Held up in Brissy!

Well, we made it to Brisbane finally. Had another lovely day sail down the coast, more whales and dodging sand bars and reefs. And oh yea, a few cargo ships as well. It’s a busy port. But it was a sunny day, left Mooloolaba at 5:00 this morning with no wind, but built all day to 25 knots behind us coming into Manly harbour. It was a quick landing! J

Manly is a little coastal community and distant suburb of Brisbane, but has a huge boat harbour, maybe 2000+ boats here in 4 marinas. It’s well protected from most nasty natural events; tsunamis, cyclones, etc. with a significant surrounding rock breakwater and barrier islands that form the Moreton Bay. The village reminds me of Mission Bay in Auckland with its long coastal walkway looking out into the Gulf and nice restaurants, boutiques, etc. We found a good Thai eatery tonight. The surrounding Moreton Bay has lots of sailing, some attractive islands and a large estuary system for exploring similar to the Great Sandy Straights up north behind Fraser Island. The little village has frequent train service to Brisbane so should be easy as for commuting (god forbid I actually go back to work).

So, we are here, safe and sound, but knackered after a long day of ‘paying attention’ and actively sailing, navigating, negotiating with cargo ship captains, watching for whales, the wind in our hair, etc, etc. All up, it’s been about 4500 nautical miles since leaving New Zealand. So, it’s time to sit out the cyclone season here and take a break to do some land stuff for awhile. Not to mention a few boat projects, restock the cruising kitty, etc. It’s been a good journey, not too much drama or sleepless nights (only a few), and many lovely places visited and people met.

So, that’s the news from Equanimity, where the winds are fair, the seas following and the crew content to be here. (and just in time for Julie to catch a plane tomorrow). Be well all. Until next year... Great Barrier Reef, Darwin, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand...

J

Dodging Whales

So, we’re working our way down the Queensland coast and had to dodge Humpbacks in a few places. We came up upon a momma and her calf having a good ole time slapping the water with their tails, over and over again, sounded like canon blasts. We didn’t even see them, having a nice little spinnaker run down the coast on a lovely sunny day. Then all of a sudden, there they were, 20 meters off the port beam. They didn’t seem to mind, just ignored us and kept playing with each other. The young one was doing flips. Looked like it would be fun to be a whale, splashing about in warm sunny waters. Here, momma was laying upside down on her back smacking the water.

Well, we are tucked up inside the harbour of Mooloolaba, waiting for weather to pass through. Had a lovely day sail down from Fraser today. We got up at sun rise, about 4:30 and left at 5:00am to cross the bar at Wide Bay and head down here, 60 miles hence. We spent the day before wiggling our way through the “Great Sandy Straights” behind Fraser Island. Spent the night before in front of Kingfisher Bay resort, went for a walk in the bush there. Beautiful place, I liked the straights, though we sure had to pay attention as it was full of sand bars and little islets. We had to time it right with the tides, caught a flood heading down, but had to get it right so it would ebb out on the lower stretches. All went well and we tucked behind Pelican Bay, a sandy point just before the bar and waited for morning to make the grand exit into open sea. Luckily, the weather’s been calm, so was easy as. It gets pretty nasty there in blustery conditions.

Anyway, the Wx is a bit crazy, today NE, tomorrow SE to 30, maybe 40. Then on Wednesday back to NE and Thursday back to SE. So, guess Wednesday is the day to do the last 50 miles to Manly, near the mouth of the Brisbane river. Good timing as Julie needs to catch a plane out of Brisbane on Thursday. We’ll  hold up here for the summer, at least that’s plan at the moment. As a friend once said, life happens while you’re making other plans...

So, that’s the news from EQ, where the winds are fair, the seas following and the crew content. (sure was today anyway). Cheers all.

J

We're Here in New Caledonia

We finally arrived in Port Moselle, Noumea, New Caledonia. Well, actually we arrived two days ago, but had to first find a French créperie, after of course doing the quarantine/customs/immigration dance. All good as they let us keep some of our fresh food we got in Vanuatu.

