Blog Entry 29 - 1st Nov 2008

Hi Folks,

After spending the greater part of the day running around government offices involved in a paper chase we located the 'O' ring seal and Brian has repaired the steering.  I am flying back to Australia at 7 AM in the morning for meetings and the boys have an excellent weather window for the trip to Mackay where the boat will clear into Australia.  We might have to leave Scotty like the flying dutchman never to return on land as he thought his passport looked a little grubby and decided to leave it in the pocket of his shorts when he did the washing.  Fortunately we had copies so all should really be well.  It is unfortunate that he has lost the record of his numerous journeys over the years.  We dined last night at the waterfront restaurant beside yachting world and the food was excellent.  I had a lobster that was so big I had great difficulty in finishing.  This is a great place with friendly people and many ex-pat's from Australia and New Zealand.

Love to All,

Jack. 

Blog Entry 28 - Thirty First Oct 2008

Hi Folks,

We arrived at Port Vila early this morning and enjoyed an easy entrance to a deep wide bay.  We are currently on a quarantine mooring which the local cruisers have advised us that this government mooring breaks away, what more could you expect.  We have been waiting two hours for customs and trying to get clearance so that we can purchase the new seal we need.  Brian has dismantled the helm and it is an easy job to fix.  Thanks for your concern.

Love to all,

Jack.

Blog Entry 27 - Thirtieth Oct 2008

CURRENT POSITION:                        18 20 S – 171 06 E

SPEED:                                                7.0 KTS

BEARING:                                                281T

Hi Folks,

We are heading towards Port Villa in Vanuatu with a following sea off our port quarter which causes us to rock and roll a little but it is in the right direction.  We have isolated the leaking hydraulic steering pump and we are running under autopilot, which does a better job than you can hand steer anyway.  All is well we will make contact again on arrival in Port Villa.

Love to all,

Jack.

 

FROM SCOTT’S DIARY:

Things got pretty real last night; this occurred to me as I hung by the grip of my hands from the table in the wheelhouse and noticed the ocean that was about one foot from coming into contact with our side windows.  Roger came running up the stairs with his shins all knocked about saying that he had been thrown form his bunk into the bathroom with the bulkhead collecting his legs on the way through.  We both looked at each other in shock and listened to a faint yet stern voice coming from the saloon “We are running an unnecessary risk here boys, turn her away from it” Jack said. We agreed and now that Brian had collected his expensive gyro binoculars from the bottom of the stair well he helped us change course to starboard.  Shortly after this we all recognised the need for sleep after the rodeo style positions had not allowed us to get any the night preceding.   Brian went down to his bunk to find a thick red waterfall sheeting down across the doorway to the master cabin.  Oil leak! He cried and as I went for a bucket and the thick and thirsty paper towel he started opening hatches and shutting off hydraulic valves to the main helm.  We had never used the main helm the entire trip because steering from the fly bridge gives a much better perspective when docking but whilst changing course in a hurry we went straight for the wheel in the pilot house causing a build up of pressure and a burst seal.  All is well now but I thought you would all like to hear this little passage from my personal log.  Fun times at sea.

Missing everybody,

Scotty.

Blog Entry 26 - Twenty Ninth Oct 2008

Hi Folks,
Slight change in route planning.  We have run into some wild weather with seas too large to take on the beam, also over powering trying to head into waves.  So a change of direction and now running with waves en-route to Port Villa.  Current position 19 06 S - 175 07 E.  Murphy's law has also kicked in and we have a hydraulic steering leak behind the main helm.  Brian has turned off the supply valve to that wheel and topped up supply.  The auto-pilot runs separate of this system so we are OK.  If the two auto's failed we still have the emergency tiller.  To decide who will operate that manual tiller we will take a vote and all fingers point to Scott.  It will take two days to get to Port Villa unless conditions improve and I will give you an update tomorrow.

Adventures in paradise.

Love to all,

Jack.

