Another slow day

Light winds yesterday morning did not last that long. We did have the engine off for about three hours but then the wind came further to the SE so sails furled and engine on. Winds about 15 knots and swell cotninued to keep our speed down. A bank of cumulus clouds continued to come across us. Some developed black bottoms and dropped torrential rain behind us but not on us. Wind strengthened to 15-20 which slowed us even more and this continued on into the night. Quite boisterous.

Wind eased back a bit by 3:00 a.m. and came slightly more to the east allowing us to use the cutter sail once again which improved our speed. Too tight for the headsail though. The sun is now up and we still have about 177 NM to run to the Hole in the Wall.

It seems the easterly winds predicted a few days ago have changed to ESE and a little stronger. May have another boisterous day but should start to calm down once we get closer to land.

Some stats:

Passed halfway point to Hole in the Wall waypoint, 206NM, just before midnight. 42.5 hours.
Day two: 104 NM, Day one: 131 NM :( with 177 NM to go.
Fish count: Troll - fish nil, plastic bags, not even one (a significant change). Morning inspection of deck: 12 flying fish, all dead. Yesterday: 9 flying fish, all dead.

Track us at http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=VMQ8796
Blog: www.svtweed.blogspot.com

How Slow Can You Go?

A long 24 hours has seen us make only 131 NM. Conditions when we departed yesterday were light head winds and a 1.5-2 metre swell which kept our speed down. It was quite uncomfortable and made you quietly think "what the heck are we doing here?". Thankfully, time passes, and during the evening we crossed our final deep channel of over several thousand metres to the relatively shallow waters less than 50 metres between New Guinea and Australia. The swell seemed to drop out after that making the motoring more comfortable.

The lights and looms of fishing boats along the way gave us some light until the small crescent moon rose just on 2.00 a.m. lighting our way until dawn.

This morning the predicted easterly tentatively came up at about 10 knots. It was enough to turn off the engine and hoist all three sails and enjoy some quiet time. Slow though, at about 4 knots, so we have the problem now of trying not to arrive in Gove before late Sunday to avoid the extortionate quarantine fees which are doubled at weekends. Today's wind predictions are showing easterly for the rest of our passage and they should pick up but will it be enough to get us into Gove on Friday?

Track us at http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=VMQ8796
Blog: www.svtweed.blogspot.com

Ready, Set And About To Go

Monday has come and gone and we are still anchored off Woha Island. A change of plan this morning and we are now set to leave early tomorrow, Tuesday, and set sail for Gove. There is a good weather window over the next few days and seems too good an opportunity to miss. We should be in Gove by Friday! Wow, cheddar cheese, vegemite, red meat!

The wind may be a little strong tomorrow but should be bearable and then it lightens off so should be able to motor-sail or even sail with the wind angle to make the west side of the Wessels. We will then go through the Hole in the Wall and on to Gove. We haven't been through the Hole in the Wall before so looking forward to that.

So, today we have been busy doing last minute jobs prior to our arrival in Australia. Jon has dived on the hull to remove any remaining barnacles and growth. The dinghy has been stowed on deck. Food has been cooked. Fuel filters changed. Australian Customs notified of our change of arrival port and ETA. The suddenly noisy fridge cooling water pump has been cleaned and is running quietly. The only fishing boat to come near since arriving here was sent off with a bag of vegies and other goodies which we will no longer need and which we would not be able to bring into Australia. They certainly had nice big smiles when they left.

The other big news was that today we celebrated Jon's 70th birthday. Thanks to all those who remembered!

Track us at http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=VMQ8796

Almost through Indonesia

Since the last post we have made a lot of progress and are now checked out of Indonesia, but still in Indonesian waters for a bit.

Our last reported anchorage was as Wakal on the northern Ambon coast. Our next stop was at Saparua Island a little to the west of Ambon. It was a very good anchorage and just tucked in around the corner from the SE swell. There was plenty of room in about 18 metres on hard sand to choose from.

Ashore was a very good market with lots of fresh produce to choose from but no fresh chickens. It seems in these parts we just have to be satisfied with frozen chicken from Surabaya. There is always fish available though. It was a very colourful place and one day when we get good internet we will publish some of the pictures we have taken. We felt the people were not quite as friendly here but with a bit of effort on our part they soon thawed out. Mostly Christian here although there was a small surau, or Muslim prayer room, attached to one of the houses close to the markets.

