Category: By Date Blog

Settling In….. 28 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

Last night was night three for us and it takes about till the third day to settle in on a long passage. Since we\’d made a few three day passages in the last month, it felt like we were more or less still in our routine. We saw a thousand foot super tanker on our AIS last night. I haven\’t a clue where he came from, but he said his destination was \”Pacific Basin\”. That\’s about like saying, \”somewhere on planet earth\”…:-)

A frequent writer, Ken from Norwich, England asked about water depths? Several people have asked so… 16,000 – 17,000 feet or about 4,800 – 5,100 meters. If you can\’t stand up in it, does it matter?….:-)

Conditions have been generally mild with winds in the 12-20 knot range. We\’ve been flying the genoa to port on the pole and a full main for almost 36 hours. When the squalls come by, the rain lasts a few minutes and then the wind dies off and shifts for a half hour or so. Then back to normal. We\’ve motored only to get away from the wind holes; a total of about 30 minutes in the last three days. Each day so far has been progressively slower. Today we\’ll do about 150 nm (nautical miles). We\’re still staying south as the weather predicts steadier winds below the rhumb line. The rhumb line is the straight distance from point A (Cocos in our case), to point b (Chagos in our case). We\’re currently about 90 nm left (or south) of the original rhumb line.

Just sailing along, Nikki diligently working on her sun shots.

KIT, Scott with Sleeping Nikki (really, she\’s only sleeping because she\’s off watch when I write the blog…:-)

Entering the Back of Beyond….. 27 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,
Last night we anticipated another bit of breeze so we took two reefs in the main and kept up the full genoa. The wind never came. By midnight, we\’d shaken both reefs out and the wind has steadily dropped into this morning at about 10-14 knots. The seas are calm and we\’ve had a few rain squalls; to be expected with these \”ITCZ\” type equatorial low cells. (Google ITCZ – Inter Tropical Convergence Zone).

Nikki\’s been very diligent and working hard on her Sun shots and working them up to keep a running fix. Celestial navigation of course has more or less gone out with the dial up telephone, but Nikki\’s always wanted to know how to do it and … she\’s learning.

As we now get about 320 miles west of Cocos with 1200 miles to go to Chagos, you can certainly feel how we\’re entering the \”Back of Beyond\” as they say down under. From the perspective of the central USA, we\’re pretty much on the opposite side of world. As Jimmy Buffet wrote, \”The Far Side of the World\”.

We actually saw a Japanese fishing trawler on our AIS system yesterday, only 9 miles away. A bit gray, cooler and pleasant conditions. Just wish we had another 5-7 knots of wind. Drifting along…. KIT,

Scott and sleeping Nikki (NO, she doesn\’t sleep too much, she\’s just off watch when I write!)….:-)

Day One to Chagos….. 26 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

The first few days are all about getting your sea legs and tummy back. I\’m doing very well for only 24 hours out of Cocos, we\’ll see how Nikki is when she wakes up. She was working on her celestial navigation last night which is a good sign.

It was a nice 20 knot day yesterday, but to be prudent, we took a second reef in at dark and it paid off. We had several hours of 23-29 knots during the evening and with the staysail poled out, we were fast and comfy. No speed records today, but a decent passage of about 175 miles. We\’re also staying a bit south due to what is effectively an ITCZ low pressure system. The ITCZ or \”inter tropical convergence zone\” is where weather from the northern hemisphere meets the weather from the southern hemisphere. It is often, rainy, squally and gusty. As the trade winds on our latest weather file show strengthening at this latitude, we may gybe a bit north and just follow the low\’s without catching up to them. I do so prefer to stay away from the high 20 knot wind field. Currently, we have two reefs and the staysail poled out. We\’ll see about a gybe shortly?

Nothing to exciting to report, all is going well. New position report out in a few minutes. (see links below)

KIT, Scott and Nikki

Weather Delay…Cocos Island

Dear F&F,

We did some relaxing and touring around in the dinghy yesterday awaiting the latest weather to see if we\’d be off today for Chagos. We tried to find the local (one and only) Dugong here at the western edge of Direction Island, but no luck. We then took advantage of the very calm conditions to motor over to Horsburgh Island (at the entrance to the lagoon). We did not go ashore, but saw the WW2 big gun that was to protect the entrance to the lagoon in case of a Japanese invasion. We also went to Turtle Beach (no turtles) on Home Island and a lovely trip over to Prison Island. Prison Island can be walked around in about 5 minutes. It\’s a small, lush tropical setting with sugar white sand beaches inside the lagoon. A lovely day all in all.

