Day 267: Cocos Keeling Islands to Mauritius – 30/09/10

What a truly ghastly day – on all fronts.

When I wake up and Mike brings me a cup of tea, the look on his face tells me immediately that something is very wrong.  The generator.  When he switched it on during the night, although it stayed on, it produced too high a voltage for the inverter so it couldn’t be used to charge the batteries.  We are both so pissed off that this new, very expensive bit of kit is not working as it should, and along with the vile, vile weather, which continues to be grey, squally and produce very uncomfortable seas, it sets the mood for the day.

Having had little sleep during the night due to the noise, I am not able to deal with this very well, and while Mike goes on to the SSB to do the morning position broadcast, I lie in bed like a pathetic lump and cry.

Eventually, after giving myself a mental kick up the backside, I get up to find Mike lying in the salon reading the Westerbeke generator manual – exciting stuff.  He fiddles with the inverter settings and manages to get it to accept a slightly higher voltage that it would like, and by running the water maker and the air conditioning ie putting a high load on the generator, the remaining output level is just low enough to please the inverter and it starts charging the batteries.  The trouble is we can’t make water every few hours as we just don’t need it so we will have to use the engines to charge the batteries most of the time, and they do it far less efficiently than the generator and use more diesel doing it.  Bloody boats.

Mike e-mails Boat Power, the company that installed the generator in Mackay in the hope that they have some ideas.

Late in the afternoon, it actually stops raining and the radar shows no squalls for the first time since we started out.  The sun doesn’t make it out, although the thinner cloud shows that it’s behind there somewhere.  I lie on the sofa and pass the time doing sudoku while Mike sleeps.  The cockpit is still soggy and salty and I have no wish to lie out there looking at the unending grey.  I have never known a weather system hang around as long as this, although the truth is probably that it is not hanging around at all but travelling in the same direction as us.  Wonderful.  Then Mike explains that the longer the high winds hang around, the bigger the waves gradually get, meaning this will get worse before it gets better.  Even more wonderful.

Photo:  The huge waves continue to beat us to bits – or so it feels

Mike goes out into the cockpit armed with a glass of water which he throws over the SSB antennae, the explanation being (when he sees the look of incredulity on my face) that it works better when it’s wet and of course it has now stopped raining.  Don’t ask!  Maybe he’s lost the plot now as well as me!

I see a little boat shaped blob appear on the radar, but with all the squalls showing, it’s difficult to ascertain whether it really is a boat.  However, AIS informs us that a huge cargo ship, the Wugang Orient, will come within half a mile of us so Mike calls them on the VHF then changes course so that they pass two miles away instead.  As I watch this huge thing appear out of the gloom, I thank God that we have some technology to help us as I wouldn’t have noticed her if I had been on watch just using my eyes until she was relatively close.

Photo:  AIS doing its thing – a screen shot of the computer display

We have decided to try out a 5 hours on, 5 hours off watch system, so I head off to bed around 9 pm.  I hope tomorrow is better.

 

Our position is:  17 deg 59 min S, 86 deg 36 min E

Distance so far:  14692 nautical miles

Day 266: Cocos Keeling Islands to Mauritius – 29/09/10

Although my watch should have finished at midnight, Mike lets me sleep until 2 am so I return the favour and leave him until he wakes up naturally just before 7 am.  After breakfast I head back to bed and can’t believe it when it is 1.30 pm before I surface again.  Mike goes down from 2 pm until gone 5 pm – it’s easy to understand when I say we never really see each other when we are on passage, especially one as uncomfortable as this when the most comfortable place to be is in bed (even if it’s the noisiest place).

The rain lets up for a few hours in the afternoon but then starts again.  The wind is less squally but a more constant 25 to 28 knots although the sea remains as lumpy and uncomfortable as ever.

Photo:  Huge waves constantly sweep across us

Then at 6.05 pm precisely, with no warning, the generator stops.  Our brand new, still sparkling clean, expensive (let’s not deny it) generator.  Mike starts it again.  It starts then stops.  He tries again and the same thing happens.  By now it is blowing a gale, raining and the sea is heaving.  He puts a jacket and hat, grabs his miner’s head torch and heads outside to the engine room, the entrance to which is right by the steps and the waves are crashing near.  He disappears into the black hole while I stand and watch nervously from the doors.  After a few minutes he comes back.  He can see nothing obviously wrong so hopefully it is just a blocked fuel filter.  We know there is some muck at the bottom of the tank from the problems we had the port engine back in Darwin, and the sea is pitching the boat around so much some of it has probably got stirred up and sucked into use.  At least that’s what we hope has happened.  There’s nothing he can do about it now in the sea conditions and failing light so he puts an engine on to charge the batteries, hoping that the same thing doesn’t happen to that.

To say that it puts a bit of a dampener on the evening it a bit of an understatement.  We are already both so fed up with the weather and are exhausted from being constantly thrown around, but I cook some dinner, we watch some TV then I head for bed.  The sea state is so bad that I just can’t drop off and eventually I get out of bed and go to the stern cabin which is marginally better.  As I pass the salon I glance up at the dials and see the generator is on.  What the f***?  Mike has done nothing except try it again and it has stayed on.  Maybe a bit more lurching around has cleared the blockage.  Who knows but we are thankful for small mercies.

Mike is going to let me sleep until 2 am but I am woken by a particularly bad crash and get up to start my watch at midnight.

 

Our position is:  17 deg 28 min S, 89 deg 12 min E

Distance so far:  14533 nautical miles

Day 265: Cocos Keeling Islands to Mauritius – 28/09/10

What can I say?  The nightmare continues.  More squally rain and wind with no let up in sight.  The sea sick feeling of the first day has not made a return appearance although the bucket is still within reach outside in the cockpit – just in case.  I have the low grade constant headache though, caused by my neck continually bobbing around as we get heaved around the boat.

Photo:  Vile weather in the Indian Ocean

If it weren’t so bloody annoying, food preparation would be amusing.  Things keep moving across the worktop as the boat lurches, to all intents and purpose making it seem like we have a very mischievous poltergeist on board.

