entry and tiny weeny photo of one of my drawings has been sent via iridium satellite phone and GMN.)

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10/09/2009, 13 14.98'S:163 06.43'W, Pacific Ocean

10 September 2009

Yesterday's email to family and friends soon after arrival reads:

'We were anchored safely in front of Anchorage Island at 8am this morning. Position 13 14.98S 163 06.438W The wind picked up yesterday to 15-18 knots ESE so we had to slow Valiam down (yes you read correctly) otherwise we would have arrived in the dark. We hove-to for 8 hours about 30 miles out and at 2am we sailed directly for Suwarrow. The pass wasn't difficult - you just have to negotiate between south reef and Anchorage Island and we found there was plenty of water. Charlie's charts are pretty good. Our C Map (card 2007 official one) appears fairly accurate. Even with a 20 knot SE the pass was fairly smooth. There are 8 boats here including us. We appear to be the only ones from 'Down Under'. Caretaker John and family waved to us as they went off fishing this morning. It looks beautiful wild and windswept at the moment and reminds us of Cocos Keeling. I butchered an Aussie flag to try and make a Cook Island flag but its missing quite a few stars and you can see where I have coloured our big star. I am too embarrassed to put it up!! Apparently John raises the Cook Island flag every day blowing a conch shell! Even though it's overcast, the anchorage is nice and it's lovely to be here.'

I haven't heard the conch shell but the flag does indeed get raised every morning and lowered each evening. The captain has decreed the same rule for Valiam whilst anchored here also! We went briefly ashore yesterday to introduce ourselves to John and Veronica the caretakers. After a dinghy ride through the clearest water and passing a friendly shark we walked along a small concrete jetty towards a small 2 storey house nestled behind the coconut palms. The lower storey is completely open with international flags and memorabilia hanging from the rafters. John and Veronica were sitting in a relaxed fashion at picnic tables with another American yachtie couple. A kitchen opens off the lower level and upstairs childrens voices could be heard. Upstairs is the family's living/sleeping area. Other passing yachts crew had given the children new movie DVDs and John couldn't get them away from the TV screen! We presented our pumpkin, bag of flour and jar of French jam. These were happi ly received especially the jam! We paid our US$50 park fees and our names were entered into the book. After chatting for a while we went for a short walk to the other side of the island. The beaches are strewn with driftwood and coral and even more sharks could be seen swimming lazily in the shadows. A couple of handmade hammocks made from strong nylon fishing nets completed the scene. Around the caretaker's residence (affectionately known as 'Suwarrow yacht club') several 'once useful items' lay about the place - rusty drums, wire, building materials etc. Tom Neal's old hut is in disrepair but houses a 'book exchange' for yachties. Behind the hut there is an overgrown vege garden with a few struggling bean and tomato plants. All water is collected in a rain water tank. John said its ok for us to build a small fire to bbq our meat if we desire. This we may do today after we have rested. We are both quite tired after this last passage and look forward to relaxed lazy days h ere at Suwarrow.

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07/09/2009, 14 00.2'S:159 38.8'W, Pacific Ocean

6 September 2009

The motor is chugging away as we have had very little wind for the last 24 hours. How different the sea is to when we left last Thursday! Accompanied by playful dolphins we made our way through the pass of Bora Bora of equally lively waves. We knew it would be windy but wanted a good start for the 685 mile passage as there would be little wind later according to the grib files. (And they were correct!)

7 September 2009 Position: (at 6am) 14 00.2S 159 38.8W It is now Monday morning and the winds are still very light - less than 10 knots. With just under 200 miles to go we are not sure we will make it by daylight tomorrow. It's hard to believe now looking at the gentle sea that for the first 2 days it was a different story. The winds were blowing 25-30 knots, the swells were large and coming from 2 different directions and I was violently sea sick. It was the worst 24 hours of seasickness I have experienced on the whole voyage and we've done more than 25,000 miles! Despite medication the bucket was my best friend for the whole time. Bill had to be on watch the whole of the first night as I was not capable of getting up. It seems a nightmare now and I want to avoid that situation again at all costs! I think after being in a relatively calm anchorage for 9 days then heading straight out into a rough sea is what does it. (The same thing happened when we left St Pierre in La Reunion). So now I will be advocating gentle conditions if possible before heading off! For those prone to sea sickness the only medication that helped at all in those conditions is stematyl. After that I have continued to take Sturgeron (or cinnazine - not available in Australia) 3 times a day which usually works well.

We are looking forward to spending time at Suwarrow Island (originally called Suvarov after a Russian ship that came upon it years ago) one of the most northern of the Cook Islands. We have decided on a northerly route across this part of the Pacific as the conditions further south continue to have fronts with strong winds. Suwarrow Island has a resident caretaker family (John, Veronica and 4 sons) who live there from March to December. The only way to reach Suwarrow is by boat so the yachties contribute items needed by the family (fresh food, cooking oil, propane etc). Suwarrow is a National Park so it will be a nice change from the more populated places we've been to lately. The only concern is if the wind starts blowing strongly when we arrive we may not be able to enter the pass. If that happens we would have to keep sailing another 600 miles to Western Samoa. We are hoping that doesn't happen. Lots of yachts seem to make it in ok and all the recent logs I've read give g lowing reports. It has been called the 'Chagos of the Pacific'.

I am currently reading one of Lucy Irvine's books 'Faraway' which describes her year living on a small island in the Solomons with the Hepworth family. Lucy wrote her first book 'Castaway' after she lived for a year as a wife on a deserted island with Gerald in the Torres Strait. She barely managed to survive that experience so in comparison 'Faraway' is a haven of luxury. Diana and Tom Hepworth sailed their boat Arthur Rogers from England discovering tiny Pigeon Island in the Solomons in 1957. There they made a formal agreement to lease the island for their lifetime. They were trading copra at the time and also set up a trade store for the locals. In the late 1990s, Diana invited Lucy and her 3 sons to live on Pigeon for a year to write her story. I am intrigued by how white European culture survives and occasionally blends with local customs. It is an interesting book and Lucy is honest in her narrative. It seems that living on an island such as this as a European, one must respect and live alongside the local people as harmoniously as possible. Diana who was in her 80s when Lucy lived there had 'her side' of the island and ran it in the manner of expatriates did and still do around the world often treating the locals as a 'different species' rather than fellow human beings. Interestingly her son married a local woman and lived on the other side of the island with their children adopting the local ways with many friends and relatives from neighbouring islands coming and going as they pleased. I enjoy reading books such as this on passage giving me an insight to island living in the Pacific which many people around the world think of as a dream to 'live in paradise'.

Back to reality on Valiam I was rudely interrupted by my computer yesterday telling me it had a virus. As it tried to correct it the screen went blue with all sorts of incomprehensible messages on it. As this computer (the HP) is the only one now that works with email at sea I began to panic. After half an hour of scrolling of numbers it stopped. The screen was still blue asking me type yes or no! I sent sat messages to Liam our son who didn't know and said 'blue screen means death'. By this stage I was really concerned - no emails, no weather grib files etc. I then decided to use the satellite phone to phone my computer savvy brother Paul in Australia. In a calm voice he gave me instructions and I was relieved when the computer rebooted itself and is now running normally. What a relief! I suspect the virus came from a fellow yachties computer. I had used my external hard drive to copy movies and music. Although I had scanned the hard drive before opening the files, it still had to give me a big fright! I will no longer poke my precious hard drive into foreign computers!!

I baked bread 2 days ago which we are enjoying immensely apart from it being very crumbly due to using whole wheat flour. We still have some fresh produce that hasn't gone off yet. It's a matter of planning the menu around items 'about to go off'! I had to use all the tomatoes left the other day after cutting the bad bits off to make pasta sauce. We had this initially with penne pasta then the next time I added eggplants and white sauce to make lasagna. Our stocks of wine and beer are running dangerously low so we are attempting to conserve this until the next port with shops. (Western Samoa or Fiji)

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02/09/2009, French Polynesia

2nd September
Bora Bora
French Polynesia

Bill managed to get some more gas from a fellow yachtie via connectors so we'll be right and won't have to eat cold food in the near future. We had some really strong winds come through the anchorage the other night - it was unbelievable- everything rattling and shaking. Our mooring is a fair way out so not only did we cop the strong wind coming through but the extra bit buffeting around the mountain towards us. The jib on the furler came a bit loose and made a terrible racket. Valiam then tried to sail off the mooring heeling over knocking everything over inside. Our Aussie neighbour Steve (Seren) came over when he heard the racket and the only solution was to unfurl the jib between gusts and furl her up again as tight as tight. The wind instrument recorded the highest gust at 62knots! It was a steady 30-40 knots for a few hours. We'll have to tell the yacht club we've tested their mooring for them. It wasn't much fun with me worrying the mooring line would come loose and Valiam sailing over to the reef! Anyway all is much calmer now as we prepare for Suwarrow. We'll have another look at the weather before we decide to go. There are strong trades predicted for another few days but we want to confirm reasonable weather in Suwarrow (if that is possible) in 4-5 days... We have provisioned, seen the gendarme, collected and dismantled the bikes, as well as paid our bill at the yacht club. All is well in paradise!
We were going to leave today but the weather is still a bit unsettled and we're still tired after we got knocked about by that ferocious wind the other night. We've since found out it is a local phenomenon called 'maramu'. We are loaded up with food, fuel and water ready for our 3 week sojourn without civilisation. We've got no pacific francs left and the bikes are packed away so I guess it's a lazy day monitoring the weather. The wind is occasionally howling around the rigging as I type this and no yachts seem to be leaving this morning.

I am re reading Ron Falconer's book 'Together alone' where he took his family to live on an uninhabited island for a few years. (Caroline atoll directly north of here). He had spoken to Tom Neal who was the hermit on Suwarrow for many years (now dead) and was inspired by him. It's interesting how they survived with an annual trip to Tahiti for supplies including building materials, chooks etc in their little 28ft boat! They also had a dog, cat and 2 parrots! We are looking forward to spending time in Suwarrow as it will be our last remote island on this trip.
Well it seems a lazy day on board - no pacific francs left and the bikes are packed away.

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30/08/2009, French Polynesia

Sunday 30th August 2009
Bora Bora Yacht Club
French Polynesia

Bora Bora Yacht Club is really a restaurant with a pontoon for dinghies that offers a few services such as: mooring (for 5000XPF per week), laundry, a shower and water (1000XPF per week). There is no club house as such or meeting area with book exchange or anything like that. The yacht club makes its money from the restaurant which caters for the well heeled tourist who likes to dine on the waterfront. The staff however are very friendly and helpful. As the bar and restaurant is too expensive for the average yachtie's budget socializing tends to be on each other's boats. There are quite a few boats here and several coming and going daily so we haven't got to know many people really. Our Australian friends Steve, Dee and Nicki on Seren are here and we've met our nearest neighbours Hans and Glenn who each have interesting Polynesian hand made catamarans.

These 2 catamarans stand out due to their traditional style. Ong Tong Java the catamaran belonging to Hans was built in Gambier, Africa and is made of solid timber. It s 70ft long and very impressive with its huge open wide planked platform. One night we were invited on board to enjoy a real wood bbq he made on the deck. It was lovely - just like camping! Glenn's catamaran Manu Here is a Warram design he built in California. He is proud of being a minimalist having no engine or plumbing on board. He sails into every harbour and washes his dishes in the sea. Both cats have basic toilet amenities in the open air. Have put some pictures of these boats in the French Polynesia album.

Bora Bora is less touristy than we thought with many small houses lining the quiet road and a few shops grouped together in the local town Vaitape. Vaitape is 3km from the yacht club so we have installed our bicycles ashore to easily go to the supermarket to buy food. (including delicious baguettes!) Most of the tourists seem to be ensconced in the resorts which are built on the motus (small islands in the lagoon). These are mostly bures that hang out over the water for large amounts of money ($1000 a night). We have our own waterfront bure without the price tag!

Bicycle is by far the best way to travel and see the place. We have gone half way around the island poking into galleries and meeting local artists. We met Alain Despert who moved here from France 35 years ago and enjoyed speaking with him and viewing the art he had in his gallery. I also bit the bullet and decided to have my hair done after 8 months of neglect. The small hairdresser around the corner is managed by a petite French woman originally from Paris. It was an enjoyable morning observing the locals (mostly gay men) having their hair done. If only my French was better to enjoy the gossip!

As strong winds are predicted the next couple of days we will stay here until Wednesday. We will then aim for Suwarrow island one of Cook Islands most northern outposts. Suwarrow is where NZ hermit Tom Neal wrote a book "An island to oneself". The island can only be reached by boat and is a national park. A caretaker family John, Veronica and their 4 boys look after the island making sure yachties that call in behave! Apparently they are very welcoming and their open plan area by their home is affectionately known as 'Suwarrow Yacht Club'. As John's family are stationed there for half the year (not in cyclone season) they rely on the yachtie's generosity in supplying much needed items such as fresh fruit, veges, sugar, matches etc and most recently a yacht took them some much needed propane. No spear fishing is allowed and John apparently supplies the yachts with fresh fish. It looks like a beautiful place in the logs of other yachts and we are looking forward to going there. It's about 700 miles from here. We will stay about a week then most likely head for Apia, Samoa. So it will be around 3 weeks away from shops, internet etc!

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29/08/2009, Bora Bora

Ongtong Java

We met cruisers Glenn on warram cat Manu Here (from California, USA) and Hans(Swiss) on African built Ongtong Java. Both beautiful hand made timber boats.

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28/08/2009, Bora Bora

Glenn on Manu Here from California

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26/08/2009, Society Islands, French Polynesia

Wednesday 25th August 2009
Bora Bora
Position: 16 29.542S 151 45.768W

We really appreciate a full night's sleep even after only 3 days at sea! Cruising teaches us never to take anything for granted! Yesterday we began motoring just after dawn as we were only sailing at 4.5 knots. But only an hour later the wind picked up and we sailed all day at around 6 knots - a dream sail with the boat barely heeling. We had tuna steaks for breakfast with tinned tomatoes and tuna and sweet potato lasagna for lunch. By mid afternoon we could see the towering peaks of Bora Bora in the distance. We entered the lagoon accompanied by playful dolphins at around 4.30pm. There are a number of yachts here outside the yacht club on moorings, and the only one I could see was the furtherest one from the club. I managed to pick it up with our hook and we were safely tied up by 5pm. After left over tuna lasagna and a bottle of chilled Chenin Blanc (we still have a few bottles from South Africa) we were ready for an early night. Our nearest neighbour is a mega yacht of at least 100ft! Our Australian friends on Seren will be arriving today so we look forward to catching up with them.

Although one of the more touristy islands the scenery is still beautiful. Soon we will go ashore and look for an eatery called Le Patisserie for a brunch treat. We also need to check in with the yacht club (its 5000XPF per week = A$70) but we will have SHOWERS, laundry etc. The French are very civilized as we have wifi once again from our boat. I have put a few more photos in the French Polynesia album. Enjoy!

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24/08/2009, 15 26.17'S:150 04.91'W, Pacific Ocean

Monday 24th August 2009.
Position: 15 26.17S 150 04.91W.
Time: 6pm. 116 nm to go.

An hour ago we were sipping the last of my homemade pina coladas thinking about what to have for dinner when the fishing line became taut. The captain thinking of the work ahead of him began pulling in the line. "It's a big one!" he pants. When the wriggling large fish came on board we could see it was a huge tuna - 10kg at least! It made a mess in the cockpit and pouring cheap rum into its gills only seemed to make it more excited instead of calming it down. Eventually it became still and Captain Bill became the butcher. Its meat is the darkest I have ever seen in a tuna and the huge chunks Bill cut off looked like steak. I managed to stow most of it away in the fridge and kept a small amount out to cook for dinner. Fried up with salt and pepper, a little lime and accompanied by left over eggplant salsa and caper mayonnaise it was a wonderful meal.

Valiam has had a relaxed sail since we left Rangiroa at 2.30pm yesterday. It took us a while to get through the Tuputu pass. We ended up anchoring nearby waiting for the waves breaking across to subside. Eventually it was calm enough to get through. We have had very light winds mostly around 10 knots from East/North East and have been sailing quietly along at around 4.5-5.5 knots. It's been great for sleeping as we aren't heeling over at all. Tomorrow we may have to motor-sail if we want to make Bora Bora by daylight. We may have to make use of the yacht club barbeque to cook the rest of the tuna!

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21/08/2009, Pacific Ocean

We are now in Rangiroa which is in the Tuamotus.
Next we'll be in Bora Bora - Society Islands

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21/08/2009, French Polynesia

Linda with local artist Arno in his studio

Rangiroa
French Polynesia
Friday 21st August 2009

I think I could live here! (Except for the expensive prices!) Bill assembled the bicycles yesterday so we took a ride to the local village Avoturu about 10 km. We passed the beach on one side, the lagoon on the other and a number of little boutiques and cafes beside the road. It is such a low key place with no traffic, dusty little side roads with chickens pecking about and friendly locals calling "Bonjour".

Earlier in the day Priscilla and I went by dinghy to a small art boutique we had noticed the previous day. We strolled through the yards of the dive shop and other homes (nobody minds) under coconut palms and past friendly dogs until we found Arno's studio. Arno was very pleased to show us his work and describe his techniques. He uses all natural pigments mixing his own colours and bases his paintings on French Polynesian tattoo designs. See his website: www.tableauxdeterres.com. He has swapped a French life in Lyon for a relaxed life living in a bungalow on the beach devoting himself to his art. He also introduced us to the lady next door 'Mamie' who creates very beautiful jewelry from shells, pearls and woven string.
Bill and Don (Chautaqua) have gone by dinghy with a few jerry cans to buy diesel at the village. The winds are light for the next week or so and we think we may leave for Bora Bora on Sunday.
It's nice to come to a place and 'feel at home'. As cruisers we always look for places where we feel comfortable and welcome. Not only do we have our 'home' with us wherever we go we need to feel happy to be part of the local community. As with every day life on the land shopping for food needs to be done and access to water and fuel is needed to maintain our 'mobile home'. Somewhere comfortable to relax away from the boat is also important. No-one is poor here which is a nice change. Bill often says he hates feeling like 'a rich bastard' when interacting with the locals. The pressure certainly is off when there are no touts and where not everyone is trying to sell us something.
The temperature is perfect with soft balmy breezes in the evenings and the water is 27 degrees - ideal for a dip from the back of the boat. I can't help thinking that our return home is looming closer and I do hope we can maintain our relaxed attitude to life.

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19/08/2009, French Polynesia

This man is drilling a hole through the pearl I bought. (photo by Don - Chautaqua)

Rangiroa
Tuamotus
French Polynesia
Wednesday 19th August 2009

Rangiroa is really proving to be a restful haven. The weather has moderated so the anchorage is still and the water is so clear we watch with fascination the fish and manta rays that swim around the anchorage. Our American friends Don and Priscilla on Chautaqua arrived on Monday after some nasty weather. A wave caught them sideways and they are still cleaning up the turmoil of their belongings and food being flung around the cabin. However after a good rest yesterday they were keen to explore the local area with us. Besides we still hadn't been to see the gendarme. As the French navy had come past earlier taking photos of the yachts and asking if we needed any assistance we thought we had better let the local authorities know we are officially here.

The four of us walked along the road as we had previously been informed that the Gendarmerie was just north of the Kia Ora resort. After some time and some distance we were getting rather hot and sweaty. We then began flagging down vehicles to find out where it was. Eventually the mini bus from the Gauguin Pearl farm stopped. So in we hopped into the lovely air-conditioned bus and received a free lift to the Gendarmerie. It was not 'just north' but 6km away near the village of Avoturo! The French gendarme was very pleasant and friendly and after photocopying our passports and filling in a form he kindly phoned a taxi to take us the rest of the way into the village. After a 10 minute taxi ride we were charged 1600 pacific francs (about A$16!!).

Avoturo is charming. The locals live in small beach side simple dwellings with everything open, bright curtains blowing in the wind to reveal the turquoise blue water behind them. What a view to live with every day! We found the bank, ATM machine and a small supermarket. Amongst the local houses are half a dozen small restaurants and tourist shops. After Priscilla and I bought some bright cotton fabric for A$5 m we found Phillipa's Pizza restaurant overlooking the water. Whilst eating our pizzas we were wondering how we were going to get back to the boats without an expensive taxi ride. We then came up with the idea of visiting Gauguin's Pearl Farm which advertised free transport. Priscilla asked our charming restaurant host if would phone them for us. After lunch our transport arrived to take us to the Pearl Farm.

It was a most interesting visit. Our guide was Italian and spoke English for us as he explained how the black pearls are created. Technicians were performing 'operations' as we watched fascinated as the fake pearl made of shell and a scraping of DNA was carefully inserted into the mother shell. We also witnessed the pearls being extracted by another skilled technician and graded into different containers.

Of course I wanted to buy one of these beautiful pearls! A conveniently located boutique is on the premises showcasing the most expensive pearls costing 1000's of euros to the humble flawed one I bought with leather necklace for 20 euros. After our free ride back to our dinghies we thought that the bicycles would be a great idea for around here. There are a couple of little art shops along the road as well as the viewing area of the Tiputu pass where the dolphins dance during the outgoing tide. A small inexpensive café is nearby overlooking the water and the fish serving burgers and local fare. After a few more days of resting we'll be ready to sail to Bora Bora around 200 miles away. We are able to buy wifi airtime here and use the computers on the boat. Unfortunately they are starting to object to the salt air and buttons are jamming on and only one USB port works on this computer now. We hope they last till we get back to Australia!!

I'm just going to go for a swim now from the boat to look at the fish swimming around the coral close by. There are a few small sharks but they are harmless....

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18/08/2009, Gauguin Pearl Farm Rangiroa

This is how it is done - a beautiful pearl being extracted.

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18/08/2009, Rangiroa, French Polynesia

Church grounds and small altar overlooking the Avoturu pass

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16/08/2009, French Polynesia

Tahitian bure or private yacht?

Rangiroa
Tuamotus
French Polynesia
Sunday 16th August 2009

Our email to family just after arriving reads:
Finally anchored 2pm Saturday 15th August, Rangiroa, French Polynesia. We left Nuku Hiva, Marquesas 4 days ago and have had a variable trip as far as the wind goes - no wind then too much wind!!!
Position :14 58.13S 147 38.17W
We just couldn't get to one of the smaller atolls such as Tikehau or Ahe at the right time. Anyway it still fairly laid back and pleasant here.
After a rough ride as the wind rose to more than 25 knots and uncomfortable wind waves as well as a squall we managed to enter the pass at around high tide. It's wide enough and the 2 white markers are good leads..Our new C Map was spot on which is good in poor visibility. The pass is a piece of cake really...(only say this afterwards as it was quite stressful approaching the atoll in these conditions.) Anchoring was another drama as there are mooring buoys everywhere and of course the circuit breaker tripped on the anchor winch. It was hard to keep the boat pointing in the right direction in 28 knots but we are now enjoying the obligatory glass of champagne.

It's quite sheltered in here considering the wind. We're not going anywhere until the weather calms down. Plenty of fresh food and beverages on board so we'll be fine. The gendarme can wait and we are not in a hurry to go ashore as yet. We are anchored outside the Kia Ora Hotel so I guess at some stage when we are feeling extravagant we'll see what they have to offer. (Dinner with Polynesian dancers??)

There are a couple of tourist cats, a navy ship, another tourist ferry thing and 7 of us yachts. (No -one we know - yet...)

Au revoir
Back to my champagne and brie. (I will close my eyes to the mess and turmoil inside - even our bed got a bit wet - yes it was a little rough today....)

Sunday afternoon
After falling asleep yesterday afternoon (nothing to do with the champagne) until 10pm, I awoke to a cooked dinner and the galley cleaned up. What a treat! Thank you Captain! The rest of the night was a bit rolly as the wind and swell are still up. We eventually went ashore today after my wonderful captain pumped up the inflatable dinghy (less tippy in these conditions than the wooden one). Rangiroa is lovely! It reminds me of the quiet seaside 'shacky' type places we used to frequent in the 70s and 80s in our kombi. The locals living in relaxed dwellings along the beach don't mind if we walk along in their yards to reach our dinghy. The road around here is ideal for bicycle riding so captain extraordinaire will assemble them perhaps for tomorrow. There's even a little lean-to we can leave them locked to ashore. The little local store has all the bare essentials and promises to have baguettes tomorrow.
As a treat we had lunch at the Kia Ora hotel overlooking the lagoon. The yachts (especially the pretty turquoise one) look gorgeous in the foreground adding to the picturesque postcard landscape. There were many honeymooners at the resort gadding about in brand new 'cheeky' bikinis. Our waiter 'Jean Claude' was dressed as a woman in miniskirt, plucked eyebrows and long hair tied with a flower. Men such as these are quite common in this part of the world ('mahus'). I believe it is part of Polynesian culture to ensure there are enough 'female' helpers around the home by bringing up a son as a girl (often the first born)..... We also found out the buffet dinner with Polynesian dancer show is A$140 so we may give it a miss...

The wind should lessen in a few days. It's certainly nicer in here than out there in open sea! We won't sail to Bora Bora until we have good conditions. In the meantime Rangiroa seems a lovely place to explore.

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14/08/2009, 13 29.65'S:145 18.01'W, Pacific Ocean

Position:13 29.65S 145 18.01W.
Time: 3pm. August 14 2009.

As with all projected sailing plans, they rarely go as envisioned. Yesterday and last night we had barely any wind so Valiam drifted quietly along at 3-5 knots. It was great for sleeping! We are now quite relaxed and now quite enjoying this passage even if we are not sure where we are going to end up! After my glorious description of Tikehau we probably won't make it by high tide tomorrow. Our other 'small atoll' alternative is Ahe but we maybe there too early so guess which one is in the middle? Rangiroa - the largest and most developed atoll in the archipelago. Our chart plotter gives high tide at around midday tomorrow which will possibly make Rangiroa the best option for entry into its pass. It's all new to us anyway and will still be pleasant.

The wind is blowing at a gentle 10 knots, the sky is blue with white fluffy clouds and the sea is whooshing past Valiam's hull with an occasional gentle slap. The winds are expected to increase to 20 knots from the SE tomorrow so if we end up at Rangiroa by this time tomorrow we will be anchored outside the Kia Ora Hotel, the best protected anchorage from the south. I guess being in a more developed atoll will have its advantages - fresh baguettes, internet etc. Being 2nd largest atoll in the world there will be plenty to explore. It may be time to pull out the bicycles as well as the big inflatable dinghy!

Apologies for the repeat of my last ships log on the website - a glitch with the satellite transfer which sailblogs will be fixing (if they haven't already). If we are going to be in Rangiroa I will be able to post some nice photos of the aquamarine waters, coral and marine life.

It was so calm last night we had a sit down dinner of steak (from Brazil bought in Nuku Hiva), mashed potatoes and fresh beans. Lovely! Our whole bunch of bananas hanging from the back of the boat are now going ripe all at once. I have already made banana cake and have just made some yoghurt. Fruit salad will be next! Bananas are supposed to make you feel happy! (Except if you are trying to catch fish I suppose).

All well on board. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode in the life of 'Valiam goes cruising around the world!'

To Bill who made comment: We use GMN Xgate program to receive and send emails via our satellite phone to our laptop. They work with sailblogs our website provider. We simply send sailblogs our latest ships log and they post it on the website automatically. When we are connected to the internet on land we go direct to our website link and update the website ourselves posting photos etc. Go to www.globalmarinenet.com
cheers Linda

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12/08/2009, 10 31.70'S:141 26.15'W, Pacific Ocean

Position: 10 31.70S 141 26.15W.

12 August 2009.

French Polynesia Time:9am (Australia Thurs 4.30am).

Back at sea again and the adjustments and tiredness that comes with it! When I look at our map of the world and how far we've sailed it makes me feel tired! Unfortunately boats aren't like cars or trains - they don't travel in a steady straight line. We roll, we sway we bump and weave about through and over the waves. Fred the wind vane is steering us to save power but he doesn't steer as straight as Mona Lisa (electric autopilot).

We didn't leave Nuku Hiva until after 2pm yesterday as we want to arrive at Tikehau in the daylight. Even then we will have to wait until slack tide to enter the pass into the atoll. The Tuamotus were also named the Dangerous Archipelago due to the number of reefs and the difficulty of navigating into the atolls. Now with GPS and chart plotters it is a little easier but eyeball navigation at close quarters is still the best. We chose Tikehau as it is smaller than Rangiroa and on the north western end of the Tuamotus and in a direct line to Bora Bora. We have received information from an Australian yachtie that it is a very nice place - a national park and the pass is 'a piece of cake'. We look forward to swimming in aquamarine waters looking at the marine life and hopefully a calm anchorage. Charlie's charts gives a good description and diagram of how to get in and where to anchor. The Lonely Planet says: "TIKEHAU pop 406/ lagoon 461sq m Tikehau is almost too good to be true. Time has eroded it away into a sweeping, twisting motu of white and pink sands that engulf little bays and forgotten nooks. The lagoon is as blue as you'll find anywhere in French Polynesia and the pass houses an exceptional abundance of fish. The islanders are grouped in a village of Tuherahera, in the southwestern atoll, leaving the majority of the paradisiacal motu untouched.." Sounds good to me! There are a few resorts, a post office and a small airstrip so it isn't as quiet and isolated as some of the atolls but it will do us. We don't have a lot of time and we wanted to pick one that seems easy to get into and is on the way.

