Daily Logs

Samsara - FInally caught a fish

March 23Yesterday morning we finally caught a fish. It was early in the morning, around 5:30am. We started motoring around 5am since there was no wind....and apparently it was breakfast time. We caught what we think was a mackerel, around 24 inches long. Good thing we caught a fish or Lee would have made us stay out here until we did! (Just kidding - at this point he's as anxious as the rest of us to get there.) The girls haven't been bugging us with the "are we there yet?" (that's my line) but they are getting a bit bored with the lack of running and playing. They do a pretend karate fighting (they've been watching Karate Kid this leg) and run and jump all over the cockpit, which of course makes me think they are going overboard....So we're still motoring when no wind and sailing when. read more...

Crazy Horse - Oct 18

Today we are still tied at the dock in the harbor at Mauritius. We have received the schedule of events this am on the morning broadcast and are looking forward to many activities until we leave on Sat. am. for Reunion.Today we will go to Jumbo for provisioning the last of our supplies for the next two legs. Tomorrow we will have the task of refueling in this somewhat small area which provides a challenge for the fuel trucks and some of the boats. It will be nice not to have to worry about undocking and redocking to accomplish the task. Today they took all of our propane tanks to refuel those. I took the last bit of our laundry to get that done too.Wed. we are looking forward to our Underwater Walk on the East side of the island. The participants will be some of the crews from Crazy. read more...

Glamorous Galah

Tuna and companyWe have been sailing in sight of Trompeta and Zoe from our World ARC fleet for the last few days which has been great after 20 days of just ocean.Dave has just landed a 30kg tuna which is our biggest yet! We eat again. Should arrive Hiva Oa noon Saturday local time, woo hoo! Ted. read more...

Lady Kay - Women on Waya island

HiWe have had a great few days at Musket Cove - really enjoyed being on a marina for a change. We had a cocktail evening first night, pig roast the next, and DIY communal barbeque last night. It was good to meet up with everyone again and we also managed to get some essential boat jobs done - e.g. sticking the skirt back on the dingy. We also managed to fit in a full massage, I had the Balinese one and Michael the deep tissue. Absolutely fab and v good value.We were due to set off today for Vanuatu, but several boats, including us decided to leave tomorrow instead as we were forecast and have lots of thunderstorms today. We have moved out of the marina and are anchored in the bay outside. Plan to leave first thing tomorrow.Picture today is still of our last trip ashore - we had so many. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Sunday, 17th October 2010 Skipper remained in the bunk, while Aileen, Collette and Terry toddled off to Mass. There they met the priest who publically welcomed them to Mauritius and the Church from the Alter.  10.00hrs Skipper joined the other 3 for breakfast in the Hotel, Neil was still off with the others on the east coast. The food was only so,so, mind you there was a lot of food, but the eggs were like rubber, and the bacon was as hard as nails, the toast was good, so we had lots of that. 13.00hrs Aileen, Terry and Collette wandered off in the car to the beach, while Skipper remained on board to rest his wounds. Irene from Tucanon came over to A Lady to wish a speedy recovery to the skipper, which was nice, and appreciated. Skipper had lots of emails wishing him well. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently in Mauritius)

Saturday, 16th October 2010 Mauritius is the second largest Island of the Mascareignes Archipelago, and is sheltered from the Indian Ocean by the worlds third largest Coral Reef. It was once a very important strategic location in this area, and flourished while the world was serviced by Sailing Ships. Unfortunately, the Island was not suitable for the new breed of ship, called Steam Ships and when the Suez Canal was built, it spelt the end of the golden era for Mauritius and Reunion Island.  We got up early enough and had a light breakfast. Skipper was still feeling sore, but a little less sore than yesterday. We eventually got ourselves organised and took off in the rent a car, heading south. The first place on the agenda was the natural History Museum on the. read more...

Ensemble - Day 74 (22 March 2012): Home straight

Greetings from yacht Ensemble.Last 120 nm to go (give or take). There was no wind yesterday and we started the engine up in the morning. We should have enough fuel - but it will be a close run thing. We at least have a favourable current (at last) and the seas are slight (completely flat) making for a comfortable motor/sail.The good news is that as of 4am this morning we have been able to stop the motor and sail again - at a healthy 8 knots in a breeze of 15 knots (with rain) - hopefully it will hold out until we get there or at least for four or five hours to give us some margin on the fuel.The other side of the 'close run thing' is whether or not we can make it to Hiva Oa by sunset. Again - a close thing - as we have to cover the 120 nm in about 14 hours. If not - we will either anchor. read more...