We had a good two day passage. Did more motoring then I like with light airs the first day, but finally the wind kicked in a little and had a lovely sail coming into the Loyalty Islands to the east of New Cal. The skies were clear and sunny during the day and ¾ moon for the first part of the night, then a bright star-lit night until morning. Jupiter was shinning bright right overhead. Another boat left Port Resolution just after us (folks we hiked to the mountain with), so had their company on the journey across to here. It turned out there were many yachts all headed to the same place, so was a busy night keeping track of them all. I like it better when there’s no one around. Makes for a better night’s sleep. J

New Cal has one of the biggest barrier reefs in the world. We came through the pass at 3:00 in the morning. Luckily, the skies were clear the wind light. We were a bit ahead of the tide so came in with 3 ½ knots of current pushing us in through the reef. But the charts are excellent and navigation lights all working, so no big dramas. But then we had another 50 miles to motor to get to Noumea, arriving about 10:00 am. Noumea is a reasonably big city (for the south Pacific islands) and the officials work 7 days a week as there are lots of boats here, so didn’t have to wait until Monday morning. So after all that and a nana nap, we managed to have dinner at the local water front bar and watch the All Blacks give Argentina a good thumping for the quarter-finals. It was actually a good game, though the best was listening to all the Kiwi’s in the crowd yelling and jumping up and down. And of course all the Aussies in the crowd were cheering on Argentina. I think they know what’s coming next weekend when Oz takes on NZ in the semi-finals. J

Monday morning we managed to give the boat a good wash since we are tied to a dock again with a fresh water spigot. It was nice to get all the black volcano ash of the boat, well at least most of it. Speaking of volcano ash here’s some pic’s of Port Resolution and Mt Yasur.

Port Resolution, named after Cook’s Ship. A bit roll-ee and open to the NE, but well worth it. Wish they’d get the charts sorted. There were steam vents all along the rock walls and up on the hills behind the water. We could have boiled our lobster (yes, fresh lobster for dinner) in a vent instead of on the stove had we been so inclined. This place is geologically very unstable, at least for human habitation, but many people have lived here for many years. A very independent lot.

We could have hired some locals with a big 4-wheel drive pickup to take us up, but we decided to walk and get some exercise. Another couple off another boat joined us for an enjoyable afternoon walk through the jungle. Here’s the walk up the mountain.

 Very hot steam vents everywhere, which really started spewing when a truck passed over the road. Made you wonder if the whole place was going to go up any second. But it didn’t and we made it to the top, gingerly creeping to the edge of ‘doom’. J

 

And here was our first look into the abyss. I was wondering if anyone brought the ring to cast into Mordor.

 

The mountain was booming away, incredible loud, like cannon blasts, echoing off the side walls, hot lava rocketing skyward, the ground rumbling under our feet. It made us flitch every time until we got use to it, beginning to believe we might actually survive the fiery depths of mother earth’s moods.

Then we had to stay for sunset. J We’ve seen many wonder-filled and glorious sunsets, but never one like this.

Here's a particularly spectacular blast, generally about every 5 minutes. Normally, it would be rumbling away, spewing here and there. But then everything would go quiet for a bit and wa-la, big ba-boom and the mountain would sway again.

And then as we were thinking about catching a ride back in the dark (didn’t want to hike back for 3 hours in the dark jungle), mother earth was kind enough to give us the grand finale.

So, we did manage to get a ride back, a very bouncy ride back, standing in the back of a big pickup. And we made our way back to the boat with big smiles on our face, content to be floating in cool water without being covered in hot magma or the earth opening up under our feet to be forever encrusted in the depths of the earth.

And the next day we pulled the hook with the rumbling mountain in the background and headed west again.

That’s the news from Equanimity, where the winds are fair, the seas following and the crew content.