The stars were brilliant last night and Jupiter is still dominant in the sky. We should reach Tikehau by Friday morning.

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10/08/2009, Pacific Ocean

Taiohae Bay
Nuku Hiva
Marquesas
10 August 2009

After an hour of motoring through some nasty choppy water we're back in the main town of Nuku Hiva. It really is a lovely relaxed place as no-one is in a hurry and there are very few tourists. Everyone says 'Bonjour' when passing each other along the footpath. The fridge and larder are stocked up with fresh meat, cheese, baguettes, fruit and veges. I sent a few postcards off at the post office that appeared to be a lot more efficient than in Galapagos. Apparently the postcards I sent from Galapagos haven't arrived in Oz yet (but the parcel did - how do you figure that out??)

It's only a short hop of less than 600 nautical miles to the Tuamotus. I remember that used to be a terribly long way for us! (distance of New Caledonia to Australia!!) We have chosen a small atoll called Tikehau which is right in the northern tip west of Rangiroa. The water is reputably a clear aquamarine and the snorkeling/diving superb. We just looked at the grib files and it looks like a 20 knot easterly will be blowing us there. We have to wait until slack tide before entering the pass into the lagoon.

I would like to put in a good word for Veronique who manages Nuku Hiva Yacht Services and speaks excellent English. She is always ready to assist the yachties and nothing is too much trouble. She does a lot of things for nothing and gives excellent advice. Merci beaucoup Veronique!

The majestic landscape of the Marquesas will forever stay in my mind. It really has been a wonderful visit to a remote place not many people come to.

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10/08/2009, Marquesas

She's been getting around!

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07/08/2009, 8 56.65'S:140 09.82'W, The Marquesas

Here's a photo of the nasty eel that bit my foot. Photo by Pak SV Althea Ann

'Daniel's Bay'
Baie de Taioa
Anse Hakatea
Nuku Hiva
Marquesas
Position: 8 56.655S 140 09.823W
7 August 2009

Through the main hatch I can see a whole bunch of green bananas hanging from the boom with rugged rock mountains taking up the whole viewing space. 'Daniel's Bay' is incorrect as Daniel who used to live here with his wife Colette have both now passed away. 'Mort' explained Tongi the current part time occupant of the shack type dwelling behind the beach. The bay is small and almost totally protected by the sea. We are closely surrounded by the majestic beauty of the rugged peaks which light up at night by the full moon.

It feels like camping here. Most nights, several of us yachties make a fire on the beach to cook and share food. The other Australians (Seren) made damper on a stick whilst the German family (Spica) cooked 'Stocke brodt' (yeast dough on a stick). Luise who speaks 7 languages brought her guitar and sang in German and Russian whilst her children Marlena and Tils sang. We met local man Tongi and his cousin that evening and invited them to share our meal. Tongi is a handsome Marquesan with a long lean body but very few tattoos. He wears an impressive necklace made from pig's tusks. It is part of the joy of sailing into remote places meeting people from such diverse cultures. I will miss this when we return to Australia. We have promised ourselves to continue cruising to new places and countries as soon as we can.

Whilst anchored in our first port of call in Taiohae Bay we hired a 4 wheel drive vehicle with the yachties from Tara 3 and Spica. There were 6 adults and 2 children piled into an Indian car with an open back with bench seats. Lars (skipper of Spica) drove this vehicle all around Nuku Hiva up and down extremely high mountains and single lane hairpin bends. The French have certainly spent a lot of money building roads here! Unfortunately half the road around the island was dirt so the lucky occupants in the back of the car (including me at one stage) were covered in dark brown dust making us look like the black and white minstrels! Luckily we stopped for lunch at Chez Yvonne's in Hatiheu before the full dusting occurred. Hatiheu is at the top of Nuku Hiva and one of the most beautiful little bays I have ever seen. The beach is black sand curving between extremely high rock pinnacles one of which actually has a statue of Madonna on its peak! The landscape as in everywhere here on Nuku Hiva is lush, green with many bright tropical flowers and fruits. Nestled back from the dirt road is a quaint wooden church as well as the local mayor Yvonne's restaurant and pension. Local teenagers ride up and down the road bare back on horses. Our meals at Chez Yvonne's were huge helpings of goat stew and pork which was delicious. It was also the most expensive meal we have eaten on this voyage. (A$70 for 2)

Driving around the island of Nuku Hiva gave us a better perspective than always viewing places from the sea. We came across several ancient historical sites of villages long gone. Huge moss and lichen covered rocks were piled up and built into walls, squares, wells, sacrificial pits (?) and several carved statues were still standing proudly. We noticed carved human skulls as part of the decorations which made us wonder if there were indeed human sacrifices in those days. Surrounding the historical sites were huge rainforest trees and unusual flowers with pink and white thin tentacles in bunches. The Marquesas feels like a Garden of Eden.

Whilst anchored here in Daniel's bay we took ourselves off for a long walk to the famous Vaipo waterfall. Steve, Dee, Nicky (Seren), Jane and John (Tara 3) came with us. The walk itself took 2.5 hours each way. Not far from here is a small village of 6 houses each with large unfenced yards of green grass, lush trees, flowers and fruit literally falling on the ground. (pamplemousse - grapefruits, limes, star fruit coconuts, bananas and other local fruits) Chickens ran around and skinny dogs barked at us. Several horses were tethered to trees on quite short ropes. A lady pointed the way along a track to 'le cascade'. We had to cross several fast flowing creeks on our way removing our shoes each time. At one crossing a thin log had been tied across to hang on to. Steve and Dee had gone ahead and then it was my turn. Already feeling nervous about falling in I tentatively put my foot in the water. Just after I made the next step I felt something grab my foot. At first I thought it was Bill playing tricks but then realized it felt like a mouth around my whole foot. I screamed pulling my foot out of the water swinging precariously on the log. No-one realized what had happened until I explained that something had bitten my foot! After getting to the other side I noticed some grazing and a mark where the mouth had been. We all came to the conclusion that it was most likely an eel.

After that bit of excitement we came across some more wildlife in the form of a family of wild pigs. We eventually got to the waterfall which did not disappoint. The huge basalt rock pinnacles each side of the valley made it feel a bit eerie. At the edge of the water fresh water crayfish appeared to be waiting and watching us. Steve cut open a few coconuts and after drinking the juice and munching on the white part Bill and John fed bits to the crayfish. I was the first one to plunge into the icy cold water braving whatever other creatures there were in the dark depths! I swam across the pool towards the rocks. As I climbed the rocks I saw a hidden pool with the waterfall plunging into it from an enormous height. (It's meant to be the 3rd longest in the world) As it had been fairly dry the cascade wasn't enormous and refreshing to be under. We hadn't had a shower for weeks so this was very good!

On our way back (no more biting things) a lady in the village sold us some fruit. After we had recovered from the walk, Jane came over with a photo of the eel from yachties on the British boat here. Apparently when they had crossed the same creek they had to fight off the eels! One of the local guides feeds them bread so now the eels must grab anything on the end of human anatomy!

We plan to stay here another day or so before heading towards the Tuamotus. A stop at Ua Pou may be nice along the way. Even though we are in paradise we are sometimes restricted by where we can get internet connection so we can pay bills to maintain our house in Australia. Full reality will come soon enough and after 2 years at sea I think it will be difficult for us to adjust to being 'normal' people. As cruising yachties we are clearly identified and this is our lifestyle that comes with it. It's mostly fantastic but we also have to do dreary things like maintaining the boat, washing our clothes etc. Water here is difficult to get as the supply is contaminated in Taiohae Bay. Yesterday Bill filled six 20 litre containers by dinghy at the tap in the village as it is good water here. (From a spring) Being mindful of water use we wash all our dishes etc with salt water. We usually have sponge baths ourselves when water is scarce. We plan to go to the village tap today to wa sh our clothes. Everything takes longer when living on a boat but as we don't have regular jobs this is our work!

(As this update is sent by satellite phone there wont be any photos until the next time we can get internet.)photos on there now - French Polynesia album...click le petite camera

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04/08/2009, French Polynesia

Today we will pull up the anchor and motor 5 miles to the next bay called 'Daniel's Bay' by yachties but Baie de Taioa on the charts. A group of yachts plan to meet in Anse Hakatea for a beach picnic/bbq tonight. We hope to get some nice spring water from the river and walk to Vaipo Waterfall reputably the 3rd largest in the world. I will get my sketch book out to try and capture the magnificent scenery.

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02/08/2009, Marquesas French Polynesia

We enjoyed a self drive tour with 2 other yachts' crews yesterday (even if the back passengers were covered in dust.) What an amazingly scenic island. (or should I say breathtaking!) More photos in the photo gallery. (Just click on the little camera!)

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30/07/2009, Marquesas, Pacific Ocean

Valiam amongst friends most who have also just done the mammoth passage from Galapagos. We are close enough to shore to receive wifi (with antenna) and it's a short dinghy ride to the shops and facilities. Tomorrow we visit the gendarme to officially clear in to French Polynesia.

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29/07/2009, French Polynesia, Pacific Ocean

French Polynesia
The Marquesas
Nuku Hiva
Bay Taiohae
Position:8 54.996S 140 05.894W
30 July 2009

After a fast 17 days at sea we have crossed almost half the Pacific from Galapagos to the Marquesas! It's good to be here and have that huge long passage over with (3054 nm). We averaged 180 m per day and 7.5 knots overall. (More, as this is in a straight line!!)We are now relaxing and enjoying fresh baguette with camembert accompanied by a cold white wine. We are surrounded by high jagged mountains surrounding the bay. The town is very laid back with everything we need (including wifi internet from the boat even if it's a bit slow). We will be truly relaxed when our fellow yachtie friends join us in 4-5 days. We are very pleased with Valiam's performance - most yachts take 21 days+. We got a shock to see her covered in slime above the waterline and barnacles but all the yachts here have arrived like that. The anchorage is a little rolly but not too bad. We slept well last night.

Not long before we arrived we caught a HUGE mahi mahi. Our fridge is now full of fish. The German family on Spica joined us for a drink last night. The children were in fine spirits after their long passage arriving the same day as we did. The catamaran Bill was stuck on in the Panama Canal as line handler is here also after a 25 day passage motoring some of the way. It's good that they made it here safely. La Barca still has some considerable distance to go and won't be here for a week or two. We hope to meet up with them somewhere along the route back to Australia.

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28/07/2009, French Polynesia

What a great gift from King Neptune! This is enough meat for a week! I poured some of my remaining Philippino gin down his gullet to calm him down. What a way to go!

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28/07/2009, 8 40.64'S:136 32.17'W, Pacific Ocean

28 July 2009 Position: 8 40.64S 136 32.17W Time: noon (UTC -6) N miles to go: 212

There is nothing more beautiful than feeling and watching the sails pull Valiam along over the waves as the sun is rising. Whilst the captain slept I made a treat for breakfast using a fellow cruisers recipe (thanks Priscilla - Chautauqua): It's not a cold foggy day but we enjoyed it with canned peaches and tropical fruits with yoghurt.

"Here's one more Chautauqua favorite. Supposedly its heritage is from the sailing ships of old. No matter what, it's an easy, tasty treat for those days when you want something special, or one I make on cold, wet foggy days, too."

DUFF

2 cans of fruit with the juice (peaches, apples, mango, berries or a combo) OR 2-3 cups fresh berries or fruit, cooked a few minutes with sugar to taste, to soften and form juice. You may need to add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water to get enough juice.

For the topping:

1 to 1 1/4 cups flour, sifted if you can (whole wheat may be used)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil

3/4 to 1 cup milk, buttermilk or yoghurt

Put the fruit and plenty of juice in a small sauce pan with a tight fitting lid. Bring to simmer.

Mix together the dry ingredients. Stir in oil and milk, using enough milk to form very soft dough.

Drop the dough on top of the fruit mixture, covering almost all the fruit.

Optional: dot dough with 1 tablespoon butter, cut into pieces and sprinkle 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar or vanilla sugar on top of dough.

Place the lid on the pot and simmer on very low heat for 12-15 minutes, until the dough is cooked. The liquid should bubble around the dough.

Serve hot in individual bowls "as is" or with milk cream or yoghurt. ice cream would be tasty, too but not always possible aboard! (Priscilla, Chautauqua)

It looks like we'll make landfall tomorrow! Hooray! After 17 days at sea which is wonderful. The usual time for cruising boats is 21-24 days. We've had consistent strong trade winds with the jib poled out so we have averaged more than 180 miles a day. The champagne (last Aussie bottle) is in the fridge. Stay tuned for photos to be added when we can get access to the internet. Au revoir!

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26/07/2009, 8 2.48'S:130 13.9'W, Pacific Ocean

(Some of our longlife cuisine)
26 July 2009
Position : 8 2.48S 130 13.90W
Time: 11am Galapagos
N miles to go: 589

The rainsqualls seem to have almost gone and we've had consistent SE trade winds for the past 2 days at 18-22 knots. We have been covering around 180 miles a day. We are hoping to make landfall Wednesday afternoon/early evening. This has been our longest passage and we are grateful to the designer of our yacht (Gary Lidgard) for designing such a fast yet comfortable boat. The expected time for this passage of more than 3000 nm is usually 3 weeks. Smaller boats can take up to 40 days depending of course on wind conditions. We are lucky in that so far we have had consistently strong trades and it looks like it will stay that way till we arrive.

We are both tired and yesterday everything seemed such a chore especially when things fly around the galley. Nevertheless we made pizzas together using long life bases. We are down to our last little bit of cheese but we've heard that French Polynesia has great French cheese! We have also been using more canned food to make things easier. We did catch a huge mahi mahi 2 days ago but it jumped off the hook just as Bill had him pulled up to the boat. Never mind - there's more fish in the sea!

Chautauqua has been keeping us informed of the 'fleet' that left Galapagos around the same time. Today we will be close to Tara 3 a NZ boat which left a few days before us. I will try them on the vhf to see where they are. After 2 weeks at sea the AIS went BLAARP! for the first time letting us know a ship was nearby. It was traveling at 19 knots 10 miles parallel to us but we couldn't see it. Other than the mahi mahi and the ship the only other forms of life out here are many flying fish that seem to fly in squads over the waves as Valiam comes near. The occasional sea bird also visits usually inspecting our lure.

Not far now.......

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24/07/2009, 7 45.50'S:124 3.97'W, Pacific Ocean

24 July 2009 Position: 7 45.50S 124 3.97W Time: 9.45 (UTC -6hours) N miles to go: 956

Hooray! Less than 1000 miles to go! We're on the homeward run now. It's hard for us to realize where we are as the ocean looks similar everywhere. We can see where we are on the charts and the numbers on the GPS tell us how far to go etc. But really we could be anywhere. Landfall always makes things real and then we say to ourselves "Did we really sail all the way here?" Each evening we seem to be greeted with rain squalls. The wind sometimes changes direction (as well as increases) whilst Valiam goes like a charging bull sometimes at 10 knots! When the mainsail jibes it's not much fun as everything bangs, rattles and shakes, and again when captain Bill gets her back on course. We have a lot of power in our sails! We've had the jib poled out for a few days now as we seem to do mostly on long passages with the wind from behind. Mona Lisa has been working well keeping us on course. Fred the wind vane cant do such a good job with this wind strength and direction. We have only used the motor to charge up the batteries which now seems to be twice a day. We've had mostly 20 - 25 knots SE winds the last 2 days with average daily tallies of 180 nm a day. The swell has been moderate with white capped wind waves. The ocean seems to have died down a bit now.

As I write this I watched the sun rise and tick off another day on the calendar. Our Galapagos time is completely out now as it is after 9am. When we get to French Polynesia we will have to put our watches back another 4 hours.

We finally caught a fish yesterday. It was a small wahoo which is enough when filleted for 3 meals. Wahoos don't seem to thrash around after being caught and don't have as much blood and guts. It's an unpleasant job cutting up a barely breathing fish which I am happy the captain does. We enjoyed 2 fillets last night lightly fried accompanied by tartare sauce with capers, chips and steamed cabbage. The chips were made from tinned potatoes which tasted as good as fresh. We have created some nice meals from mixing tins with condiments. The other day I made a curry using tinned roast beef (from Brazil), korma sauce (South Africa), fresh onion and capsicum (Galapagos), tinned cauliflower (Oz) and tinned beans (Panama). International fusion cuisine!

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22/07/2009, 7 42.28'S:117 49.92'W, Pacific Ocean

22 July 2009-07-23 Position : 7 42.28S 117 49.92W Time: 10am (UTC -6hrs) N miles to go: 1326

The days have started to blend in with one another as we crawl along this vast ocean. Looking at the world map we are the furthest from any land we've ever been. We are amazed to still see a few birds gliding effortlessly around the boat looking for fish. They are sensible enough not to go for the lure we have trolling out the back. No fish yet despite ladies spit! One large fish did get hooked but got away!

Today marks another milestone - we have passed the ¾ way around the world mark! (117 degrees West with Mooloolaba as our starting point. As I type this wedged in between the table and the saloon cushions the rain is pounding on the deck outside. Bill has opened the fresh water plug to catch some into our water bladder. I might get permission to wash my hair again!! We have been very careful with fresh water using salt water wherever possible - washing dishes, hands, boiling eggs etc.

We are still making good progress and the boat has been mostly steady and comfortable. Occasionally the sails and motion of the boat change whenever there are rain squalls about. From 190 a day when we had favourable current we are now averaging 170 a day. If we can keep this up we will reach Nuku Hiva in well under 3 weeks. Our fellow yachts Chautauqua, Nakia and Seren are all doing well but are several days behind us. La Barca is still enjoying Galapagos. Priscilla from Chautauqua has been emailing us bread recipes which we have been trying with great success. Yesterday we made English muffins cooking them dry in a fry pan. Delicious!

Steve, Australian skipper of Seren informed us his letter to noonsite concerning the corruption of certain agents in San Christobal has been posted on the website. You may remember the day after our friends Nick and Kathy of Impala came into San Christobal dismasted they were taken advantage of by unscrupulous agent Fernando and his brother Challos. When confronted by them as well as Steve for the return of the money overcharged Challos made serious threats. To see this posting go: www.noonsite.com Click on 'countries, Ecuador, Galapagos. "Death Threats and Corruption in San Christobal" Steve informed us Challos tourism operator's license has been revoked. He feels justice has been served.

I was absolutely delighted to hear that the little parcel we sent for our granddaughter's birthday from Galapagos arrived in time! We were told 2 months but she received it in 2 weeks. Wonders will never cease! We were especially pleased as we had made a DVD of ourselves singing Happy Birthday to her as well as footage of the animals on Galapagos. Thank you to the absent senorita at the San Christobal Post Office!

We are now more than halfway to Nuku Hiva and look forward to seeing those tall green peaks emerge when we make landfall. Still a long way to go - so keep those emails coming in, especially of any news out there in the world beyond the ocean

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21/07/2009, Townsville Australia

Dearest Caylan
We are in the middle of the ocean when you are celebrating your birthday. We wish you were there! We know you will have lots of fun as you enjoy parties as much as Nanny does! Love you heaps and heaps precious princess xxxxxxxxxx See you in a few months
love you
Nanny and Pa

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18/07/2009, 5 49.30'S:106 41.23'W, Pacific Ocean

18th July 2009
Time: (Galapagos) 10.00am
Position: 5 49.30S 106 41.23W
N miles to go: 2000 (1/3 of the way there!)

ENCOUNTER WITH FISHING BOAT FROM ECUADOR

The days and nights are getting easier, the seas smoother and we can now sleep in the forward main cabin. At night the stars are so brilliant and humbling to look at. We are just a little spec crawling along the earth's watery surface. I could make out the Southern Cross again in a different position but somehow I do feel closer and connected to home on this Pacific Ocean. (Even though we still have 6000 miles to go!)

Whilst taking my afternoon nap yesterday I heard the radio loud and clear: "This is fishing boat, fishing boat from Manta. Hello hello!!" Then something again in Spanish. I jumped out of bed. 'Who's that?' Bill got his binoculars out and in the distance he spotted a large fishing vessel. He said I could answer the radio. "Fishing boat. Fishing boat . This is sailing yacht Valiam. Over" A heavily accented male voice replied in English "Hello. What is your name? How many persons on board? We are a fishing boat from Ecuador." I looked at Bill and said "I won't tell him there are only 2 of us." The captain kept looking at the fishing vessel as it got closer with a worried expression. I decided to respond in a friendly fashion assuming they were just bored and interested in us. We were 1000 miles from Galapagos and 2000 miles from the Marquesas. A long way from any land. "Hello -we are an Australian family. Our yacht's name is Valiam. Victor Alpha Lima India Alpha Mike. What is yo ur name? Over" He replied that their vessel's name was Maria Jose and they had 24 people on board, mostly Ecuador people and some Portuguese. They would return to Ecuador in 2 weeks. He wanted to know where we were going, if we were ok etc. By this time we had relaxed and realized they were just being curious and friendly. We talked about catching fish. I said we had caught a wahoo recently. He said "We have plenty wahoo, tuna, dorado. You want some? We can launch our speed boat." Before I replied, Captain Bill said "No - that's not a good idea.." I replied that we were fine and had plenty of food and liked catching our own fish. I complimented him on his English. He said he worked with Americans for 3 years. We then wished each other well and said 'Bye and good journey'. By this time they were very close passing us from the opposite direction. I hastily put on lots of clothes and took lots of photos whilst Bill watched them with the binoculars. He said there were a bunch o f them sitting in the top viewing tower of the vessel. I couldn't see anyone but waved to them anyway. Although we were fairly sure they were friendly we were also relieved when they disappeared into the distance. The captain reminded me of Challos in Galapagos who was initially friendly but later threatened our friends. He said "They think they can do what they like out here." It's a shame we have to be on guard all the time due to the bad behaviour of some. Our Ecuadorian fishing boat friend was I am sure just being friendly. I am sure it's very boring for a bunch of men to be out at sea for weeks/months on end. Our little sailing boat provided a diversion for them. I don't think they see sailing boats very often. It's a big wide sea out here and even though we know of several yachts sailing in this direction we know we'll never see them.

We will crack the 2000 miles to go this morning! Party time! The chocolate biscuits are gone so I will bake some muffins or a cake. A nice bottle of South African white wine is chilling in the fridge. I made a delicious cottage pie using Galapagos fresh mince and potatoes which lasted 2 meals. We also had the steak last night. It was tasty but a bit tough. Although we have a few pork chops left half frozen, we'll have the fishing line out. We had it out yesterday but lost our sparkly pink lure and trace after a fish took off with it! We now have a sparkly orange and lime green one. We have heard that WD40 or ladies spit on the lure attracts fish. We will let you know the results!

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16/07/2009, 3 35.9'S:100 58.2'W, Pacific Ocean

16th July 2009
Time: 9am
Position: 3 35.99S 100 58.22W (at 117 deg W we'll be 3/4 way around the world)
N miles to go: 2358

After 4 nights at sea we are starting to get into the routine of a long passage. Our days are punctuated by recording our position every 6 hours, meals, and of course scanning the horizon every 20 minutes. I am getting used to sleeping in 'the cave' and now that we are using Fred the wind vane to steer Mona Lisa's groaning is absent. Our speed remains high - rarely under 7 knots and mostly 8 knots+. Sometimes at night when the wind picks up a bit Valiam feels like an express train rushing through the darkness leaving phosphorescence in her wake. I saw the GPS read 11 knots going down a wave! We appear to have a bit of current with us which is great. We've been covering 190 miles in the last 24 hours! Fred steers us a bit to the south so the captain says he will correct this in a day or so when the wind is even more from behind by poling out the jib.

As conditions have improved as far as the motion of the boat and my sea sickness has abated I decided to do some baking yesterday. Using packet mixes of chocolate fudge and chocolate biscuits we now have some thing nice to eat with our afternoon tea and midnight snacks. The day before yesterday I cooked a chicken casserole using a fresh chicken from the market in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. Inside it was a small plastic bag with its feet (including claws), head (without a beak), liver and heart. We have eaten soup based on these ingredients before but I couldn't do it so the 'extra bits' went overboard. The casserole was delicious and has lasted 2 meals and there is still a bit left over for lunch today.

We are not sure how far behind the other yachts are except for Seren who sent us their position yesterday. They left 2 days after us and Bill estimates they will get to Nuku Hiva a week after us. It's interesting gathering all the information about Nuku Hiva from our pilot books, noon site and other cruisers circumnavigations. Apart from the anchorage being a bit rolly we know the sand will be black; there are amazing peaks and waterfalls as well as archaeological sites with tikis. We are prepared for expensive prices although I do believe the baguettes and French cheese is cheap. Still a long way to go before we can savour these delicacies. I have some local cheese (quesa) on board made in Galapagos which we haven't tried yet. It looks soft like goats cheese.

We have received emails from our friends in Galapagos. La Barca will be leaving there in a few days but as they are a smaller boat will not reach the Marquesas for a while after us and we may have left by then. Impala the yacht that was dismasted had a visit from their insurance company's surveyor. It seems they may have to motor all the way back to mainland Ecuador for repairs and the rig won't arrive until November. How difficult and stressful for Nick and Kathy. Our thoughts are with them. So far so good with Valiam. She is ploughing through the waves in her usual robust, speedy fashion. The wind has been mostly around 20 knots from the S-SE with the occasional rain squall that makes her go even faster!

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14/07/2009, 1 37.9'S:94 58.0'W, Pacific Ocean

14th July 2009
Time: (Galapagos) 9.30am
Position: 1 37.9S 94 58.0W
Total miles: 3054 N
miles to go: 2734

Another long passage and the longest yet! As we settle into the routine night watches and trying to get comfortable to sleep we can't complain too much as Valiam is rocketing along already having done 300 miles in the first day and a half. The motion is better than the last passage but still a bit bouncy in the fore cabin. I got a bit cranky last night when I decided to sleep in the 'cave' (starboard quarter berth) and found our precious pawpaw only bought 2 days ago already going mouldy and leaking all over the sheets. Nothing for it but to toss the sheets, cut off the mould and rescue the rest of the pawpaw and remake the bed with fresh sheets. Whilst crawling in there I had to make room as we had more junk in there than we should have. So at around 1am I finally snuggled down to the sound of Mona Lisa (electric autopilot) moaning and groaning right next to me. (Fred the wind vane doesn't steer us very well at this angle) I guess lying down not sleeping for a couple of hour s is still better than having to check outside every 20 minutes.

Galapagos was a great place to visit and after 2 weeks there we were ready to tackle this long passage. We left on Sunday 12th July at 1.30 pm about 1.5 hours after Nakia and Chautauqua and Taisho close behind us. The crew of the yachts in the anchorage gave us all a great send off with tooting horns etc. It felt like a Sunday afternoon yacht race!! We passed Nakia a couple of hours later (taking lovely photos of each other sailing along) and remained in vhf radio contact with the others until about 1am the first night. As we are now too far ahead we will be contacting each other by email along the way. Seren is due to leave soon if they haven't already. La Barca will be about another week. We are aiming for Nuku Hiva as it has a better anchorage in Taiohae Bay than Oa Hiva. The anchorages in the Marquesas are known to be very rolly.

We have lots of books to read and new DVDs swapped so we have plenty of entertainment on board. I watched a movie called 'Holiday' last night with 'English' subtitles I couldn't remove. The text was quite hilarious and unlike the story with most words very different to what was said. A classic example was instead of 'block buster' it read 'black bastard'. I am still fighting a bit of sea sickness but with the help of Sturgeron (and high carbohydrate food!) I am coping ok. We have about a week's worth of meat on board so wont try any fishing yet.

(Photo of Nakia above)

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11/07/2009, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno

Sea lions keep jumping in our dinghy! (more photos in photo gallery)

Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
San Christobal
Galapagos
11th July 2009

The two weeks we have spent here has been one of the highlights of our voyage. The harbour here is small and friendly, the temperature perfect and the wildlife even just within walking distance has been amazing. Although initially I thought we would have iguanas and turtles swimming amongst the sea lions next to the boat , we haven't been disappointed. The marine iguanas live a precarious life only eating algae from volcanic rocks at low tide in particular places. The bird life is prolific and we have enjoyed watching them from the boat as well as on our walks in the National park.

La Barca arrived 2 days ago just after dawn. We gave them a rousing welcome and were soon rowing over to them with a bottle of champagne. After a champagne breakfast and dealing with the authorities, we have spent all our time together. The kids are having a great time wandering amongst the sea lions, watching the red crabs and marine iguanas. At Leboria beach Adam and the kids swam with the sea lions with big grins on their faces. Yesterday we walked on one of the hiking trails with La Barca crew, Kathy (Impala), and Priscilla (Chautauqua) to picnic in a volcanic rock cave amongst the sea lions and snorkel in the small protected lagoon. Even though the water was cold we saw so many fish as well as the sea lions swimming past and boobie birds dive under water. This little bay is where it is thought Charles Darwin anchored on the ship Beagle. There is a statue of him overlooking the bay. The bird lookout was thoroughly enjoyed by all. We could see the large bright parrot fish swimming around amongst the rocks as well as the sea lions basking, fighting and swimming. The pelicans here are large and have russet feathers on the back of their neck and dark grey wings. The blue footed boobies entertained us again bomb diving for fish as the frigate birds circled overhead.