Kasuje - Log Date 4th July

Hi allMick Lea now sending this first log from FijiSteve and I arrived at Musket Cove 0830 on 2nd July after 29 hours travel-Weather just fantastic and Bob and Dawn Kingham were waiting as the 6 seater brought us into Fiji wonderland-They look really well and tanned to perfection. All moved onto Kasuje who was waiting for us in the Marina just 8oo yards from the grass runway.Thursday we set about Steve's maintenance programme and we had a good day sorting out the engine/generator (service), fitting new alternator and Steve still has all his skin on his knuckles, he came out the engine room once absolutely dripping with sweat plus choice words of advice to designers of engines-the cooker was re gimbled, the toilet at the bow was fixed. Bob and Dawn did a re provision, we are like a. read more...

Talulah Ruby II - Talulahs boys will be girls

Fiji has been very varied from the remote island of Magonai to the hustle and bustle of Port Denerau Marina.Today we say goodbye to our Spanish crew Miguel,Kuko and Pedro(The 3 Tenors)who have entertained us and the other WARC crews along the way with their great singing and dancing.We visited Magonai which is a former leper colony we met with Chief Watson and his villagers and spent a great night singing and drinking Kava,the next day we trekked across the island to the schooltaking gifts of school books calculators and pens, the headmaster Adam was very grateful and the kids sang and danced for us,this will be one of our best memories.We have also had some of the best snorkeling with wonderful coral gardens just 2mtrs below the surface,along with the beach BBQs Fiji has been a great. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently in Mauritius)

Friday, 15th October 2010 Neil got up early and went off with the other youngsters (well that may be debatable) to start on their PADDI course. Its great to see the younger adults doing these diving courses, as they will really stand to them later in life..... Aileen went off to Mass praying for the patient in the Clinique... Meanwhile, in the Clinique, Skipper is wide awake, feeling bloody sore and blood all over his bed clothes, tubes into his arm and out of his thing. Yeach! Ohhhhh all sooooo sore............... BUT, but, the stone is gone. Dr. Isaac, the urologist appeared with the lovely Dr Lisette Mohith (the Dutch lady I mentioned yesterday whose mother came from Belfast)appeared and sat down for a chat, Skipper had to explain all about the sailing trip,. read more...

Glamorous Galah

No wind last night our wind gave up and we had to start the motor for the whole day hopefully it will blow a bit for us tonight we look like arriving on Saturday   David. read more...

Luna Verde - We zijn er bijna

Stille Oceaan, Donderdag 22 maart, 09o43' Zuid, 137o35' West, 19:15 UTCDe wind is nu helemaal op en komt hier de komende dagen niet meer terug. Nog 86 mijl te gaan. Er zit nog 300 liter diesel in de tank en we hebben 200 liter in jerry cans aan dek. Dat moet ruim voldoende zijn. De motor draait langzaam, 1700 toeren. We gaan 4,5 knopen door het water en hebben een halve knoop stroom mee. Dan komen we net na de opkomst van de zon in Hiva Oa aan.De oceaan is nog niet vlak. Gisteren avond nog een stevige bui met 25 knopen wind over ons heen gehad. Gelukkig tijdig zien aankomen. De luiken gesloten, de code-zero weggerold en het grootzeil gereefd. Er is geen maan. Het is aarde donker. Thijs met regenkleding in de kuip. Wilma en Michiel volgen de bui binnen op de radar. De regen klettert op. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - jobs day!

Wednesday 2nd JulyUp with the lark, breakfast aboard and a plan of action agreed. Stewy starts on the bow scrubbing the teak decks, Ian starts in the cockpit and Annie does the spray-hood. Phil soon arrives and goes up the mast to check the rigging. It’s a good job he does - while he’s up there he discovers that the spinnaker halyard roller is hanging by a thread – if this went it would have meant a fairly lengthy repair. He replaces and fixes it and adjusts the tension on the shrouds. It’s a beautiful morning and once we get Amy McDonald blasting out the sound system we’re grafting away merrily. As soon as Phil’s finished with the rigging, he very kindly joins the cleaners and we’re all scrubbing, bleaching and hosing until lunchtime when the work is. read more...