The forecasts make it look like this could continue until the weekend.  If I haven’t gone stark raving bonkers by then it will be a miracle.

 

Our position is:  15 deg 56 min S, 91 deg 36 min E

Distance so far:  14363 nautical miles

Day 264: Cocos Keeling Islands to Mauritius – 27/09/10

The squalls, bringing wind, lightning and probably thunder (I can’t hear if there is any over the horrendous noise the sea is making as it crashes over and against the boat) continue all night.  The auto helm, Samantha, bleeps all the time but I just ignore her as there is no way I am going out into the cockpit.  She is less annoying than usual as the other noises drown out her irritating bleeps for attention.  Anyway, I can see that the wind is all over the place as I sit glued to the radar and the Maxsea charts.

When Mike gets up I fall asleep almost immediately once again.  When I wake up, there is no change.  The weather reports are telling us to go further south to avoid the worst of the weather and this will make our journey longer – wonderful.  They also show no let up in the weather system for some days yet – bliss!  Living the dream?  Right now more like living the nightmare!

The torrential rain continues and huge waves constantly break right over the boat.  Then we find a puddle on the table in the salon and realise that the hatch is leaking right by my laptop.  Luckily we always stand it on two thick neoprene mats to help absorb any impact damage as the boat heaves around, and these have kept it dry.  We then go searching and find water coming in through hatches that have never leaked before.  Mike, ever the master of the understatement, tells me that there is a bit of water by my dry food containers.  When I go to investigate, I find my dry box sitting in a huge puddle of water, and the cardboard wine boxes totally sodden.  Out come the towels and buckets.  Oh I really am enjoying this – not!

The day and evening continue with no let up in the weather conditions at all.

 

Our position is:  14 deg 20 min S, 93 deg 38 min E

Distance so far:  14207 nautical miles

Day 263: Cocos Keeling Islands to Mauritius – 26/09/10

We wake up and listen to the forecast.  Although the possibility of cyclonic formation in the area is lessening, it is still there and as we got the boat ready for departure yesterday just in case, Mike decides to leave this morning to try to get away from the area.

Naturally, the day starts with a hiccup.  As Mike is pulling the dinghy up onto the davits, the rope frays and snags in the jammer.  He has to get it down again and prepares to put new line through it before he realises that it has snagged right at the end and he just has to cut that bit off.

We’re almost ready to leave when Sean comes over and asks Mike to take another look at their satellite phone so he goes over there while I sit on the back step and fill all the water bottles with fresh drinking water ready for the trip.  He comes back disappointed that he has not been able to fix their system.

We pull the anchor up and leave the bay.  I wish we could have stayed one more day in some ways as I would have liked to attend the WARC barbecue and explore West Island but as I had no wish to go to the wine and cheese festival, we would have been stuck on the island until 5.30 pm when the ferry returned so it wasn’t really an option.

The sea is a bit lumpy for the first hour or so but the wind is good so we put out the main with two reefs in and the genoa.  When we change course slightly, the conditions become much smoother and we settle down to the second single longest passage of the circumnavigation – all 2300 miles of it across the Indian Ocean to Mauritius.

By 5 pm it is a completely different picture.  The sea has a huge swell and the wind is gusting from 20 to 35 knots.  Then the rain starts, torrential and squally.  It’s going to be a hard night.  The radar shows huge yellow blobs all around and we have to go out in the downpour and bring the genoa in.

Photo:  Wet weather gear and flip flops – another fashion statement?

Photo:  The radar as I have never seen it before

Mike takes the first watch and I decide to take one of the sea sickness tablets that Sara gave me.  Unfortunately the instructions are in Spanish and although it’s obvious what the dosage is, the method of usage is less so.  Do you chew or take with water?  They are pretty pink tablets so I opt to chew.  Big mistake.  The vile taste makes me retch and even though I clean my teeth I can’t get rid of the taste.  Drinking water doesn’t help either and within minutes of chewing, the side of my mouth with I chewed on is completely numb.  But I fall asleep almost instantly despite the banging and crashing.

 

Our position is:  12 deg 42 min S, 95 deg 31 min E

Distance so far:  14049 nautical miles

Day 262: Cocos Keeling Islands – 25/09/10

Amazingly I still feel a bit hung over - I think it’s a little over the top of my body to exact it’s revenge quite so sadistically. 

Today the fresh fruit and vegetables which we all ordered in Bali should be at the supermarket on Home Island.  Although there is a ferry which leaves the anchorage at 10 am, if we take it, we have to wait until about 3 pm to get back.  As everything seems to shut on Saturdays here, there will be nothing for us to do for hours, so we decide to dingy across the lagoon instead.  It takes about 15 minutes and just as we arrive near the jetty we manage to scrape the outboard propeller on the coral as it’s so shallow.  Mike manages to manoeuvre us off without any damage though.

We arrive just as the ferry does and I notice that most people have heeded the advice about dressing conservatively in town.  This is a Muslim community and we have been asked to cover our shoulders and knees as a mark of respect.

Home Island has a total population of around 120 people and the mode of transport is what looks like golf carts.  We go to the post office first to get some money then to the supermarket to get our fresh stuff.  Some of it is not very good (somewhat past it’s sell by date as it has been flown in from Perth) so I sort out some better stuff for us.  Our two carrier bags of food, which does not contain any alcohol (perish the thought), meat or fish, comes to about £70.  Thank goodness we did a good stock up in Darwin.

There’s a bench outside the supermarket, and when I come out, it is full of crew using the free wifi on their laptops.  Although the internet shop is closed, someone, somewhere has an unencrypted system and we all make use of it.  I only get to use it for about 10 minutes before the connection dies and don’t even manage to get all the blog published, and I can’t get Skype working, but it’s better than nothing.

Photo:  Jenny, Dick, David and me using the free wifi outside the supermarket while John waits his turn

One reason people are so frantic to get to the internet today is that they want to find out about the potential cyclonic activity that may be forming over the next few days as we head to Mauritius.  Grib files are downloaded and inspected and there is a lot of talk about leaving this afternoon or tomorrow morning.  Mike decides to wait and see what tomorrow’s forecast looks like before making a decision.  We have been on the end of incorrect weather forecasts three times now as far as hurricanes are concerned.  They are notoriously difficult to predict and cyclones will be no different.

