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
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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
1 comment:
Love the story about the boy and the chicken! Must be exciting to be in such deep water... ooooo imagine what's underneath looking up!!! Daarrrdennt dddaaarrrdennnt ddddaaarrrdddennntt!!!
love ej xooox
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