Due to tropical cyclone Donna which tracked down from the Solomon Islands past New Caledonia, we departed Cairns a week later than planned, on the 9th May 2017. This proved to be fortuitous, as a prolonged South Easterly weather pattern set in, providing a good weather window to sail to the Louisiade Archipelago.
Cheerio Cairns.
Australian Border Force, previously known as Australian Customs, met us at the Marlin Marina to complete the departure documentation. While we filled our water tanks, Hans and Sarah on “Seagoon” set sail at 10am. We followed an hour later and caught up with their 38 footer in the Grafton Passage. A 15-18 knot S-E took us past Euston Reef to the edge of the continental shelf. A drop of 2,400m over the distance of a mile.
Seagoon.
At 3am we passed Bougainville Reef about 15nm to Port and with one reef tucked into the main, we were sailing at 9-10 knots in a sea of about 2m swells. We were surprised at Esprit’s performance considering her foul bottom and more than a tonne of additional diesel, petrol and solar panel gear and cabling. The 3 months we were anchored on the river in Cairns, saw the growth of barnacles, slime and sediment on the hull.
Sunset day 1.
By way of explanation: The river in Cairns is really like a Petrie dish of industrial contaminants and raw sewerage. In NSW there are strict rules requiring holding tanks for boat toilets which can only be discharged 5 miles out to sea or at pump out facility. In North QLD, most boaties don’t know what a holding tank is and there are a lot of boats anchored on Cairns river. Cairns don’t separate waste – everything goes to landfill!
Our first 24 hour run at 11am on day 1 was 170nm. Pleasant sailing throughout day 2, but by 5pm we had to tuck a reef into the main as we were going at 10-12 knots over a flat sea. By midnight, in 25-30 knots, we tucked in a second reef and furled the jib. Esprit was still doing 7-8 knots, with 3-4 m swells occasionally breaking over the stern. This was the strongest wind on the passage and provided some exhilarating sailing.
The deep blue of the Coral sea.
The wind dropped by early morning and we unfurled the jib and shook out the reefs at 6am. Our 24 hour run at 11am on day 2 was 165nm. Day 3 was uneventful with winds varying between 16-18 knots and the sea between flat, sloppy and the occasional 2 m swells. We anchored off Pana Bobai Ana island in the Duchateau group at 11:45am on day 3, after a 175nm run, completing the 510nm passage in 3 days and 45 minutes.
Three days later – landfall in the Louisiades.
About the passage: The Coral sea has an abundance of flying fish – each morning we found dead flying fish on the deck and in the cockpit. These iridescent blue fish are the staple diet of the Masked Booby seabirds you find far out to sea. Esprit’s bow wave would cause schools of flying fish to take off and fly, skimming 30-50 m across the water. The graceful Booby seabirds provided non-stop entertainment, by hovering above the mast, then swoop down, weave and skim across the water for their daily catch. Jet pilots of the Coral sea!
Masked Booby.
The Duchateau group of islands is located about 20nm East of the Southern entrance to the Jomard passage, between the Louisiades and mainland Papua New Guinea. On our approach to Jomard passage, we picked up on our AIS, at least 7 cargo vessels and tankers around us. The strategic position of the Jomard passage resulted in the battle of the Coral Sea, 75 years ago in 1942, when ships of the Australian and American navies engaged with the Japanese fleet, to stop their Southbound progress to Port Moresby and Darwin.
The battle resulted in the Japanese retreating North. About a week before we sailed past, the battle of the Coral sea was remembered in New York, when Malcolm Turnbull and Donald Trump, with the 5 surviving sailors of this battle, attended a 75th year remembrance dinner for this event.
Some more boring background by courtesy of the Friends of the Louisiades (connecting Yachties and other Dim Dims to the Louisiades): The islands were discovered by the Spanish expedition of Luis de Torres in 1606, sailing from South America to explore the oceans to the West. It is possible that Malay and Chinese sailors also visited earlier. In 1768, Louis Antoine de Bougainville visited the islands and named them for Louis the fifteenth, the king of France. Visits were also paid by admiral Bruni d’Entrecasteaux in 1793 and captain Owen Stanley in 1849.
