Daily Logs

Charm - Australia 7

By my calculations, we will hit the reef (Eel Reef, to be exact) in 45 minutes.Just a few moments ago, we were literally between a rock and a hard place.It’s amazing how many of these little phrases come from the nautical world.I’m not entirely sure if that particular one is nautical but it definitely applied to our situation.I am on night watch on the eastern Australia coast and we are sailing with no engines on.We were coming up on Restoration Rock (where Captain Bligh and his remaining crew may have made a pit stop in their small boat after the mutiny experience) on our port side and a large cargo ship was barreling down the shipping channel towards me on the starboard side.In order to miss the rock, I had to go to the right but, to miss the ship, I had to go left.I aimed somewhere in. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 238 September 10, 2019

The day began at 05:00. Coffee, lines rigged to slip, then waiting for our turn out of the lock. High tide was at 04:18 this morning. So as soon as it was light the boats began departing in order of keel depth. Knowing it was neap tide, it was imperative that we all get out quickly. Dani and her team really shined on the planning. Our World arc team came to see us off, and although with our full keel, we were the last of five boats through the lock, just as the sun rose, we scooted out across the sand banks with a foot of water to spare! It was a game of hurry-up-and-wait. Once clear of the sandbars, we all anchored off of Stokes wharf to await the 10:00 start. The south easterly wind obliged us, filled in to 15 knots for the start. We put out one reef in each big sail on a 120 port tack. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 236 September 8, 2019

Today we travelled back to Darwin. The roads are mostly empty except for the intimidating “road trains”. I had just finished saying to Lars that they must be terribly dangerous, when we passed by one that was in a heap on the side of the road. Shudder! Also, there were lots of smushed wallabies lining the road. Not an enjoyable journey. We were happy to stop in Coolilinga to visit the fishing store, Kmart, and grocery market. We did a big provisioning shop, treated ourselves to apple pie and ice cream, then came back to the marina to put everything away. We are very happy to see Ice Bear next to us now, all of our WARC boats are here in Darwin, ready for the start on Tuesday. I caught the laundry up, and put away the provisions, Captain grilled us lovely steaks and veggies on the bbq,. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 237 September 9, 2019

Last day in Australia. In the morning we made a provisioning run for fresh stuff. When we came back, we organised the the first fridge just as a cooler and the second fridge into a freezer. Everything fit! Yay! We had a fast and easy check out with the lovely border patrol folks, then chatted with John and Lynnie who are crewing in Alora until it was skipper’s briefing time. This was a special treat with Andrew Bishop in attendance, and giving the sailing directions. I know it is his job, but it does give us a very warm, well looked after feeling to have the director of the World cruising club not only having seen us off in St. Lucia, but he travelled half way round the world to be here in Darwin to oversee the start of the second half of our journey. After the meeting, we indulged in. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 235 September 7, 2019

After a peaceful evening in Pine Creek we drove to Katherine and went for a cruise into two of the Katherine river gorges. Gorgeous! We ate our picnic lunch on the beautiful terrace of the Nitmiluk visitor center, then drove back to Pine Creek. Here we had the place to ourselves. We lounged by the pool, read, played with the WiFi, ate a simple supper of shepherds pie and had a lovely, no stress evening.image1.. read more...

Charm - Australia 6

Upon arriving in the Flinders Group of islands, we found one other boat in the anchorage.The kids and I went to shore and Cobin flew the kite for a while and we gathered shells before heading back to Charm for the night.We were at Flinders Group because I had read that there was an indigenous cave with paintings in it that I wanted to see.The next morning, we planned to dinghy over to Stanley Island across the bay, walk along the trail to the cave and then leave to get some miles in on our way to Darwin.Of course, that all changed.While we were eating breakfast, the man on the boat next to ours, who we later learned was Ron, started yelling and indicated we should turn our radio on.Joe said, “He probably wants to tell us we’re on top of his anchor.”Instead, he introduced himself as a. read more...

Charm - Australia 5

Leaving Cairns in the afternoon, we made it to Lizard Island the next afternoon and headed straight to the beach.The kids suggested a picnic and we found an ideal spot with picnic tables and shade and the perfect branches to hang hammocks and swinging chairs.That evening we joined Atla’s crew of Peter and Eva aboard Alora, with Steve, Linda, and Linny for drinks and a game of Empire.They are new boats to this year’s World ARC rally, joining after time off from doing the first half in a previous year.The World ARC offers the option to drop out in Australia and then resume in a future year.This is a great option for those with the time to explore all of these beautiful places in more depth.The next day, we packed all our hydrapaks and set out for a hike up to Cook’s Lookout, the high point. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 234 September 6, 2019

