Tuesday 27 October 2015

28th October - catching up on sailing news

Wednesday 28th October 2015

Life in Tasmania is very busy and very land-based.

But I still keep in touch with sailing friends – Facebook and blogs, so good.

Many adventures and misadventures…

Stefan and Wendy, in King & Queen mode
Stefan, on SV Juliana, fell heavily on his shoulder inside the boat and has a broken left clavicle so his arm in a sling.  He has to rest it for at least six weeks. The have sailed from Indonesia to Gove and are making their way back down the east cost of Australia.  They have had to call for volunteers to come and crew.  Fortunately their autopilot is now working – they had to cross the sea with a makeshift arrangement, which must have made things just a bit more difficult than necessary.

Our friend Sue has just had her first stay in a 3*** hotel.  Andrew is VERY proud of her for being able to survive…she usually is only a 5***** girl!


Phil and Cheryl have had a fabulous time in Raja Ampat and are now on their way back to Australia:


They loved Pulau Wayag, which they likened to a Jurassic Park set.  

Our second anchorage was next to a white sandy beach in a snug hideaway.  Here Phil got ill eating candle nuts and vomited his bottom denture overboard. Next morning with the help of the mighty Garmin chartplotter which registered "manoverboard" and our track, Howard threw 2 large Bintang bottles overboard to indicate the possible "teethoverboard" spot. Miraculously Howard free dived 10 metres and found Phil's teeth!

Phil and Cheryl
They also loved my favourite anchorage off Pulau Friwin.  Simon found them and took them off in his dugout outrigger canoe in the early morning, to trek up the mountain to see the fabled red bird of paradise.  They enjoyed this experience immensely but…not a single bird appeared.  We were SO lucky to see two!

One bird of paradise
They went to Pulau Birie, and the Raja4divers resort on Pulau Pef. 


And then to Doom, where we spent many days…

Next, we anchored off Pulau Doom, Sorong and were helped immensely by John and Janus from the island. And then......things took a downward spiral.
We were charged $100 each to extend our visas quickly.
Sadly Howard got sick and has been diagnosed with dengue fever since returning to Townsville.
$200 of our precious tied down fuel, containers and covers were stolen off the boat while we slept!  This is our only theft in the 2½  years we have been cruising but it was a horrible experience.

Other than that…they had the best time!

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