Cheers!
Annie and I celebrated our arrival with a few cold beers, a swim, hot showers and for me, a shave. We slept like the proverbial logs that evening. The following morning dawned bright and sunny, allowing us to tidy up and clean Esprit, which was covered in salt. In the afternoon we went ashore to meet the Beche-de-Mer fishermen camping on the island. We traded three crayfish for a kilo of sugar and a kilo of rice – costing $2.
Dinner.
This island doesn’t have permanent inhabitants, but during the 3-month season for harvesting these sea cucumbers, two or three families from a neighbouring island set up temporary accommodation on this island, to harvest their catch. The sea cucumbers are sedentary detritus feeders. The Chinese, in the past, for some reason decided that they could make one virile if taken in soup. A thriving export industry to China exists for “beche-de-mer”, so called by the French, to satisfy the Chinese obsession for all things stimulating virility. Hopefully, the Beche-de-Mer will reduce the pressure on the Rhino population of Africa.
Cooked and smoked Beche-de-Mer.
Hans and Sarah arrived in Seagoon later that afternoon and after settling down, we had them over for a crayfish dinner. They had their turn for a good night’s sleep and after a relaxed breakfast, we did a 90-minute walk around the island. Later, six fishermen arrived by open dinghy from Misima, where they had gone to trade a load of Beche-de-Mer with the export agents. John, their leader told us that the market is flooded with product and consequently, prices are not as good as usual. Evidently, they made enough money to have a raucous party that evening, with the five people who stayed behind on the island.
Sarah & Annie.
Dirk & Annie.
Seagoon & Esprit.
On the 15th May 2017, we celebrated our first anniversary as self-funded retirees since we sailed out of Sydney. We have seen a lot of the world in this time and plan to see a lot more in the next couple of years. We struck a bargain with regard Esprit’s dirty bottom when two of the sea cucumber divers, Bob and John, offered to scrub the hull, keel and rudder below the water line. This was done in an hour flat for the princely sum of a kilo of rice, a kilo of sugar, an old pair of sandals and an old pair of flippers. They were delighted.
Island transport: modern banana boat & traditional sailing canoe.
The following day we sailed to Moturina island, 16nm to the North and the most Westerly island in the Calvados chain. We caught two reasonable sized tuna mackerel on the way and gave these to the islanders on Moturina, in exchange for some lemons, paw-paws and coconuts.
Annie & Sarah’s catch.
This family received a fish for dinner.
The solar project started the following day when two solar panels with a regulator and 12V battery, with LED lights in five houses were installed. The locals were very pleased with these lights which comes on between 6 and 12pm.
Moturina village for the first installation.
Arriving in the village.
Hans showing Isaac and Jimmy how to do the connections.
Solar panels installed.
Isaac with the regulator and battery connected.
Home schooling.
On completion, a thank you lunch is served. They wait until we have finished!
Hans took Sarah to Misima the following day to catch a plane to Bali. Whilst they were gone, we were given a tour of the village by Isaac, the treasurer of the school. The school has 200 pupils in the elementary and secondary sections. The teachers are seconded from Milne Bay on the mainland. The school also has boarding for children from nearby islands like Bagaman. We visited the clinic where Daisy the nurse bemoaned the shortage of medicines from the mainland, particularly for the malaria season coming up. We walked with Isaac to another village to the East, to ask them to find poles to mount the solar panels on and to dispatch young men to carry the gear, which will be installed in 8 houses on the Monday.
The village canoe builder – mouth full of betel nuts!
Canoe builder outside his house with pebble garden. He must be doing well – one of the few people with a watch.
Canoe builder’s kids – cracking betel nuts to keep dad going.
Stuff we would have put out with the last bulk collection, gratefully accepted.