In the last few days we have discovered small local restaurants where we eat a 2 course meal for $2.50 to $4.50. The food is tasty and usually includes a bowl of soup (sometimes with chicken feet!), rice, salad and a meat dish depending on what is on the menu. I am going to the market this morning to stock up for our passage to the Marquesas. We have found the food here very cheap and quite good quality which is surprising for somewhere a long way form anywhere.

The day after Impala arrived they realized along with Steve (Seren) that their agent had overcharged them by several hundred dollars. When they confronted Fernando and his brother Challos they were verbally abused by Challos who said "This is my country. I can do what I like and get a gun shoot you and throw you off the back of the boat". As Nick and Kathy are still upset after being dismasted and will be spending some months here in Galapagos it was not a good introduction for them. Shocked and upset Steve (who speaks some Spanish) took them up to see the Port Captain. He was not amused. To cut a long story short they have received back the money and Fernando is no longer employed as an agent. Steve has since posted a letter on www.noonsite.com called 'Death Threats and Corruption in San Christobal'. We have been quite happy with our agent Bolivar who charged us $80 for his services. Our total bill including immigration, port fees, zarpe and agents fee was $230. We have just heard from another yacht who went to Santa Cruz and has had to pay in excess of $300 and was charged $60 for fumigation. Although we were one of the few yachts which was visited by quarantine we didn't have to pay a fumigation fee. Apart from the unpleasantness experienced by Impala and Seren by Fernando and his brother we have found everyone here to be helpful and friendly. At this point I would also like to mention Manola and Tina who run Sharksky tours. They are a fantastic support to the yachties and as they speak English are very helpful and cant do enough for us.

Today we are comparing notes with La Barca with information for the upcoming voyage across the Pacific. As we farewell Galapagos we look forward to seeing beautiful places in the Pacific and meeting up with friends along the way. Seren and Chautauqua are also leaving tomorrow and we'll be keeping in contact along the way by email. Steve (Seren) also has an iridium phone se we have devised a system of sending messages on that also. It will be nice to be at sea again. We believe there's a good chance it will be a good downhill run all the way to the Marquesas. All 3055 miles of it!! I will send messages to the website via the satellite phone along the way so you can see how we are going. Ciao for now!

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07/07/2009, Leboria beach San Christobal

Linda balanced on wet volcanic rock quickly sketching the iguana before he got away!

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07/07/2009, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno

Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
San Christobal
Galapagos
7th July 2009

As the tour boats zip by making Valiam rock around and the nearby ship's generators continually hum we are actually looking forward to being out at sea again. Our friends have had a more difficult time getting to Galapagos than we have. La Barca have repaired their rigging themselves anchored off a quiet headland on the coast of Ecuador and are now a couple of days away so we have decided to wait for them. They have sent us daily reports and positions so we know how they are doing. I imagine the children will be itching to get off the boat when they finally get here! On Sunday night we woke about midnight and noticed a yacht without a mast anchored next to us. As we were expecting our friends Nick and Kathy to arrive on Impala Bill thought it might be them as the yacht was the same size and make (Bavaria 46). I woke early yesterday and saw it was them and as fellow yachties we were devastated for them. We rowed our dinghy over and heard the full story. About 100 miles away, the forestay came away from the deck fitting and the mast, boom, rigging and sails landed on the deck and in the water in a big mess. Luckily both Nick and Kathy were down below and didn't get hurt. Nick then proceeded to cut all the rigging wires (with a hacksaw as bolt cutters didn't work) to release the whole rig and sails into the ocean. Kathy took photos, recorded everything in the log whilst Nick worked. After ¾ hour they had to watch their beautiful new sails less than a year old and the mast etc disappear into the sea. The dodger over the cabin crushed but saved the chart plotter. Luckily some of the antennas for the radio etc weren't damaged. They were still shell shocked by the experience of course and are now in the process of dealing with their insurance company. They will be here for several months most likely. At this stage they are thinking that perhaps the yacht may be taken back to Ecuador for the new rig to be sent from England with experts to install it. Impala is only 4 years old and it seems the fault may have been in the furler fitting. This could happen to anyone and they were lucky to be close enough to motor to land. Also the passage to here is hard on the rigging due to sailing to windward.

Our next stop will be Niku Hiva in the Marquesas 3500 miles away. It should be trade wind sailing all the way. Needless to say Captain Bill has been checking our rig and has decided to keep the inner forestay up for the next passage as extra security for the mast. We can only carry enough fuel for 500 miles so we will be taking every precaution to arrive in one piece.

Now back to the Galapagos! We are enjoying the 'small coastal town' atmosphere here and feeling fairly relaxed and accepting of the unhurried pace of living. Inefficiency and lack of work ethic seems to be in most places we've been on this trip (including Singapore!) Just as an example I will describe to you our experience of trying to mail a small parcel and some postcards at the Post Office:
The first time we went to the Post Office it was shut (lunch time-siesta time). The 2nd time we went, there was only one beautifully made up young girl who communicated to us in Spanish with actions. She looked at the small parcel as if she didn't know what it was. Apparently the senorita that has the key to the draw that sells stamps wasn't there. We were to come back in 20 minutes. The 3rd time we went back a young man was at the counter. He saw our parcel and the beautiful girl out the back tottered out in high heels raising her arms with a questioning look then went out the door. After deliberating what to do and pointing at the empty 'senorita's' desk with a smile and shrug he went about looking up books for postal rates. He weighed it in an ancient weighing machine and took a long time to work out the cost. Now it's not as if there aren't any tourists here. There are busloads milling about every day. Eventually he wrote down US$22.80. We paid up and he put a sticker on the parcel. Then he placed it on top of a pile of untidy books near the 'senorita's desk'. When I presented the postcards he said no he couldn't do that and I had to go to a tourist shop that sold stamps. After looking worriedly at our little parcel we went to the shop down the road for stamps. We were told US$3 each for postcards to Oz! We have also since found out that it takes more than 2 months for mail to reach their destination from Galapagos. Maybe it sits on the 'senorita's desk' for a month! Anyway poor Caylan (our granddaughter) will have to wait for her birthday parcel. This kind of thing happens everywhere in South America. Just as well we're yachties with heaps of time!!
The other day we walked to the Interpretation centre. It's a modern eco-type building with an excellent display on the history of Galapagos. There were no staff there. No other tourists. No brochures or books. It was just us wandering around looking at the displays. It seems employed staff are often not at their place of employment! We then walked to a beach on the headland which was covered in sea lions. They are the funniest things continually belching, barking and snorting etc whilst rolling around in the sand often on top of other sea lions. They behave a bit like dogs actually. One flopped down next to us rolled on to its back looking at us with puppy eyes. Now these animals are wild creatures and they are not the sort you pat. They also have sharp teeth. The water was cool and a beautiful cool blue. Several sea lions were swimming and playing in the water. We had our snorkels and I tentatively went out in the water. It's supposed to be the done thing to swim with these creatures but I was scared! As we were the only ones on this deserted beach, and as I said before they ARE wild animals, I didn't swim/snorkel for long. The other thing is because there are so many sea lions here they leave their smelly poos everywhere so the place stinks! But it's still a gorgeous place. It's just that it's the sea lions hang out and WE are the visitors!

Wanting to see the marine iguanas again to sketch them we hired a taxi to take us to Leboria beach. It was difficult to find them. This time the surf was huge and pounding on the volcanic rocks making them wet. The iguanas only eat algae on the rocks at low tide. It was half way to low tide but we managed to find one small iguana who seemed a bit scared of us, wanting to run and hide. I managed a few quick sketches that you can see in the photo gallery (and one above).

Saturday will most likely be our departure day. So, before then we will do some fresh food shopping, arrange water and diesel and clear out using our agent Bolivar.

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01/07/2009, Galapagos

Galapagos Marine Iguana - isnt he handsome?

Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
San Christobal
Galapagos
1 July 2009

After being out at sea it is always nice to have a look around our landfall by car. Yesterday Jorge the taxi driver drove us around the southern part of San Christobal to see the sights. First we saw a fresh water crater lake after climbing up many steps in cool fresh misty air . We could just see the lake (Junco) through the mist. Jorge is also a naturalist and described many rare endemic plants as well as many we have in Queensland ,Australia that have been introduced. We drove to a couple of beaches and walked from each parking zone to see volcanic stones lining the beach and many Galapagos creatures. Darwin's famous finches were in abundance and quite tame. You could see their strong blunt bills evolved to open nuts and seeds. Jorge took us to the newly created Tortoise breeding centre. The bigger tortoises were released into several hectares of landscape the same as their natural environment. The babies were in cages of crushed volcanic rock and wire to keep predators out. These tortoises are the great great great grandchildren of Harriet the Galapagos tortoise that lived at Australia Zoo and recently passed away at around 200 years old. Harriet it is believed , came on Darwin's ship to Sydney.

I was keen to see the marine iguanas. So after a nice lunch at a 'The Ranch' which had amazing gardens including a tree that dropped so much pink blossoms it looked like pink grass - like fairy land! We walked to the beach near Loberia which is surrounded by many dark grey volcanic boulders. There laying and clasping the boulders were the most ugly prehistoric awesome creatures I have ever seen! They live on algae that they can reach at low tide covering the volcanic rocks. I felt I was witnessing the life of very special ancient creatures whose life depended on their environment not ever changing. After 100s of photos we hope to visit there again. Loberia is not far from town and we can take a $3 taxi ride there. At the same beach further along it is a good snorkeling place to see turtles, rays etc if one can brave the cold water!

Our friends on La Barca have broken some rigging sailing to windward and have had to turn back to the Ecuadorian coast to anchor and make repairs. We have been in daily contact and have been concerned about them but they seem fine and hopefully they will be on their way again. We are not sure if we will still be here in Galapagos when they finally arrive. This is the way of cruising friendships I guess.. But in my heart I know we will see them again.. Being the 1st of July we are conscious of time getting away and we need to get through the next long leg to Marquesas very soon. In the meantime we are taking it easy here and enjoying the wildlife of Galapagos!
(more pics in gallery - click on little camera)

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29/06/2009, Galapagos

They are very sleepy until you get close then up they grovel and bark at you!

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29/06/2009

Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
San Christobal
Galapagos
29 June 2009

This is a lovely low key holiday town where the sea lions are everywhere! It is bigger than we thought with numerous cafes, tourist shops lining the waterfront street. We yachties almost blend in with the rest of the tourists who have flown half way around the world to get here. The main difference is we have tanned wrinkled skin whilst some of the people we've seen have baby white skin and look like they've come direct from their office in London! There is plenty to do with lots of places to visit on this island itself mainly concerned with the natural environment, animals and history of Galapagos.

The anchorage here is fine, a little rolly but nothing like the anchorage at Santa Cruz we believe which faces the south. We have met several yachties from USA, Germany and South Africa who are all sailing to the Marquesas soon. Some are going the same way across the Pacific as us some are going to Hawaii and one couple are staying in French Polynesia for a year. I think we'll have plenty of company as we go back to Oz! We still wait for La Barca and think they will still be a few more days yet. We feel lucky to have a boat that sails as well as Valiam does in less time it seems than most yachts. A French catamaran left Balboa the same day as us didn't stop in La Perlas and arrived here only 2 days before we did. We stayed 3 days in La Perlas so we managed to get to Galapagos in less time than they did. Go Valiam go!

The sea lions are everywhere here. They swim around the boat, are lying about the steps, rocks, footpaths and on beaches. They love to climb in small boats and dinghies. This is why the yachties keep their dinghies out of the water and use the water taxis. We walked to Playa de Oro (Golden Beach) where the sea lions were basking in the sun, and swimming with the bathers. They smell! Although they look endearing they bark, belch, groan, dribble and smell like rotten fish! The ones with golden fur haven't moulted yet. I have excellent footage of a large male sea lion squashing and lying on top of 4 other sea lions which may have been his family. They look so ungainly and sluggish on land but amazingly graceful swimming in the water. There are lots of photos of the sea lions in the photo gallery!

We also saw a tiny iguana perched on a rock. His skin was grey and wrinkly giving the impression he was ancient. The wildlife already has been fascinating and we haven't even begun really exploring yet. Apparently there are quite reasonably priced tours to various places around San Christobal. In the meantime as I type this we are waiting for our self appointed agent Bolivar to turn up to start the clearing in process. Other yachties say we will be at least $200 poorer. The locals certainly all get their bit from the tourists and yachties here. Apart from the navy and National Park tourism is the only industry.

By the way the 'Galapagos duck' who sat on our bow rail is definitely a Booby. There are T shirts, hats etc in the tourist shops that say "I love boobies"! Perhaps our grandson Joe may like one as he is not happy about being weaned!

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28/06/2009, Galapagos Islands Ecuador

Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
(Wreck Bay)
San Christobal
Galapagos
28 June 2009
Position: 00 53.756S 89 36.78W

After 7.5 days leaving La Perlas, Panama we arrived windblown and exhausted in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, San Christobal Island just before sunset. Just as we popped the cork on the champagne radio was calling 'Valiam this is Nikea...' The lady on Nikea kindly let us know that Bolivar the agent was on his way and that he was very nice and to basically trust him with our paperwork. Bolivar in Spanish-English said his fee was $80 and that he would bring the port captain in 10 minutes. Goodness - no time to comb the hair, a few more gulps of champagne while it was still cold then the young Port Captain arrived in his impeccable khaki uniform, mirror shiny shoes and agent Bolivar in tow. Everyone was very friendly as we got on with the paperwork. Soon a pretty Quarantine lady arrived to fill in more forms and asked about animals or whether we had swine flu. (This was done in charades ha-ha!) Whilst waiting for the water taxi to return the officials to the port we had a stilted conversation in broken English/Spanish about families. My little well traveled album of our family, grubbily thumbed by now, assisted our exchange.

The sun had well and truly set as we finished off the champagne. Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is busier and bigger than we thought. There are about 7 yachts here. Apparently when it's busy there are 30 in this small anchorage! There are 4 big triple decker tourist boats anchored next to us with generators going. We have also been visited by several seals swimming around the boat and a turtle. As we are the last boat in we have a view of the ocean as well as all the boats buzzing out to sea with tourists on board.

The lady on Nikea is also called Linda and she kindly gave us some maps and brochures this morning on their way into town by water taxi. Everyone shuts for siesta after lunch so if we want to see anything we'll have to get moving before lunch. There seem to be lots of tour operators, hotels, restaurants etc so I don't think we'll get bored. I hope to find an internet café today to update our website.

We are very grateful our boat sails so well to windward in these conditions. Linda of Nikea said the quickest trips she had heard of were 8-10 days. They took several weeks with tops ups of fuel etc in Colombia to get here. 7.5 days is fantastic and we've only used 73 litres of fuel since Colon which included the Panama canal transit and charging the batteries. All things considered we've had a great trip here despite being a bit uncomfortable for a few days. La Barca is still over 600 miles away. Their boat is smaller and slower than Valiam. We are in daily contact and hope they get here soon. In the meantime we will enjoy a bit of local exploration. There seems to be lots of free information about Galapagos and its history about the place including The San Christobal Interpretation Centre.

I have put some photos in the new album marked 'Galapagos'. The internet is slow so do enjoy them!!!

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28/06/2009, Pacific Ocean

Our "Galapagos duck!?"

Panama to Galapagos -Day 8
27 June 2009 , 10.30am
Position :0 35.1S 89 3.9W

'Land Ho!' says the captain waking me from my daytime nap in the saloon. I immediately climbed outside to have a look. There very clearly seen against the bright blue sky were the brown and blue-grey peaks of San Christobal Island, Galapagos. What a moment to savour! Although around 35 miles away, we could see the island very clearly. This morning we were visited by a very friendly large grey bird with a sky blue beak and eyes to match. He balanced himself on our bow rail with his orange feet. He looked at us as if to say "I'm going to sit here whether you like it or not". We christened him our Galapagos duck for indeed he did have the proportions and feet like a duck. His head to me looked a little like some of the pictures I have seen of the Mauritius Dodo bird. He stayed long enough for 100 photos and a movie then flew off.

Valiam has sailed so well and maintained at least 7 knots sailing to windward for the last few days. We left Las Pearlas a week ago so we are very pleased to be here so soon. The water temperature is now 23degrees and 27 degrees in the cabin. It feels like winter at home. Sunny cool and crisp. The Ecuador flag is ready to go up. It's similar to the Colombian flag except it has an intricate design in the centre of a shield incorporating the highest mountain in Ecuador Mt Chimborazo, a steam ship, 4 important months of the zodiac and a condor bird on top. (Read that in our book 'Flags of the world') I bought this flag happily so I wouldn't have to make it as I have done with most other countries.

Another important milestone was crossing the equator at 1.45am this morning for the fourth time! Needless to say I didn't wake the captain for this but watched the numbers change to 00 00.00N then S on the AIS ship plotter screen and tried to photograph it. Back in the southern hemisphere and closer to home!

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26/06/2009, 0 28.2'N:86 18.3'W, Pacific Ocean

Panama to Galapagos Day 7 26 June 2009, 8.30am Position: 0 28.2 N 86 18.3W NM to go: 214

The dawn arrived earlier this morning because we are further west. Going across the Pacific will be interesting with the time changes. We have to tick each day on the calendar otherwise we wouldn't know what day it was! Valiam is going well with a current speed of 7 knots. Last night the wind dropped a couple of times and she slowed down to 3.3 at one stage. However she's picked up her skirts this morning dancing along anxious to have a rest in Galapagos as we are!

At this stage we are concerned that we may have a night time landfall ahead of us! (We always seem to do this!) It depends if the wind stays consistent and whether we can maintain our speed. We did lose a bit last night for a couple of hours when the wind dropped. The captain has put 2 reefs in the main to make it a little more comfortable on board but he may shake them out today to increase our speed.

When heeling to starboard working in the galley is extremely difficult. All food items and condiments want to fly out when the galley 'pigeon holes' don't have a barrier (such as plastic plate, chopping board etc.) One thing about cruising that can get wearing is the constant 'ferreting' for necessary items and putting other things back. Doing this, trying to balance and only have one hand free is extremely difficult at times. After an hour in the galley I feel I have done a yoga work out! Yesterdays efforts in the galley produced almost failures! Having a huge pawpaw to use I decided to make a loaf, doubling the recipe I usually use (there was also extra grated pawpaw). After 2 hours in the oven it was raw in the middle and burnt on the outside and sank quite a bit in the tin. We also made a fruit cake with dried raisins that were starting to turn into toffee. This time the cake was too dry and crumbly to hold. To improve things I decided to make some custard with custard p owder. It didn't thicken much and after being left it looked like milk. Cooking it again with more custard powder turned it into something inedible with burnt lumps - down the sink! A new batch of custard was then made using 3 times the amount of custard powder and after another hour in the galley it worked. Next it was time to make pawpaw and cucumber salad - another hour later of carefully balancing and chopping! Bill cooked the fish and by the time we had dinner it was 9pm. As we usually eat at 6pm when sailing our night time routine had to be rescheduled. This was fixed by putting the clock back and hour. One thing I must say about the pawpaw loaf, it is a good cure for constipation!

We received an email from La Barca and they are feeling disheartened as they are making slow progress and still have more than 700 miles to go. Hopefully we'll still overlap and see each other in Galapagos. I have finished reading the Life and Times of Charles Darwin so now I will have a much better idea of what he was about when we visit Galapagos. Interestingly it was the variations he found in a small finch that reinforced his theory of 'Natural Selection' not tortoises or iguanas as I previously thought. It was amazing how many books Darwin churned out in his lifetime. The skeleton of the archaeopteryx found during his lifetime reinforced his theory of evolution where animals then had both feathers and scales. Of course many discoveries of early man and other dinosaurs since Darwin's death have continued to support his theories.

There isn't much sign of life out here except for the occasional fish we catch and occasionally a curious bird will circle us for a while. However last night we did see a boat light traveling parallel to us for several hours. It wasn't a ship or yacht but some type of motor vessel - perhaps a fishing boat. Nice to know there are other humans out here. Keep those emails coming in!

Panama to Galapagos - Day 6 25 June 2009 Position: 1 30.59N 83 50.75W NM to go: 375

It's feeling cooler already even though we haven't reached the equator and aren't in the Southern hemisphere 'winter' yet. Although we are still heeling to starboard the motion of Valiam is a bit more tolerable (or are we getting used to it?) The wind is coming more from the south so we are now heading a bit south of the Galapagos to allow for easier sailing as we get closer.

Tender fresh fish fillets are on the menu now as yesterday we caught a 5kg wahoo. I endeavoured to make hors'douvres in the form of sushi. Unfortunately we have no sheets of seaweed so it didn't hold together as the rice wasn't sticky enough. After all the complicated preparation I was not a happy galley slave. We then used the rest of the ingredients to enjoy it as sashimi complete with wasabi and chopsticks - a bit tricky with the boat heeling and bouncing around! For those of you who are interested in the fishing techniques we used a pink glittery squid on a medium sized hook with metal trace. The worst part of catching a fish is the blood and guts everywhere. It's hard to disassociate the staring eyes and open mouth of the fish in its death throes with the tender fish on our dinner plates.

The most exciting news I have left until last! We are to be grandparents again for the 3rd time! Our daughter Vashti and husband Craig are expecting their 3rd child on 31st January. It does seem that we are meant to be back home in Oz this summer! Nanny Linda won't be knitting bootees but will be looking for unusual baby clothes in the Pacific islands!

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24/06/2009, 2 31.5'N:82 6.9'W, Pacific Ocean

Capn Bill WITHOUT pirate,errol flyn moustache. See Caylan Pa doesnt look weird any more!

Panama to Galapagos - Day 5 24 June 2009 11.30 am Position : 2 31.5N 82 6.9W

494 miles to go! As we punch into the waves beating to windward heeling to starboard still we count the miles and estimate 'When will we be there?' We are averaging 5.5 to 6 knots and it looks like we'll be uncomfortable for the rest of the trip.. We are both tired and trying to cook interesting meals in the galley is difficult due to the awkward angle. However we mustn't complain too much - at least we are making progress and this was always going to be a difficult passage.

La Barca is about 230 miles behind us and also now has a 15 knot SW wind. The wind increased to 15-20 knots SW for us last night but is now again at around 15.

Nothing much else to report - a couple of ships passed us 10 miles away last night but we couldn't see them. We also saw in the distance what we thought may have been killer whales or they were huge black dolphins! At least the sun is out now. The water temperature has dropped a few degrees and we can expect it to go down to 18-20 degrees in Galapagos due to the Humboldt current.

Panama to Galapagos - Day 4 23 June 2009 Position :

Bump! Slap! We're heeling over to starboard as we sail westwards into a southwesterly towards Galapagos with 580 miles to go. It's a bit uncomfortable so the main cabin won't be occupied tonight as the bed would act as a trampoline sloping towards the floor! I am balancing the computer on my lap with one foot supporting it on the table on the downward side.

A strange thing happened today. As we were sailing along both enjoying happy hour in the cockpit I glanced towards my left and there bobbing about not more than 30m away was a small open bright green fishing boat 100 miles from land. As we hadn't seen anything not even ships since we left Las Pearlas this came as a great surprise. I hurriedly covered myself with a sarong as we weren't wearing much. We noticed 2 outboards and the fishermen didn't return our waves. Perhaps they were just as surprised to see us sailing past so closely. It felt like quite a strange encounter. I have read about pirates around here but the captain says there's no truth in it.

If we are able to maintain our course and speed towards Galapagos it may mean we may arrive on the weekend. That means overtime fees for the officials! We often seem to make landfall near dark or out of business hours! Maybe we'll slow down and arrive on Monday...

Today we logged 20,000 nautical miles since leaving Mooloolaba, Australia on 5th November 2007. What a long way we've come! So raise your glasses for us! Hooray! We will also cross the equator for the FOURTH time on this trip in the next day or two! I better put some bubbly in the fridge for our arrival in Galapagos.

I am half way through reading 'Charles Darwin His Life and Times'. It was interesting to read that he didn't really spend much time in Galapagos but took away many specimens away with him back to London. There he spent time reflecting, reading, conversing with scientists and began to form his theories of evolution. I was surprised to learn that he was a keen hunter and shot many animals on his 5 year voyage around the world. He and his fellow shipmates on the Beagle also took tortoises with them for fresh food. He was a privileged person as family money financed his expeditions. It was also interesting to read that he suffered terribly from seasickness but still maintained his interest in the natural sciences in each landfall after being at sea for many weeks on end. No Sturgeron in those days!

Panama to Galapagos - Day 3 22 June 2009 Position: 4 16.80N 79 40.70W 6pm

We seem to have left the thunderstorms behind today. Valiam is sailing gently along as Bill adjusts the wind vane to keep her on course. As with previous sailors we've read about on this passage we have sailed in a big 'S' trying to stay with the best wind. I can feel the days starting to blur into one another as we find our rhythm out here. It is difficult to say when we will make landfall - it all depends on the wind! We are reading books, day dreaming, cooking meals and maintaining our watch for ships of which we haven't seen any. I have started sewing a couple of the beautiful hand stitched molas from the San Blas islands (Kuna Yala) on to cushion covers and watched a couple of movies on the new portable dvd player I bought in Panama. (The previous one packed it in)

It is early evening and we are listening to music and enjoying a glass of wine whilst a group of dolphins cavorted around Valiam. It is certainly very pleasant now it is not raining and we can sit in the cockpit without getting wet. We still have a few meals left with the fresh meat we bought but in a day or so it will be time to put the fishing lures out. After the busyness of Panama it is nice to have time to reflect and slow down out here at sea. We spend a bit of time talking about what we'll do when we get back to Australia. As we want to continue cruising we will try and make things work so we can. Bill wants to make a few adjustments to Valiam before we go again. It will be an achievement to complete our circumnavigation and we look forward to the thrill and excitement of sailing back into Mooloolaba. There are still many places we want to explore, see and perhaps even revisit. But in the meantime the Pacific beckons even if it is at a leisurely pace at the momen t.

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21/06/2009, 6 3.02'N:79 0.36'W, Pacific Ocean

Panama to Galapagos - Days 1-2 21 June 2009 Position: 1.15pm - 6 3.02N 79 0.36W

Within an hour of leaving La Perlas islands yesterday we discovered our 'good' computer we do all our emails on has a nasty virus. I stupidly inserted a USB memory stick that had been infected at an internet caf� and opened it without scanning it with AVG virus detector. Consequently our number 1 computer has become unusable. It is still running through a total scan 21 hours later and found 144 threats/infections. The virus is called Win32/Heur and it's horrible and got into every program/file. So with the Pacific to cross and email being important not only for contact with family and friends but for receiving weather grib files I got stuck into making our old computer work. I finally achieved this but it is a lot slower and cuts out a lot whilst receiving emails. I won't go into any more detail except to say the whole thing is a horrible nuisance. At least we have one working at the moment.

Last night wasn't much fun as we were surrounded by thunderstorms and lightning for most of the evening and early hours. The continual light show lit up the sea so we could look for ships! The winds have been inconsistent as we expected and we are currently on a more southerly course to prepare for the southeaster lies once we get past the equator and have to head for Galapagos. We are currently sailing at 6 knots which is good. When the wind stops or goes below 3 knots we use the iron sails.

It is overcast this morning with the sea a steely grey. Still a long way to go. I think a hot breakfast will boost the morale of the crew this morning.

After lunch: It's been raining steadily so Bill filled a 20 litre container and we both had a rainwater shower. The Dell computer has all its programs damaged by the virus so is packed away until we can get it fixed. I am so pleased we have back up computers. We finally got the main computer working with Xgate (our email at sea program) and so far so good.

We enjoyed our last piece of bread from the supermarket with tinned soup. After this we'll eat crackers unless the galley slave feels energetic enough to make bread. This won't happen at the moment due to lack of sleep and the rain. We have a lot of food on the boat and will have to eat the fresh stuff fairly quickly. We had nachos last night with home made chilli con carne and fresh avocado. Tonight we'll have sausages and potatoes.

I read Nelson Mandela's 'Long Road to Freedom' whilst in South Africa. I have Charles Darwin's Life and Times for this trip. (I am also reading trashy novels!) We hope to visit the Darwin Institute when we get to Galapagos.

Isla Viveros Las Perlas Panama Position: 8 26.794N 79 00.229W

As we prepare for our passage to Galapagos we reflect on our voyage so far thinking of all the countries/landfalls (21 so far) and oceans we have been in: 150 days at sea, 505 on Valiam approx 3/10 of our time at sea Now we face the Pacific Ocean - 1/3 of the world's surface with not much except sea between small islands. Galapagos is a place everyone knows about and wonders if a visit were possible to see these remote islands and the exotic species of animals that live there. I can't believe that tomorrow we will finally begin our long journey to get there. As the crow flies, it is 900 miles but due to possible head winds it is best to go due south before aiming for Galapagos. The winds can be fickle and non existent and I have heard of yachts and ships in the past not able to get there. Valiam is able to sail to windward and if the headwinds are light she should cope well. We will use the engine sparingly to assist the sails if necessary.