We loaded up the hiredcar with snacks, water, Lipton iced tea, clothes, hats, sunscreen, band aids, music for cruising to, cameras, and a sketchy little map, and off we went (after eating a hot pie from the shop where we bought ice for the cooler!) First stop....Litchfield Park...Florence falls and Buley rock holes. Absolutely stunning! We did not expect fantastic waterfalls now well into the dry season, and we were pleasantly surprised by tons of cascading water! The walkways were amazing! Flat rock set in concrete...you could have walked in bare feet the entire”hike” it was soooo smooth and lovely. Both Captain and I having little open “owwwies” decided being in bacteria laden water might not be a good idea, refrained from swimming, but enjoyed the peaceful vistas of the falls, and the. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 233 September 5, 2019

The crocodile cruise in the morning, fellowship with Eva from Atla in the afternoon. Sigh....I just met Eva. I just spent one evening and one afternoon with her. She is moving on to other endeavours of serious artistic nature, and I think...oh what I crazy life we live...I wish I had more time with Eva, she is an AMAZING human being! In the evening we had welcome drinks at Tipperary Waters Marina, good fellowship all around.image1.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 232 September 4, 2019

Boat chores in the morning....shopping for stuff all afternoon....wow! Is it ever FUN to have a car to drive around in town! New feather pillows, shocks for the freezer door, appointment for Captain’s skin screening, new printer, non-perishable provisions, and then in the evening Dinner at Cullen Seafood restaurant with most of the fleet! Great times!!image1.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 231 September 3, 2019

It’s Tuesday! My lazy day. Laundry, tidy up,Gary from Shorty sails came by less than 24 hours after taking measurements for a sunscreen over the aft of the boat....put it up, gave us a bottle of “homemade bourbon” 8NT Life $1000! That says...ain’t life grand! Cool play on words/symbols...Gary’s mantra that he graciously shared with us. We are happy that Alora came in beside us, and they too had Gary measure for a fore deck sunshade.Lars went and hired a car. Great day all around...lots of loose ends tied up!image1.. read more...

Next Step - Cascais to Madeira

Saturday 31st August, overnight the wind speed reduced considerably, Jeremy had to radio a ship at about 0400 as it appeared on AIS that they were going to pass very close so wanted to make sure that they had seen us. After breakfast we got out the fishing tackle and started fishing for another tuna. Later in the day the breeze got up and our average speed increased to around 6 knots.It stayed sunny for most of the day which made it very pleasant, but unfortunately it was clearly not good weather for catching a fish as we did not get a single bite…! In the evening Hanna made an excellent supper and we all slotted back in to the watch pattern for our second night at sea.Sunday 1st September, The night was pretty uneventful we had several cargo ships around. The wind became quite variable. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 230 September 2, 2019

Today I spent availing myself if the excellent WiFi connection on our phone’s hotspot. Did a lot of research. We settled on hiring a car for the weekend,driving to Litchfield National Park(to see the waterfalls), spending the night in an old train junction, and then taking a cruise up into the gorges north of Katherine. That sorted, I found a bunch of music to download on Amazon music, refilled the kindle with good reads for the coming night watches, caught up on emails and Facebook, and researched Lombok, Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling, Mauritius, Le Reunion, and Richard’s bay, Africa. Also took time out to go do a bit of shopping with Dani, the Lock Mistress. A nice, no stress day. Lars grilled chicken, corn, onions, tomatoes, and peppers for supper. Gary from Shorty sails came and. read more...

Charm - Australia 4 - Cairns

After leaving Mackay, we headed up to Cairns on an overnight journey.Of all of the boat projects Joe completed, the auto-pilot was the one I was most excited about.Wiggling masts and poorly connected rudders are obviously important, but they really didn’t affect my quotidian (like that fancy word?) existence.As any of the people who have crewed on our boat know – that autopilot was an all-fired nuisance.“Jeff” as the kids named it, would just stop holding the course at random moments.Joe had installed this new auto-pilot in Corpus Christi, before beginning the trip.He was afraid our old one would give up the ghost and wanted something reliable.Ha! Instead, Joe and the four crew members spent 10 days on their way down to Colombia hand steering as Joe tried to text our friend, Jon, to help. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 229 September 1, 2019

Today was the best in Darwin, so far. We accomplished a lot of little chores in the morning, defrosted our fridge and freezer, and had a chat with Peter, the wood wizard, who said he’d come by at 15:30 to have a look at our cabinet that Lars wants a door on. Christine arrived, with Dieter and Ursula onboard. We met them and then I set off to find the grocery market. On the way, Dani picked me up in her truck, and as she was doing some shopping, as well, we went to the Woolworths, picked up some goodies, and she brought me back to the marina. Easy easy! We ate a delicious lunch, took a good nap( we are trying to get acclimated to this roaring afternoon heat...napping helps!) Then Peter arrived exactly on time!! Most impressive! He discussed options with Lars, then went over to do the same. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 228 August 31, 2019