After Moturina, we set sail to take advantage of the prevailing Southerly to make Easting as far as possible.
The tropical depression that has been lingering around to northeast of Vanuatu got its act together last might and is now a Cat 2 tropical cyclone called TC DONNA.
It is heading southwest towards Sola in northern Vanuatu where it should arrive around 5pm Thursday local and intensify of Cat 3, with winds near centre around 64 to 85 knots.
On Friday, TC DONNA is expected to maintain Cat 3 and turn south-southeast-wards. If it continues its current pace , TC DONNA , at this stage, is likely to reach he Port Vila area by late Sunday. Then it may start to travel faster and weaken passing the Tanna area around Monday.
Too far away at this stage to be sure, but next week as TC DONNA leaves the tropics, one likely scenario is for it be captured by the trough which is likely then to be moving from the Tasman Sea towards NZ . This should take its remains south-eastwards towards NZ’s East cape by around Friday 12 May.
Any vessels on their way from NZ to Fiji at present should aim for a waypoint east of their direct path so that they may be in position when the winds around Fiji turn to be from the NE early next week. the trough that contains DONNA is not expected to get past 175E until after Wed 10 May
Any vessels stopping at Minerva are advised that a large HIGH is now travelling east from the Tasman Sea across NZ this weekend and then off to east of NZ early next week. This HIGH enhances the trade winds on its northern side, so there is likely to be a period of easterly winds at Minerva around 20 gust 30 knots (maybe a bit more) from end of Friday 5 May to Thursday 11 May , Then a trough on Friday 12 /Sat 13/Sun 14 May.
Cairns by day: water aerobics, not a religious revival
Cairns by night: user friendly and illuminated paths.
Tropical forest on Fitzroy
The summit on Fitzroy
Easter weekend is ahead of us and the South East trade winds have arrived, heralding the end of the cyclone season. Steve Friedman our neighbour on the water, has made new shade cloth side screens for Esprit’s cockpit to keep the sun and insects out, when necessary. He also made topside covers for our dinghy to protect it from the sun and extend it’s life, as well as a cover for Annie’s paddle board. Well made!
Dinghy with new taupe covers.
Our new 10kg folding bikes from Taiwan have been in use for a fortnight and are really easy to fold and store in their bags. The Iridium Go sat phone hub arrived from the US and the antenna and installation has been done. I hope to have it up and running in the next week and will post the number at the end of this post, as we will be out of mobile phone range for about two months.
Dirk, Annie, Louis & Madelein. Louis & Madelein sailed to Cairns from Cape Town.
Today is Easter Monday, as we sit here in Esprit enjoying a cup of tea. All our chores are done, Annie is reading and I am sitting here thinking – sometimes I am just sitting. Some observations came to mind which I thought I could share. (not Greek philosopher’s material)
During our year of intermittent cruising along the Australian East coast, we have met a large number of very friendly people, both sailing and non-sailing. The yachties will always stop to chat and exchange ideas – probably because they have more time and are relaxed. But then, non-sailors will also go down to a marina to live life vicariously through the sailors. They will ask to look at your boat and want to know where you are from and where you are going. It’s always a pleasure to chat to them.
The sailing types can be broadly classified into three groups:
Cruiser
The cruising pensioners (aged pensioners/disability pensioners/mature age students/carers etc.). Some may have more assets than what the means test for these pensions allow. Therefore collecting a pension or two every fortnight and live on board, for far less than a house would cost them.
The cruising self-funded retirees is another group. They rent out their homes, live off the rent and have savings or investments. Some retirees’ sail for a while, then tie up at a marina for a while to travel on land. This is still cheaper than living in and maintaining a McMansion.
All salt of the earth people with their unique stories to tell, and not having to worry about mortgages, mowing the lawn, or commuting.
The third group are the racers and the pretend to be sailors (some racers have modest means). They have bigger boats than they can afford, with cars and houses to match. Their boats have all the bells and whistles and they always want to go faster than anybody else. These people are often stressed and in a hurry, but always have time for re-enacting their last race or exploit at the teak reef (bar).