Jenny and John from Tzigane (a new yacht that joined the fleet in Bali) invite us to a pot luck supper on their boat, along with Susan and David who they know well from the Blue Water Rally four years ago.  I decide to do the marinated tiger prawns with mango mayonnaise but can’t find any fresh on tinned mango.  Then I remember the three little mangos which I picked when we were in Darwin.  Perfect.  Hopefully they will be ripe by now.

We give Dick and Irene a lift back to Direction Island.  With the four of us and all the bags of shopping, the dinghy goes a lot slower than it did on the way over but we make it back without mishap. 

Photo:  A pristine desert island in the lagoon at Cocos Keeling

Sean and Casey arrive to help Mike take down the two genoas and swap them over.  There’s some chafing by the lines as they are two different sizes and seeing as when they are both out it is usually on the starboard side, it makes sense to put the larger one on that side and the smaller one fit within it.  While they are doing this, I set about doing the of laundry.  I was going to do this tomorrow but as there is a chance that we might leave it needs ploughing through now.

Mike and Sean unroll the genoas by hand and realise it is very stiff.  Mike looks to see what is causing the problem and discovers that the bolt that keeps the furler at the correct height in the furling drum has stripped its thread allowing the furler to drop through the drum almost to deck level.  This is then causing it to bind at the forestay fitting at the deck.  When they lift it to its correct position it turns easily but a lump of the aluminium cracks away.  Sean goes back to Wild Tigris a tap and die set so that they can cut a new thread and fit a bigger bolt which fixes the problem.  Once the genoas are back on, Mike goes back with them to Wild Tigris in an attempt to fix the problems with their satellite phone and e-mail system – one good turn deserves another and all that!

Once the washing is all done and hanging out to dry, I make the food for tonight.  When Mike gets back we both hurriedly get ready then go over to Tzigane, trying to go nice and slowly so we don’t get soaked in the dinghy and have to sit for the evening in salt drenched clothes.  We have a lovely evening, and I watch my wine intake very carefully.  I don’t want a repeat of the other evening especially if we are heading off in the morning.

Photo:  Susan, Mike, John, Jenny and David aboard Tzigane

We get back to Jeannius way past our bedtime and with very full and satisfied tummies.  The diet will start one day - soon.

Day 261: Cocos Keeling Islands – 24/09/10

Oh boy.  Do I pay for last night’s excess?  Yes, in buckets!  For me, the day is a complete waste as I lie in bed feeling sorry for myself.  The weather is also pretty atrocious and the squally rain showers and high winds mean that the barbeque that is planned for tonight is cancelled as the people bringing the food over to cook think that the water across the lagoon will be so choppy that it will be dangerous.

On a miserable day like this, there are lots of boring house keeping jobs that I could be doing but I feel so rotten that I just can’t face them.

The rain stops after lunch and by late afternoon I am just about able to pull myself together enough to go over to Direction Island with Mike for the skippers’ briefing.  Normally I don’t bother but there are lots of people I want to say hello to, not having seen them since Australia.

While sitting at the table on the beach, i get bitten to death by sand flies, which just about puts the finishing touches on how grotty I feel.  Quite a few people bring wine and nibbles down to the beach with them but Mike and I head back to the boat for a quiet night in – without alcohol!

Day 260: Bali to Cocos Keeling Islands – 23/09/10

About 1.5 hours into my watch I have to wake Mike as the wind changes and we start heading too far south.  He alters course slightly but it’s not enough and he has to take the main down and put the twin genoas out more. 

I wish I understood the ‘flappy bits’ but for me there’s as much chance of this as me being able to understand how planes stay up in the air.  It doesn’t matter how many times Mike tries to explain it, or how many (dodgy) diagrams he draws, I give him that blank, vacant stare and an apologetic smile.  Mind you, after nearly 30 years of marriage he still fails to understand how to fold any form of cloth, be it clothing, towels or sheets, although I have a sneaking suspicion that he understands perfectly just refuses to put it into practise for fear of being asked to put things away.

I manage to get a bit of sleep and when I wake up I look out of the window at my first glimpse of the Cocos Keeling Islands, a group of 22 tiny islands (only two of which are inhabited) forming a horseshoe shaped atoll in the Indian Ocean.  It’s hazy and the waves hitting the reef send plumes of spray into the air.

Photo:  Approaching Direction Island, Cocos Keeling

We arrive just in time to hear the morning broadcast announcing that we will be in before lunchtime and at the end of the broadcast I announce that we are just around the corner.  Joe gives a series of waypoints to help us in through the reef and there in front of us is nearly the whole fleet anchored off a pristine white sandy beach with waving palm trees in the clearest and most turquoise water I have seen since the Tuamotos.  Beautiful.

Photo:  Port Refuge, Direction Island

The first thing we have to do is clear customs and we have to wait on board until he arrives.  While we are waiting Jim and Bob come over and invite us over for drinks on Ocean Jasper tonight, then Mike gets the dinghy down to pump it up.  What a sorry sight it is, deflated by 90% during the passage, and worse since Mike tried to fix the leak.

Photo:  Mike in our barely inflated dinghy

Suzanna calls to announce the arrival of the customs official on the beach and we go over to make ourselves legal.  Once the paperwork is finished, we go for a walk - it’s so lovely to stretch our legs after being cooped up on the boat for a week.  On the horizon, we can see storm clouds gathering but the rain keeps at bay.  We walk to the opposite side of the island, literally about a 100 yards away.  As we walk through the palm trees we disturb loads of dragonflies, huge things nearly 4 inches long.  The beach on the opposite side of the island is the one that takes the full force of the Indian Ocean, and it’s where all the flotsam and jetsam lands.  Amazingly this is mainly in the form of flip-flops.  Where do they all come from?  The whole beach is littered with them.