Bruce/June and crew aboard s/v \”Ainia\” left this morning for the North of Madagascar direct. Their route will initially take them south of here and keep them away from the unsettled squalls which would be following us to Chagos if we left today.

Hence, we\’re on \”weather delay\”. It seems that if we wait 24 hours (possibly 48), we\’ll be back in settled average trade winds for our journey. Of course, weather is always subject to change! There is a very strong low pressure system right off the Antarctic coast at the moment. You ask, why should that concern us? The long tail on the front (which is very weak up in our latitudes) is causing unstable, moist air to mix in which will cause squalls. This is rainy/dry, windy, no wind and a bit aggravating after awhile. As my Mom used to say, \”discretion is the better part of valor\”, so we shall sit.

Standing by for weather window…May take another day trip to West and Home Islands.

KIT, Scott and Nikki

Liquid Gold…..

September 21-22, 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

Well Peter and I of s/v \”Mango\” topped up our fuel. The Co-op at Home Island charges $2.42 Australian per LITER! That\’s about $9.30 per GALLON US. So 21 gallons (80 liters) cost 200.00 US! If you think you\’re paying a lot at the pump, try filling up here! Most of the locals have electric powered or gasoline powered 4 wheel ATV\’s and golf carts. This island is only about 1.5 miles long by a quarter mile wide. Come to think of it, I don\’t think we saw a car anywhere on Home Island.

It\’s interesting to see the Malay community on Home Island in full cover up and head scarves for the women and skull caps for the men driving around golf carts on a tropical island! The call to prayer can be clearly heard here at the anchorage 2 miles away. Another interesting fact is that we can see no real industry of any type here. We see a very few stores and infrastructure support, but no real sign of anything else? Apparently there is a move to start a boutique gourmet food business with genuine \”Cocos Island Sea Salt\”. They\’re using a drying technique for the sea water that is very slow, but very traditional. The article I read here says that unemployment is as high as 65%. There is a rumor that a new detention facility will be built here and that may become the local employer. Otherwise, it\’s \”centrelink\” (welfare) for most of the Malay population on Home Island.

The ferry here is brand new. One of the crew told me it cost 1.8 million USD! Air conditioned, fast, attractive, 600 hp Caterpillar diesel engines. Yesterday, when we went to come back to Direction from Home Island, the new Ferry (3 months old), wouldn\’t start! So we had to take the old ferry back here to Direction Island. Ah Paradise….:-)

We made the trip in the dinghy to Home Island from Direction Island, not too wet. Then took the \”new\” ferry (back working now). It\’s computer got fuzzed up which is why it stopped working yesterday. The trip was 25 minutes and a brand new dock facility is on West Island. It\’s been open only 6 weeks.

Think they\’re building up the infrastructure? The main use of the ferry is to bring the high school students back and forth from Home Island to West Island which is why I\’m sure the money was spent.

We took the shuttle bus into town. Town has 200 people. We learned that there are about 450 on Home Island. We went to the super market which is a local Mom and Pop. It was much better stocked than the one on Home Island. We went to the Visitors center, did some internet and walked about the area. The golf course here has 9 holes and like a few other Pacific Islands, the fairways are part of the run way for the jets. So of course, sometimes you can\’t play! If you came here to surf or dive and sit for awhile, it seems you\’d have good options. There is a dive company here, but they won\’t come over the to Direction Island to pick anyone up. The one and only resident Dugong live on the entrance channel to Direction Island. We may take a ride and see if we can find him/her.

We\’re watching the weather and will leave as soon as things settle. This may be 1-3 days.

Stand by, Scott and Nikki

Cocos-Keeling Island…..

19-21 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

We arrived at Cocos-Keeling Island after an exactly 3 day passage from Christmas Island. It was uneventful and a nice sail.

Upon arrival, we noticed the 150 Australian Customs vessel and two small boats which had come in with boat people from Sri Lanka. Apparently, the Sri Lankans head their clients here as it\’s closer than Christmas Island. We learned that the going rate from Sri Lanka is about $8,000.00 pp/US. AND, no crew comes along on any of these \”Leaky Tiki\’s\”. If crew come, they are arrested and prosecuted. So at the last minute, someone aboard is given essentially a hand held GPS and \”follow that line\” instructions. Wow! No experience and sent 1500 miles out to sea on questionable vessels. The boats themselves are taken out to sea and burned by Australian Customs. This is another reason they get a premium fee as the boats are \”throw away\”.