Blog Entry 25 - Twenty Eighth Oct 2008

Hi folks,

Our weather window has been indicated to commence Wednesday however we will take a punt and left at 10 AM today.  It is now 11 AM and we have picked our way through badly marked reefs to enter the high seas shortly.  Leaving earlier should take us into reasonable weather off New Caledonia however with perhaps uncomfortable conditions for the first two days i.e. 4M seas and 25 knot winds on the port quarter gradually reducing.

The stay at Muskat Cove was relaxing, pleasant and a definite must see for any visitor to Fiji, I will update our blog site as we progress and hope to report nice settled conditions, with only 1885 NM approx. to get home via Coffs Harbor we feel we are almost there.

Love to all,

Jack.

Blog Entry 24 - Twenty sixth Oct 2008

Hi Folks,
Email from Clouds Badham confirming we have a partial weather window for wednesday the 29th we are checking this with passage weather and buoy weather on the net which also gives weather predictions and feel with a little luck we can leave Muskat Cove on the 28th.

We have a safety net at new caledonia as our direct track to Coffs harbor to clear customs etc runs within 50 NM of port Mozelle so weather permitting we can stay on course for australia.

Assuming we strike some bad weather necessitating a reduction in speed we should arrive in Coffs harbor on November the 6th, say one day to clear customs and have a north wall combo, a steak and lobster dish at the pier restaurant we should arrive at the marina on november 8th or 0th at the latest.

We will be in a position to give an accurate eta on arrival at Coffs Harbor however a s promised we will go all out for a weekend arrival back home.  The weather here today is unsettled and according to clouds is left over from the recent QLD storms.

Love to all,

Jack.

Musket Cove!

Boys by the Barbie cooking up a storm.

Sitting down to eat with a nice Australian red.

Speedbird looking good in Musket.

Musket Cove!

This is the Island bar serving plenty of cold beverages to all the yachties.

Here is a picture of the wharf leading out to the Island Bar

This is the swimming spot looking out to the west.

The Island Bar.

Another one of the wharf.

Blog Entry 23 - Twenty Fifth Oct 2008

Hi Folks,

Speedbird has a nice stainless barbecue however rather than get this one messy with cooking our steak we took advantage of a Musket Cove service on the palm fringed island at the end of the marina where they supply numerous barbeque's for exclusive use by the yachties and all crockery, cutlery, sauces etc free of charge.  Of course they also have a liberal supply of beer, spirits, wine etc at normal costs.  We cooked our steak, or rather Brian and Scott were the chefs and with electric table lamps and colored lights in the trees, music quietly playing in the background this is really a nice setting.  Being stink boaters we felt we were not really connecting or perhaps it was just me not wishing to connect, so we returned to Speedbird for an apple strudel dessert with a choice of two ice creams liberally drenched with rum.  Scott and Brian returned to the island bar and had a great evening talking to kindred spirits who are waiting on weather to visit the various ports around the world.  

While waiting for our weather report we thought the enclosed photos of Musket Cove might be of interest.

Fiji Facts:

POPULATION: 825,000 with around 50% Fijian islanders or due to the Indians leaving its probably swung towards Fijians.

LOCATION: 1600km north of Auckland, 2720 km north of Sydney and 5088 km west of Honolulu.  333 islands covering 18336 sq. km.  The two largest Viti Levu (10429 sq. km) and Vanua Levu (5556 sq. km) making up seven eighths of the total land area.

HISTORY: First settled 3500 years ago when Melanesians and then Micronesians populated the islands north of Fiji before moving south the first European to discover the islands was the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1643.  More than 130 years later in 1755 Captain James Cook came to Fiji.  In 1789 Captain William Bligh sailed through the islands after the infamous mutiny on the Bounty.  In 1970 Fiji gained independence from Britain and in 1987 it was declared a republic.  

Was this a good or bad move for Fiji? makes for a lively discussion.  I will make suitable comment after leaving the area.

Love to all,

Jack.