Photo:  Flip-flop heaven

We walk back to the anchorage side of the island and walk down the white sandy beach.  White ghost crabs scuttle away from us and bright coral coloured hermit crabs quickly retreat into their shells as we approach.

Photo:  Hermit crabs on the beach

At the tip of the island we stand and watch ‘the rip’, a tiny entrance in the reef where the sea literally rips through.  The snorkelling here is meant to be brilliant, with live coral walls on either side.  There is a rope attached so you can cling on, although being covered with slime and barnacles, this doesn’t seem very attractive to me, and the water runs too fast for my pathetic swimming.  The beach at the tip is covered with huge lumps of dead coral, deposited by the sea during storms.  It is mainly grey in colour, and although intricate in design, looks alarmingly like concrete.

Photo:  Coral litters the beach

We walk back along the beach to the dinghy and head back to the boat for lunch then a little nap, before getting ourselves ready and going over to Ocean Jasper, where we join Jim, Maggie and Bob and the crews of Crazy Horse and Chessie.

Photo:  Me, Jutta and Jochem

Photo:  Me, Matt and Jutta

Photo:  Maggie, Mike and me

We have a really lovely evening, but chattering away and with the wine flowing, I fail to notice quite how much of it is flowing into me, until it’s too late.

 

Our position is:  12 deg 07 min S, 98 deg 02 min E

Distance so far:  13898 nautical miles

Day 259: Bali to Cocos Keeling Islands – 22/09/10

What a difference a bit of sleep makes!  Although I don’t get a lot, I do get more than of late and therefore start the day feeling relatively human.  It’s funny, I could swear that for some of the time I spend in bed I am fully awake and aware of all the crashing and banging around me but then I remember the dream I had been having and realise that if those were thoughts, rather than a dream, I am definitely heading for the loony bin, so I decide I must have been asleep after all!

We eat the last of the kangaroo steaks for lunch.  It’s amazing how the quality of the meat varies dramatically from one pack to another.  The first one was the best and they have all been a bit tough since then.

In the afternoon I see some dolphins but they don’t come near the boat, just stay about 100 yards off the port side.  I get my yoga mat out again and have another go in the cockpit.  It’s been far too rough on this passage so far to attempt any, but today, although the waves are still quite big, they are smooth, and I choose the exercises with care.  Again, we spend a lot of time surfing down the big waves, hitting speeds of 14 knots just for a few seconds at a time.  I love it when it’s like this.

The evening brings another load of squalls and winds gusting to 35 knots, but at least I manage another good dollop of sleep. 

 

 

Our position is:  12 deg 07 min S, 98 deg 02 min E

Distance so far:  13898 nautical miles

Day 258: Bali to Cocos Keeling Islands – 21/09/10

A particularly vicious wave crashing against the boat wakes me half an hour before I am due to go on watch.  I get up anyway and let Mike get some sleep.  One of us needs to be alert and it’s certainly not me at the moment.

My watch passes uneventfully and just before 5 am I crawl back into bed, falling asleep after about half an hour, good for me.  However, I am awake by 7.30 am and just lie there snoozing for for a while, hoping that I will fall asleep properly again, but I don’t.

Mike can’t hear anyone on the SSB but the position report files show that nearly all the boats have now arrived.  Ocean Jasper should arrive this afternoon, then us in two days time followed by Basia a couple of days later.  There’s an e-mail from Eowyn asking if anyone has some spare toilet pipe as theirs only toilet is blocked and they are now resorting to the overboard, fresh air system (bucket and chuck it).  Ugh.  Thank goodness we have four toilets!

I’m still a bit low but mainly tired, and the tiredness is giving me a permanent low grade headache.  I lie down on one of the side cockpit cushions for half an hour – I am getting so pale that I am worried that I will burn if I am out in the sun for too long and need a bit of added colour.  While I lie there I think about the sailing.  I moan about how hard it is and how exhausting it is to do the passages double handed, but I have to admit to being the first one to refuse any offers of help by having an extra crew member because I am so adamant about Mike and I doing this alone.  I want the sense of achievement that I know I will have when it’s all over.  As they say, you can’t have an omelette without breaking eggs, and no pain, no gain.  Some days though, I really wish Scotty would beam me up!

At long last my hair has reached the length it is after a normal haircut.  I hack a few bits off to keep the shape and feed the scissor addiction which I have had to curb recently out of necessity.

I try to sleep twice during the day and am successful neither time.  Nothing changes.  I have two watches tonight so by tomorrow morning I should qualify as a member of the living dead club.

 

 

Our position is:  12 deg 19 min S, 101 deg 01 min E

Distance so far:  13723 nautical miles

Day 257: Bali to Cocos Keeling islands – 20/09/10

I sleep badly – again.  I was beginning to think I had this broken sleep thing cracked but the last couple of days has totally proved me wrong.  I am just so tired I can’t relax enough to get to sleep and can’t take anything to help me in case I am groggy when I wake up.

I sit and watch the sun rise.  It still fascinates me that it can be totally dark one minute then a couple of minutes later you can distinguish the horizon, then suddenly you realise it’s light and about ten minutes later you can see the sun.  With nothing to obscure the view – no trees, no buildings – everything is so much … more.

There is a lot more blue sky today and although we still make good steady progress, the wind has dropped a little but still keeps us on course.

When Mike gets up he puts the generator on then the water maker but the bloody thing doesn’t make any water.  We have enough to get to Cocos Keeling so it’s not that important to fix it now while the boat is lurching around so much but I get angry with Mike for not putting it on every day and keeping the tank full to the brim.  He initially decides to leave the problem solving until we arrive at our destination but curiosity and the desire to fix the problem (and the desire to stop me having a full on strop) takes over and he goes down into the black hole and discovers that the problem is simply an air lock and sorts it out.

Having failed to get to sleep after my second watch, I try again after lunch.  No joy.  After an hour and a half Mike goes down for a sleep instead.  I keep myself occupied by making banana bread and pumpkin soup, thereby cooking most of the raw fruit and vegetables we have left on board to satisfy the quarantine regulations that we will find when we get to Cocos Keeling.  The soup, as usual, is wonderful but the banana bread is a bit of a disaster, looks-wise.  Mike tips it out but the crust all around it stays stuck to the non-stick surface of the pan and the innards collapse out onto the plate.  I leave it to cool for a little while then detach the crust from the pan little by little, then plonk it over the rest of it, which now looks suspiciously like a banana cow pat.  I squish it all together and it’s fine for Mike and I (and tastes good).  I’m just glad it doesn’t have to be served up to anyone else!