We left the next morning for a short trip across to Nusalaut Island where we made our way into the anchorage through some reef areas. As we approached a fishing boat hailed us and showed us the way in as the light was not that good for picking out the reefs. It was quite deep though as well as close to reef areas and we did not really feel that comfortable. We had a snorkel on the reef but soon were packed up ready to go and we left on another night passage to Banda.

Beautiful Banda! We enjoyed our stay here where we were moored stern-to to some palm trees, a bow line to a big mooring buoy and the anchor down the side of the drop-off just ahead of the bow in 30 metres. Our stern was in about 7 metres. The next morning just after sunup brought a squall which had us on our toes as we drifted close to the boat next to us. One of our lines slackened as the wind came from our starboard bow area. The slack line went below their boat and we had both started our engines just in case as we were blown quite close to the rocks behind us. Unfortunately, our line had actually caught above their prop and when they put it in gear the rope was wound around it. A few panicky minutes before it was cleared with our line having to be cut. The wind soon died down and we were able to reorganise our lines so that this would not happen again which luckily it didn't.

We were just off the Banda Yacht Club and Caesar, the owner, was away in Ambon but the staff were very accommodating with a nice area for sundowners and a couple of memorable meals. A local guide was employed and we went on a tour of Banda Besar Island where we saw nutmeg, clove and cinnamon trees as well as a local almond which is nothing like an almond but the nut bears a resemblance. The guide was great and it was all very interesting and informative. We stopped off at a local coffee shop where nutmeg coffee is the go. We then went off to a lava flow on Api island which is home to an active volcano. It last blew in 1998 when a whole village was demolished. There are now no villages on the island. We snorkelled off the lava flow which was supposed to be very good but didn't really impress us.

The town had a lot of Dutch and British colonial buildings still in use and the whole is overseen by a fort which is still in good condition. It seems every town we have seen since arriving at Ambon has a Portuguese/Dutch fort which housed the colonials to keep them safe. They needed to be kept safe knowing how they exploited the natives. On Banda 14,000 out of 15,000 locals were massacred in one incident. People from Java and Sulawesi were relocated to repopulate the island. So much history but not enough room to expand on it here.

We left Banda for another overnight passage to Tual in the Kei Island group. Our primary purpose for going there was that it is an arrival/departure port and we had our clearance papers done there with Immigration, Harbour Master and Customs. The first two were straightforward although a bit slow but the Customs took over six hours. There was so much paperwork to complete. One being the export of our boat. Under Indonesian policy our boat has to be imported and then exported. Payment is waived as we are a private sail boat. Somehow our agent, Raymond Lesmana, had not supplied the export papers and when contacted we were told to do it ourselves! Very disappointing attitude. One form Jon filled in by hand was not acceptable and the staff then set about recreating the document on Excel so they could print it! So, six hours later we were finally able to leave with all our clearance papers done.

We are now anchored near Woha Island and will leave this afternoon for the Aru group of islands to await a weather window for Australia. This may be as early as later this week. We are getting GRIB files with weather predictions each day to help us decide when to leave. Our aim is to get to Weipa but may have to settle for Gove given the wind direction. Time will tell.

Position: 05 48.854 S, 132 34.695 E

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Ambon

Here we are, anchored off a little village called Wakal on the northern coast of Ambon Island. A long two days. We left Tawa Island yesterday morning at 10:00 a.m. for the overnight passage timing it to arrive at Selat Kelang around dawn. All went well. The southerly wind didn't blow up like it had the day before which meant motoring all the way. We heard of another boat which left the western end of Obimayor and ended up taking 48 hours to get to Ambon as they were punching into 15-20 knot southerlies most of the way. So, it was a good decision of ours to wait another day. Better the sound of the engine than the noise of the boat pounding into the waves.

Late in the day we saw some spinner dolphins as well as a couple of whales. They were a bit far off though. We also saw two 'torpedoes', 2-3 metre steel cylinders anchored in depths up to 4,000 metres. These are FADs or fish aggregation devices and are usually unlit. Always a worry for yachties. There was no shipping, no fishing boats or anything else to avoid. The moon was up until about 2.00 a.m.