J

Off to See the Volcano

Well, we’re off to the southern part of Vanuatu. The winds are backing to the east and then NE this weekend, so we thought we’d take advantage of it and work our way south, so we should be in Tanna tomorrow morning, land of the spewing red-hot volcano, Mt Yasur. J From there we’ll have a better angle on the trade winds to head for New Caledonia, probably towards the end of next week when the SE’erlies set back in.

Julie has settled into the rhythms and life aboard EQ nicely J. She has a calm and relaxed demeanour which I think comes from spending time at sea. I’m quite happy to have her aboard and she is happy to be here, so life is good and the crew of EQ content.

We spent some time in the northern islands of Vanuatu, though didn’t get to see everything we wanted too. There are very few anchorages in these islands that I’d call safe and relaxed places to hang out and leave the boat feeling she’ll be right while we venture ashore. I’d like to have gotten ashore on Ambrym, but there was no good place to set the hook. We did spend some time ashore in the Maskelyne’s. There are a number of projects going on there that I was intrigued to see. Folks we know have helped the villagers there set up a soap factory using coconut oil which has been a success. There’s also a wood working shop and a rural training centre to help train people to find jobs. And some aid workers from Australia have helped them develop and ‘eco-tourism’ business. The islands are really beautiful. I also like that the villagers live as they have for many centuries, the old traditional way. It’s quite funny to see many have cell phones too. So, it’s quite the contrast between the old and new in one place. I’d like to go back there in a few years when we get back in this part of the world to see how our new friends have got on.

Steward our Tour Guide, a lovely guy that took the time to show us around the island.

The Ladies hard at work. The villagers make most everything they have from what is available on the island.

 

Village Life, very simple and easy as.

 

Hopefully they will have dealt with the malaria problem though. We were taking anti-malaria drugs (mefloquine) , but it has not so nice side effects (confusion, anxiety, lethargy, dizziness, headaches, irritability, vision problems, etc) so we switched to doxycycline. We feel much better now and coming back to our regular cheery selves. J

Anyway, we are off in the next hour or so (Saturday morning) for an over-nighter down to Tanna and then off to New Cal for a couple of weeks before we head to Australia the end of the month. We’ll be on Sailmail until we get to Noumea in New Cal.

That’s the news from EQ, where the winds are fair, the seas following and the crew content.

J

Springtime in NZ

So, the daffodils have come and gone, the Iris are up, and everything is budding forth, or so we hear. But it has got Sally thinking about lawn mowers (gawd forbid) and chainsaws (please) and getting the garden in (ok, but we have heaps of yummy produce right here) and a million other projects that need tending to. So, she is off, on her way home, to the ‘other’ world she loves so much.

We’ve been just hanging about in Vila and around the island of Efate without much exciting diving and tramps, though did enjoy our stay up Havannah Harbour on the NW side of Efate. Huge turtles in the bay we anchored in and nice paddling around the area. We did manage to get the bikes ashore and do a little ride up and over the big hill to the north shore and a small village. An old guy with two front teeth showed us a cave (for 1000 vatu, ~$10) with an underground lake. Apparently we could rent there kayak and paddle many kilometres underground, but we didn’t have a torch (flashlight) for the journey, so decided to give it a miss.

After Julie arrived, we were planning to head north to the other islands and then Sally would depart at some point, but the logistics were getting complicated (customs office, immigrations, crew lists, etc) and she discovered a cheap flight back to NZ today, so booked it. It was sad to see her go and on such short notice. But we had three good months cruising about Fiji and a little bit of Vanuatu. It has been a long time dream of hers to do some offshore passages, so am happy for her that she could see that dream come true. We did have some pretty good trips. She wanted to find a boat heading back to NZ, but it wasn’t to be.

Anyway, I wish you well back in NZ Sally-Jane and on to your next adventures. You’re a dear friend and will always be welcome aboard EQ. You’ve been a good ship mate. Wish you could have stayed a bit longer to see more of Vanuatu and get to know Julie.