Racer
Another interesting observation is the diminishing property prices as we travel further North. In Sydney you can’t buy an outhouse for under a million, but here in Queensland as you go North, houses for $250 – 350,000! I have told Annie that if she mentions a house on a block again, I will run away. You can buy a beachside apartment, 1-2 bedrooms with running everything for around $250,000. We may keep renting our Sydney properties and live like movie stars in central Queensland!
200l of diesel in jerry cans below the saloon table – keeps Esprit’s centre of gravity low.
Departure date is getting near. Esprit is loaded with food and beverages, the water and diesel tanks are full, with another 200l of diesel in jerry cans stored below the saloon table. One of the aft cabins is filled with solar panels, regulators, batteries and cabling for Hans’ community lighting projects in PNG, which we will help him with during the next two months.
My 70th birthday and our 30th wedding anniversary came up in April and were suitably celebrated – how time flies!
Dinner at the Prawn Star.
From cave man in the 70’s to family man in the 90’s!
Lots of jokes about Crocs and their appearance, made me vow never to wear a pair.
But what does Annie give me for my 70th birthday? A pair of Crocs sandals!
Aaargh!
We won’t have internet or phone reception in the Louisiades, so I won’t be doing posts for the next two and a half months, until we get to Darwin. You can SMS us free on our satellite phone number.
How People can Call/SMS your Iridium GO! Annie & Dirk’s Iridium Go number is:+8816-2346-4872
Dial “+” then Iridium GO! number (e.g +8816-2346-4872). This is an international call and will be billed to the caller at their long distance rate by their telephone service provider.
Free SMS messages (up to 160 characters) can be sent to your Iridium phone number fromhttp://messaging.iridium.com/This is the most popular way to send SMS messages to an Iridium GO.
STOP PRESS – 1st May 2017: This evening a tropical depression has formed near 10S 163E or between the Solomon Islands and northern Vanuatu, called 99P by Guam. We were about to set sail on the 2nd May, but we will have to wait a while to see where this system will track before we can depart.
On arriving back in Cairns on the 17th February, we realised what a good idea it was to go back to Sydney for 2 months. It was still very hot and humid in Cairns and the no-see-ums (sandflies) were out in force attacking me and leaving me covered in huge red welts which itches like hell and takes a week of antihistamine treatment to subside. Annie is immune to them! It is still the wet season, so the mozzies and sandflies are about. The dry season only start in May.
Cairns library – the ideal place to visit on a hot day.
From the sublime to the ridiculous – winner of the 1964 “Add a deck” award, on the river.
A suitably high tide allowed us to motor out of Bluewater Marina the following day, with less than 100mm below the keel. Two hours later, we tied up to a mooring on the river in Cairns which our friend Hans Clemmensen had arranged for us. We set about to complete a few jobs on the boat. The newly refurbished mainsail with full battens was installed and it took us 2 hours from start to finish to set it all up. The new rail mounting bracket for the Weber Baby Q was easy to install and works well.
The clever mounting brackets for the Baby Q.
Brad Craft, who during our two-month absence fixed a few dings and scratches on the hull, cleaned and polished the hull, did a great job and Esprit looks as good as new. We re-stocked the boat with food from Woollies and grog from BWS. After four days, we set sail again and found respite from the heat out on the ocean at Turtle Bay, Fitzroy Island, Vlasoff Cay and Michaelmas reef until strong South Easterlies and torrential rain squalls drove us back to Cairns after five days.
Lucky legs Schady at Turtle Bay.
Nymph at the waterfall pool.
Full moon rising over Fitzroy.
Vlasoff Cay
The South Easterlies cooled the place down and also got rid of the sand flies. We were able to socialise on deck with friends and go ashore in Cairns to do some shopping. Some really big ocean liners pulled into Cairns opposite our mooring – at least one ship a week. These ships and their passengers were fascinating to watch – we weren’t sure if the ships were of the 1000, 2000 or 5000 passenger varieties.