Tucanon - Multi-coloured earth

When the coast guards came on board the day that we arrived, we spoke to them of the news that we had received, concerning the fishing boat being attacked by pirates, while we were still on passage to Mauritius. They thought that the problem had been mutiny, not piracy and that they were expecting the fishing boat to arrive in port that day. They told us that the captains on some of the fishing boats beat their crew and treated them very badly. As in most things, the captain had one tale to tell, the crew anotherMonday 11th October and all the boats except Basia have now arrived. Basia left Cocos Keeling 5 days later than the rest of the fleet so won't be here for another week.A lot of the boats have suffered damage in one way or another, a lost spinnaker pole, a damaged sail, a lost. read more...

Lady Kay - Pink and Blue Crocs

We left early this morning to motor against the wind all the way to Musket Cove. Luckily wind dropped to about 10kts, but we were still nose on all the way. The charts here are totally inaccurate and we found a large and rather nasty reef that wasn't marked on any of our charts. After going aground a few days ago, we are now extremely careful, as you need to dodge reefs all the time. After a twisty but pleasant journey we eventually arrived at what we thought was going to be our dream anchorage for the night - the only cruising guide we could find made it sound idyllic and from a distance it looked it, but when we got closer we found it was now the site of a hotel, with houses on stilts covering most of the anchorage space. Cruising information is so out of date here, and there are no. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 181 - Fine dining!

16 October 2010We were invited on board Tzigane for dinner along with Dick and Irene and Paul and Suzana. Jenny and John are great cooks, in equal measures. It was just like old times. Tzigane was undisputedly the party boat of our last around the world rally and there is no doubt that this time around it is just the same. Mind you, Tucanon are a hard one to beat! But five days have passed already since our arrival here and David and I have barely caught up on lost sleep.Mauritius could hardly be described as a beautiful island but it has an interesting landscape, plains broken by high volcanic peaks. We have been spoiled with places like the Marquesas, and French Polynesia. Hiring a minibus we did a day trip around the south of the island along with Jenny and John, Dick and Irene. Trou. read more...

Wind Dancer - Beware the Tides of March

With the forecast of light airs until we reached 5 degrees south leaving the Galapagos, we were not too excited that the engine might be apart of our initial commencement and journey towards French Polynesia and our first stop into Hiva Oa in the Marquesas.  Luckily as forecasts usually can be (be it good or bad), there was enough of a puff to get us sailing at an acceptable speed up until the evening of the first night.  There was a solid motor to take us through when it got really light, but more than anything, this provided a little comfort for the crew through the roles, and saved the sails from some flopping and taking a beating.    The wind returned the following morning and we were off to a start of our sailing 200 mile -plus days.  The spinnaker. read more...

Crazy Horse - Oct 16

Today, we will be leaving our hotel and getting back to reality. Bill is going up the mast to make some repairs that happened on our way here. We will prepare for our new crew who is arriving on Thurs. Andrew will be with us again for the short hop to Reunion. He is a great crew and pops in to do any task required. He puts Matt and I on the spot to measure up! His added knowledge is always appreciated.Matt is off with friends he has made on the World ARC for a few days in a house they have all rented on the beach. They will have great fun I am sure! He hopes to make some dives there too.I am trying to get together a group of us to do the underwater walk. They have these excursions on many resorts and is an alternative to a dive. You get to see all the underwater scenery without the need. read more...

Asolare - Eschatology..

It is Sunday again and this morning we are to be found in Bible class at the Christian church on Makogai. While we probably would not have chosen to learn about Eschatology, being half an hour early for the church service this morning gave the rather fervent pastor the opportunity to teach us something new. The local kids are well up to speed, unprompted they tell us that “Eschatos” is the Greek word for “Last”, that Eschatology is the study of (I hope I remember correctly) the “Last Phase” before Jesus returns, the World ends and we are led to heaven or hell as deserved. Fortunately, and before we are shown up completely, the service proper soon starts. Children and adults sing each hymn as if it were their last, the likelihood of which is reinforced by both Chief. read more...