Blog Entry 22 - Twenty Fourth Oct 2008

Hi Folks,

Berthed Mediterranean style at beautiful Muskat Cove bow at anchor and stern to the dock.  We cleared Fiji customs etc. at Port Denarau 2pm with intentions of running an adverse weather window detailed in a report from 'Clouds' (Roger Badham), however after 2 hours cruising it was necessary to go close to Muskat cove to clear the reefs.  My well trained nose for food detected the tantalising aroma of pig on spit so throwing caution to the wind we all voted that this would be a great layover for the deteriorating weather conditions and safely negotiated the reefs into Muskat Cove reserving a table for the evening meal.

Its a hard life, had we not stopped our evening meal was to be Barbecued steak with all the trimmings followed by apple strudel and ice cream plus a nice cheese platter with appropriate drinks, all in air conditioned comfort while the auto pilot continued its work.  This is a great piece of equipment, never complains, doesn't require feeding and we named it Fred, couldn't use a female name or it probably would have gone off course and started winging.  

Speedbird is a beautiful creation, nicely balanced and attracts much favourable comment and enviable looks I'm confident her design and pedigree will continue to stand us well.

Muskat cove consists of golden sands, turquoise water, palm trees and is surrounded by undulating hills with a deep narrow palm fringed channel to the floating marina.  As I look over this scene I feel sad as our friends who take the trouble to follow our progress can't be with us to enjoy the adventure, perhaps i need a larger vessel.

Hopefully we will get a favourable weather window over the next few days so that we can leave with the 8 boats moored an berthed here all waiting for good conditions to go to New Zealand for the cyclone season.  We remain flexible in our route and can either return via New Caledonia to clear into Queensland or direct into Coffs Harbour, whichever it may be, I should get out of here before i get too tropical and relaxed as i am slowing down to the point where the locals laid back lazy lifestyle is getting less annoying and that's not good for me.

Scott has just returned from a reef surfing morning and stated that it was the best few barrels he has ever had so Muskat Cove caters for all requirements. 

Roger just put a frangipanni flower in water on the table so I am locking my cabin door tonight.

Love to all,

Jack.

Blog Entry 21 - 23st October 2008

WE ARE IN FIJI! 

This is the Speedbird lying alongside the ferry ship which services the islands of Samoa.
This is a nice moment during the crossing from Pago to Fiji.
The Westin hotel's lighting of the flame ceremony while we enjoyed a drink on arrival in Fiji.
The crew sipping on Fiji Premium.
The beautiful Musket Cove.

A word from JACK:

Hi folks,

We arrived at Port Denarau early Tuesday Fiji time after losing Sunday crossing the date line.  It was necessary to stand off the coast until we had sufficient light to work our way through the reefs as half the navigation lights shown on the charts and GPS systems were either not lit or missing.

It was great to see Erin on our arrival waving us into our berth, which required Mediterranean style anchor over the bow reversing into the floating marina.  She had arrived two days earlier with some engine filters so as usual had everyone G’d up and the Port Denarius marina staff fully organised.

At Erin’s insistence we hired a fast boat yesterday and cruised various islands which were absolutely amazing so we will clear out of this marina today, Thursday, for a stop over at the beautiful tropical, yes David with excellent restaurants, musket cove.

Of course after clearing Port Denerau it is frowned upon to stop however I believe we may have an urgent medical reason, like chardonnay withdrawal, which will make it necessary to pay a visit.

Muskat cove is a world-renowned must visit destination for all yachties and incidentally is highly recommended by Jerry from our marina. 

We have mixed signals from our weather router ‘Clouds Badham’ so we may swing past New Caledonia to clear into Australia somewhere on the Queensland coast or weather permitting direct to Coffs harbour.  If we pick the wrong route we could get mauled my southerly winds so this aspect will be given much serious consideration.

Another beautiful day in paradise but don’t get upset, someone has to do it, to get the boat home.

Love to all,

Jack.