By the early evening I am so exhausted that it’s easy for one of my periodic lows to take over.  I sit, tears forming in my eyes but not enough of them to make them drop, and just wish I was at home.  It takes less than an hour for it to pass.  I just hate these passages and the knowledge that we only have three days in Cocos Keeling then another passage of at least two weeks fills me with dread.

Again, when I go below to sleep, it takes me nearly two hours to drop off, even though I could swear that I would fall asleep immediately.

 

 

Our position is:  11 deg 52 min S, 103 deg 41 min E

Distance so far:  13566 nautical miles

Day 256: Bali to Cocos Keeling Islands – 19/09/10

I have a crap night’s sleep, changing from the stern cabin to the bow then back to the stern.  It’s difficult to decide which one is less noisy.  In the bow cabin, there’s an intermittent clanking from one of the bow lockers – it sounds like the door to the propane gas containers is flapping open.  In the stern cabin, the propeller makes a horrible whine as it can’t free spin fast enough to keep up with the speed we are sailing.  The noise of the sea is pretty much the same in both.

It’s grey, wet and dismal all day but the strong winds continue and keep us gaining on the fleet, little by little.  At one point, as we skate down a wave, I notice a speed reading of 14.3 knots.  It’s just a fleeting second but it’s the fastest I’ve ever seen Jeannius go.

I can’t bear the thought of trying to stand in the galley and cook so I take out a container of dhal from the freezer.  Unfortunately, I discover it’s the most boring batch I have ever made.  If the one I gave Matt was out of this batch, no wonder he never came back for more.  We eat it anyway.  Beggars can’t be choosers.

We see another yacht on the radar, the one we overtook on the way to Bali but cannot see her in the distance.

A large container vessel, MSC Monica, comes close behind us on my first watch but AIS shows that she will pass no closer than three miles to us so I can relax.  I am so glad we’ve got that and wish Mike had bought it earlier.

 

Our position is:  11 deg 33 min S, 106 deg 31 min E

Distance so far:  13408 nautical miles

Day 255: Bali to Cocos Keeling Islands – 18/09/10

The whole 24 hours is dominated by the weather – good strong winds and big seas.  Apparently there is a strong high pressure system south of Australia and this is producing strong trade winds, especially for those at the back of the fleet ie us.  Guess who’s so bored she’s been reading the weather reports?

The current system brings showers, squalls and thunderstorms all day.  There is particularly heavy rain early in the morning which helps to wash some of the salt off but this is quickly replaced by the waves breaking all around and over us.

Moving around the boat has us looking like people out of Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks – not the long-legged, goose-stepping John Cleese character (not enough room for than) but the woman who carries the tea in on a tray.  Not moving is much the safest option, so I stay either in bed or on the sofa for pretty much the whole day.  The bucket comes out in the morning and for a short while I sit in the cockpit with it on the table in front of me, close to using it, but Mike makes me feel better by giving me one of his chocolate covered muesli bars – one of his night watch treats.  He has a pile of such things, along with Mars bars which he keeps in the freezer.  I have no need of these night time stimulants and manage to leave them alone under normal circumstances.  Anyway, he knows exactly how many there are so would know if I had pilfered the odd one en route.

There is a growing collection of flying fish on the trampoline and one which has managed to flap its way across the whole cockpit depositing black fish scales all the way.  It comes to its death with its nose pressed up against Mike’s shoe under the cockpit table.  That one does find itself having a sudden burial at sea!  Ugh!

 

Our position is:  11 deg 03 min S, 109 deg 21 min E

Distance so far:  13256 nautical miles

Day 254: Bali to Cocos Keeling Islands – 17/09/10

The main and the genoa stay out all night and we make good speed during the night, averaging 7.5 knots in winds of 17 to 22 knots.  The wave action continues to make any kind of movement difficult as they hit the boat side on, and they are big.  It’s been a long time since we’ve had to stagger around, crab-like, clinging on to things.

The constant lurching is exhausting, and the noise of the waves slapping the boat is deafening and continually breaks your sleep.  Still, we are making such good progress and gaining on the fleet that it seems churlish to moan.  Not that that stops me!  My back is almost better but I worry that a sudden unexpected lurch will cause me to wrench it again and I move around as cautiously as possible.

Flying fish are the only living creatures we see all day, and the sea is too rough for us to do the death patrol, so goodness knows how many stiff little bodies we will find when it calms down enough for us to look at the trampolines.

There are squalls all around.  It is so weird to watch the blobs appear on the radar and then grow.  I sit transfixed – will this one hit us?  One particularly large one appears behind us and Mike takes the genoa just in case lots of wind comes with it.  When it passes we put the genoa back out.  A couple bring a bit of rain with them to wash off the salt, but the rain only lasts a few minutes or so.

The wind keeps us on the right course all day, and we continue to make good speed through the evening but we are both physically exhausted from the constant motion.  Even when you are sitting or lying down, your muscles are constantly flexing.  I don’t know if this stops when you are actually asleep.  Given how knackered we are, probably not!

 

Our position is:  10 deg 28 min S, 113 deg 05 min E

Distance so far:  13092 nautical miles

Day 253: Bali to Cocos Keeling Islands – 16/09/10

We wake up early and whilst I intend wriggling back under the sheet to try to go back to sleep, Mike gets up to make tea, so that’s me done for the night.

His first job of the day is to sort out the starboard engine room bilge pump.  He has had to pump this out manually on the last few occasions that we have run this engine.  He is successful in fixing it.  He then heads off to customs to complete the clearing out paperwork leaving me with instructions to be up and ready asap as the marina guys will be delivering our fuel by jerry cans – they have run out of fuel on the dock and we will be using their emergency supply from the barrels around the back.  Mmmm.  All sounds a bit dodgy to me in terms of quality, but then I hear the guy on the boat next door complaining about the quality of the stuff that arrived on the fuel barge yesterday so I’m glad we weren’t around to take that on.

