We have been working overtime on getting everything ready, which included setbacks such as no water flow to the auxilliary engine and a non-functioning galley saltwater pump valve. Later, a saltwater leak into the hull appeared that turned out to be caused by, what we then realized was, the non-standard replacement valve we bought. Long story of course, Oh the joys of boating.......

BUT, eventually everything is sorted and we are happy that Monkey Fist is ready for the passage - i.e. seaworthy. We've stocked up with six months of supplies and we're heading out onto the high seas. In the end we managed to fit 12,000 pairs of spectacles and 6,000 pairs of sunglasses onto our humble home on the sea. Our good friend Caroline (nurse and sailor) has joined us for the first few weeks and we've been cleared by Border Security to leave the shores of Australia. Currently we're heading north through Morton Bay.

The passage to Lata should take us around eight to nine days of mixed conditions but with a little luck we should be able to sail most, if not all the way, with reasonably favourable winds (and without running into overly severe conditions). That is our plan at least and everyone has to have a plan, don't they.

We'll try and update a few days into the passage and, once we are on the ground in the Solomons, every week or two, which will be fed to our Facebook page. Alas, there is no internet where we are going so our updates for some weeks to come will only be text - the pics will have to come later. Let's face it, when people don't even have glasses how likely is it they'll have internet access? When you are reading our updates we ask you to keep in mind the remote nature of where we will be working.

One saying we often use is " many places may seem like they are in the middle of nowhere, but to the people who live there, it is the centre of their universe". Let's hope they're friendly!

See you in the soup
signed
Crew of Monkey Fist

p.s. Reluctantly we are leaving our 6 week old grand-daughter Isabella behind.