Sellixs Set Sail

Here it is January 19 (in Thailand) and we still don't have functioning batteries. Sombat, our English speaking technician, has been on the boat for days in a row but software issues seem to be a problem. Until we have the batteries functioning and all other systems good, we can't go. Now, our visas expire January 24. We can, by going to immigration, extend them. I guess the good news is that for the 20th and maybe a few days beyond, Predict Wind shows 65% motoring. We'll just have to wait and see.

Craig Gray has arrived and will be with us until we reach India. We are looking forward to this passage with Craig aboard.

Our seven weeks with kids, grandkids and friends went by very quickly. We spent Thanksgiving in the Seattle area with both of our daughters and their families. This was the first time in many years that we had all been together under one roof and, believe it or not, we did not take a single photo of all of us. I am certainly failing in the "grandma category".
We returned to Thailand on December 24 with much concern over the weight and dimensions of our baggage. We knew we were each allowed 2 checked bags per person on our Delta flight plus one carry on and a purse or computer bag. The concern dealt with what we were bringing, the weight and dimensions. One of our checked items was a Honda 2200 Generator which we had left it in its original box, wrapped it in clear wrap, the weight was really borderline 50 lbs., the other questionable piece was a new antennae which far exceeded the length allowed for a carry on-----we couldn't check the antennae through as checked baggage. And, even if Delta allowed us to bring these would Air Asia give us a problem, even though we had prepaid for the baggage. Worry, worry, worry! All went well, no problems whatsoever.

Returning to the boat, we did find problems. We had hired a fellow to check the boat a couple of times a week and start the engines, all was good there. However, our house batteries, which we thought we could wait and replace once in the Med, were at the end of their life. We needed to replace the batteries before leaving for India. Also our freezer had gone out, it must have happened relatively soon after we left because the smell was awful. We lost quite a bit of food but food can be replaced much more easily than boat parts!
The good news was our new screecher made by Tasker Sails in Phuket was ready for delivery.

Today, three weeks after arriving back at KBL, our new lithium Phosphate batteries are being installed. Once the batteries are up and running the new controller will be installed for the freezer then we should be pretty much ready to roll. We'll need a few days with the batteries, a sea trial for the sail, checking out the water maker and hopefully be able to leave the beginning of next week.

Still alive and well on Pied-a-Mer III. My last posting from Indonesia, several months ago, mentioned a change in plans. Yes, we had a major change. Rather than taking the Southern route from Gili Gede to Mauritius, Madagascar, Cape of Good Hope and Richards Bay we decided to a) slow down b) continue to explore a change in insurance coverage c) if able to get coverage for the Red Sea and Suez Canal, go that route! We had contacted Jackline Insurance while we were in New Zealand and were encouraged to pursue coverage with them but they required an "in water" and "out of water" survey, which we would not have had time to do before leaving on passage. Now, since we were not in a hurry to leave Gili,Gede we arranged for the survey. The survey went well and many phone calls and emails later, we received our binder from Jackline, actually from the Gowrie Group. By this time we had sailed north, spending several days at Nongsa Point Marina. While at Nongsa Point we took a ferry to Singapore and spent the entire day at the Apple Store! I realized I was quite lacking in geographical knowledge as I did not realize that Singapore is an island state---not belonging to any other country than itself! My other Singapore fact is that it is illegal to chew gum in Singapore----how about that!

From Nongsa Point we sailed north to Krabi Boat Lagoon in Thailand. Our route took us up the main shipping channel between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, a narrow 550 nm channel between Singapore, the Malay Penninsula and Sumatra.This passage was by far one of our most interesting journeys. In addition to north and south bound tankers, cargo and passenger ships we found ourselves weaving around Indonesian and Malyasian fishing boats, many fishing with nets dragging in the water.
The ships had AIS which allowed us to identify their name, size, speed, destination and closest point of approach but this was not the case with the fishing boats. There were a few times at night when it took 4 eyes watching the traffic. In addition to other vessels we also had to dodge garbage, never-ever-anywhere- have we seen so much floating trash. There were literally rivers of trash weaving along in the water.
Six nights after leaving Nongsa Point Marina we arrived at Krabi Boat,Thailand. We had reservations at KBL based on the recommendation of our fellow cruiser and friend, Tim Brill. We knew we would fly to the US for a few weeks and wanted a safe place to leave the boat. Tim had researched marinas in Thailand and felt that KBL was the best choice based on availability and price. Tim, however, did not make it to Krabi as boat issues forced him to stop and stay at Rebak Marina in Langkawi.

Greetings from Indonesia. I think the last time I wrote we were waiting out storm season in New Zealand and completing the work after our 2018 dismasting. Putting Pied-a-Mer back together again seemed to be almost as difficult as “All the kings horses and all the kings men”, trying to fix Humpty Dumpty! The dismasting set our sailing plan back over a year and involved parts, parcels, pieces and advice from friends, chandleries, electronic companies, etc. in 5 countries. However, there is no better community for helping each other than the cruising community.

On May 15, after 7 months in The Bay of Islands, New Zealand, we set sail for New Caledonia, arriving in Nouméa on May 23. This was our first Ocean Passage with the new portion of our mast and all of the new pieces and parts needed to make us again seaworthy. Our passage was a typical mix of reefing, motor sailing, addressing a chaffing reef line and hailing ships that were coming our way. We left New Caledonia on June 13 and arrived in Papua New Guiana on June 25, clearing into the country at The Royal Papua Yacht Club. July 10 saw us on the move again as we set sail for Indonesia and its 18,307 islands. We arrived on July 18, clearing into the country in Saumlaki, Gateway to the Tanimbar Islands. We then island hopped to our current location of Marina Del Ray on the very small island of Gili Gede which is on the southwest corner of the island of Lombok. As a point of reference, Lombok is close to Bali. In another newsletter, we'll talk about how we got to Gili Gede, the people we met and the things we did.

We arrived at Marina Del Ray with an outboard that didn't work and needing a part for our Honda 2000 Generator. We ordered the Honda part from the US and much to our surprise it arrived on the scheduled date (a lengthy piece could be written about receiving or not receiving packages mailed to remote locations). We now have a working generator which means we can use our watermaker! Our outboard is working thanks to the marina engineer.
The popular cruiser phrase, “Plans are made in the sand at low tide” is so very true. Much of our time at Gili Gede has been associated with major changes to our navigation planâ€�"â€�"stay tuned!



Sent from my iPad

What have we been doing? Well, I know one thing that we have not been doing! For many reasons, none of them really sound, I have not paid any attention to our blog. Must remedy that!

I am going to do a very condensed version. My last posting was in December when we motored to the big wharf in Opua New Zealand to have our mast removed. Tempo Spars in Sydney had made a new bottom half for our mast, shipped it to New Zealand and J.B Marine in Opua did the work of putting us back together.

The day before yesterday we motored out of slip H10, tootled around a bit in the bay and then tied up to the wharf where a crane was waiting to remove the mast. This was double excitement as we were moving under engine power, something we hadn't done since half way through our last passage from Savusavu to New Zealand.

We left early in the morning, calm water in the marina and brilliant sunshine. Pied-a-Mer was smiling even though she was under motor power. It didn't take long for Rob (NSR) to climb the mast and to attach it to the crane. With guidance from 2 NSR staff and Eric the mast was guided off the boat, up over the wharf and onto the cement for transport to NSR. We motored back to slip H10.