Today we are re-anchored close to a couple of tiny uninhabited islands and enjoyed the peace, beauty and solitude. The main beach was covered in rubbish (mainly plastic bottles) washed up and we could see a bulldozer in the far distance beginning a new resort development. Here at these tiny unpolluted islands we swam lazily in the warm water and looked for oysters. (No luck) The anchorage is a bit rolly here due to the swell coming in from the west. It's not too bad and at least we get to lie in bed all night long. We'll be back to our 3 hour watches tomorrow! La Barca leaves Panama City tomorrow so will be a few days behind us.

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19/06/2009, 8 27.546'N:78 59.905'W, Isla Viveros, Pacific Ocean

18 June 2009 Isla Viveros La Perlas Panama We are now anchored at Isla Viveros 8 27.546N 78 59.905W in the La Perlas group. (still part of Panama) We will rest here for another day and night before heading for Galapagos (about 1100 miles) It's lovely and peaceful here with deserted beaches. Our firends on the catamaran Infinity is the only other boat anchored here. We are hoping La Barca will join us here tomorrow before we leave. It will be a long trip to Galapagos due to not much wind, counter currents etc. We aim to go due south to the equator (our 4th corssing!) before heading towards Galapagos with hopefully some wind. As we can only carry enough fuel for 500 miles we will be looking for whatever wind is about. At this stage we will aim for the island of Christobal (Wreck bay) in Galapagos. We will stay a week to 10 days to do some tours before heading for the longest haul across the Pacific (3000 miles) to the Marquesas. Thats it for now. If it wasnt a bit rainy I would put my hammock up... 17 June 2009 We are anchored at Contadora island in the La Perlas group 3o miles from Panama city. We met up with the crew of Infinity the cat with which we crossed the Panama canal with and have just returned from a very pleasant dinner. Even though this is the most develped island in the group it is very quiet and we are the only 2 boats anchored here. It will be a good place to rest for a day or 2 after the hectic preparations of the Panama canal and provisioning for 6 months to cross the Pacific. I did some statistics today: Up to today we have: - spent 149 days at sea - 503 days on Valiam That means 3/10 of our time has been at sea this figure will increase over the next couple of months! We will leave for Galapagos in the next couple of days.

Position : 8 38.13N 79 2.09W

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16/06/2009, Panama

Mi Playita anchorage
Panama City
16th June 2009

This is our last day in Panama city. Today we will complete the last of our boat jobs and shopping and hope to be off tomorrow for a short trip to La Perlas. (about 30 miles away). Infinity left this morning and we hope to catch up with them in a day or 2 at Contadora, La Perlas. We won't stay long but will have a short rest before the long trip to Galapagos. It will be nice to be at sea again after the hectic time here getting through the canal and all the socializing/networking that goes with it! Last night we received some great photos of Valiam from the crews of Infinity and La Barca. I have added a few more to the album section 'Panama'.

It is such a leap in geography to be on the other side of this great continent of South America (and North America) that its hard to come to grips with it after being on 'the other side' for so long. Bill managed to get some great pilot books of the Pacific and Polynesia - there is still so much to see before we reach Australia. We were looking at our photos of PNG with Bronwyn and Adam last night and reflecting on how unspoilt the countries and people are of this part of the world. (PNG, Vanuatu, Solomon's). No huge numbers of charter boats, no asking for money at every turn and the freedom to cruise to remote places and be the only yacht. Everything costs in this part of the world. Yesterday we were having lunch at a restaurant which had a pool. Thinking the kids (Jack and Amy) could have a swim whilst the adults could look on and have 'adult' time they were chased out saying the lady wanted money. She came with a calculator and punched in US$6.30 ($3 per child plus tax) Bronwyn refused to pay. As there was a small protected muddy beach next to the pool we encouraged the children to go there instead. Again they were chased away with more demands for money. Ridiculous! Especially since we spent about $74 with both families dining there. Ok no more gripes!

We are enjoying the wonderful views of Panama City from our protected anchorage and the camaraderie of the other yachties. But it is time to move on. La Barca is still waiting for some spare parts and haven't cleared immigration so we will be ahead of them now. It will be sad to say 'au revoir' but I am sure we'll meet again further 'along the track'.

So onward we go - Valiam and crew through the Pacific!

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16/06/2009, Mi Playita Panama

Mi Playita anchorage
Panama City
Position : 8 55.18N 79 31.79W
15th June 2009

Our friends on Infinity persuaded us to anchor on the other side of the causeway and we are glad we have. The anchorage is free except for a $5 per day dinghy charge and there are nice new shower facilities near the dock. It's a bit of a construction site as a new marina is being built. Then in the future it won't be free to stay here! It's less rolly than the yacht club moorings, has an amazing view of Panama City and is right next to lots of restaurants and cafes. Yesterday we took a taxi into a shopping mall to update our website and receive all the Panama Canal images. A big thank you once again to Jerry, Yolanda and Paul for managing to get such good images and sending them to us so quickly - all 3 boats appreciate it very much. Last night we enjoyed a steak ($8) and a wine or 2 ($3 a glass or $15 bottle) in a very nice restaurant literally 5 minutes walk from the dinghy dock with the crew of Infinity. This little area on the point is a place Panamanians go for leisure so it's reasonably priced and good fun.

Today we will look for a chandlery to get a planning chart of the Pacific, any available pilot books, a new log book (ours is now full!) and some essential fishing lures. (pink is supposed to be best.) We will also get together with La Barca crew as well as Infinity and perhaps some others today.

At this stage we plan to leave Panama on Wednesday for a brief stop in La Perlas (30m away) then the 900 m trip to Galapagos. It's nice to see the Pacific Ocean from our anchorage but we are still a long way from home! This will be our last huge city for a long time and the last opportunity for me to enjoy some retail therapy! It is SO cheap - I bought 6 pairs of nice quality shorts for Bill for $3 each. Until next time. All well on board.

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14/06/2009, 8 56.3'N:79 33.5'W, Balboa Yacht Club, Panama Pacific Ocean

Webcam photo taken at Miraflores locks 13 June 2009. Valiam is the closest on the port side of Infinity (catamaran) with La Barca on the starboard side "nested" together. A big thank you to Jerry, Yolanda and Paul for sending us the images. (more in gallery! click on that little camera!)

Saturday 13 June 2009
We are now on a mooring at Balboa Yacht club. the transit was both exhilerating and exhausting. We hope you saw us on webcam at Miraflores as we had the lock to ourselves! I know it was early for you! We made good time. We are presently entertaining and feeding/watering our linehandlers who were fantastic - English yachtie couple Nick and Cathy and aussie James. I took enough photos to fill an ablbum as well as movies. It was a great experience. Now we are in the Pacifico - Pacific ocean - 8000 miles to get home!!

Balboa Yacht Club
Balboa
Panama City
Panama
14th June 2009
Position: 8 55.23N 79 31.88W

As ships and tugs chug past us making Valiam roll from side to side I am reflecting back on the last day and night of our Panama Canal transit. It was exciting, scary, sometimes stressful, exhilarating and amazing. To think that the canal and its locks have been operating successfully for 100 years to allow ships to pass through to the Pacific rather than the long way around past Cape Horn is a feat in engineering and human effort (especially the labour - people from Caribbean, India and Africa. Now they are using machines to widen the canal and create new bigger locks.

From Shelter Bay Marina the 3 skippers of Valiam, La Barca and Infinity (catamaran) arranged with the canal authorities to do the transit together. We asked fellow yachties at the marina to be line handlers and had a barbeque the night before to get to know one another. We all certainly worked as a team and everything went very well. It was certainly nice to have yachties we knew staying overnight in our boat rather than Panamanians we didn't know. Although if we had to employ Panamanians it may have been an interesting cultural experience living together in close quarters for 24 hours.

Well here is the detailed blow by blow account:
On Friday the 12th June at 3pm we left Shelter Bay Marina with our crew of 5 to motor across the shipping lane and anchor what is known in Colon as 'the Flats'. Our advisors for the 3 yachts arrived by launch at around 5.30pm. Our first advisor was Astro who gave us a talk about all the dos and don'ts of line handling and what we were to expect. The 3 yachts motored off in line towards the canal entrance where we had to tie ourselves together whilst still moving slowly along. We managed to do this with the expert advice of our skippers and advisor with many fenders between us and Infinity (catamaran). A big blue ship with yellow cranes was just ahead of us and we had to go in behind it as we were sharing the Gatun locks with it. By 7.30 we were all ready and started to go through. The whole place was lit up with big lights everywhere. Lind handlers walk along the side of the lock with lines with 'monkey fists' on the end. Four of these are thrown to the yachts. Infinity controlled the 2 bow lines and Valiam and La Barca had one stern line each. After the line with the 'monkey fists' are caught they are tied through the big loop of the main lines we hired. The shore line handlers then pull these ropes (all the while we are moving along trying not to get the ropes caught anywhere!) and when we are in the lock secure us to the big bollards. The line handlers on each yacht secure the line in such a way so it can easily be slackened or tightened when necessary. The advisor on each yacht gives instructions. The driver of the flotilla was Mark's partner Lee on the catamaran. She had their advisor with her the whole time assisting with controlling the flotilla. Lee did an amazing job. Mark the skipper of Infinity was fantastic on the bow controlling one of the bow lines and assisting the other line handlers. Our main line handlers Nick and James worked hard especially James in Gatun locks. Gatun lock was the scariest and controlling the yachts to stay in the middle during the turbulence of the incoming water was a bit difficult at times. We were all a bit nervous as it was our first one. With each set of locks it became easier. Kathy and I were between the cat and Valiam watching and adjusting fenders if necessary as we rubbed along together. We didn't want our chain plates damaging this beautiful boat! During the whole trip I was in charge of looking after the crew and advisor for all their needs - drinks, food, instructions on how to use the toilet etc. The 'left over crew' were the paparazzi taking 1000s of photos and movies of the whole trip.

At around 9pm we arrived at the large buoy in Gatun Lake where we managed to tie up the 3 boats. Our advisor Astro left us here when the launch came to pick him up. He managed to take the mobile phone away from his ear when he said goodbye to us. (It seemed to be glued there the whole trip) Infinity and La Barca rafted together and Valiam on the other side. The buoy in the lake is a big red round rubber thing of about 3-4 metres wide. We could step out on to this and visit each other. Of course the catamaran became the 'Party Boat'. We shared food and drinks. Adam had promised a 'Party on the Lake' when we coerced out line handlers. Of course Adam and Bill had already spent 3 days here when stuck on the broken down boat. Our line handlers were grateful for the experience as they will be doing it themselves soon.

I did hear some howler monkeys in the distance that evening and was determined to have a quick dip in the freshwater lake. I did this around midnight conscious of the crocodiles so it was a very quick dip! Just on light we heard 'Bill! Bill! They're on their way!' (The advisors on the launch.) Bill had time to put on some shorts and crawl out of our hatch in our cabin so as not to disturb our sleeping guests in the saloon. Soon everyone woke up with the commotion and we were on our way. Roy our 2nd advisor was very conscientious and stayed either on our bow watching or back with Bill. The trip across the lake took 6 hours as we passed ships and watched the scenery. I made coffee and tea for everyone then breakfast (scrambled eggs, toast and mushrooms). Jam and marmite was also available for the mountain of toast as well as juice. Everyone including the advisor enjoyed their breakfast and we were all in good spirits. It's good to have plenty of cold drinks on hand for this trip - bottled water, coke and juice. As we were running early - 11.30am we were lucky and had the last series of locks to ourselves.

This time when we rafted up we made sure Valiam was a little further back as on the previous bit the lines tended to get caught around the anchor and rigging at the front. Whilst we were rafted up in the lake waiting to go in the lock a tug boat came by very fast. We jumped towards the middle where the boats were tied and Mark grabbed an extra fender and pushed it down with his feet as we moved up and down. Roy was angry with the tug boat waving his arms and swearing in Spanish. The tugs seem to cause the biggest waves and are supposed to slow down when passing smaller boats.

The last series of locks were great. Going down was much easier than going up the night before. It was a strange sinking feeling as we went down. It became an echo chamber which we all of course had to try out! When we go to Miraflores we knew the web cam was on us. Roy radioed them as he knew I was sending messages to Australia to get images of us. (Unfortunately it was 2-3am there!) We waved and dance about for the cameras. There was a crowd of tourists in a building alongside near what appeared to be a restaurant. I guess watching ships (and yachts) must be great entertainment. We heard both English and Spanish from a loudspeaker describing the lock process and 'the small sailboats'.

As the last lock gates opened to the Pacific, Roy said 'Look - your home!' It was a great moment. Bill put the chart plotter on large scale with the chart of Australia and if went in a straight line it would be 7,762 miles to Brisbane! He said 'We probably wouldn't bump into much!'

As we had to drop off our hired lines and line handlers at Balboa Yacht Club we headed there calling them up on the radio. Eventually La Barca and Valiam were directed to a mooring each. It was now about 1pm. Soon it started raining heavily. During lunch we phone Tony's taxi service to pick up the line handlers from both Valiam and La Barca. We received a couple of calls form Tony as he was delayed due to the heavy rain. Whilst waiting for the rain to ease we napped, looked at photos, and drank a bottle of champagne. Eventually when it wasn't too wet for the launch, the line handlers were finally able to leave both yachts at about 5pm. We really had a great time with them and hope to see them again. Nick and Kathy are also sailing to the Marquesas soon so we will hopefully catch up again - maybe in Galapagos.

Today we will go into town to look for an internet café and perhaps a bit of cheap shopping before getting together with the crews of La Barca and Infinity once more. (This is important to swap photos of each others boats!)

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13/06/2009, Miraflores locks Panama canal

Our first vision of the Pacific Ocean

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12/06/2009

Panama canal line handler throws the monkey fist

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09/06/2009, Panama

The large puddle of water is Gatun Lake where Bill and Adam were stuck for 3 days. After some pressure to return home to their families the owner arranged (at considerable cost) for a canal launch complete with immigration officials to transport them back to Colon. A warning to all yachts transiting the Panama canal if your engine breaks down and you are stationary on Gatun Lake you are charged $450 per day plus you lose your $900 buffer fee. There are probably other fees imposed by the Canal authority as well.

Well it's official ! We are transiting the canal on Friday 12th June leaving late in the afternoon. We will be 'nested' (ie tied to) La Barca and perhaps a catarmaran which is next to us at the marina at present. The first lock is transited at night then we stay the night at Gatun Lake. On Saturday another canal advisor will board assisting us through the rest of the canal. For all our Aussie family and friends - we are 15 hours behind you. If you can manage to make a still image of us from the webcam we would appreciate it! Go www.pancanal.com

For those of you who are interested this is what you have to do to transit the canal. You can employ an expensive agent for several hundred dollars to do it for you. We chose to do it ourselves:

(all on website : www.pancanal.com/common/maritime/forms)
(1.) Clear into Panama : visa not required if staying less than 1 month
(2.) Cruising permit is compulsory. You can get one for 1 month for $29 but we asked Shelter Marina to do it for us and they automatically got a 90 day permit for $70. (which we dont need....)
If you get Shelter Bay Marina to process anything (excluding transit) they charge you $20 per office visited.
(3.) Employ a known English speaking taxi driver. Bill met Rudi who has assisted yachts transiting the canal for 17 years whilst he was 'stuck' on the broken down vessel. Most people around here know Rudi. He charges $50 to drive around all the various offices and departments until all the paperwork is completed (usually 2-3 days) We split this cost with La Barca. Rudi hires out lines for $15 each and has linehandlers available for $55 per day.
(3.) Phone Admeasurer's Office then go and see them(with your taxi driver) to fill out the forms and make a time to measure your boat.
(4.) Admeasurer comes to measure boat. Checks if toilet has a seat etc. (Advisor has to be comfortable) and you have a horn, fresh water and meals available. You MUST say you do 8 knots otherwise you will be charged another $800 deposit. (As long as you can maintain 6 knots you will be ok) For some reason our admeasurer put 7.5knots on the form and when Bill went to pay the money at the bank they wanted $2400 instead of $1500. This involved going back to the admeasurers office for another form and back to the bank. This is where Rudi is wonderful to have.
(5.) Pay your fees at Citibank. ($600 plus $900 refundable fee) Pay in cash. No credit cards
(6.) After 6pm the same day phone the canal transit sheduler to find out your day. You can choose a day if it is available. We have chosen to go together with our friends on La Barca
(7) 24 hours before sheduled transit Phone canal sheduler to confirm

For the transit each yacht MUST have 4 linehandlers plus the skipper. We think we have managed to get all volunteer yachties. We just have to feed and water them and pay for a bus to get them back to Colon. This means there are extra bodies sleeping on the boats anchored at Gatun Lake. We are planning a party whilst listening to the howler monkeys and swimming in the fresh water lake (with the corocodiles!)

We have done most of our provisioning for the Pacific (4 trolley loads!) but will have to do one more shopping expedition for fresh food. We are doing lots of jobs : finalising insurance (now that's a story in iteslf which I will bore you with when I have more time), filling up with diesel and water, finding enough tyres for fenders for the transit, cleaning, tidying boat etc

Until next time!
All well on board

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06/06/2009, Panama

Its relaxing to be in a nice marina for a few days.

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06/06/2009, Shelter Bay Marina, Colon

When the catamaran left on Friday with Bill and Adam as volunteer line handlers on board

Shelter Bay Marina
Christobal/Colon
Panama
6th June 2009

As I write this on Saturday evening here at the marina keeping mosquitoes at bay Bill is literally stuck on another yacht in the middle of Gatun Lake. An Australian Peter who owns a big catamaran asked Bill and Adam to line handle for him going through the Panama Canal. As this was good experience before we go through they agreed. Unfortunately this beautiful big expensive electronically powered everything boat is broken down. Its electrics has failed and nothing works - no engine - nothing. Gatun Lake is after the first lock after leaving Colon. Bill and Adam are not allowed to leave the boat. The owner is trying desperately to get his agent to do something - either organize repairs or get towed back through the lock back to Shelter Bay Marina. Usually when all goes smoothly Bill would be back by now. So as we play the waiting game Bronwyn (Adams wife) and I thought we would gather as much information as possible and begin the paperwork for our canal transit. If our skippers aren't back by Monday we will take a taxi to the Admeasurers Office and get the ball rolling to get Valiam and La Barca measured for the transit.

Apart from the mozzies in the evening and early morning the marina is very pleasant. The pool is great for cooling off and the staff are very helpful. Russ the Dock Manager can never do enough and works hard keeping all the yachties happy. (No easy task with some of them!) It's not a cheap place to stay but is a comfortable respite. I have already taken the free bus to the closest shopping 'mall' to buy fresh food. The supermarket is fantastic with wonderfully cheap prices. (40c for a can of beer = yachtie currency when comparing countries) We will do our huge provisioning here whilst we have access to a bus and walk on moorings. The mall is very ugly (like most malls) with concrete car parks and footpaths everywhere to get to the different shops. There are no trees just security guards in military uniforms and guns. The female mannequins in the clothing shops have enormous breasts - the underwear shop has its mannequins placed in provocative poses! There seems to be no shyness about this sort of thing as whilst we were having breakfast in a café at 8.30am the overhead television had lewd scenes from a strip club. The grandmotherly types who worked there watched on complacently as if they were watching Oprah!

Panamanian women do tend to wear tight clothing often with very short shorts. We noticed this in Colombia and Brazil also. Men always wear long trousers. Only yachties and tourists wear baggy shorts. Our Spanish hasn't improved at all so we are extremely grateful when a local speaks some English.

As the saga unfolds with the broken down catamaran we hope to get Valiam through the Panama Canal before Friday. When we have a day and time I will post it on the website so our keen fans can watch us go through on the web cam:
www.pancanal.com
(Go to web cams)

7 June : latest news - the catamaran is fixed (loose fuse....@$#^*&!) and they are waiting for advisor (pilot) to guide them. Capn Bill will be back with Valiam (and me) soon!

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05/06/2009, Panama

Valiam just behind La Barca with full sail up entering Colon harbour, Panama

Previous entries : San Blas islands (Kuna Yala)
LOTS of photos in the album. click on the little camera

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04/06/2009, Caribbean sea

Relaxed captain with another 'hairstyle'... we just snorkelled near this islet. A real paradise.

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04/06/2009, Panama

Jack with 2 island friends - Isla Maquina

Shelter Bay Marina
Colon
Panama
Position: 9 22.09N 79 57.016W
4 June 2009

It's been such a busy time the last few days I haven't had time to write up the ships log. I am now sitting in an air conditioned lounge room at Shelter Bay Marina catching up on all our internet stuff.

We left Kaymau a couple of days ago to visit a traditional Kuna village on the island of Maquina. La Barca led the way, and we arrived a couple of hours later after negotiating the reefs and passing picture postcard islands with white sand and coconut palms. Isla Maquina is covered in thatched houses with walls of bamboo. Our anchors were barely in the water when we were visited by villagers in canoes wanting to sell us molas. It was agreed by both boat crews that we would visit the island after lunch. As we wound our way through the narrow swept dirt paths and floors we were followed by many children. They were very excited to see Jack and Amy of course.

We met yet another master mola maker Venancio. He showed us his many pieces of work which were just beautiful but quite expensive. We wandered around the village where many more women young and old were keen to sell us there wares. At one stage a couple of women peeled off their clothes to sell me their molas! They didn't seem to mind standing about topless or in their bras! Bill thought he would make a hasty retreat! We bought molas of varying prices and quality from different people. I really enjoyed observing the traditional dress of the women. Unfortunately most ran away when I reached for my camera. As well as the beautifully sewn coloured molas around their midriffs, the women wore floral puffed sleeves and sarongs. Around their legs, arms and necks were many circlets of coloured beads. Most women had an unusual gold piercing inside their nostrils and a red scarf around their heads. I noticed several very young girls with babies. Some girls and a couple of babies had black lines painted down their noses. The men seemed to just wear western clothes. The island seemed very crowded with houses and not much open space. Most of the men go to the mainland in the mornings to attend to market gardens or go fishing by canoe.

Yesterday morning it was decided to go to one last island for a swim and snorkel before we left for Colon. We chose Chichimi Cays as it was easy to get out to open sea for our departure. At Chichimi we were again besieged by canoes selling lobster and molas. Unfortunately many of the people were begging for chocolate, nail polish, magazines and flippers and didn't seem interested in trading just wanting cash for their goods. As we had limited time we donned our snorkeling gear and enjoyed snorkeling over the shallow reef next to the small island nearby. The coral was remarkable - different colours and very alive looking like they were waving their 'fingers'.

Just before sunset we set off for Colon. La Barca left an hour or so before us but Valiam caught up later in the evening. As it was only 4am when we were only 9 miles away and there were many ships, we decided to hove to until light. It was after 7am by the time we were dodging ships and we saw La Barca arrive at the same time. By 7.45am we were tied up at the marina. Its very nice here - a bit expensive but it is really the only place yachties can come to safely in Colon. We are now working out how to transit the canal without paying too many agents exorbitant fees. We will let you know how we get on....After only a couple of hours sleep last night it's definitely time for an early night!

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04/06/2009, Caribbean Sea

Isla Maquina - Mormake Tupu
Kuna Yala (San Blas)
Panama
Position : 9 27.08N 78 51.24W
3 June 2009

In a couple of hours we depart for Colon to ready ourselves for the Panama canal crossing. It is an 80 mile journey so we should be there tomorrow by lunch time. As I reflect back on the last few days I again feel terribly privileged to be experiencing and interacting with such fascinating beautiful people and their islands. We have been able to visit many unexploited non western cultures on our yacht - the best part of cruising.

We stayed a couple more days anchored at Kaymau spending many hours on the island. The chief and some of his entourage departed leaving Clemente and Enrique camped in the thatched hut. Using a few Kuna words mixed with Spanish English, drawings and charades we managed to communicate but unfortunately only on a basic level. Showing photos of our family is Oz assisted more discussion. Clemente is a very friendly Kuna with a small muscular body and a happy grin. He spent a lot of time with us and the children drawing pictures, explaining how to catch lobsters with a snare and how he carved his canoe. Fishing is officially banned from March until 31 May in Kuna Yala to preserve the marine population. On 1st June we saw Clemente and Enrique out early in their canoe on the reef. The canoe has a simple sail and 2 different types of paddles. One is a long stick to poke in shallow water to move the boat along and the other is a short paddle used in open sea and deeper water.

That evening we were invited to eat lobster and conch with them on the island. Adam brought along a big cooking pot for them and we all contributed whatever vegetables and condiments we had. We all went ashore relaxing near the hut, observing and chatting to Clemente and Enrique as they stoked the fire and prepared our meal. As the sun started getting lower in the sky many dingies with mostly American yachties turned up bringing plates of aperitifs , folding chairs and loud conversation. We had spent 3 days on the island and this is the first time we saw most of them. What do they do on their boats all day? We then realized that Sir Reginald mentioned on our first encounter that Monday night was 'Aperitif night'. We had forgotten what day it was. As the 20 or so people took over the picnic table, we realized we would have to eat on the ground in the thatched hut. I wasn't in the mood to start socializing with a whole heap of strangers and we were committed to our dinner with Clemente and Enrique. 3 or 4 yachties came over to chat who could converse well with the Kunas in Spanish. A Frenchman Pierre who is a doctor has been here in Kuna Yala with his wife for 2 years offering his services for free. (known as Doctor Pedro). Another American yachtie with a beautiful Columbian wife also came over to chat. Apart from these few the rest stayed in their own enclave and did not make the slightest effort to say hello to the Kunas (or us). It certainly felt a little strange eating with the Kunas whilst the rest of the 'gringos' were doing their own thing at the picnic table (built by the Kunas).

Whilst the lobsters were cooling Clemente put one of the big conch shells in the boiling pot. Not long afterwards he picked it up with sticks and took it over to the grass. He pulled the cooked animal out with a piece of wire and placed it in a piece of bamboo cut in half lengthways. He then cut off half the meat (the guts) and threw that in the water. The rest was cut up and eaten there and then. It was delicious - a bit like calamari. Soon the meals were ready. The lobsters are more like big prawns and we all had one each cut length ways with the vegetables and 'salsa' (tomatoes, pimiento, onions, garlic etc). We sat on a picnic rug and upturned buckets and logs half in the hut and the smokey fire. After a while the throng of gringos disappeared back to their boats so we were able to enjoy chatting at the picnic table in the moonlight.

Whilst anchored at Kaymau we were honoured to receive a special visitor. Master Mola maker Lisa came by in her canoe (with driver) all the way from Isla Sidra (12 miles away). We had heard about the famous transvestite Lisa from the Panama guide. She came on board Valiam and displayed her beautiful molas. For those of you who don't know what molas are they are exquisitely hand sewn and cut layers of material of coloured material to create patterns and representations using tiny tiny stitches. Molas are traditionally worn as a bodice for Kuna womens traditional dress. Yachts who visit San Blas all buy molas! They really are beautiful examples of fine craftsmanship.

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04/06/2009, Kaymau Kuna Yala (San Blas)

It was a great surprise to have Lisa visit us at Kaymau form her island of Sidra 2 hours away by canoe. Her molas are exquisite!

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04/06/2009, Caribbean sea Panama

Linda gets her stuff out finally and has a go - whimsical painting of Kaymau

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01/06/2009, 9 35.42'N:78 40.44'W, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean

Bill with Clemente showing him his lobster snare. Note Aussie hat we gave him!

Kaymau Island (BBQ Is.)
Eastern Holland Cays
Kuna Yala (San Blas) Panama
31 May 2009-06-01
Position : 9 35.42N 78 40.44W

Ogoppiriadup is sand fly haven! After La Barca arrived we all went ashore to stretch our sea legs. The amount of flotsam and jetsam (rubbish) on the shore is astounding. Soon the adults and children were finding interesting toys - half a Barbie torso without a head, front of a plastic house, combs, toothbrush, small shoes, spoon and fork etc. Barbie was the 'Island Princess' and was well set up on her island! I didn't take a camera as it would have been a great photo to show children at home! Jack and Amy played very happily and imaginatively with 'Princess Barbie'. Jack thoughtfully created a head for her from a sauce bottle lid and seaweed. Our island adventure was cut short by the arrival of vicious tiny sandflies! Back on board Valiam we all enjoyed a chicken casserole cooked in the Chilean white wine that was 'a bit off' for drinking. In the casserole it was delicious!

