Category: Voyages

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

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