Blog Entry 20 – Twentieth Oct 2008

CURRENT POSITION:             18 23.54 S - 179 05 E

CURRENT SPEED:                        8.5 kts

HEADING:                                    248T

JACK:

Hi Folks,

We are 150 NM from Fiji travelling down the Nanuka passage between the numerous islands mostly obscured today by mist so the GPS and radar are very important navigation tools.  We should reach port Denarua marina in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

This marina had been described by Erin as state of the art and is built on a reclaimed mangrove swamp, how’s that for progress!  She has already arranged a berth specially set up for Speedbird.  We are to clear customs, immigration, health and agriculture at 9am at a cost of $700. This charge is normally applied to boats arriving outside office hours however the efficient marina staff have special arrangements so that their visitors are not inconvenienced by going through normal channels which would require clearing in at a government facility with all the red tape that would include.  Once again the power of the buck is apparent. 

As a matter of interest, an article on cruising tips in the ‘Latitudes and Attitudes’ magazine states, without a shadow of a doubt Fiji provides the ultimate check in paper work.

·      Health – two forms, each to be filled out in triplicate.  This will get you health clearance for FJ $30 to be paid at the downtown health office.

·      Customs – Three forms here, two in triplicate, one in duplicate.

·      Agriculture – One form, in triplicate.

·      Port Captain – Two forms, one copy only of each plus a payment of port fees of FJ $15.

·      Customs – again to prove you have done all the above.

·      Immigration – One form, single copy for each person on board

·      Cruising Permit – from the appropriate government department, to allow you to cruise outside of Suva. 

This example was for three people on board that totalled 22 forms and took approx. 4 hours to get through excluding the trips to the downtown health office and government departments. All offices provided carbon paper.

When dealing with un necessary bureaucratic nonsense I am constantly reminded by Roger of the saying “ Where ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise”

Love to all,

Jack.

 

SCOTT:

I don’t want to make anybody too jealous but this has been a really nice run.  Let me paint a picture…  Last night, sirloin steak sizzling away on the barbeque with a cold corona and fresh lime in hand.  Temperature about 25 with a warm tropical breeze whispering through at about 8 knots while the sun kisses the horizon and explodes with colour.  Jack and Roger sit back inside chatting away in air-conditioned comfort, scotch in hand.  After eating our steak, which was served with onions, vegetables and a warm garlic mushroom sauce, the major debate for the evening was which DVD we would watch before bed.  Sorry about that but I really hope this inspires you to drop everything and just go cruising because truth is, yesterday the boys and I reeled in a Barracouta the size of my right arm which is pretty massive and we will do it all again tonight!

The only thing missing is all of you and I really look forward to arriving home very soon.

Regards,

Scotty.    

Blog Entry 19 – Sixteenth October 2008

CURRENT POSITION: 14 40 S  -  172 14 W

HEADING: 259T

SPEED: 9.3 kts

JACK:

Hi Folks,

We cleared the picturesque Pago Pago harbour this morning and I must say it was sad to leave the characters we met over the past few days even the taxi drivers were unhappy if we didn’t choose their cab for transport.  The name Speedbird spread quickly no doubt through our method of acknowledgement for services rendered, i.e. a few bucks in a handshake.  It was interesting when requesting permission to leave the harbour by VHF radio to the port captain graciously invited us back, wished us well and a safe trip.  He then answered a request from a French warship that he had failed to acknowledge despite their calling for 30 mins. 

General synopsis of conditions etc. at Pago Pago confirmed there are some 60000 residence spread over 7 islands with a total land mass of 36.1 square miles, of this of course two thirds is mountainous terrain and unusable for building.  In the year 2000 the median age was 21 years.  The residence are heavily supported by Uncle Sam with a per capita income as at year 2000 of 5000 dollars.  Primary income sources are from canned tuna, government services and retailing.  The tax structure mirrors the US except for territorial tax and most importantly investment incentives.  These generous incentives include a minimum 4% tax rate on personal income, 34% of so much of the taxable income as exceeds 75000 but does not exceed 650000, 5% excise tax on items imported for commercial resale, no gross receipts, property, export or value added tax.  The governor of American Samoa can grant exemptions from local tax on some or all taxes from up to 10 years for the establishment or expansion under the industry incentives act.  Foreign sales corporations established in the territory may receive an eleven-year exemption of corporate taxes dividend distributions, custom duties and other taxes.  There is no requirement to maintain an office or agent or to hold shareholders meetings in the territory.  There is no restriction on the repatriation of funds etc. 