The next morning we were woken by the nasty vicious sandflies again. The only way to avoid them was hiding under the sheets! None of our repellants worked. Later in the morning Adam, Bill and Jack cleaned under the hulls of Valiam and La Barca with Adam's hookah. This nifty gadget of compressed air attached to a long hose and breathing apparatus enables cleaning to be done in tropical island paradise where the water is so clear. Meanwhile Bronwyn Amy and I went to visit the neighbouring islands to look for a suitable picnic spot. The 2 islands opposite us looked like picture postcards with white sand beaches and coconut palms. Unfortunately as soon as we arrived even more sandflies found us! We had to get in the water to escape! So we thought we would go over to where all the other yachts were anchored at BBQ Island. No wonder they are all there as there are no sandflies! BBQ Island (on the charts) is really called Kaymau Island by the Kunas. It has beautiful soft green grass , white sand and lots of coconut palms. One has to be careful of falling coconuts. We are not allowed to pick up or take the coconuts as they belong to the Kunas and used to be their currency. A reef surrounds half the island and a picnic table made from driftwood and old drums looked very welcoming indeed. A small thatched lean-to completed the facilities. Bronwyn and I decided we would persuade the rest of the crews to anchor here. We dropped by a couple of the yachts anchored here to ask about the anchorage and we were directed to the 'Governor' on SV Runner. As we approached Runner a gentleman who introduced himself as 'Sir Reginald' gave us the run down. He was aghast when we said we wanted to cook on the island when we have perfectly good stoves on the boat. Sir Reg also said the rubbish had to be sorted before being burnt in the fire.

After persuading the boys we up anchored the 2 boats (now with beautiful clean shiny bottoms) and motored over to Kaymau Island. The water is quite shallow where the yachts are anchored (less than 3 metres) and it wasn't long before Valiam hit the bottom and got stuck! After a lot of manoevering and reversing in full throttle Captain Bill got her off. The water is so clear here it is no wonder the anchorage is called 'The Swimming Pool'. We are presently anchored in 2.8 metres. As our keel is 2.1m there isn't much water under us! That evening we enjoyed a few sundowners and nibblies on the island whilst the children swam and enjoyed running around. As a fire was already going on the beach the boys added our rubbish including beer cans. That night we enjoyed a peaceful night and morning not being pestered by sandflies.

Yesterday we all decided to move ashore and took all my art gear, hammocks, chairs, picnic rugs, food, drinks etc. Both dinghies were piled high. The La Barca crew arrived first and were confronted with a grumpy Sir Reginald gathering and stacking coconut fronds. He had lined up the burnt beer cans on the picnic table and gave them a lecture. He offered no greetings and made them feel unwelcome. Adam asked 'Do you own this island mate?' and apparently he said 'Yes I do'. We find this hard to believe! Bronwyn was still visibly upset by the confrontation when we arrived. Adam had already built a separate fire to cook breakfast. We set ourselves up under the non coconut bearing trees and began to relax. It wasn't long afterward when local Kuna people arrived in dugout canoes. Even though language was a barrier they were most welcoming and said we could enjoy the island, make fires and even go fishing if we wanted. The oldest largest fellow said the island belonged to him and hi s family and that's when we learned the true island name 'Kaymau'. They sold Adam 2 coconuts for 25c each and had also brought a box full of freshly baked bread rolls with them. Yum! We bought 10 for US$1 and they were very tasty. The children devoured most of them so Jack bought another batch of 10. Great value!

Between painting and drawing I went snorkeling in the shallow water over the reef. The coral was interesting and not bleached like a lot of places we've been to. I saw many colourful fish including one that looked like it had long blue eyelashes painted above its eyes. As I came closer to the beach I saw a ray swimming ahead of me so I kept my distance. After Steve Irwin's death from a sting by a ray tail I don't like to be close. Imagine how I felt when I turned to my left to see a full front on view of another ray a metre in diameter only an arm's length away! After looking at each other for a few moments it swam away..

Bronwyn and I got stuck into our art - drawing and painting what we saw. The Kunas (all men) were very curious and stood about watching me which was quite unnerving. Throughout the day we swam, snorkeled, painted and chatted to the Kunas. At one stage as I was chatting to them I pointed to one of the carved canoes that I had drawn. One of the men called Clementie said it was his canoe and that he had made it. He showed me a piece of light white wood, pointed to his canoe and said 'Linda'. The Kuna word for boat is 'Ulu'. Later on he showed me his carving but indicated he needed smaller knife to finish it. Adam kindly leant him his pocket knife. Clementie came over to observe my drawing and pointed to the paint. I understood he wanted to paint the little carved boat. I gave him my paint palette and continued to draw what I saw. The big 'chief' man was constantly his mobile phone and at one stage I managed to sketch him reclining under a coconut tree on his mobile phone. I la ter showed it to him and he laughed! I decided to give Clementie one of my drawings in exchange for the boat he made me. When the little boat was finished it even had a couple of paddles. On one side he wrote 'LINDA' and on the other he wrote the name of our 'barco' Valiam which became 'VALLAN'. As the group were all men I asked where the 'Senoras' were. They are all 'home' and will come 'Manana' (which can mean any time after today) The men planned to stay the night on the island sleeping in their hammocks. Hammocks are traditional beds for the Kunas in their thatched homes in their villages.

As the day drew to an end I sat with the Kunas whilst Adam and Bill heated the fish curry on the fire. I suggested to Adam we share the pot of curry with the Kunas so he brought the pot over. They were very happy and excited to share a meal with us (as well as the 'vino blanco' which one of them drank from his makeshift drinking vessel cut from the bottom half of a plastic coke bottle) A merry time was had by all. The Kunas don't speak English - only Spanish and their own Kuna language. Adam entertained us all with his charades! The 'chief' proclaimed loudly 'Manana - Langouste!' pointing to the table and all of us. This meant 'Tomorrow we eat here - lobster!' Stay tuned for the next installment of our adventures with the natives!

(When we get to Colon next week I will post all the photos)

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30/05/2009, Brisbane Australia

Wish we could be there to help you celebrate. Have a wonderful day. Lots of love Nanny Linda and Uncle Bill xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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29/05/2009, 9 35.07'N:78 41.09'W, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean

Ogoppiriadup Island Position : 9 35.07N 78 41.09W Eastern Holland Cays San Blas (Kuna Yala) Panama 28 May 2009

The solitude here is welcome after the hustle and bustle of Cartagena and continuous motoring for 2 days to get here. We are indeed in an island paradise. We can see a cluster of yachts anchored on the far side of these Cays between Banadup and BBQ islands. (called BBQ islands due to yachties having bbqs there). If we feel like social activity we'll go over there but it is much nicer being anchored here with space around us. La Barca left 15 hours after us and are due in some time today.

East Holland Cays are mostly uninhabited so we may not have the opportunity to meet the local native Kuna Indian people here. They prefer to call the San Blas archipelago Kuna Yala as San Blas is the name give by the Spanish with whom they fought many bloody battles in the past to retain their land and independence. There are over 350 islands, 50 of which are inhabited. There are 50,000 Kuna Indians which is about 1/10 of what the population used to be. Although officially part of Panama they are self governing and have very strict laws to protect their islands and traditional lifestyles. The Kunas do not allow marriage with foreigners usually and also have strict rules to protect their environment e.g. no fishing until after 1st June, no anchoring in coral, no outboards in the rivers etc. The Kunas are one of the smallest races on earth akin to the pygmies. Their clothes are colourful with intricate stitching called Molas worn with beading and gold jewelry. They have a matri lineal society where the women control the money and choose husbands. Kunas don't have a problem with homosexuality and transvestites are often seen dressed as women and accompanied by children. The beautifully stitched Molas can be purchased if near villages. I think Valiam's interior would be enhanced by Mola cushion covers so a request has been made to the captain to find one of the inhabited islands to purchase these. Rio Sidra in the West Naguargandup Cays is supposed to be where the best molas are made. Lisa a native of Rio Sidra is a master mola maker and infamous transvestite. Rio Sidra isn't far from here and we may meet Lisa him/herself! Bill wants to go to Moron Island which is near there! (Kuna name is Narrasgandupdummat!) I just love these names.

Keeping the speed up to ensure landfall in the daylight required motoring as the wind was very slight - less than 5 knots. The one time we put the sails up they flapped uselessly most of the time so we just had to put up with the sound of the motor and pour a few jerry cans of fuel in the tank. As it was getting late in the day and visibility was already reduced due to haze we were continually consulting the chart in the pilot book (The Panama Cruising Guide by Eric Bauhaus) as well as our electronic charts. With the help of our depth sounder and peering at the water with Polaroid glasses we found our way into this group of atolls without hitting any reefs or sand bars. It was a relief to be anchored safely and enjoy a cold glass of wine as the sun went down. We also went for a dip in the clear water which was 29 degrees - lovely!

This morning we woke up to rain so this was an opportunity to wash the grime off the decks and have a shower ourselves. Today will be a lazy day.

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25/05/2009, Colombia

Three ladies colourfully dressed sold us a fruit platter outside one of Cartagena's piazzas. This gorgeous lady has a most infectious smile!

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25/05/2009, Villa Rosita, Cartagena

Our guide Andres kindly inroduced us to his family and home in Villa Rosita, Cartagena.
Left to Right:
Kelly, little Ronaldo, Andres, Linda, Ronald and Bronwyn in front

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25/05/2009, Colombia

25 May 2009

Cartagena (g ='h') has continued to offer its bounty of culture, food and entertainment to us yachties. The photo album 'Colombia' is 'chokkers' (as we say in Oz) full of photos so have a look at an amazing city that not many Aussies visit.

We have visited the Old Town almost every day by taxi (very cheap 5000pesos =A$3) for however many people we squeeze into a Hyundai Atos (ie.very small). We often go into town with the crew of La Barca so that is 5 adults and 2 children squashed in one of these! The Old Town is beautifully preserved and kept clean for tourists. The city of Cartagena is reputedly 'kept safe' so that the families of the drug lords can come for holidays without any problems. This is probably hearsay but there is probably a grain of truth in it. There does seem to be a big police and military presence but its not threatening at all. In fact several police officers have offered their services as a tour guide!

Most restaurants in the Old Town are at 'tourist' prices but with recommendations from long time yachties here we have found some economical establishments. Bronwyn from La Barca and I enjoyed an afternoon of visiting the Museo de Moderno Art and doing a bit of sketching. We discovered little picturesque alcoves, doorways and courtyards during our wanderings. On several trips into town we rested in the shade of Plaza Bolivar where we were entertained by buskers performing live music and Colombian dancing. Bronwyn and I attempted a couple of sketches here but were continually interrupted by curious onlookers!

Yesterday we enjoyed a tour in a minibus with 3 other yachtie couples organized by Adam from La Barca. They were Roger and Bernadette - Guerelec (France), Trish and Morris - Cygnus 11 (NZ) and La Barca (Adam, Bronwyn, Amy and Jack - Oz) We hired a 12 seater air-conditioned minibus for the day with guide, driver (and 'security uncle') for 450 pesos (approx US$200). An expatriate American, Gerard (who works here and is married to a Colombian) organized the day for us. We had great fun getting to know the others bringing along an esky of cold beverages for the trip! Cartagena is a city of contrasts with a population of 3.4 million. The view from the old Monastery on the hill enabled us to see our yachts way down below amongst the high-rise. The Monastery (Claustro de San Francisco) is a beautiful old building with an ancient church, furniture and beautiful cool courtyard. Of course outside the Monastery there were tourist shops and a poor little sloth being carted around by a tout in the hot sun. He is an interesting 3 toed creature with a quiet lazy disposition and didn't mind being cuddled by strangers. The tour included Boca Grande where all the rich Colombians stay in apartments on holidays. Row upon row of permanent tents are set up for them to enjoy a crowded strip of beach.

A trip out into the country was next on the agenda to a place for lunch. On the way it was interesting observing the relatively dry landscape and normal towns where average Colombians live. It reminded us of Brazil. We were taken to a holiday lunch destination for Colombians called Los Lagos ('The Lagoons). It was quite touristy in a kitsch way with garishly painted furniture and playgrounds for kids. Colombian music was being played quite loudly creating a festive atmosphere. It is a refreshing change from Bob Marley - the popular music for Africa and the Caribbean! There were several swimming pools, lagoons with ducks as well as a small island with monkeys trapped on it. One could hire dinghies to row around the lake. Needless to say we didn't opt for that activity. The gardens are very beautiful and extensive. Our meal took a very long time to arrive but we enjoyed each others company and learning about Cartagena from Andres our young guide. He told us he learned to speak English via the internet during video chat rooms with other people in other parts of the world!

After our 3 hour lunch we asked to see how an average Colombian lives. Andres kindly offered to show us his home where he lives with his aunt and uncle. This was the best part of the trip seeing the small community of Villa Rosita. The houses are like small terrace houses in small streets around communal square. Andres' aunt Nacira didn't mind us coming into their home. It was very homely especially with Andres motorbike parked in the lounge room! We also met other family members who were happy to be photographed. The minibus full of 'gringos' in their small community caused quite a stir!

During our tour we noticed and were stopped by several groups of both military people and police. Usually we were waved through after a few minutes but at one checkpoint the driver and his 'security' uncle were detained for quite a long time. With worried looks and gathering of car documents they continued their conversation with police. Andres explained that a form was supposed to have been filled out and presented before we were allowed to leave the city precincts. Thinking of my days in Tanzania I remembered I had US$20 tucked away in my purse in case a 'fee' was required. After another long conversation the driver and his uncle jumped back in the car with relieved expressions and we headed off again. They only received a 'ticking off' for 'breaking a rule'.



Today we are getting ready to leave for the San Blas Islands. We will buy a few fresh provisions at the local air conditioned supermarket which also has an internet facility. It really is hot and steamy in this part of the world. We hope to get away by 4am tomorrow so we arrive in the East Hollandias before dark the following day. La Barca will meet us there. We are looking forward to swimming once again in clear pristine water and enjoying a natural landscape. Meeting the Cuna Indian people will also be fascinating. We will not be able to update the website with photos for another week or so until we arrive in Colon, Panama.

A special thank you to Gerard for assisting us in our 'customised' tour. (yachties can contact him via John at Clube Nautico, Cartagena. Another special thank you to Andres and his family for allowing us 'gringos' see his home.

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19/05/2009, Colombia

The World HERITAGE listed buildings in Cartagena are just amazing. We love this old part of the city.
(more photos in photo album `"Colombia". A few more added to Bonaire in Caribbean album. Enjoy....)

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19/05/2009, Colombia

Anchored outside Clube Nautico
Cartagena
Colombia
19 May 2009
Position: 10 24.62N 75 32.57W

What a beautiful city Cartagena is! Imagine a beautiful old town in Italy or Spain but cleaner and more beautiful. From the moment we passed the big statue of Madonna and child in the harbour and saw the domes of the Old Town in the distance we were entranced. Of course there are many highrise in other parts of the city that look modern like any city in the world. However it is the Old Town ('Centro') that is like a magnet. We couldn't wait to explore.

Our sail here from Cabo de la Velo was without too many dramas. It was basically downwind all the way and for the last day or so we sailed slowly with just the jib so we wouldn't arrive in Cartagena before daylight. Our Aussie friends on La Barca were within 20 nm and in radio contact all the way. There was one drama at 1am the last evening when we were surrounded by 4 ships. One was coming directly for us and one behind! We contacted the one in front of us first (It came up as BW Stein on our AIS receiver) and the crew man on watch altered course for us. After BW Stein passed we altered course to keep some distance between us and the one coming up from behind. Here in Cartagena harbour our AIS ship plotter has gone mad with so many ships here including one US Navy ship and the rest the Colombian Navy and cargo ships.

Soon after anchoring La Barca arrived and came over to have a celebratory champagne. When we eventually went ashore to the yacht club (Club Nautico) the dockmaster John greeted us immediately and phoned the agent to clear us in. It seems the Australian owner of the establishment Norm has been gone for some time("under a cloud") but will be coming back . His Colombian wife is still here. The yacht club is very welcoming and casual. There are yachts here form all over the world many who seem to have lived here for years. It is also an excellent place to stay during the hurricane season in the Caribbean.

It is safe to walk around this neighbourhood and into Centro at any time of the day and night. There is an excellent modern well stocked supermarket around the corner. The homes, terrace houses and apartments are all well cared for. The roads and footpaths are clean and the cars are all modern. Of course there is a poorer side to the city on the other side of the harbour but around here it is one of the safest places we have been for a very long time. There are quite a few police about but after getting lost a few times the police offere 'tour guide' services! The locals are incredibly friendly and helpful. Unfortunately our Spanish is terrible.

Whilst walking into the Centro and wandering around getting lost for several hours we enjoyed the visual impact of the many beautiful old buildings, statues and piazzas. This city is cleaner and better maintained than any European city we've been to. There are quite a few tourists around from USA and Europe (as well as Columbians) and Cartagena is now a popular tourist destination. We don't hear of it at all in Australia! We did bump into an Australian couple and asked them to recommend a restaurant. They took us to this amazingly beautiful place in a courtyard next to an old building with a clock. Unfortunately the cuisine was International rather than Colombian and had prices to match. The helpings were too small for tired starving yachties. Abeuatiful evening all the same. we look forward tp more.

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18/05/2009, 11 30.69'N:74 31.40'W, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean

17th May 2009 Time: 12.30pm Position: 11 30.69N 74 31.34W

Our 2 night stay anchored behind the headland at Cabo de la Velo was very pleasant. The scenery was a little wild and windswept but beautiful in its own way. We rested, welcomed La Barca the following morning with breakfast for them and planned our next stage of the passage. The local fishermen were friendly and one group stopped by to sell us 2 small lobsters. Pointing to themselves saying 'Amigo' we agreed on US$2, a shirt too small for Bill and 2 cans of meatballs I don't like as a trade. Everyone was happy. These people are so poor I would have given them ALL our cans of meatballs if they wanted them and all our cast off clothes! I managed a quick sketch whilst there and enjoyed watching the dark grey coloured pelicans which are a bit smaller than our big white Aussie ones.

Both boats left yesterday with La Barca a couple of hours ahead of us so we don't become too far apart. We had an excellent sail yesterday sometimes averaging 8-9 knots! That is because we had twin headsails up with one poled out. For the night we slowed down with one jib. At one stage the electric autopilot (Mona Lisa) played up again with the compass giving totally incorrect readings. Rather than trust it last night we got Fred going (wind vane) but ended up 25 miles offshore as that was the most comfortable direction. We are back on course now but still just ambling along at 5.5-6 knots with just the jib up. Last night about 1am I heard Bronwyn call up a 'ship position so and so' which did not respond after 3 calls. As we were ahead and had passed a ship called Bavaria Harmonia earlier I called Bronwyn to let her know its name. It was good to hear the ship then respond and agree on a course to avoid a collision. We have been in radio contact with La Barca most of the trip which has been great. As we only have vhf we can only talk to them if they are close by (20 miles or so). The Columbia Coast guard called them up this morning and followed them for 10 miles so they felt very protected in these waters.

We caught a small tuna yesterday which we will cook today for dinner. It's good just to deal with a small fish when there are only 2 of us! It was flapping about quite a bit so I poured cheap Brazilian rum into its mouth and gills which stopped it pretty quickly. (What a way to die - drunk!)

We hope to arrive in Cartagena tomorrow in the daylight and anchor outside the yacht club. It's supposed to be run by an Aussie called Norm who has been there since the 80s. He's reputably to be 'a cranky bastard' probably due to the fact his Columbian wife has everything in her name (the law) and he feels 'stuck'. Anyway this is all hearsay from what we have read. We will report back from our own experience in due course. The old buildings in the city are World Heritage listed so I am looking forward to soaking up a bit of 'culture'. The Museum of Modern art will be worth a visit too. Hopefully we will access wifi there and can upload photos on to the website.

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15/05/2009, 12 12.21'N:72 10.63'W, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean

14th May 2009

We've jut anchored at 7pm. Position 12 12.21N 72 10.63W in about 5m.

It's a windy barren sort of place but protected from the waves.Cabo de la Velo means 'Cape of Sail' . Fine for an overnight stop or rest. Black pelicans and a village in the distance. No trees. There are no waves so it isn't rolly. On the hill is a light with a statue next to it. We had a good run today as the wind was around 15 knots most of the day. (Valiam was racing again at 8-9knots a lot of the time!)As we got closer to the Cape the wind and waves picked up - up to 30 knots so we reduced sail. There are ships anchored close to shore at some sort of industrial port. Also a long line of big windmills. It must always be windy here!! (About 10 miles before the anchorage) Along the cape and rounding it was very windy. We chose to go around the little rock island. Although the wind is howling outside its nice and cosy and steady in here. Our friends on La Barca will be out at sea for another night arriving here about 9am in the morning. All well on board Just made spaghetti bolognaise which we will enjoy with a South African red wine!

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14/05/2009, 12 46.01'N:71 4.41'W, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean

Thursday 14th May 2009 8.45am Position: 12 46.01N 71 4.41W

We have traveled through 3 countries during the night! Dutch Antilles, Venezuela and now Colombia. The wind has been consistently from behind us and so far we have made good progress using mostly Fred the wind vane. The wind is dying off a bit now so it means we'll have to use Mona Lisa (electric autopilot) which unfortunately uses lots of power so we'll have to start the engine again. There have been a number of ships so far on this passage. I imagine there will be quite a lot when we get close to Panama

We are heading for an anchorage tonight recommended in Pizazz's Guide to Colombia. It's called Cabo de la Vela (means Bay of sails!) and should be a good sheltered spot for the night. (Punta Gallina's waypoint 12 28'80N 72 40'00W) An Australian family we met in Bonaire (yacht La Barca) is a few hours behind us and will also anchor at Cabo de la Vela. We hope to continue on together to Cartagena, Sand Blas and hopefully tie up together transiting the Panama Canal.

All well on board - it's been a bit rolly but we've managed to snatch a bit of sleep here and there.

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10/05/2009, Caribbean Sea

Here's the captain of Valiam enjoying something different! Yes it is a Harley Davidson..... To our firend Elaine - yes you could think we were in Mexico!!
(lots more pics in photo gallery - album 'Caribbean')

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09/05/2009, Caribbean sea

Such graceful birds and the pink feathers are a real rose colour!

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09/05/2009, Dutch Antilles Caribbean

10th May 2009
Mothers Day
Kralendijk
Bonaire
Position : 12 9.13N 68 16.73W

Sailing towards Bonaire in a good 20 knot wind from straight behind, in quite big seas, we could see windmills on the shoreline. We're in Holland after all! Galloping along with just the jib we passed kite surfers leaping off the waves. The landscape looked flat, white and turquoise. In the distance we could see white triangular shapes not unlike pyramids which we later learned are piles of salt at Cargill salt mine ready for export.

We called up the harbour master and he said we could pick up any mooring in front of the town for free. Anchoring is not allowed at Bonaire due to the reefs and the whole island being a marine park. With the help of a fellow yachtie in a dinghy we tied up to a mooring right outside the Karel bar and the main restaurant strip. Within an hour we had cleared customs and immigration - a free painless procedure! We were ready to explore the town! Not having seen European style shops and restaurants since South Africa I was looking forward to a little retail therapy. All the signs, books and papers were written in Dutch and most people spoke Dutch and I was referred to as 'mevrouw' in one of the shops. There is also another local language called Papiamento which is a mixture of Spanish, French, Dutch and English. It sounded lovely to listen to! Most of the locals revert between Papiamento, Dutch and English depending on who they are talking to! Most start speaking to me in Dutch because of my looks! As I understand most of it I could reply (but mostly in English as I felt shy about my Dutch). All prices are quoted in guilders and $US and both currencies are used.

The first night we met an American couple Catherine and Enrique (originally from Mexico) on their yacht Pelican who had just arrived form Puerto Rico. We spent a pleasant evening wining and dining with them sharing stories of our lives. We also met an Australian family from Sydney on their yacht La Barca - Adam, Bronwyn and 2 young children. They are on a similar timetable to us so it will be nice to stay in touch. That night we slept to the sound of party music going at many decibels!

Yesterday we walked to the warehouse supermarket which is in the industrial section of town to do some grocery shopping before it shut at 1pm. On the way we passed a motorbike hire place so decided to enquire. There was a choice between scooters and Harley Davidsons. We decided on a Harley Davidson as Bill said he had never ridden one before. We could only afford 4 hours so Bill arranged to be back at 12.00 then he would pick me up and the shopping to take back to the boat. When Bill returned with the motorbike I was at the checkout with a full trolley. I saw (and heard) him roll up in it with no helmet looking the part with his long hair blowing in the wind. The motorbike had 2 saddle bags so with those full and a full back pack each as well as a box of 12 cartons of uht milk balanced on my leg we slowly took off (on the wrong side of the road) to deliver it all back to the boat. Bill did this quickly so we could get our money's worth on the bike.

We toured the whole island as well as a stop for lunch in town in the 3.5 hours we had left. (It's not very big - about 24km long) We were surprised at how desolate the landscape was and so dry. Cactus plants were every where and iguanas scuttled across the road in front of us. The tiny ones had bright blue tails. The road followed the coast which was a beautiful turquoise blue with white coral beaches. Yellow painted rocks with the names of the dive sites are all along the roadside at short intervals. We look forward to doing some snorkeling. We took the road to a lake called Gotomeer. The lake was a wonderful surprise as we saw many rose pink flamingoes in the distance. I was entranced. As we traveled inland it felt a little like the Wild West - dry with 'hacienda' style houses in the oldest town on the island - Rincon. There we saw our first donkey beside the road. Bill zoomed past in the motorbike so I couldn't get a picture. As we neared the coast on the eastern side we discovered many limestone outcrops near the barren beaches. Here we saw a sign 'Indian inscriptions' so we followed the path and there behind a steel barricade were rust red markings up in the limestone cave 1000s of years old. Around 300BC Simcan people made star markings here. (see photo gallery)

After a lunch of dorado fish and salad (we declined the iguana on the menu!) we took off again for the last part of our fast tour to the south of the island. There we saw the salt mine and the original slave huts on the beach no bigger than big dog kennels... We saw the coast where we sailed past the kite surfers and as we went further along it got windier and more desolate! All along the windy coral strewn beaches many people had built 'sculptures' from the coral, driftwood, flotsam and jetsam. We stopped briefly at Lac Bay where we noticed a building with a fence all around and a sign that read 'Naturist Resort'. There are barely any trees or shade in this area so I wonder how sunburnt the naturists would be here!

Although it was quick tour we enjoyed every moment of it and felt exhilarated by the many sensory experiences! We washed a huge amount of dust and salt from our hair when we returned! After a delicious barbeque dinner at Bobbiejans (recommended by a friend's contact in Oz - thank you Anja!) we made a quick stop at the internet café. It's quite expensive 15 guilders for half and hour (about the same in A$) but I managed a Happy Mothers Day chat to Vashti and Caylan on Skype. We'll take our own computer ashore next time to try and pick up wifi somewhere that will be a lot cheaper! (Hopefully free...)

Bonaire is certainly an interesting island and we are very glad we have stopped here. The coast from here to Panama is notoriously windy with steep seas but with the wind behind we will get there quickly even if it is uncomfortable. We are thinking of stopping in Cartegena, Colombia for a dose of history and somewhere completely different. The coast is patrolled by the US coast guard so is reputed to be very safe for yachts. After Cartegena we would like to stop at the San Blas islands where the Cuna Indian people live. It's supposed to be spectacular and I am looking forward to seeing the hand stitched molas. When we get to Colon we hope to stay in Shelter Bay Marina to arrange our crossing of the Panama Canal. As we will be coming across lots of Spanish speaking people over the next few weeks we will look for a dictionary and cd here in Bonaire.

Tots siens!

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08/05/2009, 12 26.85'N:64 52.40'W, Caribbean Sea

Carriacou, Grenada to Bonaire Thursday 7th May 2009 Position : 12 26.85N 64 52.40W Time: 9.15am 200 miles to go

Valiam is sailing along with the wind from almost directly behind which means we have to use Mona Lisa the electric autopilot. We seem to have to charge the batteries more often these days by running the motor. Hopefully the batteries will last across the Pacific - they are quite expensive to replace especially anywhere around here! Due to the rolling motion sleeping is difficult but we are managing catnaps and only have one more night before we can rest in harbour. There have been a few ships. One was coming straight for us but with our AIS receiver we could work out which way it was going so altered our course to avoid it. (They are bigger than us!!)

Now that we have made the decision to head for the Pacific instead of Europe we have 6 months to get back to Australia before the cyclone season. It will be good when the longest passage of our circumnavigation will be over - 3000 miles from Galapagos to French Polynesia! However we will enjoy each place we stop at along the way even if it is brief as we always do. Bonaire and Curacao are part of the Dutch Antilles and the eastern most islands of the Caribbean. Bonaire is one of the top 3 dive places in the world and the island is classified as a marine park. Yachts are not allowed to anchor but must tie up to moorings for a fee per day. It will be nice to do some snorkeling and learn something of another culture. We are also tempted to have a look at Willemstadt on Curacao as it is supposed be like a mini Amsterdam with traditional old Dutch buildings along a canal. We could pretend we are in Holland! Another city that would be interesting with loads of history would be Car tegena in Colombia. Lots of yachties stop there and say it is fascinating. We are also looking forward to stopping at the San Blas islands to experience the native Indian culture (last of the Carrib people). There are 350 San Blas islands and 50 of them are inhabited. It is part of Panama.

We have contacted a marina in Colon (Shelter Bay Marina) and hope to stay there to organise and wait for our transit through the Panama Canal. We hope to be there in the next 2 weeks.