The first lot of cans arrive with the smiley but gormless marina guy (all the others are smiley and know what they are doing).  I had expected the guy to pour the diesel into the tanks from the cans but no such luck.  He pops them on the bottom step of the boat and stands around looking goofy, waiting for me to do it, the thought of which makes my stomach churn and the muscles in my back prepare to rebel as this is one of the things that contributed to my problems in Darwin.  Barbara from Basia is just about to take the task on when Mike turns up.  It’s a slow process but eventually all five cans are emptied, the guy goes off to re-fill them and the whole laborious task begins again.

Barbara gives me some cotton and needles as I have a whole load of mending to get through.  Mike obviously has one bum cheek which is bonier than the other side (not that I’ve noticed when looking at him) and he constantly makes holes in his linen work shorts that need patching.  That’ll be something to keep me occupied on the trip to Cocos Keeling.

Basia are still waiting for their electronic charts for their plotter to arrive and suddenly get the news that they have.  This means that they can leave with us which will be great as it’s much better to have another boat within calling distance on a long passage.  Unfortunately, Barbara’s euphoria is short-lived when they discover that ‘arrived’ means arrived in Jakarta not Bali and to add insult to injury, they discover that they have been sitting in Jakarta since Monday waiting for the import duty to be paid but the authorities only phoned this through today.  They go to pay the duty and the charts are duly dispatched for arrival tomorrow.  How frustrating for them.

Around lunchtime, the sky turns black and the heavens open, not quite as bad as yesterday but enough to hold us back as Mike doesn’t like the look of it.  Instead he connects our new hose and we scrub down the cockpit making it sparkling clean.  Good old Ajax.

The really stinky brie surpasses itself today.  I remove it from the fridge and on inspection find it far too ripe for me, although Mike gamely tucks in and declares it OK.  However, he only cuts off one piece and decides that maybe it would be better off going out with the rubbish.  Thank god for that.  Four down, one to go.  The fridge smells better already.

Mike goes up to pay our millions of rupiahs for the marina and fuel fees, taking money out of the ATM three times to get enough money to pay in cash.  I can’t believe the marina can’t take credit cards.  When he gets back to the boat and checks his e-mails, HSBC had sent him an automated letter telling him that they have stopped his card because of suspected fraud – repeated use at an ATM.  Here we go again.  He tries to phone them using Skype but the connection is poor and he gives up.  There will be no need for cards until we get to Mauritius – it can wait until then.  In Cocos Keeling fuel has to be paid for in US or Australian dollars.

The crews from Basia and the boat next door arrive to let our lines go and we are off once more.  We run the gauntlet once again of all the crazy water traffic in the bay, and avoid as much of the floating garbage as we can.  Once out into the open sea it is quite rough and choppy.  The wind and the sea are going in different directions and it only takes about 15 minutes for me to take to the sofa looking pathetic.  After about an hour we change direction slightly and the discomfort decreases a little.  By 4 pm we have the reefed-in main sail up for the first time in ages as well as the genoa and Mike cuts the engine.  It immediately feels far more comfortable although I stay on the sofa until it is time for me to cook dinner.

The lurching around makes preparing, cooking and serving dinner quite interesting and when Mike gets me a glass of water he nearly throws it over me.  Mind you, that might have been deliberate!

It’s a bit squally and unsettled so Mike takes the first watch.  Listening to the banging and crashing taking place in the bow of the boat, I take fresh sheets out and make up the stern cabin where it will be marginally quieter and attempt to sleep.  Amazingly I do, relatively quickly, until I am dragged out to do my stint at midnight.

 

Our position is:  09 deg 25 min S, 114 deg 40 min E

Distance so far:  12925 nautical miles

Bali to Cocos Keeling

Today, we are heading to Cocos Keeling, 1100 miles away.  This should take us about 8 or 9 days depending on the weather.  Hopefully we won’t have to motor there because fuel is three times more expensive there than here.  We will leave here with a full tank and full jerry cans and hope for lots of wind.  This is predicted from tomorrow until at least Sunday so fingers crossed.

Basia, another Privilege, will be leaving with us so we will have company for this part of the journey.

I am presuming there will be internet connection somewhere in Cocos Keeling but who knows!

Day 252: Bali – 15/09/10

With lovely clean, fresh sheets on the bed, waking early is not as bad as it could be.  It’s strange to wake to find Mike in bed beside me.  When we sail we are never in bed at the same time.  No further comment except that who needs a bed?

Mike decides to make his own way to finish off the legal paperwork and returns about an hour later.  He can’t get a taxi for love nor money as a cruise ship is in and all the drivers are queuing there rubbing their hands with glee.  The security guy on the gate asks Mike if he can ride a motor bike and when Mike says yes, he lets him take his.  How trusting is that?

Mike returns and bungs the guy a tip, which is probably far too much given how pleased the guy looked with it, but the money is so confusing – so many bloody ‘0’s on the end.  Apparently you take about four of them off and that’s roughly the amount of US dollars.

Although all the paperwork is now complete, we have to return to quarantine at 10 am to get our passports back – and our tour is due to start at 9 am. 

We get to reception to meet Arsa (our guide) and Tama (our driver).  We are a bit late starting out and decide to go straight to quarantine in the hope that our passports will be ready.  Not a hope.  We sit and wait, everyone nodding and smiling at us, but they do arrive, just a few minutes late.  We shake hands with everyone in sight and leave.  Poor Mike will have to return to customs tomorrow to clear out – that’s officialdom with a smile three days on the trot!

Then we start our tour, our day of sensory overload, or at least, it’s that way to us after 7 days at sea.  We drive through the capital of Denpasar, then through Batubalan, where we are too late to see the Balinese dancing even if we wanted to, then Celuk, where we don’t bother stopping to see the gold and silversmiths (Mike breathes a sigh of relief here).  Our first stop is in Mas to see woodcarvers at work.