So when I tell you there is already one McDonalds established near the airport and another McDonalds under construction in the port area i.e. 2 for just 60000 people you will see why they are they establishing themselves in Samoa.  With cruise boats coming back to the area and a previously used cable car allowed to fall into disrepair and a mountain overlooking the port a great opportunity exists for a casino and resort.  Also noted, roads and new buildings are already being constructed by Australian companies. 

The government being aware of their alliance of the fading tuna industry currently employing some 2000 people they will go all out in assisting tourist orientated ventures.

We expect to arrive in Fiji on the morning of the fourth day at sea it is now happy hour so we will catch up later.

Blog Entry 18 - 14 Oct 2008

Hi folks,

After 2265NM from Honolulu we have arrived at the island of Tutuila (14 17S, 170 40W), now universally known as Pago Pago pronounced pang-o pang-o after the main port of entry.  This island like the Tahitian group is mountainous and is considered to be one of the best ‘Hurricane holes’ in the south pacific, hopefully we will not need a hurricane hole.  This is a commercial port for the large fishing fleet and tuna-canning factory.

Even with the short break at Fanning Island this trip has been a little tiring, bucking the trade winds, 3M swells that strike the port quarter and port side.  The stabilizing fins are superb and necessary for an ocean trip in a motor vessel. 

The restaurants are described as ‘unremarkable’ in our pilot books and whilst we will seek a good restaurant even an unremarkable one that stays still will do.  In fact we had lunch today at an ocean front restaurant and were given extra beer because the 4 meals did not arrive together.  The meals were excellent and when this beautiful port comes up to tourist standard it will be the place to visit.

The crew are happy and well, and Speedbird is superb.  She is burning 3.7 US GPH plus 1.5 US GPH to run the generator to give us air-conditioned travel.  The garbage compactor is great and allows us to compact and store a large volume of rubbish in a confined space.

We have met the requirements of customs, immigration and port authorities and will get a spot to anchor in the harbour tomorrow.

Love to all.

Jack

Blog Entry 17 – Eleventh of October 2008

POSITION:                 09 27S, 167 30N

SPEED:                         8.0kts

HEADING:                       199T

BRIAN:  

Como ninguem me-falou que a ultimo entrada no blog foi bom ou ruim, eu vou fazer outro para vocês.  Esta semana foi muito interessante, comprido, legal, e chatô.  Fanning Island é igual uma cidade bem no interior da Bahia, mas o interior mesmo.  Não tem electricidade ou communicações com o resto do mundo.  Não tem telefone ou internet.  Tem um cara com um HAM radio só.  Tem dois out res carros que anda, menino corrindo nu na rua, e as casas são feito da cocôqueira, que tem muito.  A agua é bem clara, turquoisa, linda.  Praias maravilhosas.  Nosso barco foi a terceira que parou lá este ano.  Tres dias atráz a gente cruzou a linha do equador, duas horas da manana – um brinde de rum para todo mundo…  Agora nós estamos no posicão 9˚S 167˚W.  É para chega segunda-feira no Pago Pago, Samoa.  Este semana que passou o mar ficou mais chatô ainda, e pela a primeira vez em minha vida eu ficou expulso, rejeitado da cama!  Fui voando contra a parede – por causa das ondas…  Mas é isso.  Todo mundo está esperando a chegada na terra firma.  A gente vai comprar comida e combustível, relaxe um pouco, come bem, e depois o dono vai pegar avião para Australia e eu e os outros dois austalianos vai para a isla do Fiji.  Mai sou menos tres dias de viajem da Samoa.  Os aussies são felizes a estam no hemisfero deles, no sul, e para mim a aventura vai continuará.  Goodbye, amor, beijos e abraços.