So we are pushing along but enjoying being at sea again - no fish yet! Bill has attached a piece of silver wine bladder to the feather lure as this has worked for many other yachts! We should arrive in Bonaire on Friday (unless we change our mind and go straight to Curacao!)

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06/05/2009, 12 26.95'N:61 29.01'W, Carriacou, Grenada

5 May 2009 Sandy Island Hillsborough Bay Carriacou Grenada

Yesterday we took the dinghy ashore in Tyrrel Bay to dine at a restaurant recommended to us by another yachtie. The sign read 'Pizza,. Cafe. Internet, .. perfect! We could have lunch and access the internet as well. As we eagerly approached this establishment it looked rather empty. A rather large lady with a goatee (beard yes) emerged from her slumber from behind the bar scowled at us and grunted. "Can we eat here?" Linda asked timidly. She rolled her eyes and nodded. "Do you have pizza?" Another grunt. As we stood uncomfortably we asked 'Do you have a menu?" She nodded in the direction of some menus behind the bar post. "Can we sit over there?" gesturing to the verandah overlooking the view. She didn't answer but looked as if I had asked a stupid question. We set ourselves up at the table nearest a power point for the computer. After some time we were feeling rather thirsty and hungry. We looked over towards the lady's place behind the bar. "Can we order a drink?" She heav ed her body from behind the bar and walked over to us with a notepad. She looked as if she would disappear again so we asked for our drinks and ordered a pizza to share. Linda asked for a slice of lemon with her gin and tonic. "No lemon" she said aggressively. Bill asked for a beer that was on the menu. "Beer hot. Only Carib cold." "Carib will do then" said Bill. When Linda's drink arrived the tonic was warm. By this stage we were feeling rather intimidated and uncomfortable. Linda asked for ice. She said nothing and brought it later over to the table and plonked it down in a cup.

Meanwhile the internet connection was very bad and not successful. An English couple came in and we noticed they received the same treatment. The look on her face said "not more customers."

Finally the pizza arrived with one plate. Linda asked for another plate so we could share the EC$49 pizza. " no you can't have another plate,. One of you have to eat off the tray" scowled our charming host. .. Anyway the pizza was quite tasty so we scoffed it quickly and left. I suppose the lady was happy that she had no more pesky customers to deal with.

As we had the computer with us we decided to go immediately to the yacht club by dinghy to try the internet. We only had EC$5 left which is just enough for one beer. (NOTE: EC$1 A$0.50c) We wandered through the overgrown garden with chickens pecking at our feet up the stairs to the yacht club bar. A lovely young lady greeted us with smile and said we could sit anywhere we wanted to work on our computer. We said we only had $5 to spend on drinks. She said "No problem. Next time!" She brought Bill a beer and a big pitcher of icy cold water and 2 glasses. We relaxed! The internet worked beautifully and we did lots of research for the trip ahead to Panama. Galapagos and French Polynesia. Several hours later we realized it was early morning in Australia. We clicked on skype and saw that our daughter Vashti was on line at 6.45am. She answered immediately and we enjoyed seeing our grandchildren Caylan and Joe cavorting about on the computer screen.

Today we decided to motor around to Sandy Island a couple of miles away. It is very pretty - white sand and beautiful turquoise water the colour of Valiam's hull. Sandy Island is a cay with a couple of coconut palms that survived cyclone Ivan a few years ago. Sadly the reef is broken up due to Ivan but nevertheless we enjoyed snorkeling in the clear water watching many schools of little colourful fish. (Bill saw a ray)

We plan to head off by dawn in the morning so we hopefully arrive in Bonaire in the daylight on Friday 8th May. Bonaire is still part of the Caribbean so we are not saying goodbye to this delightful area yet.

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04/05/2009, Grenada

4th May 2009
We arrived here in Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou (a small island north of Grenada and is still Grenada) last night just after dark. We motorsailed all the way from Hog Island. It was an easy trip with calm seas. The exciting bit was going past an underwater volcano. It is near Ile Ronde and a tall monolith rock Diamond Rock (Kick-em-Jenny). The volcano busts into life now and then but we didnt see anything. There is an exclusion zone of 3 miles just in case. I thought this would be of interest to the kids! Another snippet of information from our guide book says "Carriacou has retained cultural autonomy especially with regard to its religious practices. There are even thought to be voodoo rites of Haitian origin." There is also a tradition of smuggling here from which the islanders do quite nicely mainly from alcohol. Carriacou has the reputaion that its easier to find a rum dealer than a fuel dock!

It's 5.45am and I have just peeked outside. There are lots of boats here and we are a long way from shore. I think we will put the motor on the dinghy rather than rowing. The wind has picked up a bit and we heard the anchor chain growling during the night as it moved over coral. We'll spend our last $EC here before we set off for Bonaire (about 300 miles away,) We may stay another night or pop over to have a look at a little atoll called Sandy Island in the next bay which is good for snorkelling.

Bonaire is the eastern most of the ABC islands and is part of the Dutch Antilles. We should arrive there by the end of the week.This will be our first stop on our way to Panama. It is one of the top 3 dive sites in the world so diving/snorkelling should be good. I'll get to practise speaking my Dutch!

current position : 12 27.39N 61 29.38W

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03/05/2009, Grenada

Cant see the underwater volcano but we gave it a wide berth anyway!

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02/05/2009, Grenada

Today we head for Carriacou (part of Grenada) and we'll anchor in Tyrrel Bay and perhaps visit nearby Sandy Island. Well the decision has been made and we will be heading west within the next week for Panama and the Pacific Ocean. It would have been another 9000 miles to Europe and back within a short amount of time so rather than stress the boat and crew we will go the most logical route and head for the Pacific. (We hope to visit Europe by plane when we get back to Oz!!)
We may go as far as Martinique to stock up on nice food before we aim for Bonaire - one of the Netherlands Antilles and the most southern part of the Caribbean.
3rd May
PS Didnt leave yesterday - another little party on the beach last night for Bills birthday. We are going today!!!

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01/05/2009, Grenada

Here's Bill with his new pirate head band and birthday shorts talking to his sisier Janet for her birthday in Oz (also May1st) via skype. I just have to publish sister Yolanda's birthday poem to Bill:

Dear Bill
Even though you're so far away,
we are thinking of you today.
We all hope you have a great day,
As 53 is not old we say.
Thinking of things that rhyme today,
is the aim so... hey!

Maybe you are going grey,
Linda says it's blonde & looks ok
We won't ask you how much you weigh.
One thing we know is that you're not gay,
Ooh, that's a bit risque

What will you do today?
maybe attend a ballet,
or even a soiree,
and listen to a little reggae.
Perhaps, go to a cafe
have a nice entree,
or a buffet
maybe even a flambe?
How about something gourmet,
and finish with a sundae, or parfait
But definitely not something from a sachet!

Well, we know it is Friday
And these rhymes are very cliche
So enough of this wordplay
So Hooray!
Happy Birthday

Love from Yolanda, Anthony, Geordi & Annika

p.s. Just stay in your pj's

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30/04/2009, Grenada

Hog Island
Grenada
30th April 2009

It's been great to just relax and get a few boat jobs done whilst here. Today we are clearing out of Grenada as tomorrow is a public holiday. On Saturday we will start heading north. How far we get will depend on the lateness of the festivities for Bill's birthday on Friday night! We may go straight to Bequia or stop at Carriacou or Tobago Cays (St Vincent Grenadines). After that we may day hop up to St Lucia, Martinique, Dominica and Guadeloupe eventually arriving in St Maarten within the next 2 weeks. (Refer to Caribbean map prior ships log)

On Monday nights the local boys come to Hog Island to cook up huge pots of soup and stew made from fish, turkey (rumour of turtle), vegetables and spices. The results were delicious! (See photos in gallery)

We caught the local minibus into St George again the other day to do some shopping. These little buses are locally owned and drive all over the island at regular times throughout the day. We haven't had to wait for more than 5 minutes either way. At EC$2.50 (A$1.25) per trip it's a cheap way to get around. Its fun too, being on the bus with the locals. It's a bit squashy as every spare centimetre is used. Once the normal bench seats are filled with at least 3 bottoms, fold down seats are put down between them and the sliding door. If the person in the back corner wants to get off nearly everyone including babies and shopping has to get out or move. This happens every time the bus stops when the person alighting raps their knuckles on the side of the bus. Then everyone piles on again in the same order! It's quite hilarious but also a good thing for tall people like us to get our circulation going again after having out knees touching our chins. Everyone is very polite whilst being squashed sweating together and its customary for every new person getting on the bus to say Good Morning/Afternoon to everyone. Grenadians are generally beautifully dressed with colourful pressed clothes, accessories and elaborate hairdos. We have found the Grenadians very friendly and polite and extremely tolerant towards us 'grotty yachties'.

Because water has to be carted here by dinghy from across the bay we have been washing in salt water. Someone gave us some liquid soap for salt water which we have finally got around to using! Its lovely made from Coconut oil. The only problem was Linda had trouble climbing up the ladder to get back on the boat as it seemed more slippery after the bath! So Captain Bill wound string around the top rung for her ladyship.

We must thank our yachtie friend Phil for arranging free wifi here at the Hog Island anchorage. It's just a small amount but enough to check emails and the weather etc.

As it is Bill's birthday tomorrow and he's gone out for the afternoon I better get to baking him a cake and wrapping his present.

I made a delicious Rum punch last night using local ingredients : (Thank you to Receta - Embarassment of Mangoes)

All ingredients should be cold preferable shaken with ice:
1 measure white rum
2 measures fresh coconut water (from green coconut)
tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk

sprinkle freshly grated nutmeg liberally on top. Delicious!!


Cheerio from the Caribbean!

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29/04/2009

Dear Annika
We are sorry we cant come to your party and we hope you have a wonderful day. Lots of love and kisses from the other side of the world, Nanny Linda and Uncle Bill

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27/04/2009, Grenada

Linda and Gro (with new puppy Didi) enjoying South African bubbles
27th April 2009

Internet is difficult to get to here but today we are going to Whisper Cove Marina (other side of Clarke Court Bay) to do our laundry and hopefully connect to their wifi. Lucky we now have a super doper waterproof backpack to take the computer across in the dinghy. Its blowing 20 knots today so I am expecting to get wet on the way over! Yesterday at the Sunday Barbeque on Hog Island we enjoyed local food cooked by Rogers friends - bbq chicken, fish and local veges for EC$20 (about A$10). Delicious! We are enjoying the company of the other yachties - Jorgen and Nonne(Denmark), Jason and Gro(Norwegian/Grenada) and Phil and his son Johannes (NZ). There are lots of German/Austrian boats here too as well as some US and Canadian boats.

We just received an email from Bills Dad telling us about 'Swine fever' in the Americas. Well luckily there aren't any pigs here on Hog island!

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27/04/2009, Grenada

Rogers Bar - Hog Island
26th April 2009

Danish couple Nonne and Jorgen (yacht Luna) just popped by to share information on anchorages/marinas in Portugal and Spain if we head out that way. This is the great thing about here in this busy little anchorage - we can pick up lots of information! We hope to have time to have a look inland on a local minibus to one of the waterfalls and swimming holes. We will possibly move on to the island of Carriacou (part of Grenada) then Tobago Cays(not to be confused with Tobago/Trinidad) in the Grenadines in the next week. Dominica is also on our list of places to visit.

We have sailed a long way to get here in a relatively short amount of time and seen many wonderful places. There aren't many Australians here and many of the cruisers here wonder why we are here as they say 'Australia is so beautiful and one of the best places in the world!' I guess we are lucky to have such a great country to return to. For us cruising to all these places is about learning and experiencing as much of the world as we can. We meet so many interesting people from diverse backgrounds. It helps us see everything in perspective and appreciate what we have. It is quite amazing that so many countries we've been in, in the past year have a majority population of people of African descent. Most were brought to various countries in the past 500 years as slaves by the European colonialists. In that time new cultures developed as slavery was abolished and intermarriage occurred between the different people who came to these places to work. There are a large percentage of Indian people also who originally came to these countries as cheap labour. We have enjoyed the different spicy 'Creole' type dishes in Rodrigues, Mauritius, Reunion, South Africa, St Helena, Brazil, French Guiana and the islands of the Caribbean. Each of these countries has developed their own culture in cuisine, language, dress etc. However today everywhere we've been since the Cocos Keeling islands in the Indian ocean, Bob Marley type music is being played and dreadlocks the main hair fashion amongst the younger people!

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27/04/2009, Grenada

Bill with his 'new comb' found in the flotsam - Hog Island
25th April 2009

It is nice to be in a much less rolly anchorage! It was an hour motoring into a 20 knot wind avoiding sandbars and reefs to reach Hog Island. At first we were anchored in the Clarke Court Bay side but we are now on the other side where most of the yachts are. It is quite a little community here with Rogers Bar open every day on the little beach. Every morning there is a 'Cruisers Net' on vhf 68 which we have never experience before. There are many yachties from USA, Canada and Europe here and most come here every year. Many haul out their boats in the boat yard for the hurricane season then return.

We are enjoying the company of other yachties and have met quite a few. We have enjoyed socializing with Jason and Gro and friends (a Bavaria yacht Innana). Jason is originally from Grenada but has a Swedish background and Gro is Norwegian. They will be heading for the Azores next month on their way back to Norway. Jason had done the trip a couple of times and Gro has sailed extensively so it's been good to talk to them. Jason's Grenadian friend Alex is crewing for them. As I type this I can hear drums playing on the beach. Apparently it is Rogers's birthday so there is a party. We will join them shortly. Tomorrow (Sunday) there will be the weekly yachties barbeque. This morning there was a boat garage sale at the little local marina called Whisper Cove. Bill pumped up the inflatable with the big outboard and presto it went first go after about a year. (Since Cocos). It's a bit choppy crossing Clarke Court Bay so the inflatable isn't as wet as the little wooden dinghy (and a lot faster!)

At the garage sale I met a lady Maryanne (yacht Mighty Sparrow) selling cards of her art work. We discussed painting and drawing and its pitfalls on a boat and will try to meet before we leave Grenada. We will stay for a few more days to rest before we head north again. Yesterday we caught the little local minibus into St George to do some food shopping. I enjoyed the market buying interesting fruits and vegetable and spices. I bought a 'spice necklace' which is hanging in the cabin. Bill says the boat smells like Christmas cake! I have whole nutmeg to grate and real cocoa balls to try. At the moment I am making Calaloo soup (a local vegetable). Apparently Ann Vanderhoof who wrote An Embarrassment of Mangoes was here with her husband Steve on Receta not long ago. I would have liked to say hello! Jason said Fergie (Duchess of York) was here the other day with friends at Rogers (shack) bar.

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22/04/2009

Here's the map again so you can follow our progress through a few of these little countries!

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21/04/2009, Caribbean

21st April 2009
Position : 11 59.79N 61 45.782W

After a lovely overnight sail from Tobago we arrived here around 8am yesterday. We hoisted the Grenada flag along with the yellow Q flag before we entered another new country! The Caribbean has lots of little countries. Some are independent like Trinidad &Tobago as well as Grenada. Several are run by the French, English, Dutch and the USA. As we rounded the headland for Prickly Bay all we could see was yacht masts! Prickly Bay is 'chockers' as we say in Oz with almost every available anchoring space taken! However we managed to anchor between a French catamaran and a Canadian yacht. Not long after having some breakfast an inflatable came up to us. Eric from the Canadian yacht Lady Meg introduced himself to us. Whilst sharing some info about the local area I noticed an elderly naked man wandering around the deck of another nearby yacht. Eric says 'Yes the Austrians tend to do this. It's not a pretty sight when they bend over picking up something off the deck.' Welcome to the Caribbean!
Customs and Immigration isn't far and is conveniently located next to Spice Marine. The paper work was painless and it cost us US$25 in harbour dues. This anchorage is in the middle of the outskirts of town surrounded by new concrete mansions built since cyclone Ivan. The good thing is there are yacht repair places and a big chandlery a dinghy trip away. We decided to find an ATM to get some $EC. This involved a hot walk up the road past 'De Big Fish' boat yard in an industrial area (not my image of the Caribbean!!) until eventually we jumped on a private minibus-taxi the locals use. (The taxi drivers want exorbitant rates from yachties $30 each way). After talking to a helpful fellow on the bus we ended up in Georgetown. St George is very picturesque with old buildings and boats alongside the water. He directed us to a wonderful place to eat called 'the Creole Shack' where we had 2 huge delicious meals and drinks for the equivalent of A$15. It seemed to be a popular place for lunch with the locals. We wandered up and down the steep narrow streets with cute little shops hidden in small corners. Everyone seems very friendly and helpful and we had a pleasant time looking around. We caught minibus back and spent the rest of the day planning and doing not a lot.
After a good nights sleep we discovered we could get wireless internet on the boat by paying US$10 for 24 hours with a credit card. Great! Today we will catch up with all our internet stuff and do some more research for our trip. We are still thinking about crossing the north Atlantic to the Azores and Europe but the weather and timing has to be good. Mid May onwards is recommended. We will make our final decision in the next couple of weeks.
Bill has gone to get the wind vane welded up again. He is going to email Flemming photos as it should not have come apart. Tomorrow we will probably motor over to Hog Island where it will be a bit more pleasant than here to anchor. It is just as easy to catch buses into town from there as here. It won't have the isolated island beach feel as Tobago but should be pleasant enough. I look forward to seeing where Ann and Steve on Receta from the book 'An Embarrassment of mangoes' spent a lot of time and enjoyed it so much. Yesterday we saw and heard several fast noisy US army jets fly overhead in honour of Obama in Trinidad.
The Caribbean will be busy in a lot of places but I am sure we'll find some quiet spots over the next few weeks.
(more pics in photo gallery 'Caribbean')

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20/04/2009, 11 17.57'N:60 40.33'W, Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean

Englishman's Bay Tobago Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Sunday 19th April 2009

We are now anchored in Englishman's Bay just an hours sail from Charlotteville. It is so beautiful -like a paradise island beach one fantasizes about. I had read about it in another yachtie's book and I certainly wasn't disappointed. It's good to know there are still unspoilt uncrowded places in the Caribbean. (Although one could argue we are not quite in the Caribbean yet) One other yacht is anchored here. It's a small bay with a yellow sand beach fringed with coconut palm trees and bamboo. Yesterday we swam from the boat to the rocks to snorkel then to the beach. We discovered the little wooden restaurant-shack Eulas on the beach was still there and open. So we swam back to the boat to get dry clothes on and launched the dinghy. As it was weekend there were a few local day trippers enjoying the beach. Eulas has a top story overlooking the beach through the palm fronds. On a branch near our table sat a colourful bird with an unusual shaped long tail. It is possibly one of th e most superbly located restaurants I have ever seen. We enjoyed Indian roti with curried vegetables and fresh fish accompanied by Carib beer. There were a few souveniers, sarongs etc for sale as well as huge gorgeous conch shells bright pink inside. I had to have one! Eula's daughter said her friend dives for them on the other side of the island.

I am re-reading 'An Embarrassment of Mangoes' by Ann Vanderhoof who cruised the Caribbean with her husband Steve on their yacht Receta a few years ago. Ann has an interest in cooking particularly local cooking using local fresh ingredients. I have used some of her recipes and look forward to visiting Grenada and Hog Island where they spent a lot of time. Last night we decided to make caipairinhas (rum drinks) using Riu's recipe from Jacare, Brazil as well as consulting Ann and Steve's in their book. The result was delicious - too delicious as we had 3!!! Instead of sugar we used Canadou - sugar cane syrup. Our limes are almost depleted! With last nights fish (fresh from Charlotteville) I made a delicious salsa from fruit and veges locally grown:
1 mango chopped.
1 small cucumber peeled and chopped.
1 small red and green capsicum chopped.
1/2 an onion chopped (or small Spanish onion).
1 freshly squeezed lime mixed with tablespoon of olive oil.
Sprinkling of fennel seed (these give it a lovely fresh aniseed type taste - don't put too many). Salt and pepper.

(Ann's recipe had pawpaw and no fennel seeds) Today I am going to make pasta using a bunch of local spinach (escarole) with garlic and chopped salami. (Also a similar idea from Ann's book) We have also been re reading Gilbert Goors book who circumnavigated the world on Gipsy Girl from South Africa and cruised the southern part of the Caribbean. The places he visited have also given us some ideas of where to go over the next few weeks. Our pilot book on the Caribbean is full of photos and info. You could spend years here! There are so many places. Anyway it's good to be in a quiet place for a couple of days (no shouting lunatics with loudspeakers here!!). It is truly relaxing.

We sail to Grenada tonight. (Prickly Bay - there are yacht facilities there so hopefully we can get the wind vane welded together again) We want to get there during business hours tomorrow so we don't have to pay overtime fees. We heard some more stuff on the radio about the Americas Summit. It is interesting to hear what is being said about Cuba being excluded and Obama's attempt at an olive branch. Everything Obama says is repeated. The locals see him as a hero and think he will solve all the worlds' problems. Security is very tight in this area. The coast guard are constantly cruising around. I'm glad we aren't in Trinidad!

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17/04/2009

Jaba sells wonderful rotis (Indian pancakes filled with spicy vegetarian and meat toppings). He is a very friendly and helpful fellow especailly for the yachties. He says "Live Life Be Happy"

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17/04/2009, North Atlantic

Bill paying for veges at the Market in Scarborough.

Charlotteville
Pirates Bay
Tobago
17th April 2009

Charlotteville is a small fishing village with a very relaxed ambience EXCEPT when its 7-9pm. Then everyone for miles around is subjected to a shouting raving sermon by a zealous evangelist Christian. This spoils the anchorage for me as it is the time to unwind and reflect calmly at the water whilst sitting in the cockpit. Putting a CD on and staying inside is one option. The other night I tried to go to sleep around 8pm and couldn't as it sounded like the man was shouting in my ear it was that loud. There is a large Rastafarian community here as well as a number of Indians and other people who I am sure do not share the views of this mob. Even when we were in Scarborough yesterday a car was driving around with loud speakers with a recorded sermon on fornication. This seems to be the favourite topic at the moment and is mainly geared towards women. We don't really want to hear about 'The soul never dies and that there's no water in hell.....' I guess we are guests here. I have noticed several yachts leave. The trouble is sound travels on water.

Apart from that we are having a nice time eating freshly caught local fish, snorkeling and chatting to the locals. We enjoy eating rotis from a stand run by a Rastafarian man called Jaba. He is very friendly and has offered us his tap for getting water. Catching a bus to Scarborough yesterday took all morning. After waiting for the internet/laundry shed to open. (It opened finally at 10.15) we bought our tickets for the 11am bus. During the morning we were 'liming' (Caribbean for sitting around watching the world). We watched the small town slowly come to life as more people ambled by. There are some very relaxed locals who enjoy a cold Carib beer at 9am after their shower at the communal tap! By 11am quite a group had gathered at the bus stop - the French couple as well as some locals. The bus finally went past at 12.00. It usually goes around the block to pick everyone up. At 12.30 the bus was still parked up the hill whilst the driver had his lunch. A couple of guys who had been waiting were getting a bit agitated (as we were!) saying he was 'arsing around' and were not impressed. This big bus is run by the government and the driver is on a public servant payroll. There are private little minibuses which are slightly more expensive but run all day. We decided to forego our bus tickets and hop on one of these. This was an experience in itself whilst the driver careened around steep bends on the hills of Tobago with one hand whilst talking or texting on his mobile phone constantly. We got to Scarborough in one piece about an hour or so later. The views on the eastern side of the island down toward the little bays were spectacular. Scarborough is a busy town with many street hawkers and small shops. A cruise ship was docked in the harbour. We found a bank machine that gave us TT dollars and then walked until we found a small café run by a Rastafarian man. The food was delicious. Many of the stalls sell clothes, music etc devoted to Bob Marley and Rastafarian styles. I notice many older men with so much hair piled up in dreadlocks on their heads balanced by skinny necks and bodies they look almost like puppets. Bill said perhaps they are not that old but the same age as him. We did catch a whiff of 'wacky backy' now and then.

On our return to Charlotteville (it was 6pm) the lady whom I had been badgering for fresh bread called out to me from her little shack. (It's painted blue) The bread smelt fresh, warm and divine. The fresh bread isn't available in the evenings probably because no-one gets up early here (even the bakers). There are chickens everywhere here. They seem to be on the roads, beaches, wandering around the shops etc. There isn't much traffic and what there is, is slow. The older the chicks are accompanied by their mother hens the less there are of them. Survival of the fittest!

We must go and collect our laundry now. The lady was not impressed by the smell when she loaded into the 2 machines. There was washing there from a month ago!! We may head down to Englishman's Bay for a couple of nights. It may be more peaceful there in the evenings! After a few days we will be heading for Grenada - probably Prickly Bay first to get out wind vane welded then to Hog Island.

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14/04/2009, Tobago

Charlottesville
Anchored near Pirates Bay
Tobago (Republic of Trinidad and Tobago)
14th April 2009

A little while ago the French yachtie (Maxime) came past and offered us a fish he'd caught with his spear gun. We offered in exchange a glass of South African wine at sunset this evening. The same thing happened yesterday - Dutchman Henk came by offering us half a tuna as he couldn't eat it all so he came on board for a glass of wine. Do we look hungry or do we look like a floating bar? Perhaps the rumour has gone around that we've come from South Africa and everyone who sails there stocks up on good wine. At this rate it will be all gone soon!

Our first anchorage was a bit rolly as well as deep (20 m) so we moved over towards the other yachts just off Pirates Bay. The water is 12 m deep and possibly not quite as rolly. We are further from Charlottesville but close to Pirates Bay. Pirates Bay is a beautiful little beach with a fresh water stream. There are a couple of shacks amongst the bushes and a few piles of rubbish but the water is clean. Taking our most precious and loved pieces of clothing over by dinghy as well as our pink tie dyed sheets we washed them in the stream. They are now creating colourful flags over the boat. It was a little tricky landing and launching the dinghy at Pirates Bay as there is a surge but we managed without tipping everything back in the water. As we were washing, a group of local young men came down the path from the bushes singing in Bob Marley fashion carrying freshly caught fish, a silver tray and banana leaves. They were a cheerful lot and after a short conversation on the preparation of fish we returned to Valiam.

We cleared in yesterday, the immigration and customs officials being very friendly and helpful. The ATM wasn't working so we couldn't pay them their overtime fees but we will try again today. As it has been the Easter holidays the fruit and vege stalls haven't been open. Plenty of fish around though! We enjoyed lunch at Sharon's restaurant which gave us a nice view of Valiam bobbing about in the harbour and Bill's first taste of Carib beer. Sharon wasn't particularly friendly but the food was fine. When we went to the little internet place across the road the women weren't friendly either. For some reason the men are and seem more cheerful. Henk the Dutch yachtie said the same thing. It is a very religious town and we were blasted again last night by evangelist chanting and singing. Perhaps the yachties are looked upon as heathens by the womenfolk.

The sunset last night was superb. The temperature is perfect (not as hot as Brazil and French Guiana) and there is usually a nice breeze. We've certainly come to a nice place. Life couldn't be much better at the moment. (More photos in new album 'the Caribbean')

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13/04/2009, Charlotteville Tobago

Valiam at anchor after sailing 6000 miles in 7 weeks. Time to rest.
More pics in Gallery album French Guiana to Caribbean click on the little camera

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13/04/2009, Tobago (and Trinidad)

A small town hugging a small beach with steep lush vegetation backdrop with fishermen cutting up their catch for the locals (and us if we choose too) is what Charlotteville is all about. No tourist shops. Just casual friendly people.

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13/04/2009, 11 19.52'N:60 33.14'W, Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean

Charlotteville Man-O-War Bay Tobago 12th April 2009 (Easter Sunday) Position: 11 19.52N 60 33.14W

After a 3 day sail (600 miles) from Kourou French Guiana we arrived in Charlotteville, Tobago at 12.30 today. Tobago is part of Trinidad and Tobago as one country but sees itself as separate. We anchored in the beautiful bay surrounded by lush vegetation, a small town with high set houses and small beaches tucked into corners waiting to be explored. There are several small fishing boats about and 6 other yachts at anchor.

Celebrating our arrival with a cold glass of south African wine we were accompanied by a Christian sermon by loudspeaker :".. 'Praise the Lord...the love of God .. Hallelujah.etc" Well it is Easter Sunday! After lunch Bill went to find the Police station and immigration. After rowing ashore he found the police station and 5 minutes later a scruffy beat up car with stickers with an equally scruffy fellow unshaven with a ponytail stepped out of the vehicle. He is the immigration officer. He asked Bill a few questions but said to come back 'with the missus' at 10.00 in the morning. He then changed his mind and said 'You better make it 10.30. I'm going to get drunk today." So this is our casual introduction to the Caribbean!

We are very happy to be here. The town looks small and laid back - just what we like.

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11/04/2009, 9 17.61'N:57 31.53'W, North Atlantic

Saturday 11 April 2009 North Atlantic Ocean To Tobago, Caribbean Position: 9 17.61N 57 31.53W Miles to go: 213 Time: 8.30am

Wow! 227 miles in 24 hours! This was what we have covered on the GPS. The 2 prior readings at 6 hour intervals were 222 and 213 miles. Valiam has well and truly broken her record! The mainsail still has 2 reefs too. We have favourable current and wind with us as our friend Jean Pierre on Balthazar found also on this passage. He also did 220 mile days and reached Union island in 3 days from French Guiana. We should arrive in Tobago tomorrow if conditions stay the same. We are aiming for Charlotteville as our information tells us we can clear in there and it looks nicer than Scarborough.