We arrived at our first choice of an anchor spot about 1:30 but with four boats it was difficult to find anything suitable. It was very deep - several hundred metres - rising up to a narrow shelf close to shore lined with reef. We spent some time meandering from bay to bay in a thunderstorm looking for something more suitable. Eventually we found a 'roomy' patch off the village of Wakal. It was still deep though and we dropped anchor in 32 metres - our deepest yet. A bit of a hitch though when some of our anchor rode followed the chain and the condition after sitting in an anchor locker for years on end did not look very confidence boosting. We then spent a bit of time hauling in the section that had gone out on the windlass until we had the chain safely back on the gipsy.

The sky then cleared, as well as the air. An interesting spectacle on the shore this afternoon was a young lad walking down to the water with a chicken - dead and plucked, etc. He walked into the water and then washed it, taking quite a while to make sure it was nice and clean!

Position: S 3 35.223, E 128 09.222

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

An Easy Day

Light winds today meant five hours of motoring along the coast of Pulau Obimayor to our anchorage near the small Pulau Tawa. With just 25 NM to run we were there just on lunchtime. Entrance to the anchorage was through a channel between some reefs but with a sunny sky and the sun overhead, it was all very easy. Just prior to arriving at the entrance the wind piped up to 20-25 knots but being off the land it wasn't a problem and we found a spot where it is very protected in water about 10 metres all around.

The wind files for tomorrow are not looking that good for our next leg to Ambon which will take us west of Ceram and through a narrow channel southwards. Currents there are reported to be strong so we have to try and time it right. It will be about 100 NM to the entrance so another overnight passage for us. If we don't get the time right we have some anchorages in mind to wait out the right tide. So we intend to have a lay day tomorrow and do some relaxing...maybe.

No fish caught or whales seen today. The other three boats here did see some dolphins but we must have been looking the wrong way.

Position: S 01 32.868, E 128 03.066

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

A Whale of a Day

Left our calm anchorage in the lagoon on Tuesday just after 0600, safely crossed the reef in the dawn light and motored into the 10-15 knot breeze to Bacan Island. We entered the Strait Sambaki with current in our favour but wind up to 20 knots straight up the strait onto our nose. Quite turbulent in the narrower sections but quite easy.

In this section we found that our Navionics App was spot on while the Plan2Nav App was out the same as the CMap charts. The Google Earth overlays were spot on as well.

We sussed out one anchorage on the Nusara Island to the west of Labuha but ended up choosing the well-protected deep Belangbelang Bay, just to the north of it. Position: 00 36.617 S, 127 25.025 E

Wednesday we all motored across the 4 NM to anchor off Labuha. Fuel was quickly organised at a good price and then we set off down the main road along the shore to find the ATM, fish markets and traditional markets. It was a noisy walk with many becaks (trishaws) passing us with their car battery-powered boom boxes blaring out. The road was lined with small shops selling the usual bits and pieces and food items. The fish markets were surprisingly clean. We came back later and bought a nice sized tuna for Rup20,000 as we found the asking price of Rup450,000 was a bit over the top for a small frozen chicken from Java. That's A$2 compared to A$45!

Along another noisy street to find the traditional markets which had most things we needed (just no fresh chicken). By the time we had finished our business the onshore wind had sprung up so we hurried back to the jetty in a becak, loaded the jerry cans aboard the dinghy and went back to the boat. We quickly up-anchored and set off back to our nice protected bay.

Our view of Bacan Island was dominated by the massive 2,200-metre Mount Sibela. It was mostly covered in cloud but very impressive. We left this morning, Thursday, at 0600 with grey, overcast skies to continue southwards and arrived at Tanjung Anggai on Obimayor Island just on 1500. Best day's sailing we have had for a while. Once we cleared Bacan Island and the turbulence we had about 10-15 knots which was enough for us to switch off the engine.

A nice surprise was to pass through a pod of whales which we think from the pics may have been Humpbacks. They were not that close and as they surfaced we could only see their backs - couldn't see their heads or tails.

The wind increased up to 20 knots and we were getting along at high 6s and high 7s. We would have gone faster if we were not pushing 1.5-2 knots of current. It was quite gusty as we came behind the island to the north of us but no swell to deal with so pretty good sailing.

On anchoring we were met by several fishermen in their tiny dugout fishing boats. Very friendly though and they didn't ask for anything. We later gave them some fishing tackle - we still have a large number of weights which the tackle shop owner we met in Taiwan gave us in 2010 - plus hooks that we don't seem to use.