Passenger liners on the river.
They had one thing in common – loud announcements wafting across the water, fog horns sounding to announce their imminent departure, with an accompanying rush of Zimmer frames boarding and loud renditions of Chariots of Fire as they were steaming out. The passengers seemingly oblivious to the beauty of Cairns, as they sat glued to the massive TV screens on the top deck.
The H2Go desalinator at work.
A number of items had to be purchased from Bunnings and Whitworths and we were able to borrow bicycles from Ken and Tracy to do this, as one walking trip there, left us panting and sweating. We are seriously considering ordering lightweight aluminium folding bikes to keep on board for this purpose. The delivery of our new 2kW Yamaha generator for backup was delayed, so we set off to Michaelmas reef again to snorkel and also commission our new 12V desalinator unit. This little beauty produces 20l/hour running off the batteries, while being adequately recharged by the solar panels.
The new Yammie at work.
Two nights later, we were hit after midnight by a humdinger of a N-W storm peaking at 35 knots and bucketing with rain. We hot footed it back to shelter in Cairns again! We took the opportunity to submit our passports for visas to Papua New Guinea and complete the documentation of the Sail Indonesia rally in July.
While in Sydney, I had to go through the bureaucratic shuffle with the Registrar of Ships in Canberra to get an official Australian Shipping Registration Number for Esprit. This is like a passport for boats and you cannot sail from country to country without it. It comes at the princely sum of $1,554 and we were allocated the name Esprit 3, as Esprit 1 and 2 were already registered. OK with me, as we launched our Esprit 1 in 1975 and Backbeat, which we launched in 2008, now has the pseudonym of Esprit 2.
It was also time for a haircut, so Annie obliged with the number 5 buzz cut. I like to let nature take its course in the appearance department. Not always that easy for the ladies, who groom for other ladies rather than their men. Annie decided to break from this cycle and has now adopted her natural salt and pepper hair colour. I think she could find a modelling career in the active senior’s ads for retirement homes.
Gavin, Annie & Debra wading to the Turtle Bay waterfall pool.
In the third week of March our friends Gavin and Debra Birch from Sydney, flew to Cairns to spend a week with us on Esprit. After stocking up with food and booze, we sailed out to Turtle Bay for the first night. We enjoyed a long walk and swim at the waterfall the next morning, before sailing to Fitzroy island where we picked up a Parks department mooring. News started to come through on the Oz Cyclone Chasers blog, warning of the formation of a cyclone in the Coral Sea, heading to North Queensland.
Secret Garden walk.
Whilst waiting to see if the cyclone named Debbie, was going to track West in our direction or Southwest, we explored the island, doing all the walks and snorkelling the coral reefs. By Sunday it was clear the cyclone was tracking to Bowen (where Esprit was on a pole mooring for 2 months, while we were in Europe). Although 550km to our South, significant winds from the West and North were expected in Cairns, so we decided to stay put and not go out to the Reefs which are very exposed out at sea.
Walk to Nudey Beach.
Nudey Beach.
Professor Birch explaining rock formations.
Gavin and I heading off to buy wine at Foxies.
Beautiful sunset before the storm. Kings beach across the water.
TC Debbie made its landfall at Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays on Tuesday morning, leaving destruction in its wake and then tracked into Queensland, travelling out to sea again on the Queensland/NSW border. As expected, the Northerlies hit us on Tuesday night, with Esprit bucking like a young stallion in the high winds and swells. On Wednesday morning we motored to Kings Beach to recover and get the outboard and dinghy back on board. We then had to motor with the wind on the nose at 3 knots to Cape Grafton, before setting the jib and flying back to Cairns at 7 knots.
Tropical cyclone Debbie’s track.
In the lee at Kings Beach. Fitzroy Island in the background.