ROGER:

Hi everyone,

Its 1230 local time and we are at 09 27S, 167 30W.  Since leaving Fanning Island there isn’t much to write home about except the difficulty of staying on our feet preparing quick and simple meals and dealing with the incessant roll of the boat in 3M swells on our beam.  The south east trade wind strengthens each day and mercifully sometimes at night drops off leaving conditions a little more bearable.  I set up a mattress on the floor of the saloon and whilst off watch I sleep there but keep sliding off it, so I now sleep on one of the recliner chairs in the saloon.  I can wedge this across the saloon between table and sideboard and feel reasonably confident the recliner and I won’t part company.  Jack has the best berth on the setee in the saloon, Brian in the master cabin where on one particular rough night he finished up on the floor.  Scott moves about the boat like a cat trying to find the most comfortable place to sleep whilst off watch.  We have another full day and two nights of these conditions before reaching Pago Pago, ETA late AM Monday our time.  So far this passage has been voted the most uncomfortable and we are all looking forward to getting into Pago.  Love from us to all.

Thursday 9th October 2008

POSITION: 03 54S, 154 08N

HEADING: 193T

SPEED: 7.7kts

SCOTT:

Hi Everyone,

Well today and last night have been the worst conditions so far, we had the first bit of green water over the deck and that is saying something for the mighty Speedbird to dig her nose in.  The seas have risen to 3 to 3.5 meters and the wind is constant at 20kts both sea and wind are on the port beam.  I tried to poach some eggs this morning and they came out scrambled and nicely arranged in all corners of the microwave.  It is a test of the reflexes opening the fridge door you need to be ready for the olives slash can of coke that is just waiting to jump out and hit you in the head.  The crew has been good and is coping well with the sleepless nights, I think after this leg I will be able to sleep tied by my ankles to the back of a roller coaster.  We are seeing alot of Jap fishing boats who are out here for the tuna we just need to be careful and make sure we don't hit their fishing gear, Jack has an instrument here which identifies the light signals and sequences so we can tell the direction they are heading and the type of fishing they are doing it has been helpful.  We are about 700 miles out of Pago Pago now which equates to about four more days.  Even though Pago is a commercial port and is known for its smell that wafts from the tuna processing plants we will be glad to have a rest from this weather.

Hope all is well, we are all missing out friends and loved ones.

Scott and the Boys. 

TUESDAY THE 7TH OCTOBER 2008

TIME: 1000Z

POSITION: 01 45N,  160 43W

SPEED: 6.9 kts

HEADING: 198T

JACK:

We are now 120NM from Fanning, on course 200T for Pago Pago.  I have finally got full control of my sea legs and can make a coffee balancing on one toe.  Sea state reasonable with 2m swells made a little uncomfortable by a 15 knot wind on our port side.  Many thanks to the inventors of stabilizers.  We will probably cross the equator in the early hours of tomorrow morning and it will feel great to be in the southern hemisphere.

Love to all.

Blog Entry 14 – 4th October 2008

JACK:

Hi Folks,

Well we have arrived at Fanning Island (‘Tabuaeran’ in the native tongue) this morning in the republic of Kiribati pronounced (khi-rii-bass) made up of the Gilbert, Line and Phoenix Islands discovered by US explorer Edmund Fanning in 1798 and annexed by Great Britain 1889. 

            Fanning is a little out of our way from the direct route Honolulu to Pago Pago however its isolation is its attraction being 1040 NM from Honolulu and 1250 NM from Pago, boy is this isolated.  So for the Burraneer bay crew mapping our progress we are located 03 51N, 159 22W.

            The lagoon is large and deep in places and reasonably protected although the sand and coral holding ground would require a constant anchor watch even in moderate winds.  Being fair minded we took a vote on this and Scott lost.  This said it’s a nice location to rest a while and being 5pm in the afternoon Roger is preparing his marinated steaks to go with red wine compliments of Erin and Leon so perhaps it will be a fairly relaxed evening and in air conditioned comfort watching some of our 300 movies thanks again Erin, Leon, Danni and Taylor for insisting that we take some entertainment. 