Position: S 01 21.223, E 127 45.101

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Back into the Southern Hemisphere

Today we finally crossed the Equator! A couple of days later than we thought we would. Ternate was very busy the first day, meeting up with Infinity V, getting fuel, groceries, etc. so the next day we decided would be a rest day before we set off the 60 NM to our next destination. Saturday was fairly busy as well as we decided to take on more fuel. Easier to keep the tanks topped up and the jerry cans full while we can. We also took a walk further down town past the mega mall to the traditional markets. The markets seemed to go on forever and you wonder how so many vendors can sell all the same things and who is buying it all. We opted to buy a live kampung chicken (free range from a village rather than imported frozen from Surabaya). At least this one was cleaned properly.

Nights we went ashore to eat at the food stalls which are set up in the late afternoon and go through until three or four in the morning when all the stalls are disassembled and taken away. Busiest time is between 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. We were in bed by then. Enjoyed the food though - barbecue fish, chicken and side dishes with a huge plate of rice, then the next night, chicken and goat satay, and gado gado. There was a lot of atmosphere and walking back to the jetty there were people everywhere. Along the 'strand' the other side of the jetty were food carts, one after the other, all selling steamed sweet corn in the husk.

Sunday morning we were up with the call to prayer at 4:45. With numerous mosques blaring out the call at top volume it is difficult to stay asleep any longer. It was a good time to get on the internet though as after about 8:00 the network just cannot handle the volume. There was a strong signal but quite frustrating trying to get things done. One task was to capture Google Earth KAP files which we can overlay on OpenCPN for the proposed anchorages. The accuracy is very good.

So, back to getting the anchor up. As the boat was put in gear to head off a terrible clunking noise from the prop. Darn, something must have hooked onto it. We dropped anchor and then tried it again - still noisy, then reverse and that seemed to clear it. Back in forward and even worse clunking. Let out the chain and waited for a bit of light to appear in another hour. Jon went overboard at 6:00 and nothing on the prop. Engine on and in gear - noise gone and so were we. Had a good current with us as we headed down between the main Halma Hera Island and the chain of old volcanic islands going south.

About 18 NM down the track the engine gave a lurch and lost power. What now? Seemed like an overheating problem. Jon checked out a few things and decided it would be best to return to Ternate so our buddy boat Seventh Heaven came along with us. By this time the wind had died out and thent we were into the current. We maintained low revs keep the engine temp down to get us along at about 3 knots but coming around the last island we had some current and 15-20 to get us back to the anchorage. Dropped anchor and then Jon set about solving the engine problem and came to the conclusion that it was probably a blown head gasket. Not a problem, he could fix it but it would take a bit of time. Due to the wind over tide situation Tweed was not pulling back on the anchor so we decided to wait for the tide to slacken and then give the engine a good run under load to pull back on the anchor and see how the engine went. In the meantime Jon decided to go overboard to check the prop to see if anything had stayed stuck on it from the morning's prop problem. He was back up in a few seconds. We had picked up a big woven polypropylene bag and it was totally enclosing the prop apart from the tips of the blades! Wow, such a simple solution to what we thought was a big problem. We now realise that something on the prop does not necessarily cause any vibration or make a noise but it will of course cause the engine to overheat.

So a bit of a celebration aboard Tweed with crew from Daedalus Too and Seventh Heaven and then an early night. We were awoken once again by the mosques and on our way just after 5:00 a.m. Motor sailing again with variable winds and variable currents. Tweed crossed the Equator at 1:43 p.m. - we are now back in the southern hemisphere. We arrived in the anchorage on Kayoa Island just on 4:00 p.m. Using waypoints from Infinity V we navigated into the lagoon watching on Google Earth and also keeping a good eye out. We had to cross a reef just before our anchor spot and saw a nail-biting 4 metres at the shallowest. Anchored in 18 metres. Tonight an Equator Crossing party - a first for Infinity V.

The rubbish in the these waters is unbelievable. The water itself is very clean and clear but moving along there is an incredible amount of plastic - bags, shoes, packaging, etc. - floating past or suspended in the water and going down for metres. No wonder we caught the bag on our prop. We see this sort of rubbish in most places where there are people but this area seems to be the worst. Plastic is so widely used but its disposal is turning into a huge environmental problem. We see people everywhere just discarding their rubbish straight into the water. As yachties we always take our non-biodegradable rubbish ashore for disposal but unfortunately in some places it is just thrown on the ground in a heap and then later burned, or gone through to find anything worth keeping and then just tossed away.