Gavin and Debra offered to pay for a berth in the marina after the wild night before. For this we were grateful, as well as the lovely dinner they hosted us to at Waterview. They flew back to Sydney the next day. I then set about to fix the bow roller which was badly twisted in the storm. Hans gave the number of Max who did stainless steel work before retiring at 76 – he is now a sprightly 79. Max picked me up in his old Toyota Land Cruiser and we drove to his house and workshop. His experience allowed him to direct me to hammer here, bend there and eventually with a 3m long 3×2 inch angle iron bolted to the twisted U-shaped roller, straighten it. Real bush engineering which my two brothers would have relished. I re-installed the bow roller the next morning.
First, the heavy duty shifter.
Then, the angle iron adjuster!
Today is the 1st of April, so we have a busy month of preparations, before we set sail for the Louisiades. We have our PNG visas and have registered with Customs on their database. We expect our lightweight aluminium folding bikes to arrive on Monday and will finalise our blue water insurance next week. Research and order of a suitable satellite phone for offshore communication is also on the list. We favour the Iridium Go system for which Elon Musk’s Space-X is busy launching a whole new constellation of 70 satellites. Expect an update before we leave at the end of April, beginning of May.
After returning from Orange, we moved into Jim and Gail Petrie’s flat in Balgowlah, which we rented for a month. The flat is centrally located with beautiful views across Forty Baskets beach and Sydney harbour, from Manly and North head to South head. This has allowed us the opportunity for walks along the waterfront to Manly and Forty Baskets, both about 20 minutes away on foot.
Walk to Manly
Manly Corso and beach.
We also watched the Ocean Thunder rowing series at Dee Why beach to cheer on Ash Watson’s crew. They won the first series.
The heat starts through the surf.
Michelle arrived from London on the 21st of January for a three week visit to get some sunshine and thaw after a cold London winter. We met her at the Manly wharf and she crashed for a day with a book before catching up with her many friends. Her fake tan was soon replaced by the real thing. She drove down to Melbourne with three friends over the Australia day long weekend, to attend the Rainbow Serpent Festival.
The ferry arriving.
Welcome back to Sydney Michelle.
Australia day on the 26th January is a wonderful occasion with festivities, music and citizenship ceremonies in every suburb. Annie sailed on an Etchells 22 yacht with Malcolm and Andrew in the 181st Australia day regatta on the Pittwater. I took the opportunity to drive to Palm Beach to climb up to Barrenjoey lighthouse and enjoy the view across the peninsula with the Tasman sea on the one side and the Pittwater on the other.
Barrenjoey lighthouse.
View across the peninsula – Tasman Sea on the left, the Pittwater on the right.
Getting back to Avalon Yacht Club in the afternoon the Etchells crew was in great spirits having won the regatta – for the 9th consecutive year! We enjoyed the BBQ at ASC. I was the “deso” driving back home, after Annie’s celebrations.
The winners – Andrew, Annie and Malcolm.
Karen’s two-year internship and residency finished on the 3rd February. She planned to do locums and travel this year, before applying for a registrar’s post in orthopaedic surgery, which is another 8-year term of training on top of the 9 years she has clocked up so far. She was however offered a post as an unaccredited registrar in orthopaedic surgery at Tweed Heads hospital at the end of January. She got two weeks off before starting in Tweed Heads and flew down to Sydney to visit us and catch up with Michelle. The two of them managed to see a lot of friends and attended two music festivals.
Michelle and Karen.
Our family together again.
At the Oxford Art Factory
Before we knew it, Michelle flew back to work and snow in London on the 12th February. She plans to complete her DAPA course (Domestic Abuse Prevention Advocate) by the middle of the year, a qualification which is sought after in Australia.
Karen and us packed up and flew back to Tweed Heads and Cairns respectively, on the 17th February. It was good to spend some time in our favourite city and even better to spend it with our girls. Our next news will be from Cairns, before we sail to the Louisiades, East of Papua New Guinea.