Here on Cocos, there is essentially two communities. One on Home Island, former copra plantation of the Clunies-Ross family, and the other is West Island where most of the ex-pats live and is the center of the small tourist industry here. There is a ferry that goes from Home Island to West Island every day, several times a day, but only comes here to Direction Island, twice a week. We took the Ferry to Home Island yesterday and found out about topping the diesel off, grocery shopping (pretty weak!) and paying our $50.00 Australian for a weeks right to anchor here.

We did a big walk and got an internet fix at their small business center. We had a rice/noodle lunch at their one and only cafe. After that, it was back to Beach House and Nikki has been working on her Celestial Navigation skills. First two sites were worked out and she did virtually a perfect site. Beginner\’s luck? Naw, she\’s good!

This morning, Peter from Germany aboard s/v \”Mango\” and I took our dinghy with jerry cans to fill up on Home Island, about a 20 minute trip. The weather has turned a bit nastier and I got pretty wet on the ride. We\’re seeing our first rain in three months here! It looks like it will be a bit unsettled for the next few days as well, so we\’ll plan our departure accordingly.

We were going to go back to Home Island with the dinghy today and take the ferry to West Island, but we\’ll leave that to be \”weather dependant\”.

There are 8 boats here now. One from the UK, three Americans, one Canadian, one German, one South African en-route to OZ (a power cat!) and one unknown.

The water here is perfect. Warm, clear and lots of fish and well trained black tip reef sharks. These are the \”hamsters\” of the shark family and only hang around to see what goodies we might throw off the boat. If we go swim with them, which I may later, they\’ll flee very fast. However, if you spear fish around them, they\’ll steal your catch right off the spear. As I don\’t do any of that, no worries. Friends John and Paula on \”Mr. John\” recounted when they were here years ago how the black tips would come in when they saw a diver spear fishing. Not so dumb animals after all!

Stand by, hope to tell more before we\’re off…. KIT,

Scott and Nikki (working out those sun shots…:-)))

Nice day at sea…..

18 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

The last 24 hours of sailing has been some of the steadiest and sublime I\’ve yet experienced in a long ocean passage. The swell is 3 meters from the south (10 feet), but it\’s a 10 second period swell with little or no \”seas\” on top of it. The winds have been between 13 and 19 knots. Very steady, very comfortable. All systems are working well (quick find me a piece of wood!).

Last night we had a bit of excitement when we went to put our large reaching sail away. It did not roll up properly and started to come undone in the wind. Nikki and I got it down and stowed in the sail locker. We\’ll have to sort that out, re-raise it and roll it up correctly. However, with the current conditions, we\’ll most likely use if for awhile as it gives us a bit more speed. We\’ve been sailing anywhere between 6 and 9 knots depending on the moment. The current push is not as strong as the leg to Christmas, but we\’re getting a little help from it for sure. I expect we\’ll do another approximately 180 mile day, giving us less than 160 to go. This means we\’ll be slowing down tonight as to not arrive at Cocos before we have good light.

Christmas Island was a \”high island\” at around 1000 feet and easy to see at distance. It also had no outlying dangers as to reefs, etc. Cocos on the other hand is a true atoll. The coconut trees on it are the tallest objects and it\’s much harder to see until we\’re close. The pass seems easy to enter, but the water is shallow and the lagoon full of \”bombies\” (aka: rocks!). So we do want good light to enter there.

We did see what were most likely four Indonesian fishing boats last night. Hard to believe we\’ve sailed 850 miles from Bali, but we are still fairly close to Indonesia which runs mostly east/west at it\’s southern islands. That will of course change quickly once we leave Cocos.

Depending on what there is to do there and how much we\’re enjoying it, we\’ll stay anywhere from three to seven days. Then off to Chagos, 1500 miles to the NNW.

KIT, Scott and Sleeping Nikki….:-)

Bye, Bye Christmas…Onward to Cocos-Keeling……

17 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

We spent our last day at Christmas Island doing some emailing and interneting as we\’re getting close to being truly \”off the grid\”. We do expect some wifi at Cocos, but that\’s it for up to 6-8 weeks.

We did a driving tour of the island and the rain forest habitat seems in very good shape. We drove by the entrance to the Detention Center, but clearly would not be invited in for a tour. Apparently, the Aussie media hangs out on the island waiting for the latest \”at sea\” disaster story. Unfortunately, a bad one happened about 3 weeks ago.