Position: 00 00.719 S, 127 28.186 E

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Ternate

With 149 NM to cross the Molucca Sea to Ternate, we left Petimati along with Seventh Heaven at 7:40 for a night passage. Wind predictions were showing about 15 knots during the morning, easing in the afternoon and night. The predictions proved fairly true and we were able to sail for about four hours once clear of Sulawesi. Just after lunchtime though it was back to the engine and motor sailing!

Thunderstorms building over Sulawesi slowly crept out to sea but stayed behind and to the north of us. During the night though there was lots of thunder and lightning which seemed threatening but which stayed clear of us. We had some stars on and off but no moon. A bit more sailing in the early hours until just after sunup, which was pretty spectacular as the sun rose behind Ternate Island. The island is basically a very large still-smoking volcano. We were swept into the channel doing over nine knots and anchored off the town just on 9:00 a.m. Already anchored here was Infinity V who we hadn't seen since Miri - Pam since May and Jon since June. They hadn't seen another boat for six weeks and had been having a wonderful time cruising through Sulawesi.

No crosses predominating here though as in Manado and being a Friday the mosques were doing the calls to prayer almost nonstop. Definitely a Muslim town and we look forward to going ashore later.

We will be here one night before making a definite move to the south. Tomorrow we will cross the Equator and be in the southern hemisphere aboard Tweed for the first time since October 2006 and heading for the Land Down Under.

Position: 00 47.120 N, 127 23.476 E

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

A Change of Latitude

The last anchorage at Wori ended up being a bit of a worry. It was a bit swelly when we arrived and we went ashore with some others for a drink and a meal at the little resort. Nice meal of local food.

We were all pretty tired from the night before in the Manado anchorage so were a bit put off when the wind came up at 11.30. Light at first but got up to 20 knots straight into the anchorage. It lasted for 3-4 hours 10-15 knots which meant the swell and waves got bigger and we had a very uncomfortable night with the boat rolling fairly violently side on to the swell once the wind died out.

This morning we made the decision with Seventh Heaven to leave Wori for a bay near Petimati. It was open to the north but was much further east and almost on the east side of Sulawesi - maybe the wind influence will be a bit better and islands to the north may provide some protection from the swell.

We had a light NE against us but current with us so a bit lumpy. The channel between the northern islands and the Sulawesi coast had some turbulence as we came through but the bay here so far is quite comfortable. The wind has come round to the SW off the land and the swell is low. Here's hoping for a quiet night before we leave for Ternate tomorrow.

Position: 01 41.063 N, 125 08.923 E

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Manado and Wori Bay

An early start yesterday morning when we left Bolaang Uki at 4:15 a.m. A couple of hours later the wind came up a bit and we reefed the main and had the cutter out and the engine off and were sailing along nicely. The wind soon died though and it was back to the engine on and headsail in. Some flat motoring so made some bread and did some washing and then the wind again. So one of those days.

We arrived in the anchorage at Manado about 4:30 p.m. and it was very exposed and not very nice. A few hundred yards out and the depths fall quickly to 1200 metres. There is no real protection from the swell which had dropped a bit and a light 5 knot NW which we hoped would drop out as evening arrived. We were on a bit of a sloping bottom but secure in 11 metres good mud with a rock wall not far behind us.

Position: 01 29.239 N, 124 49.960 E

Our night in Manado was not quite as bad as we thought it would be. The wind was light and the swell flattened somewhat so we managed some sleep! Manado is quite a big city with a population of over 1,000,000 people and 85% Christian. We noticed lots of churches with prominent crosses as we came along the coast towards it yesterday. Seemed quite affluent going by the number of late model cars around. The supermarket was pretty super with lots of goodies available. We didn't make it to the traditional market as it was a bit far.

Had a busy morning organising 160 litres diesel and doing a bit of provisioning plus Pam managed to fit in a haircut - first for a while.

By the time we finished all these chores it was 1.30 so we lifted the anchor and came 11 NM to Wori Bay. A bit deep here and not a lot of room with five yachts and some local fishing boats. One side of the bay is very shallow and exposed at low tide so not much to choose from.

We will probably leave tomorrow to get around the top of this part of Sulawesi ready to cross the strait to Ternate in the Halma Hera group of islands.

Position: 01 36.236 N, 124 52.010 E

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com