So, Equanimity has a crew change. I’m quite happy that Julie has worked it out to join in on the adventure of sailing the seven seas (and put up with me J). She loves this lifestyle and I look forward to our budding friendship and the adventures yet to be. She arrives tomorrow and once settled in, we’ll head north to the outer islands and then eventually head for Oz by about the 1^st of November. Not sure yet if we’ll head for Brisbane or Sydney or ???, but we’ll work that out along the way.

So, I better get to doing a boat clean, laundry, etc. before tomorrow, eh. J

That’s the news from EQ, where the winds are fair, the seas following and the crew content.

J

Bye-bye Sally!!!!! Love you dearly and our time together...

 

 

Bye Bye Fiji

We managed to make it down to the main island, Viti Levu, and spend some time on the north and west coasts in many different anchorages. We wanted to go to the Yasawa group which is a bit remote from the hubbub of activity on the west coast of Viti Levu, but the weather reports were calling for 30-35 knots out there, so at the last minute, decided to stay in close to the leeward side of Viti Levu and sit it out. We were also waiting on my new solar panels to show up.

It is quite lovely here too, though not as lush and green as the eastern side of Fiji. The vegetation is more sparse with dry hills. It’s also the dry season, but it’s the place where most tourists go as it’s very sunny this time of year. It’s also very busy, at least for Fiji. We did make it out to another island that many ‘yachties’ go to, Musket Cove, for a couple of days. There are some nice big resorts there and lots of tourists, even the anchorage was full of boats. They’re getting ready for a yearly rally, so many more boats will show up. It was fun too because they have a barbecue area and bar on a small little island connected to the main resort where everyone gets together in the evenings. Met several interesting folks there, some headed in the same direction as us. We could also use the pools, showers, etc, as if we were regular guests, so that was nice.

We didn’t stay there as the snorkelling/diving wasn’t as good as we like. Guess we are spoiled, but there are too many people there and the waters are loaded with algae, etc. My solar panels showed up yesterday on the ferry from the main island, so spent this morning switching them out. I was impressed that Kyocera sent them along quickly, no questions asked, even paid for the shipping. That’s a company I’d support.

So, the normal trade winds have set up about a week ago and still look good for this next week, so we decided to pull the plug and head for Vanuatu while we can. Next weekend it might fall apart again, so we’ll take the best we can get while we can. So, we came into Lautoka to do the check out in the morning and make another grocery run before we put back to sea. If all goes well in the morning with the ‘officials’, we’ll be well beyond the barrier reef before sun down tomorrow night. It’s a new moon, so we’ll have lots of stars to guide our way and 15-18 knots of trade wind sailing on the port quarter to push us along. At least that’s the plan J. It should take about 4 days to get there.

We’re going to try to put into the island of Tanna to the south of the island chain. It’ll be easy to head to the northern islands from there and we won’t miss much that way. Tanna also has a very active volcano, Mt Yasur, that we can go look down into, provided it isn’t too active. But apparently it is very active most of the time and rumbles under your feet, spitting molten lava into the air all the time. So, we’re excited to see/feel that one.

Anyway, my good internet access is about to end and we’ll be back on ‘text-only’ Sailmail. Vanuatu isn’t nearly as sophisticated as Fiji. There’ll be a few internet cafes here and there, but no mobile broadband like here. So, until next time, be well, be happy.

That’s the news from EQ, where the winds are fair, the seas following and the crew content.

J

Here’s one of Alene, Sally and me and ‘Equanimity’ awaiting our return. We’re sitting on the dragons head of Namena. J

Namena

Well, I think I found another place for my spirit to dwell, Namena, or Dragon Island. J
(17⁰ 07’ South, 179⁰ 06’ East)

Looks like a sleeping dragon, eh. But more about that in a minute.

So, let’s see, were did we leave off the story... We still haven’t gotten very far, still within 60 miles of Savusavu were we first started our Fiji adventure. This NE part of Fiji is really hard to leave, the people are lovely, the islands pristine, it’s all laid back, the diving has been incredible. Our diving guide in Viani Bay, Jack, has looked after us well, though he did pass along his cold, first to Sally and then a week later the skipper got it. That of course was just as I was getting over an ear infection. Bugger. I had to start on antibiotics to deal with that. I shouldn’t have kept diving, but it was too hard to pass up, so did two more dives. But that was in the last email I think.