Ensemble - Day 73 (21 March 2012): Flying fish wash up

Greetings from Ensemble.200nm to go. No wind to speak of (6.5 knots) - and a flat sea. We've struggled - but sailed through the night - albeit at speeds of only 4- 5 knots. We'll be starting the engines soon!We managed to lose another lure - not sure what it was but it was big as it snapped the line... We did manage to catch a flying fish using the bathroom sink - much to Magali's surprise when she woke up (unfortunately I missed the scream).On the food front, we (Magali) managed banana bread, pizza for lunch and scallop pasta for dinner - with the usual wine and cheese for the sunset rendevous. Today we plan a BBQ and bubbles to celebrate our (hopefully) last night at sea.The challenge for today will be when and if to start the engine. We want to arrive in daylight tomorrow - so need to. read more...

Glamorous Galah

It's a beautiful day out here. Odd jobs done, 2 loaves of fresh bread baked. Just on 3 days to go before a Saturday night party on Hiva Oa. Go red spin! Bernie. read more...

Asolare - Good Morning Savu Savu....!

It is 0830 a fact warmly and enthusiastically announced 5 out of 7 days by Curly Carswell on VHF Ch14. A long-term cruiser, Curly has found roots in the South Pacific and Fiji in particular, he is currently based in Savu Savu from where among other activities he runs the local cruisers radio net. I have been told that wherever you find a congregation of sailing cruisers you will also typically find a radio net. My first experience of this was in Vavau where I was bowled over by the lively, informative and truly interactive session run each day at 0830 on Ch06 or Ch26 by a guy called Baker providing an eclectic mixture of weather, local activities and information exchange between cruisers as they pass through Tonga. Walk through the town at the right time you can hear the net being. read more...

Jade - Log written 11-15-11 10am

Things are going well on Jade. We are all reading, relaxing, eating cookies, talking and sending e mails. It's great to have the Sirius radio but the guys don't like my hits station at all! For dinner last night we had Scallops Florentine, a recipe from Julie Palm. It was great, thanks Julie! We may be tempted to go swimming later today it is so warm. It's a pleasure to be out here on the water again on a long passage! from Frances on Jade. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently in Mauritius)

Thursday, 14th October 2010 (Colette's Birthday) 06.00hrs Skipper and Terry got into the car and set off for the Airport to meet Colette, who was arriving on the 07.25 from London. The airport, located on the southern side of the Island, was a good hours drive away, so we set off in plenty of time. Skipper had a slight ache in his lower right hand side, just inside the hip. This flares up every so often, but usually disappears after a good dose of anti flamatories. Half way to the airport, Skipper is in severe pain, very rapidly the pain became overpowering and had to stop the car. Skipper get out and started vomiting. Ohhhh, my god!!!!! what's happening? Terry had to take over the driving as skipper lay down in the passenger seat in a bad state. Terry stopped at the. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently in beautiful Mauritius)

Wednesday, 13th October 2010 Another beautiful day here in Mauritius. We had a light breakfast on board, and Aileen went off to the hairdresser to have the hair done, Skipper already had his done yesterday. Aileen also had her broken tooth redone at the dentist. He put in a few pins and reshaped the whole tooth and by all accounts did a great job for the equivalent of 30 euros. Neil spent the morning recovering in the scratcher,  Terry spent much of the day cleaning and polishing the aft part of the boat, and particularly the white casing around the life raft, which was serviced in Cork before we left. They used metal clips on the straps around the raft to close it all up and of course these are now rusting at a great rate.  Our "KITE" was returned by the. read more...