The Galley slave felt terrible yesterday - very tired and seasick despite medication due to the movement - like sailing to windward. The captain had to cook dinner - spaghetti with home made bacon and tomato sauce. It was delicious! Today is a much better day. We are much better rested and the seas are smoother. The wind is coming more from the east making things more comfortable. One other problem however will need to be fixed as soon as possible: our Fleming windvane broke yesterday. It ('Fred') has done about 10,000 miles and the weld holding the paddle on has cracked so it is twisted and cant steer the boat. We will have to find a welder in Tobago. Lucky Mona Lisa is still going strong. (electric autopilot) but she does chew up a bit of power necessitating us to run the engine every day for a few hours to charge the batteries.

Whilst in the internet café in Kourou, French Guiana we found a free hurricane email information service. This will be great info for us if any hurricanes decide to come early to the Caribbean we can avoid them hopefully. For any yachties reading our ships log: National Hurricane Center Web: www.hurricanes.gov Mobile web: www.hurricanes.gov/mobile Email: nhcwebmaster@noaa.gov

One more night then hopefully we'll be swimming and snorkeling in clear blue water and enjoying a relaxed anchorage - our first in the Caribbean.

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10/04/2009, 7 2.59'N:54 35.41'W, North Atlantic

Good Friday 10 April 2009 French Guiana to Tobago Position: 7 2.59N 54 35.41W Miles to go: 434 Time: 8am

Happy Easter everyone! We must have got some of Arianespace energy as we are flying along! After leaving Kourou and passing Ile du Salut, then negotiating through lots of shallow water we were sailing at 10 knots! Even after Bill reefed the main and half furled the jib we were still going at 9 knots. I even saw it reach 11.4 knots! The wind has been blowing consistently at 20 knots from the northeast making conditions on board rather uncomfortable. It may be a fast ride but it is bumpy and also wet outside as waves sometimes splash across the decks. We have 2 knots of current with us hence the fast trip.

It's difficult to move around the cabin as well as sleep but luckily this is a short trip and we should reach Tobago on Sunday. We have decided to aim for Charlotteville (Man-o-war Bay) as it looks nicer than Scarborough, the other place where we can clear in. The Trinidad/Tobago officials like to extract overtime fees if you arrive outside Mon-Fri 8-12, 2-4pm or public holidays. As it would be difficult to arrive exactly between those times we are resigned to paying the fees anyway. French Guiana was very relaxed and we never did officially clear in. The gendarmes waved to us as they sped by on their motor boat and I was next to one in the chemist buying sea sick pills speaking bad French. They aren't interested in the yachts and obviously don't want to do the paperwork. Suits us! The fishermen at the wharf all seemed to be of different nationalities and one who befriended us spoke excellent English said he was from the Falkland Islands. He also said he had a Scottish wife a nd that his passport had been stolen. He was keen to talk to Bill about Australian cricket players saying his favourites were Shane Warne and David Boon. This fisherman had Indian features and was extremely talkative and friendly. One wonders whether many of the fishermen are illegal immigrants and perhaps the gendarmes aren't worried. With generous French government handouts to the French Guianians, someone has to work and catch the fish!

I am typing this with the computer balanced on my lap sitting in the portside of the saloon - this seems to be the way we are heeling lately. I was feeling sea sick earlier in the trip and had to resort to Stematyl again. We are both tired as it is too bumpy to sleep properly. I managed to make chocolate muffins using a packet saying 'just add water'. These had to do instead of hot cross buns. There was nothing 'Eastery' in the shops in Kourou - no chocolate eggs, no hot cross buns. In fact we forgot it was Easter until we received emails from family and friends talking about camping holidays etc.

This may be our fastest trip ever. We already covered 60 miles in the first 6 hours! (m ore than 200 in 24 hours!!)

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08/04/2009

We head off for Togago tomorrow the first island in the Caribbean chain. Trinidad and Tobago are below the hurricane belt but we hope to sail further north beofre June 1st. We are looking forward to clear water and white sand beaches! This map will help you work out where we are as we travel through the Caribbean.

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08/04/2009, Kourou French Guiana

Kourou
French Guiana
8 April 2009

Our taxi driver was no-where to be seen at 7.30am which was the time we had arranged.... Fortunately a French woman was nearby checking in tourists for the boat trips and she kindly phone Franki the taxi driver. He said 'toute suite' and turned up shortly then drove like a rally car driver to the Ariane Space centre. We arrived at a very modern looking building which housed the Musee amongst other offices to do with educating visitors. There was only one other English speaking tourist (American) who also spoke Portuguese. The guide's own language was Portuguese but the whole tour was explained in French. We hardly understood a word but enjoyed the bus tour and wandering around the launch pad sites and looked at the control rooms etc. It was very exciting to be there to see where the rockets launch satellites into space. We realized it was a unique experience as there are only 2 other Space centres - USA and Russia. The American said that Arianespace gave a far superior tour to the Kennedy space centre. At the conclusion of the tour we watched a film of the rockets taking off and part of this was in English. (We were given special translated headphones) The whole place was huge and impressive. There were observation/conference rooms set behind glass of the control rooms. It must have been an amazing career for our yachtie friend (Balthazar) Jean Pierre as the boss of the whole space centre. We just received a message from them and they are now in Martinique. I don't think we'll catch up unless it is in France!!!

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07/04/2009, French Guiana

Le Kourou River
Kourou
French Guiana
7 April 2009

Kourou is a small town that feels like a bit of an out post. There are old board and tin buildings amongst new and 70s - 80s modern architecture in the form of apartments. The town has a relaxed feel to it but with the obvious presence of the French government in the form of the gendarmes, fire officers, legionnaires in fancy cars and boats. The people (mostly of African descent) are well looked after with evidence of all sorts of municipal buildings and organizations promoting cultural understandings. There is a sprinkling of small simple restaurants in basic concrete and tin buildings. We had lunch in one recommended by a local. We had a delicious meal including beef and vegetables. Bill had one beer and I had water and the bill came to the equivalent of A$60. We can't afford to go out very often at Euro prices!

I was keen to see the Amerindian village (Native South Americans) so we followed the map kindly given to us by the Marie (Town Hall). After walking in the heat for an hour or so we found a small number of simple dwellings on the beachfront with swept dirt paths and the occasional decoration painted or hanging from the verandah. The handicraft centres looked dilapidated and very closed. The people we did see were very friendly with very attractive features.

Walking back into town we were wondering how we were to find transport to the Ariane Space centre in the morning. We eventually found a travel agent type office and after waiting half an hour to be served we decided time was getting away and we would work it out somehow. After not seeing any taxis about we suddenly spotted one. It turned into a nearby Petrol station so we ran after it. We managed to communicate in halting English/French to 'Frankie' that we needed to be picked up from 'le port' at 7.30am. We asked if he would take us back to the boat then as we thought it would be a good idea for him to know where to get us in the morning in case our fumbling French was giving him the wrong message.

On the pontoon where we left our dinghy the fishermen were busy unloading, sorting and cutting up fish. It was a spectacular sight with huge fish piled up all over the place. We decided to buy a piece at the fish market next door for dinner. It was only 3 Euros - perfect with salad and a cold glass of South African wine.

The current is very strong here in the river and combined with the wind Valiam starts turning in all sorts of directions. Our anchor chain sometimes pulls across the front of the boat but she is well dug in. Captain Bill tied off the tiller so she stays in a more stable direction. It seems to rain every afternoon with a huge downpour. As we couldn't find the laundry we thought next time the dinghy fills up with water we will do our washing in it!!

The Space Centre should be interesting tomorrow.

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06/04/2009, French Guiana

Le Kourou River
Kourou
French Guiana
6 April 2009
Position: 5 8.85N 52 38.71 W

After a very pleasant 2 days relaxing at the hotel on Ile Royale, we motored for 2 hours through shallow muddy water thorough the marked channel to Kourou. We are now anchored not far from the fishing pontoon within walking distance to town.

Our 2 days at Ile Royale (part of the group of 3 islands Iles du Salut) was made particularly special due to the special treatment we received at l'Auberge des Iles the hotel managed by Madeleine. (See http://www.ilesdusalut.com) We are extremely grateful to Jean Pierre (ex boss of Ariane Space Centre) and Michele for their wonderful introduction to Madeleine. We enjoyed our high ceilings in the room with private bathroom and views across to Devils Island. The meals were superb and we would like to thank Madeleine, Carlo, Angele, Dominique (for her translations!) and all the staff. We were fascinated by the ruins and old buildings on the island that used to be the jail and accompanying structures such as the church etc. One of the ex sleeping quarters for inmates is now available for budget 'hammock' accommodation to truly experience what the prisoners felt. We were happy with our big room with a big bed and view in the main building! The old pond is home to several types of iguanas as well as a crocodile. Beautiful large tropical birds are at home here and came to finish our left -overs after lunch! Our French still has not improved despite being immersed in it once again!

We are about to wander into town after ensuring our anchor is holding in this tidal river. We will report our findings in the next ships log!
(See all the photos I have just placed in a new album : French Guiana to Caribbean) click on the little camera!

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06/04/2009

For those who are wondering where we are!

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06/04/2009, 5 17.11'N:52 35.34'W, French Guiana

Ile Royale Iles du Salut French Guiana 5 April 2009 Position : 5 17.114N 52 35.334W

Valiam is now happy at anchor rolling slightly in the small protected harbour of Ile Royale. It is good to be here and rest. We are being well looked after by Madeleine, Dominique, Carlo and other staff members at the hotel here. The surrounds are beautiful with tropical flowers, lush vegetation and great views across to Devils island and out to seas from whence we came! After a delicious 'menu du jour' (meal of the day - fish soup, fish, desert and wine) we were given a beautiful room overlooking the other island and the sea. It was strange being somewhere with such high ceilings after the boat, spacious timber floors and a bed we could climb in and out of from either side! After a couple of lovely warm showers and a good rest we enjoyed caf� au lait with toasted French bread and jam for petite dejeuner. There appeared to be a large group of young African people her on some kind of tour. The passenger liner Pacific Princess from Bermuda has gone. It is a bit difficult for u s to communicate as our French is still terrible. Not many people speak English. We will endeavour to improve our French!

Ile Royale is very tranquil and we will have a good rest here. There are funny little large guinea pig type animals running around with longer back legs and a rich tan fur. We haven't seen any monkeys yet. We look forward to exploring the old jail and ruins on the island. As we are still using the sat phone to update the website lots of pictures are not possible. You could try the hotel website : http://www.ilesdusalut.com

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05/04/2009, Ile Royale - Iles du Salut

Thank you Madelein, Carlo, Angele and staff for your warm hospitality and wonderful meals! Also thanks to Domanique for translating for us!

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05/04/2009, 5 17.11'N:52 35.34'W, French Guiana

We're here! Position 5 17.11N 52 35.33W (arrived 5pm) It looks very tropical and peaceful from the boat with a few buildings scattered about. A cruise ship form Bermuda is here 'Pacific Princess' and fortunately all 6 boatloads of passengers are now back on the ship. We've had a glass of champagne and will endeavour to make ourselves look respectable before going ashore and introducing ourselves to the hotel staff. Can here parrots squawking and waves lapping the beach around the corner. There's lots of coconut trees - yes trees - haven't seen them for a while.

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05/04/2009, 5 25.6'N:51 36.6'W, Atlantic Ocean

Saturday 4th April 2009 Time: 9.05am Position: 5 25.6N 51 36.04W Miles to go (to Ile Royale, French Guiana): 59

Last night, just before sunset we were treated to a spectacular display of at least 20 dolphins jumping and playing in the waves created by Valiam. As the swell was small we went up to the front hanging on to the bow rail watching them. They were quite small with a grey/greenish tinge to their skin. Dolphins playing out at sea always makes one feel very happy to see them being so joyful. We had an all night hitchhiker in the form of a small brown bird the size of a pigeon sitting on our upturned dinghy on the foredeck. He did a good job of painting the bottom. The captain is pleased he didn't choose the solar panels.

The wind and current have been mostly favourable but it will be touch and go if we make Ile Royal by dark. It's been raining on and off which means we have to keep the hatches closed making it stuffy inside the cabin. When busy in the galley (as I was this morning baking scones) I direct the little fan on to myself to stop sweat dripping everywhere.

We look forward to seeing the Rocket range (European Space Agency launch site) and have dug out our Space Watching book I had bought years ago when visiting the Australian Observatory in Parkes, NSW. When sailing the oceans one seems even more aware of our place - a tiny dot crawling along - and the relationship between Earth and the Universe.

The next Ship's log will be written after we have arrived in French Guiana! Au revoir!

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03/04/2009, 4 14.57'N:48 47.3'W, Atlantic Ocean

Friday 3rd April 2009 Time: 7.20am Position: 4 14.57N 48 47.3 W Miles to go (to Ile Royale French Guiana): 236

A white bird with a very long thin tail flew around in circles behind and above Valiam looking at us perhaps wondering if it could land. We are still at least 100 miles offshore and the bird didn't look like a sea bird. We have observed similar birds before in Africa and Palau. It takes a week to get into cruising mode and slow down ones thoughts to a more reflective meditative mode. Before the bird visited us I watched the sun rise over a silky pearly sea as I sipped my espresso coffee. Valiam is sailing more sedately now but still close to 7 knots. We should be anchored at Isle Royale by Saturday evening. Life is good and I feel very lucky to share this dream and adventure with my man.

A close encounter with a ship yesterday forced me to call them up on the radio for the first time. Usually we can work out which way the ship is going and alter course slightly if necessary. At 5.15pm at position 3 25.9N 47 17.3W cargo ship Dimitrios S 225m long and 32 m wide with a draft of 11.5 m (registered Liberia headed for Liverpool UK ETA 16 Apr 1800) traveling at 12 knots was on a near collision course with Sailing Vessel Valiam 13.7m long, 4.2m wide and draft 2.1m! So Communications Officer Linda called them up on Channel 16 on the radio. Instantly we heard a response "This Dimitrios. How can I help you?" I asked "Can you see us?" Dimitrios' Communications Officer replied in broken English "Yes I alter course for you going starboard. Is that alright for you Ma'am?" "Roger. Thank you!" says Linda. We watched the huge ship go behind us with 3 miles to spare. Now I will feel more confident calling up ships! Next time there may be time for chit chat as I am sure some of these ship's crew are bored out here.

As we have said many times satellites are our best friends allowing us instant communication by phone anywhere in the world and to email at sea. We will have the opportunity to see the Ariane Space range at Kourou next week where the French launch satellites by rocket. We received an email from Frederic Jean Pierre d'Allest skipper of 58 ft aluminium Garcia yacht Balthazar whom we met in Jacare, Brazil sharing caipairinhas with him and his crew on board. Balthazar is just ahead of us by about a week and has just left Kourou. Jean Pierre used to be the boss of the French Space Agency .He said "..Go first to anchor at "Ile Royale". The anchorage is good and well protected, though it may be a bit uncomfortable due to some swell. The lady, Madeleine, managing the hotel on this island is a very good friend. To visit the range (it is well worth) ask them to give you the days and hours of the organised visits. You might have problems to anchor in the Kourou river where the currents are strong and reverse with the tides. The pontoons are limited and fully occupied. The best way for you would be to leave your boat at île Royale (it is safe but close it) and take the Madeleine large catamaran Shuttle." Thank you Jean Pierre!!! Our visit to French Guiana will indeed be very special. As well as the Space range we look forward to seeing the real Amazonian type jungle with iguanas, vultures, parrots, monkeys etc

We continue to have so many encounters with people (and other creatures) on this journey we would never have met otherwise. We are lucky to have such rich and varied experiences.

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02/04/2009, 2 49.72'N:46 24.64'W, Atlantic Ocean

Thursday 2nd April 2009 Time: 8.30 am (Brazil time) Position: 2 49.72 N 46 24.64 W Miles to go: 398 (averaging 170 miles per day)

It was a bit rough last night with the wind blowing consistently at 20 knots from the northeast. We are sailing fairly close to the wind to maintain our course. Sleeping was very difficult and moving around the boat seemed to need Hercules strength (for me) to hang on. The odd wave hit us sideways slapping Valiam's hull and washing over the fore cabin. It's calmed down a bit now. We will try and fit in some naps today as we are very tired.

The fish curry was delicious last night and the fish steaks for lunch were so tender and tasty. I used the spices and recipes from the 'Fish in a dish' kit by Herbie's (www.herbies.com.au) given by Ruth. Here are the recipes:

SEARED OCEAN WAHOO WITH AUSTRALIAN SPICES: (Aussie fish seasoning consists of ground coriander seed, sea salt, lemon powder, lemon myrtle leaf, wattle seed, freeze dried native pepper berry.)

Coat each side of the fish with the spice mix and allow to stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. (I left for more than 1 hour) Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cook fish. Use high heat then reduce heat to turn fish steaks over. Cooking time will depend on thickness of fillets. Ours were thick so I put the lid on for a few minutes to make sure the inside was cooked. Serve with Paw Paw and Cucumber Salad PAW PAW AND CUCUMBER SALAD: (Original recipe had pears, fennel bulb and celery which we didn't have. My adaptation was delicious!) Half a red paw paw cut in bite size pieces. Half a cucumber sliced. I small onion sliced. 2 table spoons olive oil. 2 freshly squeezed limes. Handful of fennel seeds.

AROMATIC FISH CURRY: I medium onion, finely diced. 1 tablespoon chopped parsley (I used dried). 1.5 tablespoons Herbie's Vegetable curry spices (ground coriander, paprika, tumeric,cumin,mustard,fennel,cassia,ginger,ajowan,cardomon,asafetida (compounded wheat flour). 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. 200ml coconut cream. 2 cloves of garlic crushed. 2 tomatoes finely chopped. 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice. 4 fish fillets. Fry onions until soft. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds - do not brown. Add tomatoes, parsley and curry mix. Cook gently until the tomatoes have given out their juices then add lemon juice. Stir in coconut cream then place fish fillets in sauce and cook uncovered for 3-4 minutes. (We cooked for longer as we had thick fillets cut into chunks!) Serve with fragrant rice.

Enjoy!!

We still have lots of fish curry left (I doubled the recipe) and more fillets to eat! There are still chicken fillets in the fridge hopefully still frozen. We'll have to eat those after the fish! Anyone want to come and join us? We have too much food.

We will most likely arrive at Isle du Salut on Saturday and quite possibly evening which we would rather avoid! Hopefully C map will be accurate and our depth sounder will help us anchor safely.

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01/04/2009, 1 24.81'N:43 37.39'W, Atlantic Ocean

Wednesday 1st April 2009 Time: 6.50am Position: 1 24.81 N 43 37.39 W Miles to go: 585

"A dolphin!" shouted Linda excitedly towards the dozing Captain after glancing out to see a fin rushing along behind the boat. Looking again she says "It's a fish! It's not a dolphin. We've caught a fish!" The captain goes to have a look and starts slowly pulling it in. 'It's a big one.' Not looking forward to all the blood and guts all over the boat he pulled it on to the back deck. The 10kg Wahoo was not happy. It slithered and gasped in the cockpit leaving a trail of slime. Yes fishing is a messy business and a big one like this means lots of cutting and dismembering. Well we now have a few days worth of fish! After making room in the little fridge a huge plastic container of fresh fish just fitted in. Last night we had 2 huge steak of it each for dinner. It was delicious! Now the galley slave will research suitable recipes from the fish cookbooks and spices kindly given by friends Robyn and Ruth before we left. Unfortunately the cockpit has a 'fishy odour' that didn't go with the buckets of sea water doused over it yesterday. We hope it rains.

Last night was a more comfortable night but we are still heeling portside considerably. It's a yoga workout moving around the boat. It will be nice to be level again. The Captain says we should be anchored off Isles du Salut by Saturday. We've had a consistent NE trade wind blowing around 15 knots going up to 20+ knots during rain squalls. 590 miles to go!

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01/04/2009, 0 39.37'N:41 19.29'W, Atlantic Ocean

Tuesday 31st March 2009 Time: 9.20am Position: 0 39.37 N 41 19.29W (back in the northern Hemisphere!) Miles since Oz: 16,550 Miles to go: 730

What a bumpy rolly lopsided ride last night! After being almost being tipped out of the bed and hanging on to the mattress with clenched fingers I realized that sleeping like this would be impossible. The captain who was on watch at the time kindly allowed me an hour of shut-eye in the saloon on a stable bed on the port side. (The heeling down side). One good thing about our trip last night is we have covered some miles. The NE trade winds are now with us. In fact according to the log we did do 200 miles in 24 hours! The GPS said 174. Is there a current against us or is the log not reading correctly? Anyway we did well - Thanks King Neptune and Valiam! We crossed the equator late last night so celebrations were postponed until breakfast this morning. The galley slave wasn't in the mood for chopping or heating anything so we had a cold tin of rice pudding with a glass of champagne. Perfect!

It's hot and sticky in the cabin (33 degrees) as we have to have the hatches closed due to the odd wave that splashes over. I was allowed to put the little fan on whilst I type this important ships log. I can't disappoint our readers!

We had a look at some photos of Isle du Salut, Kourou and Tobago on the computer that had been saved from various websites before we left Brazil. The islands look lovely and so does Tobago. Nice to have something to look forward to! White sand beaches, coconut palms waving in the breeze and a full night's sleep!

More fruit salad is planned for lunch with another glass of cold South African champagne. We'll have to put another bottle in the fridge for when we arrive in French Guiana. (hopefully on the weekend)

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30/03/2009, 0 49.5'S:38 34.8'W, Atlantic Ocean

Monday 30th March 2009 Time : 7.30am (Brazil time) Position: 0 49.5S 38 34.8 W Miles to go: 916

Everything is going ripe at once! (Three huge avocados, 6 mangoes. 4 large passion fruit, one pawpaw and last banana) I guess we will be fruitarians today. Fred the windvane is steering us now as we are being pushed along by a 10-15 knot NE wind. We have been heeling over on our portside for some time now and are in danger of having one leg longer than the other! Moving around and sleeping is a bit uncomfortable but tolerable as the seas are slight. We will also cross the equator sometime today and have a celebration. It will be the 3rd crossing this journey!

To create some interest in today's ship's log I thought I would include an email sent to us from our 6 year old granddaughter Caylan recently. She had several questions which we replied to straight away. She was excited to get our response so quickly. Oh the beauty of email being able to write to loved ones from anywhere in the world!

17th March 2009

"Dear Nanny and Pa Have you seen any dolphins? And turtles? What do you eat all day in the boat? How do you have a shower? How do you wash your clothes? Is the toilet working properly now? Do you catch fish? Nanny and Pa, I fell over at school yesterday and got a big sore on my knee. I'm okay but it is a big sore. I got extra maths from school for homework. Mummy helped me. It was hard at first but then it was easy-peasy-Japanesy. On Saturday we had a girl's night and watched Narnia Part one and two. It was the greatest movie I ever watched. And then on Sunday we watched Narnia Prince Caspian which is the second book of the Narnia series. I've finished reading "The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe" and I'm up to chapter four in "Prince Caspian". It's the greatest book I've ever read. Love from Caylan XXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOOOO"

"Dear Caylan Thank you for your email! It is nice to hear from our favourite granddaughter. Yes we've seen dolphins a few times but not many on this trip. Once or twice we've seen a turtle but usually close to land. We have seen lots of whales though - mainly the water coming out of their spout from a long way away.

We eat lots of good food on the boat just like in a house but maybe a bit more tinned food and packet food mixed with fresh food. Nanny has been baking bread. Its smells so nice when it comes out of the oven and is really yummy. This is what we had today (day 12 at sea St Helena to Brazil): Breakfast: Home made bread toasted under griller with vegemite and butter. Milky coffee Lunch: Left over chilli con carne made with fresh mince topped with cheese on toast Snacks: Potato chips, sliced apple, orange, cheese gherkins Dinner: Curry from long life packet made in India with rice - delicious! Drinks: Pa has beer and I have white wine. Showers: There are 5 ways to have a shower on the boat but we can't use much water as we have to carry it all with us and I don't like sea water showers. (1.) Solar shower camping shower that gets warm in the sun then we hang it in the cockpit. (2.) Cup shower - use a metal cup in a bucket and pour it over ourselves in the cockpit (3.) Face washer shower - we can do this inside as it doesn't drip water everywhere. Just use a face washer and a bucket (4.) We also have another contraption I haven't tried yet but Pa has. It's really a pump garden sprayer but we use it with just water in it. It gives a very fine spray. Use this in the cockpit (5) French shower - if busy or boat rolly or not enough water use deodorant. Nanny also has nice smelling wipes.

Washing clothes: When we are at sea we don't wash clothes unless it's been raining or we need something urgently to wear like undies. When we get to a town we take a big load of washing to a laundry. Usually the laundry people do it and we pick it up the next day all clean dry and folded nicely. Occasionally we hand wash clothes ourselves if there is a tap near the boat.

Yes the toilet is good. Pa is a good plumber

Sometimes we catch fish. If you look on our website you will see in the photos ones we caught a couple of weeks ago. We caught a tuna and 2 mahi mahi. It's nice to cook them in interesting ways. With the tuna we also eat it raw like the Japanese people do - sliced thinly with soy sauce, wasabi and ginger.

I am sorry you hurt yourself falling over at school. Nanny used to fall over all the time when I was little and I still have scars on my knees.

It's so good that you are clever at maths and reading. I also loved Tales of Narnia when I was young actually I was 10 or something when I read them. Your mummy used to read them over and over again. You r girl's night sounds nice. Wish I was there!!

Did you know we are more than half way around the world now? We are on the other side of the earth. When it's dark your side its light here and when its light your side its dark here. (Like now)

Maybe in your next email you could tell me the funny things Joe says and does!

Love you heaps precious princess

Nanny and Pa xxxx

PS. There is a 6th type of shower on our boat. It's where we stand in the rain and wash ourselves. No-one can see when we are out at sea."

Today is definitely shower day: It will be shower type (2) and (3) combined.

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29/03/2009, 2 13.5'S:36 29.4'W, Atlantic Ocean

Sunday 29th March 2009 Time : 8am (Brazil) Position: 2 13.5 S 36 29.4 W

'There's cold coffee on the stove' greeted the captain as I emerged from our lopsided sleeping chamber. Feeling like my body has been pummeled and stretched but at the same time aching all over I headed straight for my morning fix. Heating up the milk made it quite drinkable. It's overcast and all night we were sailing windward in a northerly direction to use the wind which was blowing from the wrong direction. (According to our weather grib files) We've just turned west again so the last 80 miles or so look like we haven't gone any where and is a bit discouraging. We still have 1067 miles to go!! We have sailed through a couple of rain squalls with maximum winds of 15 knots so far. (Even though the huge dark clouds look more menacing) No lightning which is good.

Ships keep popping up with regularity and have all missed us by miles. Nevertheless the AIS receiver gives us peace of mind. Especially letting us know which direction the ship is bound as this is nearly impossible with the naked eye.

I baked a huge loaf of bread yesterday and used a small portion of the dough to make pizza for lunch. The pizza tasted delicious out here in the middle of the ocean. It had true Italian toppings too - salami, anchovies, olives, capers, tomato, chillie, cheese. Mmmmm..!! Last night we had Brazilian sausages (which tasted kind of continental) with some of the fresh bread. As things tend to go mouldy quickly out here we'll have to eat the bread quickly. Toast and vegemite for brekky should be good. (Except the big jar of vegemite we bought in Cocos has started going mouldy around the top inside of the jar too..How can mould live in vegemite??)

We will cross the equator sometime soon which will make it the 3rd time on this trip! We will have to have some form of 'traditional' ceremony of course with Neptune and Aphrodite as guests. Valiam has clocked up more than 16,000 miles now since leaving Oz - so another reason to celebrate!

It's a bit boring out here. I have watched the movie 'Rachel's Getting Married' and started reading a trashy novel. I can't seem to get into anything too deep at the moment! (haha) Anyway family and friends we would love to hear from you and any news from home!

All well on board.

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28/03/2009, 4 7.27'S:36 19.88'W, Atlantic Ocean

Brazil to French Guiana: Day 2 Saturday 28 March 2009 Time: 5.45am Position: 4 7.27S 36 19.88W

It's pouring with rain as I write this and there isn't much wind. It's nice and dry in here! It's just climbing out into the cockpit every 20 minutes that it's a bit damp to do the check. There have been a regular number of ships but all have been a good distance away. We've 'rounded the bulge' of south America and we're heading west towards the Amazon basin. We will pass this offshore until we get to Isle de Salut (Salvation Islands) a few miles from Kourou, French Guiana. We still have more than 1000 miles to go so we'll be out here for a while.