The weather hasn’t been that great the last few weeks, so have had some rest, but still kept going in any case. Some new friends on a boat called Migration out of California had a movie projector and I had “Finding Nemo”, so they organized a “movie night” for the kids in a village on the island of Rambi. We hung a white sheet on the wall, set up a small generator and projector, and wa-la, a movie theatre came to life and about 50 small kids showed up, not to mention many parents, etc. The place was packed and all good fun. Otherwise, life has been fairly simple and enjoyable, hot and muggy, but generally cools down at night. Lots of kayaking and swimming and general exploring. And lots of getting over colds.

But we reckon it’s time to move west, so we came back to Savusavu (again J) to fuel up and re-provision for a day, and then set off SW towards Viti Levu, the main island, and then west to the Yasawa island group. However, we found out that Bruce on Migration had to fly back to the states because his mum was real sick and that left Alene all alone, maybe for a month, so we offered to take her with us on a trip down to Namena island and atoll for a couple of days. She agreed and we left the next day as the weather was really settled and it looked like some great diving in the offer.

Well, that is an understatement, I think it is our best yet. It’s a small island (about a mile across) surrounded by reef which is a marine preserve in the middle western part of the Koro sea. The island has a small lovely resort that looks after it and collects the $25 fees. It’s nesting grounds for the tropical Boobies and frigate birds. The trees are covered with birds, the jungle lush and the beaches white coral sand. Just stunning.

But the best part was the diving. There’s a couple of moorings that were put in to help protect the reefs and make it easy for visiting boats. We left Savusavu at 7:30 and got there at 11:00, found a mooring just behind the reef, hooked up and everyone was so excited, we got our act together and Sally and Alene did the first dive to check it out while I was captain of the dingy. An hour later, they came up with these huge grins on their faces. Needless to say, we stayed a couple of more days diving the same wall. We worked out the tides and current drift, where to anchor the dingy on the top of the reef and how to get back to the dingy. It was a bit of a production, but well worth it.

So, the reef was a vertical wall, flat on the top in chest high water (great for snorkelling), but fell off absolutely vertical on the outside, which is what we did. It was bottomless as far as we could tell, so was like floating in space. Here was our tour guide. J

It really was vertical and we could just float along. It was full of all kinds of soft and hard corals and the visibility was pretty good. Here’s Sally and Alene gliding along past a big soft fan coral. Good hairdo Sally. J






And of course there was heaps of fish all about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not to mention some of the big guys. Here’s a big Grey shark on patrol along with a tuna.

 

My camera started to fog a bit so didn’t get much more, but it was an incredible place to visit. It’s another world down there and of course my little camera just doesn’t do it justice. Anyway, we finally had to say goodbye, though none of us wanted to leave. It was a very good few days, but we needed to take Alene back to Savusavu so we could get moving before the winds turned south making it hard to head that way. Alene was a joy to have aboard and we wish them well in the month ahead.

So, we are on the move again. We’ve got a few weeks left in Fiji before we start looking for a weather window to Vanuatu. My dear friend and mate Julie will join us on the 18^th, so need to be in Port Vila before then. Both Sally and I (particularly me J) look forward to her arrival.

So, that’s the news from EQ, where the winds are fair, the seas following and the crew content.

J

Ps. My solar panels quit working, but the manufacturer said they’d replace them free of charge, including shipping. They’ve got a 25 year warranty, so we’ll see how that goes. They said they had some problems with them back then, so no arguments. Not sure I’ll get them before Vanuatu though.

Pss. I checked my Sailmail account and saw some notes. Sorry, maybe I wasn’t clear. Since being in Fiji, we have a broadband internet stick that works most of the time, depending on local coverage, at least so far. So I haven’t been doing the Sailmail thing as it’s a bit more challenging. I will use that when we are offshore or can’t get cell coverage, which I suspect will be the case in Vanuatu. Also, Sailmail is mostly used for letting people know what’s happening when on passage. It’s simple slow text only so would like to use it sparingly.