Matilda - Give the Battlers at the Back a Break

So much for choosing a El Nina year - trade winds seem to be just a rumour. The past week has been a sad tale of no wind, cracking sails and challenges to sanity, so much for arriving in Hiva Oa for the festivities. To make matters worse for the slower boats, the wind seems to have died from the back forwards so we spent several days on the radionet hearing of the wonderful winds further forward whilst we sunk further and further back - its just not fair. As a result we are all going a bit loopy here, especially during the night watches. Yes, the starry night sky without the moon these days is breathtakingly beautiful but it can do strange things to the mind. I have been convinced that Venus is getting bigger ie closer and definitely following us - don't say you weren't warned when it is. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - on the move again

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }Tuesday 1st JulyUp we get after a very restless night… Unusually when at anchor, the mosis (mosquitoes) were out in force last night buzzing round our heads like fighter planes zooming in for the kill. When you do eventually manage to doze off they land and suck your blood until the first thing you know about it you have an infuriating itch, usually round the ankles, or some other bit that wasn’t covered. Ian and Annie manage to swat one each when they get up; they are both full of blood - obviously too full to move fast enough – so they’ve clearly been feeding on us all night! Stewy’s not had a good night either – last-night’s curry has kicked in and he’s spending a lot of time in the heads! Licking our wounds, we sit. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - to Lautoka

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }Monday 30th JuneWe wake up before dawn to the wind whistling round the bay. If it was still flat calm we were going to motor to Lautoka on the inside of the reef but as it looks like we’re going to have wind we head out along with Andante and Cleone and set the sails at 6.45am. There’s 10-15 knots of wind from the SE and we’re on a beam reach going along nicely at 8-8.5 knots. At 10.15am, the wind drops so we turn the engine on and wind in the headsail. There’s a few short puffs after that but it gradually peters out, the sea is calm and we continue motoring SW towards Lautoka. The coast of Vitu Levu is interesting; mountainous with a green and bracken brown landscape – more reminiscent of Scotland than the South Pacific.. read more...

Crazy Horse - Mauritius

What a wonderful place is Mauritius. We are all in paradise here. After adifficult voyage from Darwin, to Cocos, to here we are happy to be on land and have a time to relax and get some sleep. Everyone from the World ARC looks so happy and refreshed after only a few days of being on land. This was a major part of our trip. To accomplish this leg is quite exciting to say the least.It was so very wonderful to see the smiling faces of Paul and Susanna as we approached the harbor. They had a wonderful fruit basket and rum to celebrate our arrival. As each boat arrived we all cheered each other for a trip well done. This is the advantage in coming in the rally. We have made some wonderful friends along the way.Everyone has their own story of challenges they faced in getting here. Bill and I. read more...

BRIZO - Thursday 21 March

We are just 220 miles from our landfall, everyone is anxious to arrive. By far the biggest onboard excitement yesterday was landing a 43" Dorado, the largest fish we have ever caught on BRIZO. It was a very beautifully colored fish, we all hated to see the colors fade as soon as he was out of the water. Yes, it was a "he", a large Dorado bull. Hubs did a great job of cleaning the fish and now we have a good supply of Mahi-Mahi in the fridge.Corinne has kept the girls working on school work every afternoon, knowing that once we arrive at a new destination it will be hard to maintain a focus on school. We expect to arrive Thursday afternoon, based on the fleet position reports we will be one of about 10 boats arriving that day. We received an email from Rally Control yesterday that the. read more...

BRIZO - Daily Log 19 March

Three days from now and we should arrive at Hiva Oa! The wind has freshened and we have been sailing for the past 36 hours at between 6 and 8 knots, back to 160+ miles-per-day. Everyone is anxious to complete this leg and get off the boat to stretch our legs. We saw four Rally boats in the last day as everyone's course converges as we all approach the finish. Friday night is the first social event for the group and we look forward to hearing about all of the stories about fishing, gear failure and other (minor) problems.Speaking of gear failure we just suffered the loss of our generator, apparently the alternator windings shorted out and burned. We had a real fire drill because of the distinct electrical-burning smell which spread through the boat but we reacted immediately and there was. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 180 - Free for all!

13 October 2010A tot of rum and a basket of fresh fruit. This was presented to us by Suzana the minute we were rafted alongside Tzigane. We toasted each other on our latest landfall. Irene (Tucanon) was waiting on the dockside to invite us for sundowners that very night. It is so good to be amongst friends. They have invited every single boat for drinks on their arrival. Surely they will be the recipients of the ultimate rally hospitality award. They certainly get my vote....Coming into Port Louis was a culture shock after the complete lack of sophistication and isolation of Cocos Keeling. But it was important and necessary for us to come here and not just for two weeks rest and relaxation. We needed shoreside facilities, power and water, gallons of it, to wash the boat. She was heavily. read more...