We're doing ok - it's just very hot during the main part of the day. Thank you fridge for cold drinks! I made Nasi Goreng last night for dinner. (Indonesian fried rice). I made too much but we ate it all! Oh dear the wind is only 4 knots now and we're drifting at 3 knots. When this rain squall is gone the wind should come up again and hopefully we'll get moving at a more reasonable speed...

Our last 24hour run was 151 miles. The boat isn't heeling anymore so living is more comfortable.

Freshly baked bread - yum!

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27/03/2009, 5 16.90'S:34 44.36'W, Atlantic Ocean

Brazil to French Guiana: Day 1 Fricay 27 March 2009 Time: (Brazil 13 hours behind Oz) 7am Position: 5 16.90S 34 44.36W

Back at sea again! We didn't leave Jacare until 3.30pm as we had lots of jobs to do. The day before we were exposed to Brazilian administration non communication. Our friendly Marina manager Philippe phoned the Ship immigration man (also Federal Police) and said he would be at the port office in Cabedelo at 2pm to clear us out of the country. In the midday heat we walked to the train station in Jacare, got off the train and walked to a nearby park in Cabedelo to cool off as we were half an hour early. At the appointed time we walked to the port security office. The security man said that the immigration man would not be there then. We explained (in broken English a little Portuguese) that our marina manager had contacted him and we kept repeating 2 pm deux holding up 2 fingers etc. The woman at the desk also shook her head vehemently and said 'no he wouldn't be there now'. She phoned his office - no answer then phoned the main office in Jao Pessoa. She said we should go there . By this time we were feeling rather annoyed and time was getting away. We thought we were a victim of bad administration on all counts. After walking through the heat again and eventually getting back to Jacare by train we saw Philippe at the marina pontoon. He was surprised at what had happened. He phoned the immigration man and he was there waiting for us! Apparently he was just ½ hour late. Bill had 15 minutes to run sweating back to the train. We were not impressed with the woman and security officer at the security office. Bill eventually got back to the boat just before dark as he had to wait an hour for train (in the heat). So a whole afternoon wasted going up and down to do paperwork!

We got up early and walked to the supermarket at 7.30 with fellow yachtie Marijka. It was already hot. That morning we were woken at 4.30am by mosquitoes and midges from the river so by the time the shopping was done, the fuel topped up we were exhausted! Linda wasn't keen on leaving on a Friday(unlucky day to leave according to sailors folklore) so we decided to sail off into the sunset instead.. As we left 2 more French boats turned up. Jacare yacht village is really a little French village!

The wind has been blowing consistently at 15 knots and we have been sailing at 7-8 knots with Fred the windvane steering us. We are about 25 miles offshore and about to round the bulge of South America! There were many ships last night which our AIS receiver picked up which was great. There are also fishing boats which are dimly lit. We stayed up late keeping an eye out. Valiam is heeling to port so it's a little more difficult to move around the boat, prepare meals etc. We opted for South African instant mashed potato with French tinned Cassoulet (white beans and tasty sausages) which was very nice. Although we are parallel to the coast I cant see it now during daylight. At night we can see the glow of cities and the stars are magnificent. The Southern Cross is there every night.

We should get back into our routine again of being back at sea today and try and rest as much as possible. I watched one of my pirated movies last night from Brazil "The Changeling". It was quite disturbing and apparently based on truth. The movie thankfully was in its original English but the cover was totally in Portuguese. I managed to get rid of the subtitles this time!

Time for coffee!

All well on board

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25/03/2009, Jacare

Jacare Yacht Village
Brazil
26 March 2009

We are ready to farewell this part of the world and hope to be on our way to French Guiana tomorrow. We will go into Cabedelo by train this afternoon to clear out of the country at customs and immigration (as well as the Port authority). We will then do a top up supermarket shop of fresh food before we head off. It will be about 1000 miles so we predict a 9 day passage in light winds.

Sailing will be a rest from the constant social whirl here. We have gone out every night! We even got into a bit of local dancing with a local band. The Brazilians are relaxed and uninhibited in their dancing, clothing etc. It's been a refreshing change after some of the conservative countries we've visited. It's been great fun partying with the yachties (mostly French) and we've met some amazing people. Christaine from Montreal is crewing on a French boat Fairy Tale and has had a lot of experience as a single hander on her own boat. She is happy to crew now and sold her boat a few years ago. A couple of Aussies were here for one night on 'Tainui'. We haven't met many Aussies so it was good to hear the old accent!! The 2 guys on Tainui are adventurous types and sailed from Wellington New Zealand across the southern ocean to Chile. They spent 2 summers in Patagonia and loved it. Bill spent some time chatting to them. They have also visited the northern Antarctic islands. Most of the French boats here have sailed down here via the Canaries and Cape Verde. A few are heading back via the Azores. We also met up with a Dutch couple Frank and Marijka on their yacht Sepia whom we'd met in South Africa. They are on their way back to Holland via the Caribbean and the Azores.

This brings us to our plans. Although not set in concrete at this stage we will aim for the Caribbean after French Guiana with Tobago as our first stop. If we decide to continue north we will hop up a few of the islands to St Martin and probably make our way to the Azores (2000 mile passage). We were considering the USA but the weather is unpredictable in the northeast part with depressions coming across with regularity and a high likelihood of a gale. The only time you can cross the northern Atlantic from New York is July which doesn't give a lot of time. So it is likely that we will aim for Gibraltar, Portugal and/or France after the Azores.

In the meantime we are looking forward to the Caribbean with clear water for swimming and slightly less hot and muggy weather than here. Kourou and the Isles du Salut should be interesting too - our next stop. We will miss the luxury of 'in-house' internet but will be able to email as usual with our iridium phone until we happen to find and internet café. We hope to meet up with some of yachtie friends in Kourou that we have met here.

We have a 5 year visa for Brazil and do hope to return!

Au revoir Jacare!

(click camera - photo album St Helena to Brazil - bikini girls on cover!)

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22/03/2009, Rio Pairaba, Brazil

These monohull sailing fishing boats drift past our boat in the evenings. Can you hear Bolero playing on the saxaphone?

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22/03/2009, Jacare, Brazil

Camilla serving caiparinhas at Sax Cafe

Jacare Yacht Village
Brazil
22 March 2009

Caiparinha - traditional Brazilian rum drink:
Thank you to Riu manager of the Sax Café, Jacare for sharing your recipe:

For 2 drinks:

2 limes
Cold shaker
5 teaspoons sugar
5 measures Pitu rum (white rum)
10 ice cubes
A little cold water

Cut limes into slices. Discard ends
Crush in shaker with sugar (wooden stick)
Add ice cubes, rum and cold water
Shake it
Pour into 2 tall glasses with straw
Serve with pretty girl, stagger home...

(Bill wrote the recipe, Linda took the photos)

Each night we enjoy one of these with our French friends pretending we understand what they are talking about. Occasionally we receive English translations if we look puzzled. Everyone is very friendly in this small marina. We have enjoyed socializing with Chantelle and Andre(Gypsy) and Catherine and Marc, French doctors on 'Jason'

Yesterday Bill put together our bicycles, which was great. We went for a ride in the heat creating a little breeze for ourselves making a bee line for the beach. After cycling alongside the beach on the footpaths and road for a couple of kilometers, we stopped at a very inviting beach café shaded by coconut palms. Once ensconced in chairs on the beach in the shade with the sea breeze blowing over us we enjoyed the passing scenery. Bodies of all shapes and sizes paraded in front of us in brief swimming costumes. After being in somewhat conservative countries since leaving Oz this was a refreshing change. The sea was a clear azure colour and the atmosphere happy and relaxed. We were offered all sorts of wares from pirated DVDs to chocolates, prawns, lotions, nuts and coconut juice from individual sellers. The restaurant people didn't mind. In fact the one English speaking waiter translated for the lotion selling lady for us to try and help her make a sale. We know how to order drinks in Portuguese but food is another matter. With the menu and my dictionary out I was painstakingly translating each word. A pretty girl in a brief bikini who happened to be next to us offered to translate. When she asked "Can I help you?", Bill's eyes said 'Yes'! Ana and her friend Maria were up for the weekend from Sao Paulo and were on tour with a dune buggy driver. We got chatting to the girls and they were amazed we'd sailed form Australia. Photos and email addresses were exchanged with the possibility of a visit by them to our boat to see the sunset. Ana speaks 4 languages and is a secretary for a TV company. Alas the girls didn't turn up for sunset drinks....

The fruit is delicious and cheap here. Every morning we make fruit salad with mango, bananas, passion fruit, red pawpaw and lime. With a dollop of yoghurt it's a perfect breakfast for this hot tropical climate.

We of course we hear 'Bolero' on the saxophone every day at sunset. The saxophonist is or has broken the Guinness Book of records for playing the same tune every day 3,000 times! The Brazilian tourists all line up to get his autograph and have photos taken with him! It is a relaxed place here and we are enjoying it very much. Traditional sailing canoes skim quietly by in the evenings making a picturesque subject in front of the sunset.

A friend made the observation that many of our photos are of eating and drinking! There are several reasons for this:
- On the boat at sea there is nothing much else to do!
- In the countries we have been in recently security is an issue. It's not safe to flash an expensive camera around in the street (it could get stolen as well as money etc if we look too much like tourists) - We miss many photo opportunities! So as well as food and beverages being part of the cultural experience a restaurant is a safe place to take photos!

In a few days we will be heading off for French Guiana.

To Liam : Glad you are with us in spirit! You can use whatever white rum is available but Cachassa is the best I think.

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22/03/2009, Jacare beach

We met Ana and Maria at a beach cafe. Ana helped us translate the menu! They are up for the weekend from Sao Paulo.

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19/03/2009, Jacare village, Brazil

19 March 2009

Ola! It seems quite strange to be somewhere hot and tropical after a few weeks at sea from the southern tip of Africa. The world is not such a big place really! We have our little fans going in the boat during the day and enjoy our cool showers at the amenities block. Things are rather quiet during the day and liven up at around 4.30pm when the music starts playing from the restaurants along the river. We know when it is sunset because we hear 'Bolero' on the saxophone. Our neighbour Daniel has been living here for 3 years and has heard Bolero every day! He still whistles to it!

We were ready this morning at about 9am with suitable clothing to visit Immigration - conservative dress for Linda, long pants, shoes and socks and button up shirt for Bill. By the time we got to the end of the pontoon we were sweating even more profusely! We popped into Manager Philippe's air-conditioned (nice!) office to see where we were meant to go. Unfortunately the police/immigration weren't in Cabedelo today so we'll try again tomorrow. Off with the hot clothes!

Last night we were invited to drinks on our other neighbours boat Balthazar. Balthazar is skippered and crewed by a team of 5 French people who used to all be rocket scientists/engineers. Balthazar is a beautiful 58' aluminium 'Garcia' type sailing boat. Jean Pierre the skipper was aiming to go through Patagonia, Chile then Antarctica but has had problems with the keel. They are now sailing back to France for repairs and will come back down to Brazil in September to try again. It was interesting chatting to these lovely people. Jean Pierre used to be in charge of the Ariane Space station in French Guiana. They have urged us to take a tour when we go there in a week's time. They will make a special introduction for us! This will be great! We love satellites as we rely on them whilst sailing. It will be interesting to see how they are projected into space! Maurice, Jean Pierre's engineer, used to work for him at the space station. Now he is in charge of maintenance of Balthazar and even has his own little work shed on board. It's a beautiful boat. We admired the 3 cabins with individual bathrooms, air-conditioning, full size fridge, freezer etc etc. Jean Pierre made us 'his creation' of a caparhinia using rum from Martinique. We were feeling all rather jolly after that! As well as invitations to the space centre in Guiana we have addresses throughout France (there are 5 of them - Jean Pierre, JP, Maurice, Michelle and Andre) to visit them! We gave them some information on Patagonia and Argentina from our friends Charmain and Mike who cruised Patagonia in 2006 on their yacht Vire Nord. Balthazar left this morning. We do hope to meet them again.

After our little party on board Balthazar we met another French couple Chantelle and her husband at a little café for dinner. Again we were urged to have the 'best caparhinia' in Jacare. The specialty of this café were little pizza type rounds covered in different toppings of vegetables, spices and meat. Delicious! After dinner Linda spied a night market so spent a fun half hour looking and buying little hand made trinkets using charades and giggles to communicate with the lovely Brazilian girl Suellen (see photos). Next we were urged to go into the restaurant to watch a live show of traditional dancing. The costumes were a little like what I imagined was Spanish but the music (which was live) was more folksy. Four couples twirled stamped and clapped in their frilly hot pink and black attire. It was fun to watch and be part of what obviously appeared to be a crowd of Brazilian tourists. We got back to the boat in one piece without falling in the river climbing on! (Bill has put an extra stepping rope for Linda to get up on to Valiam's bow.) Enjoy the photos! Adieus!

PS While I have free internet here I have fine tuned the photo gallery. Valiam construction historical photos are now at the beginning. I have added a sketch map of the whole journey so far in the main album. I have added more photos to the ships logs on the last passage. Well I am the Communications Officer aren't I?

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18/03/2009, Brazil

Jacare Yacht Village
Jacare Brazil
18 March 2009

So far our impressions of this part of Brazil remind us of the Philippines. There are many poor people living in shacks along the water or in small concrete terrace type houses. Unfortunately no-one speaks English and our Portuguese lessons on the boat have been no help. We are the ignorant foreigners here but everyone is very friendly. Our charades are getting really good! By the time we get back to Oz we will be waving our arms madly about using sign language!

Most of the yachties at this little marina are French who also speak English thank goodness. We wandered along the local streets today in the heat thinking the bikes would be a good idea. It's all flat so Linda will be happy! We found the beach which was next to some apartment buildings and not much else. The water looked beautiful but there was rubbish scattered on the grass and sand around the place. There were only 2 people on the beach but there seemed to be more high rise like the Gold Coast in Oz further down. (Bill was chatting to a yachtie earlier who was held at gunpoint at this beach for money. He said it was raining and there were no people about.) The beach apart from the water isn't that nice so we won't go there again anyway! We found a nice big air-conditioned supermarket so we stocked up on fruit, veges, bread, yoghurt and beer. Planning to take a taxi back to the marina we spotted a couple of French yachties to share. As it turned out the taxi was virtually free due to our combined expenditure at the supermarket. (over 70 Reaies - about A$46). The captain is impressed with the price of beer. For a dozen 475ml cans it costs 15 R = $10! The wine is Argentinean. We haven't tried it yet. Anyway we organized to share the taxi back with the 3 French people and Bill was going to walk but instead the taxi driver said it was ok so one of the French ladies got to sit on the men's laps!

Last night we went out to one of the touristy restaurants along the river. Just before sunset they all play 'Bolero' then within each restaurant there is live music. The problem is they all play different songs. So it is rather cacophonic and not possible to have a conversation. Just as well so we had an excuse to use charades with the waiter. At one stage an apparently famous saxophonist walked majestically from restaurant to restaurant playing his sax. There is a special elevated platform for him to perform at each restaurant with the river as the backdrop. Most of the customers seemed to be locals who were elbowing each other to photograph him and after each song gave a respectful applause. We are not sure of the significance of this fellow but there is video footage of him as well as huge posters everywhere. He is short, plump with long hair wearing all white and an orange scarf. I will get his name next time and look him up on the internet. Bill thinks he may be a soap opera star. A bottle of Cervasa (beer) is served in esky type surrounds the size of a 'tallie' -600ml to non Aussies. Again Captain Bill was impressed. Linda tried a 'capanhia' a local rum cocktail with lemon. (Very nice)

A large aluminium French yacht (58') 'Garcia' turned up last night next to us and have invited us for drinks later. It looks very swish so it will be interesting to see the interior.
So far we are enjoying Brazil very much and promise not to go wandering along deserted beaches.

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17/03/2009, Rio Paraiba

Our trip up the Rio Paraiba to Jacare was vry scenic. Lush vegetation, crocodiles?, and small wooden fishing boats some with simple sails.

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17/03/2009, Rio Paraiba behind Cabedelo

We're here! After a scenic tour for 5 miles up the river we found a small cluster of yachts which is Jacare Yacht Village. It is unbelievably hot! A very nice local fellow called Daniel who could fortunately speak English assisted us to our berth. Its a simple pontoon where we are tied one end and tied to a buoy at the other. Getting on and off is interesting as Valiam is so high at her bow which is currently facing the pontoon. After one precarious swing on the rope Linda said 'no more' The captain has tied the dinghy in such a fashion that she can be walked along with ropes. Alas due to misjudgement of distance hauling a 20 litre drum of water captain Bill slipped scrapng the skin off his shoulder and back. Ouch! Coconut soap was offered by Daniel as a natural antiseptic under the showers. Another cold beer was a good anaesthetic.
Above is the obligatory photo of our champagne toasting of our arrival in a new country. Well done Valiam (and crew!) More stories and photos to follow.

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16/03/2009, 7 25.79'S:32 15.56'W, Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean - St Helena to Brazil Day 12 Position: 7 25.79 S 32 15.56 W Time: 8.45am Miles to go : 154

We've had another good day of sailing still with the twin jibs and the mainsail averaging 6.5 to 7 knots. We should make landfall tomorrow!

We are really tired now even though its been a relatively easy trip. We've tried to take in Portuguese from our CD but not a lot has sunk into our brains! The fellow who owns the marina is French and can speak English so we will be ok for the first day!

A ship called Cape America bound for Singapore passed us going south on our port side at midnight last night. The AIS 'blaaarped' us out of our sleepy dispositions!

I baked some nice bread yesterday so we can have toast this morning. The coffee is brewing so hopefully the captain will smell it wake up and let the crew have a rest!

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15/03/2009, 8 18.15'S:29 54.36'W, Atlantic Ocean

Sunday 15th March 2009 Position: 8 18.15 S 29 54.36 W Time : 10 am Miles to go: 303

We're going beautifully again now back to a nice smooth 6.5-7 knots. The twin jib rig (one poled out) plus the mainsail helps us move along quite well considering the wind is only blowing 10 knots. The boys on Khulula just behind us emailed saying: "I am not sure if flying three sails all at once is allowed on sailboats. I am sure the "Rules" say you are only allowed two sails up at any one time. Please remove one of your sails, as it is making you go too fast in no wind. Slow day on Khulula, we ripped our spinnaker yesterday so are forced to just roll around wing on wing... ." Bryson, SV Khulala Still they are catching more fish than us. You can't have everything!

Brazil will be our 15th country visited in 16 months on Valiam (if you count Cocos even though its part of Oz and Borneo separate from Johor). Rodrigues is really part of Mauritius but they regard themselves as separate!

Valiam's journey so far: PNG (Nov - Dec 2007), Palau ( Jan - Feb 2008), Philippines(March 2008), Borneo(April 2008), Johor Malaysia( May 2008), Singapore(May - June 2008), Indonesian waters(June 2008), Cocos Keeling Islands (July 2008), Rodrigues(July- August 2008), Mauritius(August - September 2008), Reunion (Sept - Oct 2008), South Africa(Oct 2008 - February 2009), St Helena (March 2009), Brazil (March 2009)

If this wind keeps up we hope to make landfall on Tuesday. The sunsets out here have been sensational as we have observed the 'green flash' phenomenon a couple of times. We have been discussing our plans after Brazil and at this stage we think we will make brief stops in French Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago. Once in Trinidad we will decide how far north we will go and apply for the necessary visas if . If we want to go to USA and/or Europe we will have to move quickly out of the Caribbean to avoid the hurricane season. This would mean getting to Bermuda by June. We'll see how well we go and if we can cope with LOTS of sailing!

Two more broken sleeps (hopefully!) By the way there's been nothing much out here except a couple of birds and flying fish. No fish on the line. No ships. The captain has just reported 2 birds were squabbling over the best sitting positions on Valiam last night. One was doing acrobatics on the spinnaker pole. (The other one had claimed the more stable solar panels.)

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15/03/2009, 8 19.98'S:28 1.77'W, Atlantic Ocean

I took this photo a couple of mornings ago as the sun rose and the moon was still up. The sails look a beautiful pink dont you think?

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14/03/2009, 8 22.27'S:27 23.77'W, Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean - St Helena to Brazil Day 10 Saturday 14th March 2009 Position : 8 22.27S 27 23.77W Time: 8.45am Miles to go: 449

We actually crossed the half way around the world mark at 2.30 am this morning. (26 52' W 8 28' S) So instead of popping the champagne cork then we will enjoy it sometime this morning accompanied by a self saucing chocolate pudding made from a packet yesterday. (See photo above) There has been very little wind for the past day or so and we only covered 107 miles in the last 24 hours again. Last night we motored all night and as there is a bit more wind this morning we'll put the sails up soon. It is very warm - 30 degrees day and night now with the water at 27 degrees.

By the way our 2nd batch of bread turned out beautifully. I added more yeast and water to the recipe give to us by yacht Khulula. I made big bread rolls and a loaf with 1kg flour. We enjoyed real mince hamburgers on fresh rolls with fresh tomato, gurken, onion, chillie and Mrs Balls chutney(from South Africa). Delicious especially out at sea after 9 days! The captain said 'Where are the chips?'. I could have made some from sliced tinned potato I guess... next time when I make tuna burgers! (hopefully we'll catch something soon)

Also Happy Birthday to Michele who turns 40 today! We will toast to your health and happiness when we open the champagne!

All well on board

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13/03/2009, 8 40.82'S:25 30.11'W, Atlantic Ocean

Friday 13th March 2009 Position: 8 40.82 S 25 30.11 W Time: 7.30am Miles to go: 563 miles Total distance sailed since leaving Mooloolaba 5 Nov 2007: 15,151 n miles

It's been fabulous hearing from everyone on this momentous occasion! The winds have been very light so we are going quite slowly and only clocked up 109 miles in the last 24 hours - not Valiam's style at all. Landfall in Brazil will be later than we thought now. The bubbly is ready to pop the cork for our party today. The galley slave will whip up a chocolate cake which should please the captain. Pity we have no cream. Perhaps one of our guests could bring some?

Here are some more RSVPs:

dear Bill & Linda, Sorry we won't be able to make the party as our water wings have sprung a leak. Just the same we will (as always) be thinking of you. In case we don't get to you before you cross your half way DO HAVE A HAPPY HALF WAY DAY ! Love from all here Dad/Mum/Gwen XXXXXXXX

Congratulations on reaching another important milestone. We will share a red with you this evening if we can transport ourselves down the internet to you. Happy Sailing Love Lyn and Dave (Caloundra, QLD Australia)

Hello Bill and Linda. Great to always be able to log on to your website and find out how you are going. You have set yourself an enviable challenge and it all is going so well for you both. An illustration of taking big risks and having to compromise with family life which is dear to you, but, with good planning and preparation, getting the big rewards in return. According to your last log, you should be halfway around the world today. Congratulations to you both. Keep up that great writing style Linda. You provide enjoyment to many. May you continue to have many memorable experiences, meeting new friends and magical places. Regards Fred and Kathy. (Brisbane Australia)

Love to come, can you arrange a taxi home, as we might like to indulge in some of those SA wines. take care Rick (Melbourne Australia)

We would really love to join you on this momentous occasion, but without a mast on Freo Doctor the yacht is still not sailing; I did consider taking the kayak and paddling half way around the world, and even though it's a long way I can paddle real fast, but I'd have to tow Ally on a surf board which would slow me down (not because of Ally but because of all the junk she carries out to sea) so I guess we'll have to pass this time; Maybe after the next half. Congratulations on the first half of the trip, Regards, Steve and Ally (SV Freo Doctor Fremantle, WA, Australia)

Thanks everyone for your words and thoughts. It certainly makes it a lot less lonely out here!

On a sadder note we just heard about a big oil spill form a tanker off the Sunshine Coast (our home). Cyclone Hamish washed away our beaches and caused a ship to drop containers of fertilizer and spill oil. The turtle eggs are hatching prematurely causing them to die and the beach behind our house is a mess.

The winds are supposed to pick up a bit so hopefully we'll go a bit faster than we have been the last day or so. We have 3 sails up at the moment - our old jib attached to the furler on the opposite side of the main jib as ell as full mainsail up. Valiam is doing 5 knots in 7 knots of wind! She looks and sounds beautiful gliding through the calm water.

All well on board!

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12/03/2009, 9 9.97'S:23 38.13'W, Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean - St Helena to Brazil Day 8 Thursday 12th March 2009 Position: 9 9.97S 23 38.13 W Time: 6.45am Miles to go: 677 Total miles since leaving Mooloolaba 5 Nov 2007 : 15,040

I saw the sun rise while the full moon was still up this morning - double vision! The wind is very light so we have slowed down to 4.5-5knots. Captain Bill was tired of the mainsail banging and flapping so took it down and hoisted our old jib next to our usual jib on the furler. Valiam looks like a butterly drifting along the water. I just love these replies to our "Half Way Around the World" party invitation:

Lucky me, I'll be there! ;-) Nancy (New York, USA)

Congrats on getting halfway round, champagne is definately on order. Will think of you... Mike has been playing sea shanties and rum drinking songs.(on his recorder) Hugh has been playing his giant bongo drum he bought in Africa and I have been hiding from them. cheers, Bryson, Hugh and Mike (yacht) Khulula at 1800Z March 10, 10 deg 53 S 018 deg 20 W. Atlantic Ocean

Cool. Can I swim? Jerry (Lismore, NSW Australia)

G'Day Guys, You're not starting to lose it out there are you ? I know what too much time at sea can do to a sailor. Anyway, I will steal one of the lifeboats here and head your way for the party. (a tempting thought now I mention it)Anything you need ? We had a nice chicken cordon bleu for dinner, plus they have fresh salad at the moment. How far to go to the land of Samba and caipirinhas ? Take care. Mike Might not be there by Friday. You are currently 1989.51 NM from me (assuming the Earth is a perfect sphere, of radius 3443.9 nautical miles). As these lifeboats only do 5 knots, I will be there sometime on March 27th. Would you mind heaving to for 16 days please ? See you soon. Mike (Yes I have nothing to do at work today) (Oil rig off Angola coast,Africa, Atlantic Ocean) (also skipper of yacht Vire Nord when not at 'w' word)

Would love to come. I will check my diary. What should I wear? Will write more soon Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Yolanda (Brisbane Australia)

Coming by imagination to celebrate and enjoy filleted flying fish grand marnier and sparkling apple juice love Helen and Shirley (Perth Australia)

hi not much to report, other than that because of the cyclone, a container ship has got into trouble and lost 31 full containers off mudjimba, and the entire kawana beach is black with oil. fun times! Liam x (Buddina Beach near Mooloolaba, QLD Australia) I take it you wont make it then? Mum X

Where? Am at bbay atm Roy (Batemans Bay, NSW Australia)

Thanks everyone for your RSVPs - I better get working in the galley!

All well on board The crew on SV Valiam

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11/03/2009, 9 29.24'S:21 46.82'W, Atlantic Ocean

Wednesday 11th March 2009 Position: 9 29.24S 21 46.82 W Time: 9.25am Miles to go: 789

The full moon shining on the sea at night is almost surreal - like daylight. Valiam looks and feels magical as she glides along. Warm balmy breezes and little a brown bird sitting on the solar panels complete the picture. I saw a little bird circling around us before I went back to bed at 5am wondering how far he must be from home. Bill said he was having a rest on his shift.

The day before yesterday captain Bill was woken from his catnap during the night by 'Blaaarp!' from the AIS monitor. After almost of a week of no ships it was good to know our newly acquired piece of 2nd hand technology was still working. It was a tanker called Polaris Star registered in Liberia heading for Japan with an ETA of 4th April.

Evidence of another live creature out here (apart from us) was in the form of a large fish. We didn't see it - it just chomped off our lure. It was a lucky pink squid too.

For those of you who are sitting on the edge of your desk chairs wondering if the bread turned out - well it didn't really. The mixture was a bit dry and we aren't sure about our yeast (it was bought in Oz 18 months ago) as it didn't really rise. We used a small part of the dough to create a pizza for dinner - it was delicious even with its 'thin and crispy' crust. I made 'baguettes' and 'rolls' with the rest. They are quite heavy and of a very solid consistency. One piece toasted with vegemite is very filling. We will adjust the recipe and let you know the results.

Captain Bill is repairing by pulling apart a 'rope clutch' at the dining table as I write. It is a bit more fancy than required and self destructed under load a while back possibly when we jibed. It's a 'Spinlock' and he wants to put it back as we need it to change the side of the jib. (The wind is now more from the south) The diagnosis is a bent pin inside which he has now banged with a hammer. 'Bob's yer uncle!' he says.

On Friday 13th you are all invited to: our 'Half Way round the World' Party. We will give you the exact co-ordinates as you come closer by hot air balloon, submarine, windsurfer, seaplane or yacht. No need to bring anything just yourselves. We have plenty of different wines and champagne on board. Vegetarians will be catered for. RSVP by Friday morning.

We won't be offended if you can't make it as we realize it is short notice. We will let you know in plenty of time when we have almost completed our circumnavigation for the big party in Mooloolaba. (Actually Valiam and her crew will have circumnavigated when we reach Isle des Pins, New Caledonia) We will have sailed 15,000 nautical miles by the end of today since we left Mooloolaba on 5th November 2007.

Hope you are all having fun at the 'w' word.

All well on board (We're not quite insane yet)

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