Cheers...

The Waterfall

Not sure the name of “the waterfall”, but it was an amazing waterfall none the same. Looking at the Lonely Planet book for treks to do in the mountains, we thought the Waisali Rainforest Reserve sounded good, not to arduous, a 30  minute walk down to a waterfall in beautiful rainforest. The locals here said to just catch the bus to Labasa and tell the driver to drop us at “the waterfall”, they all know where it is.


So fine, we set out to catch the 9:00am bus a bit early to make sure we find it with lunch and a rain-jacket in hand. It’s a bit rainy, but warm and we are looking forward to our first adventure inland. So, the bus heads out and the driver assures us he’ll drop us at “the waterfall”. We figure if the driver forgets, then we’ll go see Labasa for the day for half the bus fare, you know, plan B. Cool, so we settle in for the long slooooow crawl up the mountain road in this big old bus packed full of people headed across the mountains to the “big city” (pop. 24,000) of Labasa. Savusavu is on the south side of the island which is the wet rainy side and Labasa is on the drier north side.

About an hour later after passing through several villages, making many stops, the bus stops for us at the very top of the mountains (the pass) and the driver points to the ridge and says “over there”. So, off we go, with many thanks, but we notice some friendly folks wondering what we are doing here, so we ask if “the waterfall” is over there. They, being the most friendly people on the planet, ask “well, which waterfall do you want to see, the little one, the middle one or the big one, and of course none of these are in the Waisali Rainforest Reserve, and the one “over there” isn’t but a trickle. Huuummm. Well, that’s easy, the big one of course. Oh, well for that one you have to go to the next village and then hike a few kilometres into the jungle. Ok, fine we have legs so we can walk to the next village and then into the jungle, which they said oh no, it’s much too far (10 km), so this woman insisted on taking us down there.

So, she gets her car, we pile in and she takes us to the next village and beyond to show us the little waterfall along the road where some locals get there drinking water and bath and then takes us back to the village, Lamolamo. Along the way, she points out the waterfall we chose to go see on the far wall of the valley. A spectacular valley it was too, breathtaking for sure. When stopping in the village, everyone came out to greet us and one young girl insisted on guiding us across the valley. So, cool, we set forth down the track into the deep green jungle, the clouds and rain of the southern side stopping at the mountain ridge just beyond the valley. It was muddy from the last few days of rain, but today was beautiful.

Now, since I’m in jandals (flip-flops) expecting a leisurely stroll on a track made for tourists, quickly wish I had come more prepared for an expedition. The jandals were definitely not going very far in this very sticky mud. So off they come and I’m going on into the jungle in bare feet, gooey mud oozing up through the toes. But I’m happy to be here and our guide, Eleanor, is lovely. Now you also have to keep in mind that every Fijian outside the towns carries a machete. It’s a way of life, I think they are all given one when weaned from mamas tit, because you can’t get very far without one.


So off we go, Eleanor leading the way. After some time (?) we come to a place we Eleanor says we can go this away (off the beaten track), it’s a short cut. Sally and I look at each other with a bit of trepidation, but agree fine, let’s really go on an adventure. So, Eleanor leading with machete flailing away, we finally make it to the river below “the waterfall”, which is still a ways upstream. Now we are in the raging creek working our way towards “the waterfall”. The only way to go is really in the creek, not alongside it as the terrain is just to impenetrable. And after many bolder hops and wading against the current and climbing steep rocky walls we finally come to “the waterfall”, probably 2 hours from the village and 2 km across the valley, though time doesn’t seem to figure in a place like this. And a spectacular waterfall it was. Even more so, the place was so alive with a spirit, that life was all around, a heaven on earth as it were, not to mention my feet were holding up just fine. It was also funny that we “experienced trekkers” were easily out-done by this young Fijian girl, though I of course had bare feet as an excuse. J In any case, we took pause to share our lunch with Eleanor and just be and soak it all up. The air was sweet, the cool mist of the waterfall floating down, the lush green of the jungle all about, the sky deep blue above. We were happy campers for sure.

