Friday 29th February 2008
At sea
En route to Philippines
1.45pm (Brisbane time)

This morning I looked blearily out to sea and to the left (port side) I saw boat that looked like it had outriggers. It came directly towards us so I woke the captain. "There's a Philippine fishing boat coming towards us. Perhaps you better have a look" As it came closer it looked like a big white spider. We watched intently as Valiam cruised along gaily (have decided to use this term in its original form) at 7 knots. As we continued to watch it come closer I was conscious of being in my shortie PJS which consist of knickers and singlet. I decided to keep down below just in case and let the captain be the hero if we were to be approached. After a little while the bangka (Philippino boat) passed our stern and into the distance. The captain said it definitely came over to have a look at us. We must be near the Philippines then!

Last night not a lot of sleep was to be had. The squalls always develop at night with the winds changing with each one. At one stage we were flying at 9.5 knots! Then of course the wind drops for a while and the sails start flapping and banging. After changing the direction slightly in favour of the wind (E-NE) the wind remained steady and increased so by lunchtime we were doing 8.5- 9 knots. We were heading too far north also. The captain decided to drop the mainsail so as to steer better with just the jib. "?%#$@&()?! The other lazy jack has broken!" Because of the friction last night of the sails flapping and ropes chafing after a squall the lazy jacks on the port side had worn through. These hold the sail neatly in it's zippable cover when the sail is dropped. Now the sail is all over the deck and almost in the water. After several attempts the captain managed to hoist the sail back into position and tie it on. The lazy jacks had broken on the last leg also. That's when I had to hoist the captain up the mast in Palau to repair them. I guess I will be doing that again when we get to the Philippines.

Our 24 hour distance at 12.00 Brisbane time was 171 nautical miles which is excellent. Our ETA at present is Saturday afternoon. If we make good time in daylight we may go a little further than the first anchorage on the east coast of Dinagat island. We may try for the next ones - Hibuson island or Tabujon Bay, Lisub cove.

We also saw a big ship passing ahead of us. So yes we are definitely getting closer to civilization.

We had left over pasta for lunch and I cut up the remaining pawpaw. The captain had a cold beverage after all the exertion and is now resting. Uh-oh 'beep beep beep beep...' Heath the tiller pilot is complaining. The captain had to get up to check. Seems ok now. We've slowed down to 4.5 knots and we are rolling around quite a bit. The jib is banging around. This is a problem - how to stop this and stay on course....... The captain is considering poling the jib out - more physical exertion..........

All well on board

Still no fish...





Thursday 28th February
At sea - en route to Philippines
About half way there.

This has been the easiest passage so far. A bit boring really. But... I would rather be bored than anxious! We prepare meals,eat, sleep, check for ships, read, watch movies, charge up computers and phone, send messages and listen to music. We came away from Oz with another huge folder of burnt music cds as well as a few new ones and have listened to them twice already. The biggest disappointment so far is not catching a fish. Maybe there aren't any out here.

The wind has been a steady 10-15 knots from E - NE. Bill hasn't had to change the sails since we left. (full sail up) He let a bit of rope out before dawn this morning during a short rain squall. The wind got up to 25 knots then and Valiam was cruising at 9.5 knots!! Since we left we have been averaging about 6-7 knots and the boat has been nice and steady. Occasionally around nightfall the winds drop a bit so we are then down to 4-5 knots. Bill has kept the repaired electric tiller pilot going on the wind vane bracket. Resurrected 'Heath' is doing a slow and steady job keeping us consistently on course. The wind vane needs more monitoring especially when the winds are light so Heath is doing all the steering now.

We do 3 hour shifts each on watch with the tormenting timer beeping every 20 minutes to check for ships. Catnapping at 3am isn't fun having to wrench oneself up from a comfortable position to look outside. The stars have been nice and the half moon pops out after midnight which makes it a bit easier to see. Last night the navigation lights on the mast stopped working so we had to use the anchor light instead. The captain wont be climbing up the mast to investigate. It's probably a blown bulb of which we don't have the right spare unfortunately.We haven't seen anything out here since we left Palau. We have the old navigation lights on the stern and bow rails. The captain has instructed to put these on if a ship is sighted.

There's very little sign of life out here except for flying fish. They are amazing and leap for miles out of the water, their bodies shimmering silver in the light. Bill did say he saw a big splash behind us yesterday.....

The boat is so steady during the day - much more comfortable than being on a plane. It just takes a bit longer that's all! It's only when the wind changes a bit at night and the sails start flapping and the wind changes direction to make the boat more uncomfortable for sleeping. We have been napping during the day so we aren't as tired.

Yesterday I cooked a chicken curry using the whole chook in a tin (from USA) fresh veges, coconut and spices. Delicious! We ate the lot! Today I made burritos for lunch using a tin of stag mince, beans and chilli. The burritos come in long life packets and after being heated wrapped around the hot chilli mince, sliced cucumber,salsa, grated cheese and a dollop of plain yoghurt they taste like the real thing. (which they are!) I make yoghurt using the packets of 'yo-easi' in a thermos type container. This takes 6 hours and delicious after chilled in the fridge. We found 'gingersnaps'(from USA) in Palau which are just as good as the Aussie 'gingernuts' if not better. These are my night time nibbles with a cup of tea.

We have been reading lots of relevant books, magazine articles, internet logs of the Philippines. We already have recommended anchorages with GPS co-ordinates for when we first arrive just off Dinagat island. This would be either Malinao inlet (10.15N 125.38E) or Gaas inlet (10.11N 125.39E) When conditions allow (there are strong currents) we will negotiate our way through Surigao Strait perhaps stopping at a couple of recommended anchorages along the way until we get to Cebu. Cebu is a huge city with shopping malls etc so we don't plan to spend much time there. We have to clear in there as it is an official port of entry. We will aim for some of the islands north - Malapascua,, Romblon etc. The main thing we have to watch out for is unlit fishing boats and fish traps which are everywhere apparently in the Philippines. It is not recommended to sail at night.