Ideal - Fiji - Trauminsel gefunden!

Ahoi,heute haben wir endlich vor Viti Levu, auf den Fiji's, die Trauminselgefunden, nbewohnt, mit einem zentralen Berg, Sandstrand, Palmen,Cocosnuesse und dort haben wir sauberes, iefblaues Wasser gefunden.Eigentlich ist dort in der Seekarte nur ein Tages-Ankerplatzeingetragen, doch nachdem wir uns durch die Reefe hierher navigierthaben und das Wetter auch traumhaft schoen und ruhig ist, verbringen wirhier eine sternenklare Nacht. Morgen geht es dann nach Musket Cove,Malolo Lailai Islands / Fiji, dort ist ein Tauch-Resort, Musket Cove undda treffen wir all die anderen vierzig Boote der WORLDARC wieder. Am3.July haben wir unsere Startparty. Am 5.July starten wir zu den VanuatuIslands. Auf der Insel Ambryn / Vanuatu sind zwei aktive Vulkane unddort tanzen die Maenner noch wie zu Urzeiten. read more...

Lady Kay - Coconuts

HiSet off early for the next island and found a lovely bay which gave us protection against the northerly wind. Joined shortly after by Chantelle and they joined us for drinks in the evening. We planned to go snorkeling the next day, but at 5am was woken by wind and large swells from the South, so had to move off at first light. Battled against winds up to 30kts right on the nose as we headed to a large bay that should shelter us from these winds. Took hours to go a relatively short distance, but once in this bay we found a good anchorage in flat seas.2 pictures today which relate to yesterday - Anna climbing up the coconut tree to get us drinking coconuts, and also Anna opening the nuts. (not sure if you will get both)Tomorrow we leave for the ARC gathering at Musket Cove.All the best. read more...

Ariane - Mauritius - wow!

Liebe Segelfreunde Nun sind wir bereits einige Tage in Port Louis auf Mauritius und geniessen es, wieder mal direkt neben dem Stadtzentrum zu liegen. Die Leute hier sind wie gewohnt sehr freundlich. Es handelt sich um ein buntes Völkergemisch, wobei die leicht dunkelhäutigen sehr auffallen: Sie sind sehr schlank und viele von ihnen sehr hübsch... Hier lässt es sich doch leben!!! Spass beiseite. Mauritius wirkt hochentwickelt und die für Tourismus zuständigen Ämter geben sich alle Mühe zu gefallen. So liegen wir in der Marina Caudan und müssen keine Rupie Liegegebühr bezahlen. Auch Strom und Wasser sind kostenfrei!!!  Da könnte sich manches Land eine Scheibe davon abschneiden. Auch die Restaurantpreise sind gut bezahlbar bei sehr guter Qualität. Der erste Eindruck ist also. read more...

Anastasia - Land Ho!

9:50.6S 138:35.8W  3096 miles covered, 25 miles to go   The Marquesas are relatively young islands and have not had time to erode down to coral atolls, so they still have mountains that we can see from a distance.  Here is our first sight of land after 17 days at sea, the eastern cape of Hiva Oa.  Not a very exciting picture, but a significant milestone in our journey. 7BD. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently in Mauritius)

Tuesday, 12th October 2010 05.00hrs Skipper was wide awake early, so got about the blog, had a shower in the shore facilities, which were clean and spacious, everything around here still looks good. The place has lots of sparrows, we have not seen sparrows for a long time, and its always good to hear them chirping away early in the day. Later, after a light breakfast, Skipper met Paul, Susanne, and others ashore for some info swapping, and catching up on the news. All boats are here now, with the exception of Basia, who left the Cocos 4 days after us.  Paul (rally control) introduced us to Philippe the manager, Builder and developer of the Caudan Marina Complex. A very interesting guy and he arranged golf for us later in the week at Gymkahana golf club. Its the oldest. read more...

Maamalni - Suwarrow #6: Oops - got caught! Coral Bommies and 2-part Harmony

The day had come for the fleet to weigh anchor and sail off into the sunset. It had been decided that instead of having an official sailing start across an imaginary line in a really tight passage that it might be wise to have a start of "Gentlemen, Raise your anchors". So at precisely 10AM the gentlemen of the fleet hit the up button on their windlasses, that lovely piece of motorized equipment that saves shoulders and muscles the world over, and raised anchor. We looked over and watch Harmonie, a US boat making repeated attempts to get under way. Don would move the boat forward and it would spring back. He would go to side and then rev the engine in reverse and be jerked back, with no give and no take. Twenty minutes of this and you knew that they were firmly affixed to a bommie.. read more...