As we were getting ready to depart, we saw our first human trafficking boat moored in Flying Fish Cove. The folks were all in new life jackets provided by the Aussie Navy, everyone seemed tired, but calm. The authorities very professionally escorted them ashore and to the awaiting busses for transport to the center. It was interesting to say the least to see this first hand. The Aussie maritime patrol and Aussie Navy are effectively permanently stationed at Christmas Island. Apparently, the boat people are brought in about every other day….. Their border security is of course easy compared to that of many nations as they have a significant body of ocean surrounding the nation. Nonetheless, it\’s still a big issue \”down under\”.

Both ourselves and s/v \”Ainia\” left the island under very nice conditions. Within a few hours, we were both hailed by Australian Maritime Patrol and identified. They\’re quite professional and efficient. The conditions have been pretty comfortable, winds around 14-18 knots from the ESE, swell at 1.5 to 2.5 meters, little in the way of breaking sea. We\’ve the full mainsail and reacher up for the last 24 hours. The current doesn\’t seem as strong on this leg, but we\’ve got a bit to help push us along.

Cocos-Keeling is the furthest west point of Australia, some 1000 miles northeast of the mainland. It\’s a group of two atolls, very similar to what Cindy and I experienced in the Tuamotus. Tourism is the main industry and something less than a few hundred people live there. What \”detention facilities\” they may or may not have, we\’ve no idea.

Sailing along, 344 nm to go as of this writing. Position is: 11 deg 04 min S x 102 deg 43 min E. Soon, we\’ll be in double versus triple digits on our longitude, every getting closer to the Western Hemisphere…. I\’ll write more on it when we get there, but Cocos-Keeling will represent \”Beach House\” going half way round the world from our most eastern local, Bahia Herradura in Costa Rica.

KIT, Scott with Sleeping Nikki

It\’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…..

13-15 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

We arrived at dawn on the 13th having just passed our friends on s/v \”Ainia\” who left 28 hours before us!  We had a record 235 mile day as we benefited form a lovely 2-3 knot current pushing us here.

We pulled into Flying Fish Cove and picked up a mooring provided by the harbor as to not damage their coral. How nice!  The water was clear and warm.  No rubbish in the bay, what a pleasure.  We checked in with Customs and Quarantine and set off for a walk about town.  Having gotten \”sorted\” as they say here, we arranged for a \”hire care\” (rental) and got a good old \”UTE\”.  We used this to top off with lovely Aussie Diesel fuel and do a major marketing for food as this would be the last stop for groceries for about 6 weeks. We had a lovely meal out at Rummah Tinggi (Toll Booth in Malay) and enjoyed the calm anchorage. The population here is a mixture of Anglo Aussie, Malay and Chinese. Only about 1500 people live here.

The next day, I booked my ticket from South Africa to London to L.A. for just before Christmas (how ironic!) and did lots of inter-netting at the local visitors center.

An interesting feature here is the \”Asylum Detention Center\”. DETENTION:  At least 10,000 people a year come from Indonesia by boat, literally hoping to be taken into custody by the Australian Maritime Patrol or Aussie Navy. Apparently, they catch near 100% of them Why?  These are mostly middle eastern Arabs and Iranians WITH money, trying to get political asylum in Australia.  They frequently fly first class from their home country into Indonesia with family and possessions. They then pay an exorbitant fee, risking life and limb to take a leaky tiki boat from there \”toward\” Australia.  There are very few Indonesians, just middle easterners.  Apparently over 99% of them are successful in gaining asylum, which of course keeps encouraging it. It is very unpopular in Australia oh btw! The hitch is, it takes 3-5 years to go through the process; the entire time, they remain in the detention centers.  There are several around Australia and several have been out-sourced to the island nation of Nauru which is strapped for cash.

We took a 4WD land tour of this tropical island and it\’s rain forest. The high light was the blow holes on the west side of the island. We went by the detention center which looked like nice clean army barracks. There was a guard and no photos or entry allowed. The locals who work there even tell you that they cannot tell you much about the place. We met a gal at a restaurant who works there during the day as a yoga activities instructor ad teaches English….

Soon we\’ll be off to Cocos-Keeling Island, 550 miles to the southwest. Cocos-Keeling is also an Australian island, but much more like the Tuamotus of French Polynesia as where Christmas Island is much like Niue in the South Pacific.

The weather looks good and we expect the trip to take about three days. Stand by,

Scott and Nikki, \”Ute-ing\” around Christmas Island