26 November 2007 outside the Great Barrier Reef (no land in sight!)
Position: 17.48 S 147.19E
Our 30th wedding anniversary today. How nice to be out here and not working! We watched the islands disappear after long time including Hinchinbrook where have ad many happy holidays bushwalking and sailing small boats in the past.
We had more luck tonight and last night receiving emails. The connection to the satellite needs improving! We used the little car aerial tonight waiting for full reception before clicking 'GO". It usually cuts out before it receives but we had some success after 2 hours of intermittent trying. The boat is heeling at the moment so it takes 2 of us carrying the laptop connected to the sat phone and aerial with cables dangling everywhere to find the best position. We finally got a weather report from saildocs. It would have been cheaper to phone the bureau in Oz! I'm sure we'll get the hang of it. It's great to be able to use the technology but not so great when it doesn't work and you are relying on it! It's fantastic to get emails in the middle of the ocean when they finally do come through. It makes one appreciate them more....
We motored most of today as the winds were light (NE 5 knots) past Pith and Kelso reefs. Now it's about 15 knots so we are sailing very nicely at about 6 knots with the mainsail reefed. I have christened the little tiller auto pilot Heath because it looks like a heath robinson device attached to the wind self steering. I admire the way Bill works things out and solves problems. He also pulled apart the anchor winch whilst conditions were calm, greased it up and put it back together. Hopefully it wont get stuck when we are in PNG because we will be doing a lot of anchoring.
The months and years of planning and we are finally here. The ocean is much kinder today than the night we arrived in Townsville. A gentle breeze to cool us down waiting to catch a fish but alas none today. We ate the last fresh meat (mince) as burgers with the last cucumber and 2nd last loaf of bread. (It goes mouldy very quickly) We have several thousand packets of biscuits/crackers on board as well as flour if we feel inclined to bake. (which we don't at the moment.
Our provisioning should last months even years for some items! We filled 2 trolleys at the supermarket before we left which created some interest: " Do you live on an island?" after noticing hundreds of long life milk containers, reams of toilet paper etc. It feels good to be loaded up with all that we could possibly need and more. Maybe we could set up a trade store in PNG??!!
It's a full moon tonight shining on the water. It is just amazing to look around and just see the sea all around glistening in the moonlight. The stars seem brighter out here too. We have a little kitchen timer set to sound a beeping alarm every 15 minutes for whoever is on watch. We saw some ships earlier in the day near the reefs but none tonight. Ships are always a worry. We are so small in comparison and even though sailing boats should have right of way I doubt very much ships would alter their course. One ship was on a collision course with us today so Bill slowed the boat down. 15 minutes is just enough time to check if any ships come over the horizon.
Oh there is another thing to fix - some of the bolt holes leak drops of water on the starboard side. We only noticed today as we are sailing to windward for the first time since Mooloolaba and splashes go along the decks.
It's a beautiful peaceful place to be out at sea. We are lucky we can take our home with us wherever we go..