On our way back, Eleanor took us a different route, stopping at several “camps” were the villagers had small plantations for growing their own food down on the valley floor. She also was pointing out all the plants in the forest that are edible. They have a very simple life, abundant food all about, all the necessities to build shelters. They are a people of little “want” and love them dearly. They are incredibly friendly and a giving lot as well. Eleanor even wanted us to spend the night and help us get the bus in the morning so she could show us around more. Now, who do you know that would do that for total strangers in the hectic world of the west?

Once we made it back up to “the road” (the only road), we decide to hitch back to Savusavu instead of waiting for the last bus or stay the night. We looked rather worn and covered in mud, though Eleanor of course didn’t look any different then when we first started. But no worries, the first truck that came along stopped and we say many thanks to Eleanor for taking the time out of her day to show us around. A lovely and kind and giving young woman. So, we slowly make it back across the mountains and back into Savusavu, well almost. We had to walk the last 3 km’s back to the dingy just before dark, get to the boat, take showers, back in the dingy to shore for a very large yummy pizza and spectacular sunset, back to the boat and fell into bed by 8pm from a long wonder-filled day.

So that’s the news from EQ, where the winds are fair, the seas following and the crew content.

J

Officially in Fiji!

It's been a good journey (have I told you about Raoul yet?) and the officials didn't want to wait until Monday to check us in, so all came by today (Saturday) as they were here doing other boats anyway. All were warm and friendly and welcoming people. So, we are here, even ventured ashore to have a nosy about the little village and do some hunting and gathering at the markets. Got settled on a mooring ball about 11:00pm Friday night and promptly went to bed. It's flat water and no wind, so felt a bit weird.

It was an interesting trip up the bay and into the river. Nearly got mowed down by a big car ferry as they weren't playing by the proper navigation rules, I think just going where they wanted to. More like the big guy has right-of-way. I wasn't about to argue. And of course not as interesting as Raoul. Ok, ok, I'll get to that in a minute. Anyway, it was fun coming into a strange place at night, all the lights a bit confusing, but we took our time and found a good spot amongst all the other boats here. Apparently, the ICA rally arrived two days ago, so lots of boats up this small river estuary right in front of this small Fijian village. After being at sea for nearly 2 weeks, adjusting back to "people noise" is going slowly, but ok.

It's really quite beautiful here, very green as it's the end of the rainy season. It's a very mountainous country as well so we will enjoy exploring the interior. The people are very friendly and a happy lot. It's also very warm and humid (yes, we escaped the NZ winter). Our first morning was a sunny and cheery one to greet us into this lovely country.

So, it's the conclusion of a 1400 nautical mile open ocean sail, mostly with favourable winds and conditions. We seem to have picked a reasonable weather window, as this passage always has it's challenges. But then of course there was Raoul. :) Lots of spinnaker sailing which is hard to beat. Very lovely ride. Our last day was a bit light on the wind though, so had to motor. 30 miles was so close, yet so far away. And with lightening about the night before, we wanted to get in.

Now Raoul was another story (yes, finally getting to it :) ). It being about half way, intriguing place to have a looky-see, and an approaching northerly frontal system, we decided to have a look. If it didn't look reasonable, we'd continue on and deal with the front at sea. When we got there it looked great, nice beach enclosed by huge vertical walls, protected by seas and wind from the east. With the front expecting a NE blow, we snuggled up to the beach to sit it out. It was a bit rolly with the swell wrapping around from the south, but much better than big seas out outside. So, we set the hook and Sally went for a swim. I noticed a big shark after cleaning a fish, so put the dingy in the water and went and fetched her. Peeeewwwww.

