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
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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
----------
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