Ensemble - Day 72 (21 March 2012): Dolphin watching and two more lucky Marlin

Greetings from yacht Ensemble.Another lazy day of sailing. Winds were fairly constant - but slight - often dropping below 10 knots. Seas slight - and no rain. We now have just over 300nm to go - so should be there in two days.We have taken a bit of a crooked path to get here - having already travelled 2700 nm on this leg. We mistakenly thought the winds and the currents would be more developed further south. With the benefit of hindsight - both the wind strength and direction would have been more favourable if we'd stayed more north. Oh well - next time! ;-)We had a bit of a scare with the generator yesterday - where it was only delivering a small charge to the batteries. It turned out to be a problem with the remote unit - and went away with a simple reset - but not before we'd run the. read more...

Serendipity - Just 50 miles to go!

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Voyageur - Log day 177 - Beating a path to Mauritius

11 October 2010 It is a long time since we have had a beat to windward. By the early hours of the morning the wind filled in from the south west. It came as a surprise. The forecast had been for a southerly wind. We unfurled the main, the first time on this whole passage that we had used it. Off we went in a brisk force five. Now Voyageur dipped her bow and she romped over the waves. Neptune had looked kindly upon us for the sea was reasonably flat. Averaging between seven and a half to eight and a half knots our landfall on Monday was assured. Whoopee! Tzigane are about 60nm in front and I think a bit of a celebration is planned. Our fist ship in over 2000nm showed up on the AIS. MSC Zambia was heading north east, bound for Singapore. Throughout the day the wind remained doggedly in the. read more...

Maamalni - Suwarrow #7: Sumo wrestling in the dark.

Its kind of like going into the Sumo ring blindfolded when you lay anchor as you have no idea where you are placing your muscle. The Sumo ring is where two very large opponents meet both swathed in loin cloths, perfectly coiffed hair pull back into a French braid and then stomp and stare at each other. Sumo matches are usually one round and ends when one opponent throws the other one out of the ring. This is kind of the way it was with MaaMa versus the Coral Head. A contest of stealth and bulk. To get good holding you want your anchor to dig in, but on the other hand you also want to get it back. When the tide changes, the boat will move around. Add some wind, likely changing direction over the course of a couple of days and you have this heavy chain under the boat seeking out any rock,. read more...

Maamalni - Suwarrow #5: Oh Maitre'd, our reservation for 4 please

On our way back from the coral gardens we dinghied over to Williwaw for a quick chat. You may recall Eric and Graznye are from France and both are doctors who had previously reviewed and attended to my finger. We went by to say hello, which evolved into an invitation for dinner aboard MaaMa to help improve Franco-American relationship. They happily accepted and cocktails were scheduled for 6. A little later in the day, the 3 amigos of Onelife, a lovely Amel Supermaramu from Italy came by to invite us for Pastis that evening. Well, never wanting to turn down an invitation for cocktails we suggested that they bring the Pastis to MaaMa and join us, and the French for dinner - this was to be a really international evening. All of a sudden the party for dinner grew to 9 and it was no longer. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently in Mauritius)

Monday, 11th October 2010   06.00hrs Another beautiful day in Paradise, a very much different paradise to the Cocos Islands.  Aileen had a light breakfast with us all and then vanished for the day, meanwhile the rest of us just moped around for a while gathering our thoughts and making lists of the things that needed to be done on the boat, plus trying to make out an itinerary for the 2 weeks we will be here. The tourist office set up a special desk here at the marina for our fleet, organised by the World ARC, so they organised a hire car for us, plus informing us of all the things we could do on the Island, including diving, golf, walking tours, sightseeing trips, etc. These Islands, 3 in all, Mauritius, Reunion Island, and Rodrigues Island, were used by the Arabs in. read more...

Sapphire II - 20 March, we're Here!