After getting a reasonable nights sleep, we decided to swim/kayak to the beach to check it out. It was too inviting to not have a look around. Now Customs would say we are meant to head straight to our destination without stopping, except for emergencies or safety, weather, boat troubles, etc. I say this qualified as a reasonable stop. We also did spot a big DOC sign on the beach saying "landing by permission only", so we set off to ask permission. We never found anyone and the vertical walls made access to the interior impossible without climbing gear. So we had a pleasant stroll down the black sandy beach. Once deciding it was time to get back to the boat, things got a bit more challenging.

By then, the swell had built up and the surf was pounding on the beach, making it an "oh my god" panic like situation. I tried getting out with the kayak and got trashed, cracked a couple of ribs and a few bruises and hanging on against the undertow, but I managed to get out on the next low set. It was the last low set and Sally was stuck with big breakers and a dry bag and kayak paddle to swim off with. She tried too, but got dumped on several times, thinking she wasn't going to make it as the rip was so strong. Me all the time sitting just out of the break on the kayak trying to work out how to help. Finally, Sally makes it back onto the beach with the dry bag and can't find a way off. After half an hour she finally heads for the end of the beach and out along the rocks to find a way back in the water. She makes it but has a long swim back to the boat. I head over with the kayak in case mister knobby (great white) shows up again.

About this time heading back to the boat, we begin seeing huge swells come in and EQ climbing over the peaks pulling hard on the anchor and then breaking just behind the boat. It was a heart wrenching sight, so we picked up the pace. We did make it back ok and pulled the anchor during a lull and moved to deeper water. Peeeewwww again. All is well except a kayak paddle gone missing.

So we had dinner and hunker down for the blow about to come in, thinking we're good and protected behind the huge walls in front of us. Right. It did start to blow and it was a long tense night as we sat anchor watch, eyes glued to the GPS for possible movement. At least the swell started to settle down, but the zephyrs were amazing. We recorded gusts over 45 knots, coming in like gunshot, or was it cannon shot. Amazing sheets of horizontal water as it dumped on us with a vengeance. All the time we're praying that the anchor will hold as our butt was pointed at the rock wall without much room to react in case the anchor did pop lose. My big mistake was to not move to the NW corner of the bay before dark were there would have been better protection.

But the anchor and ground tackle did hold, buried itself good in the sandy/gravelly bottom and we didn't move an inch. Bloody good anchor, proven itself yet again. Sometime in the middle of it all though, I decided it best to let out more anchor chain (more scope) to get the best possible pull and protection. That was a difficult task and caused a slashed finger cut in the chain windlass. Bugger again. I also rigged a float to mark the chain in case we had to cut it loose and make a run for it.

By morning it started to settle down and we got a bit of sleep. By noon on Sunday, it switched to the NW, the rain had eased and a chop started coming into the bay, which was our signal that the front had passed and it was time to leave. So with patched finger, cracked ribs and bruises, very little sleep and a sigh of relief, we pull the anchor aboard and put to sea. It didn't get very far that day as the NE swell had built up that night to 4 meters, even some 5 meter stuff. Big mountains of water is another way to put it. It was really quite amazing how big it can get in short order. But EQ can handle it just fine, just has to go slower when heading up into it. The crew however just needs to hang on.

By the next morning it all settled down and the winds backed more to the west and we had a good sail. In fact it was good sailing the rest of the trip. The one thing that made all the difference in the world was the auto-pilot. We did very little steering. Had we had to steer, it would certainly would have been very hard. So, good ground tackle and a good auto-pilot makes all the difference.

Anyway, that's the Raoul story, more or less. Beautiful place really and would like to go back sometime for a better wonder. The best part of course is we loved the whole trip, as hard as some parts were. It's good to be back to sea and living the life I worked so hard to make happen. And of course Sally-Jane has been a delightful crew and good friend. They don't come any better.

So, that's the news from EQ, where the winds are fair (generally), the seas are following (mostly), and the crew is content to be here and now (always). And of course a nice fresh shower is a delight.

Cheers. J