Photo:  Woodcarver at work

Watching the woodcarvers is amazing.  Every few seconds they change a chisel for another one with a slightly different shape, then back to another one.  An intricate one of about a foot high can take a month to create.  Once the demonstration is over, we are (of course) invited into the gallery to look (ie buy).  Mike and I have already decided that we are going to get a piece of wood as our reminder of Bali.  We are well aware that in this gallery we are paying top price so decide to buy something that is made from imported ebony (from Borneo) as none of the cheaper places seem to have this expensive wood.  We are followed around by an enthusiastic salesman, who although he assures us he will leave us alone to look, does everything bar shove every piece I stop to look at into my arms.  I wish they understood that to most Westerners, this is irritating, but I suppose it works enough to make it worth their while.

Photo:  A few years’ worth of carvings

We settle on a traditional Balinese Buddha head.  The the fun begins – the haggling.  I hate haggling but try 50% of the asking price.  She offers 23%.  I try 50% again.  She offers 30%.  I try 50% again.  She offers 40%.  This makes it about £28 for a solid piece of carved ebony.  I could probably get it to 50% if I tried the walking out technique but by now I am bored.  They try very hard to get me to buy the bowl I was looking at, not understanding that the head/bowl was an either/or situation – I was only ever buying one thing.

Next stop is the Hindu Temple at the Elephant Caves (Goa Gajah) at Bedulu.  Ninety percent of the country practise Balinese Hinduism, and these caves were originally carved as a place of meditation.  As Mike and I are both dressed appropriately (ie no shorts but long trousers) we don’t have to wear a sarong, lent free of charge at the gate.

Photos:  Entrance to the Elephant Caves

There are shrines, temple buildings and springs all around.  Of course, the atmosphere is somewhat lost with the millions of tourists milling around – that’s the trouble with a cruise ship day.

 Photo:  Stone carving

Photo:  These men are making decorations for a forthcoming festival at the temple

Driving around and absorbing the atmosphere is fantastic.  It’s amazing to see all the little shrines with their offerings to the gods everywhere.  I have never seem so many temples – but then most homes have their own temples in the front so for me it’s difficult to tell what’s what.  Everything is so ornate.  I just wish they would learn to discard their rubbish responsibly as there’s plastic everywhere.  I presume they burn everything else.

Photo:  This is just the entrance to someone’s house – looks like a temple to me!

We then head to Kintamani, higher up into the hills and cooler.  There we find the volcano of Mount Batur and Lake Batur – and have our first taste of extremely aggressive (a word used by our guide) peddlers.  These people won’t take no for an answer as they try to pressure you into buying sarongs and postcards.  After three polite ‘no thanks’, we resort to turning our backs, but they still follow you along the street hoping you will change your mind.

Photos:  Mount Batur, Lake Batur and us

We stop to have a buffet lunch at a restaurant and again run the gauntlet of the peddlers.  They are obviously not allowed onto restaurant premises and as soon as you are on the steps you are safe.  Our food is OK (buffet style, eat as much as you can, cruise ship style) and is traditional Balinese fare but toned down for the foreigners.  At three times the price of the food at the marina, and less tasty, it’s a bit disappointing.

Photo:  The elaborate desert table

I try the famous Balinese desert delicacy – black rice pudding, once served just to royalty but since the bombing in 2002, now served to us as well as a thank you for coming back for holidays in Bali (that’s what the waiter tells us anyway).  Since I don’t like ordinary rice pudding, this really didn’t stand a chance, and after a few small spoonfuls I go back and get fresh fruit instead.

Next we go to a plantation garden and see lots of things that grow in Bali – cocoa, coffee, ginger, ginseng and various fruits.  Obviously we get the opportunity to taste (and buy).  After tasting we buy some ginger tea.

Photos:  Coffee, cocoa and salak fruit

I have never tasted (or heard) of salak fruit.  It is quite delicious and tastes like a cross between an apple and a pineapple.

Photo:  Local fruits – guava, mango, salak fruit and mandarin oranges

Next stop is the Holy Springs temple at Tampak Siring.  We both have to tie a cloth around our waists as a mark of respect before entering, again, lent at the entrance.

Photos:  Temples, shrines, gargoyles and gods – all at the Holy Springs Temple

We stop at some terraced paddy fields and find the most persistent hawkers yet.  ‘Bugger off’ is beginning to spring to my lips but I continue go grit my teeth and say ‘no thank you’.  I don’t care if what they are selling is dirt cheap, I don’t want it!

Photos:  Rice paddy fields, Mike and Arsa

Finally we drive through the back roads to Ubad.  This is a beautiful area and the property here is out of this world – ornate and beautiful homes, some traditional, some more modern, but all totally gorgeous.  Unfortunately by now we have torrential rain which makes taking pictures completely impossible.  When we get to Ubad itself, the rain shows no sign of letting up.  I gaze out of the window into the shops – wonderful, wonderful shops.  I could spend a fortune here.  Mike sits beside me, gleeful that his wallet has no chance of being prised out of his grasp.  What a bummer!

By the time we approach the capital, the evening rush hour is well into its swing.  There are zillions of motor bikes but at least most people wear helmets here.  It’s a lot less chaotic than the driving in India though and at least there are no autoricks anywhere.

We finally arrive back at the marina, and totally exhausted, head for the boat.  After a quick rest, we go back to the marina restaurant and eat the same as we did yesterday.  How I can eat that much for a second time in one day I do not know.  I have got to shrink the storage capacity of my stomach!  We notice that Grand Filou is now in and just as we finish our meal, Richie and Charlie arrive.  We chat for a while and give them the benefit of our one day’s extensive knowledge of Bali as they will be here for a few days more.  Lucky them.

Back on the boat, we get our internet stuff done again then have a cold shower (port engine hasn’t  been on so no hot!) and head for bed.  As I lie there, I contemplate Bali.  I have really enjoyed my stay here and would recommend it thoroughly.  If we had had more time I would have liked to go more off the beaten track.  There were other tours which go further afield but with so little time, what we did was probably a good taster.  The people are friendly and the peddlers, though irritatingly persistent, are no worse than I have encountered in India or even places like Turkey.  In essence, it is a very spiritual and beautiful island, and there are bargains to be had if you are tough!