In the morning we walked over to the chandlery. To our utter amazement, they were not open! Only Monday through Friday banker’s hours! Crazy! So we meandered back, found a little shop to purchase some salad fixings. Enjoyed fresh green things for lunch, met up with the Niobe crew and walked to the lock to look over the wall and marvel at the lack of water where we had come in the night before, took a nap, then re-strung our dressing overall flags so they would all fit, and be in the correct order. Nick had told us that Andrew Bishop set a great store by the flags being properly flown, so to respect that, we made sure ours were in order. In the early evening we hoisted the flags, and were complimented by a lovely couple who were getting married on a private dock across from us. We had. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 227 August 30, 2019

In the wee hours of the morning, the wind woke up. Unfortunately, it was coming straight on our nose. As we approached the narrow channel between Melville island, and the mainland, ships began to show up. We were also dealing with four knots of current (it being new moon, spring tide), so here we were trying to slow down for a 06:00 landing at Darwin, and even with 16 knots of noserly wind, we were coasting along at over 7 knots. In the end, it all worked out, we arrived at the Cullen MarinaFuel dock at 06:20, just at first light. We gave our thirsty girl a big long drink of diesel, then walked her to the back of the dock to await the Biosecurity folks. We had an appointment for 07:00, they arrived at 09:00. It was all very easy, and straightforward. Due to our having a. A copper coat. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 226 August 29, 2019

We lifted the hook from the mud in Coral bay at 06:00, and had an interesting day. It was surreal sailing in bottle green water under a powder blue sky. We had everything from perfect, all canvas flying 120 degree port tack, to wild wet bashing at 50 degrees and gale wind, with just Hoyt and triple reefed main. At 16:00 in the afternoon, halfway into the Gulf of Van Diemen , it was as though someone flipped a switch and just turned off the wind. In about ten minutes it went from a gale to completely flat...the waves smoothing out as if a giant iron passed over them and everything became calm and quiet. We were incredulous! How was this even possible? We put the canvas away and turned on the engine. Suffice it to say we were never bored. It was incredible that for all of the daylight. read more...

Next Step - Cascais, Portugal

The trip to Cascais was a little slow at times but the final approach around Cabo Rosa towards Cascais marina was a fantastic fast sail, at times we were making 9 knots over the ground. We had stayed off shore for most of the trip, but when we got closer in shore the number of fishing pots that we needed to avoid increased dramatically.A little earlier than anticipated we arrived at the visitors reception pontoon at Cascais marina, the marina reception were very helpful and they spoke excellent English. Portugal seems to be a bit more organised than Spain as our boat details and insurance were already on a database that the marinas obviously all share, so checking in was very much quicker. We went around to our allocated marina berth and tied up. Once we had sorted ourselves out, we went. read more...

Charm - Australia 4

After leaving Mackay, we headed up to Cairns on an overnight journey.We stopped at Fitzroy Island because we knew we wouldn’t make Cairns by nightfall.It was a lovely island with a resort and people in the water, snorkeling.I thought it was a good sign as we have been repeatedly warned about sharks and crocodiles so had told myself only to swim if others were already in the water.Shortly after we arrived, a rescue helicopter flew in and took someone off the dock.I immediately thought of sharks and crocodiles but a neighboring boat said that they had heard someone had heart issues in the water.Ugh. I decided that maybe I didn’t need to swim at Fitzroy.Instead, we did a hike up to the summit and out to an old lighthouse.Thankfully we did it in the right order so that it was downhill for. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 225 August 28, 2019

Fast sailing today. The wind came up, and was in the perfecy 120 degrees off the port quarter, so we took the Genoa off the pole, and sailed with both it and the main on the starbrd side. By ten a.m. we had ascertained that if we pushed just a little bit more we could make it to the Cobourg Pennisula for an overnight anchorage. Lars telephoned Bio security on the SAT phone and set up a 07:00 Friday morning appointment for inspection and treatment. All day we galloped along in bottle green water and bright sunshine. At 17:00 we nosed into a lovely anchorage at Coral bay. A beautiful, peaceful, spot. There was one other small motor cruiser on a mooring ball deep into the shallow end of the bay, but we never saw any activity on her.We spent a pleasant evening. The bay was flat as a pond. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 224 August 27, 2019

Oh for me, contentment liesIn seeing clean white sailsAgainst the blue skies——-On the seaLife is complete When canvas is drawingAgainst the sheet——-The bark is rockedO’r the waves so greenThe horizon is clearAn unbroken scene——Of blue and tealAnd white bridal veilOf wave edges crestingAnd leaving a trail——This is the lifeThe life we leadTwo wayfaring gypsiesUpon the sea——image1.. read more...