After a rollicking overnight run at mostly 10 kts we spotted the Marquesas early this morning.   It's always tiresome to run down the land after first sighting it (it takes hours). Anyway, all went well and we crossed the line at 08.08 Galapagos time? So, the beautiful bay of Atupna wrapped us up and we set anchors fore and aft and drank a few beers. Thus ended the 3000 mile passage across the Pacific.. read more...

Destiny - 11.10.2010

Destiny-Speiseplan vom 13.9.-11.10.2010 von Bali-Cocos-MauritiusHeute möchte ich berichten, was unsere Küchenfeen aus unseren Vorräten gezaubert haben, dafürherzlichen Dank für die kulinarischen Genüsse von der gesamten Crew der Destiny an Silvia u. Anne!Montag 13.9.2010 Uli kochte heute: Chok Soy-Gemüse alla Uli: Rindergeschnetzeltes, Kartopffelschnitz, Zwiebel, SojaDienstag 14.9.2010 Uli kochte heute: Putengeschnetzeltes in Currysoße mit Reis und gem. SalatMittwoch 15.9.2010 Silvia kochte heute: Pan. Schweineschnitzel mit KartoffelsalatDonnerstag 16.9.2010 Silvia und Anne kreierten heute Morgens: frischen Obstsalat; Feine Bandnudeln und Gemüsepfanne mit Pilzen an SahnesoßeFreitag 17.9.2010 Silvia u Anne kreierten Morgens: frischen Obstsalat; Mittags: Ung. Gulasch mit Knöpfle und. read more...

Maamalni - Suwarrow # 4: Did Hitchcock Visit? Could de Laurenti capture the es

As this is a National Park, it is required that the caretaker accompany any visitor to the outer islands. This had been made a requirement when after some unaccompanied visits, hundreds of dead birds were found without a natural explanation. Fortunately this was not a hardship as John has an intimate knowledge and palpable love of the archipelago and its marine and land eco-system. He took groups out to some of the outer islands for bird watching and of course to various snorkeling spots.When it became our turn, John took us to Turtle Island, which was about 2 ½ miles west inside the lagoon by dinghy. We anchored off the coral beach and waded ashore and were allowed to wander along the beach where hundreds of thousands of birds were nesting and flying about. They would alight like. read more...

Samsara - 614 miles to go.....

March 20We're sailing along with light air, motored a few hours today but generally we've had enough air to sail, just not too fast! So with 614 miles to go we're probably looking at 4 days with the light air.We haven't caught a single fish - we didn't fish for a long stretch (after a really big fish stripped our reel before we even got the genoa furled!) but we've been fishing most of the past several days without a single bite. We don't fish while we have the spinnaker up or while we have the whisker pole out as it would take too long to drop the sails and head up if we got a fish. Lee is determined to get a fish on this leg so I expect he'll have the lines out for most of the next few days.We have been doing lessons, and the girls have been doing a little cross stitch (Sam) and. read more...

Anastasia - Jezebel strikes again

9:45.7S 137:03.1W 3000 miles covered, 120 miles to go   Today I put out the fishing lines at dawn and Jezebel hooked us a 5 kilo Dorado (Mahi Mahi).  I was involved in the morning radio call at the time so Andrea and Estella reeled it in (Bertie was still asleep after his night watch).  It all went seamlessly and, after subduing with alcohol in the gills, Andrea dispatched it with a single stab through the eye, which was a lot more efficient and less gory than our past attempts have been.   There is a lot of wastage when you fillet a Dorado, but there is enough for four meals.  We wanted to catch some white fish for some "proper" fish and chips, so tonight Bertie is making his beer batter once more.   We have about 18 hours to go, depending on. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently in Mauritius)

Sunday, 10th October 2010    Today is going to be a rest day, relax and just take it easy, well thats what we thought. No sooner were we out of the bunks, but we were marched off to the local Cathedral for mass at 8.30 am. It was an interesting mass, in that it was all conducted in French. The whole service took 1 hour. The catholic population here is about 26% and Hindus are by far the vast majority at 60% and again, they obviously have a lot of Indian ancestors. Most people are very slim and good looking. Then there is also a large Chinese population, who seem to have most of the business connections. Following mass, we wandered back to the local 5* hotel and had a full english breakfast for just about 10 Euros. We thought that was good value for what we got,. read more...

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