Day 251: Darwin to Bali – 14/09/10

Just over an hour into my watch, AIS springs into action and tells me that the cargo ship Boston will be too close for comfort in about half an hour, her closest passing estimate wavering between just over a mile (comfortable) and about a tenth of a mile (terrifying).  Given that I have been watching the blip on the radar and lights outside, this sudden information means that Mike is dragged out from his bed by his babbling wife who deems the situation so dire that she puts knickers on for the first time in a week.

Mike turns all our lights on and calls them on the VHF.  No answer.  After four tries he puts the engine on, alters course so that we will motor parallel to them and sits with our large spotlight trained on the sails making us as visible as possible.  Eventually the Boston answers.  Yes they know we are there.  Thanks guys.  We were sailing and had right of way – we shouldn’t have had to put the engines on and alter course. 

We watch their approach, our new course meaning that they pass us about two miles to port then Mike cuts the lights and the engine, puts us back on course and returns to bed.  Amazing.  As the ship disappears into the distance, her rear lights looking like the planet Mars (she’s just trying to confuse me) I give the crew the V-sign – sea hogs!

We continue to sail through the night, watching as fishing boats crop up, lights blazing, then disappear over the horizon.  None of them cause us any difficulty though.

I finish my watch at 5.45 am and thinking that I would sleep for ages, am severely disgruntled when I wake up just a couple of hours later.  By this point the wind has nearly died again and Mike has put the engine on.  When I get up I find we are surrounded by fishing boats, quite large ones which seem to spend their day going round in circles and getting in the way.

While Mike plays dodgems with the fishing boats, I tackle the problem I spotted yesterday with one of my dried food boxes, or rather, the stowaways in it – weevils, the little blighters.  When we went through the quarantine inspection in Mackay, my boxes were free of weevils and all the food is in ziploc bags anyway.  Suddenly one of these boxes has loads of these things in it.  They are not nasty, and if you accidently ate a few they wouldn’t do you any harm, but the idea isn’t nice.  I take all the bags out, flick the offending things off back into the plastic box then empty it over the side to feed the fish.

Photos:  Fishing boats of all description get in the way

As we approach Bali, we have loads of dolphins all around the boat, but they don’t act like any dolphins I have seen so far.  They are very shy.  They come charging towards the boat, leaping and pirouetting in the air, then immediately they get to the boat, they make a graceful arc in the water and swim off in the opposite direction.  How strange.

There’s also quite an abundance of rubbish in the water as we approach land.  I have never been anywhere quite so dirty.  The sea is strewn with plastic of every kind; plastic bags, food containers, bottles and such like, all caught up with floating dead sea grass, making huge streams of garbage.  Not a very nice introduction to Bali.

While the generator and water maker are on I do a load of washing and I am almost finished when I stupidly lean over the machine and pull out a huge sheet which is heavy with water.  My back shrieks in complaint and so do I.  Mike orders me to lie down immediately, but after about 5 minutes I get up and carry on – I want to get done before we get to the marina.

Photo:  Mike helping with the laundry

Approaching Benoa, it’s like being in Benidorm, but hotter and more frenzied.  I have never seen such a crazy entrance to a marina or such a crowded expanse of water.  You have to fight your way through water taxis, fishing boats, speedboats pulling people riding those stupid bananas, speedboats getting parascenders up into the air and small traditional one man fishing vessels.  In fact, from a distance, the parascenders look like a huge flock of large birds.

Photo:  Parascenders litter the sky

I go to make us a quick lunch.  Intending a salad, I turn the tap to wash the lettuce and no water comes out.  Given that we have been running the water maker and have a full tank, that’s very strange.  I go down to one of the bathrooms and try the tap there.  Same thing.  Terrific.  Water pump failure.  I shout to Mike but there’s no way he can do anything about it now so we end up with cheese, crackers and chorizo.

Wary of making my back worse, Mike helps me tie the fenders and lines onto the boat.  We are to go in a temporary position until Skylark leave as we are having their space.  I am so pleased to see Stephen waiting on the dock with Suzanna to take our lines.  When we are secure I get off the boat as quickly as my back will allow me and give him a huge hug.  I will really miss him and Ed as they are now leaving the World Arc and taking Stephen’s boat, Skylark, to Singapore.  I have always looked forward to seeing them whenever we arrive somewhere new.  And I never did get my curry Stephen, so yes, I will land on you in Kuala Lumpur one day!

We take on some fuel at the dock and when Skylark eventually leaves, we untie the lines and move a couple of hundred yards around the corner and into the marina and secure her once more.  Only Basia is left here, another Privilege catamaran, and she is moored next to us.

Mike tries the kitchen tap again and it works.  Strange.  However, ten minutes later it won’t work again.  He strips the starboard bed out to get down to the engine room and finds that the fresh water flush to the water maker has got stuck in the ‘on’ position and the pump has overheated and stopped working.  It also means that we have flushed 20 gallons of freshly made water out of the boat and now have the cleanest water maker membranes in the world.  He knows he won’t be able to get parts for this here, simple as they may be, so in the meantime will flush it with salt water until we get to Mauritius or South Africa.

He goes off with Paul to customs and immigration to sort the paperwork out but they only manage to get half of it done before the offices shuts so he will have to go back tomorrow.  All this for less than two days!

I go to arrange a sightseeing tour for tomorrow – a full day in a car with a driver and guide will cost about $40 US each and should take in most of the sights.  Talk about a whistle stop tour!!

We get some work done on the internet and then head for the marina restaurant.  With the ARC recently departed, we are the only ones in there.  We opt for local food rather than ‘international’ – I can’t see the point of going to somewhere like this and having a burger.  The food is excellent, and at around £3.50 a head, very good value although Mike’s beer costs as much as the meals.

Exhausted, we head back to the boat and crash.

 

 

Our position is:  08 deg 44 min S, 115 deg 12 min E

Distance so far:  12866 nautical miles