Bruce, thanks for the interesting email and yes there are now two radio masts although neither were of assistance when we attempted to contact the harbour master to confirm entry conditions and pilotage, the entry is narrow with an ebb tidal flow of 8 knots so dodging coral heads etc raised some sweat and my comments about the work ethic of the locals perhaps left something to be desired.

We had a look round this afternoon and I would like to get stuck into this place with a D9 to make way for a 5 star accommodation.  Tomorrow they have some ‘Teachers day celebration’ and the boys promised to attend a tribal get together to eat some pig.  Not seeing too much soap around the place or washing facilities, I am volunteering for anchor watch at this time.  That’s all from me as roger just called out the steaks are done.

All the best,

Jack.

SCOTT:

Hello all,

Today has been very long but also very interesting.  From 3AM we have been awake, negotiating the small and difficult entrance to this atoll with neither of the nav computers being any help because the maps were out by a few degrees which made it look like we were about to mount the reef yet we could see that we were clearly in the right spot.  After sliding through the 50-meter gap unscathed we found it difficult then to moore amongst the wrecked ships and large sections of coral.  All good fun and nice now that we are sitting in a still lagoon in the clearest most turquoise coloured water surrounded completely by coconut trees.  Tomorrow Brian and I are going to grab a couple of large sacks and get some nuts from a place out of the village a bit.  We will compare the colour and size of our nuts then Brian will share his nuts with Jack and I’ll probably give Roger a taste of mine. 

We went for a walk around today and the people are still living like they probably did 100 years ago.  They have pigs and chooks running free around the dirt streets with the young kids who live their lives free from clothes and worries no doubt.  It looks as though white man has had an influence from time to time with the odd brick building and lightweight truck that now have been abandoned and left to decay.  This tells me that they have no need or desire to use modern equipment, even the fish traps being used were made completely from natural materials.  Some of the pictures we have will blow you away…

Until next time.  

 

Blog entry 13 – 1st October 2008

TIME:                        1300Z

POSITION:                         11 18. 126N / 158 48. 400W

SPEED:                         8.3 kts

BEARING:                         177T

 

SCOTT:

Conditions today have deteriorated a little.  We have about 20 knots of breeze and 2M of swell hitting us on the port beam, it makes for very uncomfortable travel, still, it could be much worse and the barometer is steady so we should be ok. 

Speedbird is really enjoying the trip and continues to become part of the environment, or tries to.  The small pigeons that tried to make a nest in our spare anchor were shoved off time and time again along with all the twigs and leaves. We thought they were really nice at first but unfortunately we don’t think the customs in Fanning would agree to the live animals entering their pristine island.  We also had a problem with the flying fish trying to join our crew last night, Brian went around this morning and threw eleven, foot long flying fish back into the water, we would have tried to eat them if we found them a little earlier.

We have estimated that by Friday lunchtime we will have arrived in Fanning and all look forward to hiding out for a few days. 

Hope everything is good back home.

Peace out.

BRIAN:

Ok, this entry is for the Brasilians…  Du me-falou que ninguem está intendendo o blog com tudo escrito in ingles.  Então eu vou TENTAR, e tentar mesmo, escrever em portugues. 

Agente passou 6 dias em Hawaii, na isla da Oahu, que está famoso para as praias da costa norte – ondas enormes para surfing.  Mas não tinha nada de onda enquanto a gente estava la.  Tambem é a isla do Pearl Harbor, mas não fomos.  Du passou quase o tempo todo comigo la, foi otima!  A gente passou dias descobrindo as praias, cada um mais bonita.  Adorei nosso tempo…

Mas agora a gente, eu e os australianos, está no alto mar 3 dias, saiu o Hawaii para o sul.  Neste momento nós estamos na LAT. 12˙00´N  LONG.158˙ 45´ W.  Nós vamos para a isla chamado Fanning Island ou Tabuaeran, perto do Christmas Island.  Os Britanicos tinha uma mina de cobre la 60 anos atrás.  Hoje em dia a mina está fechado, mas ainda existe gente la, e o dono do barco diz que existe um grupo de nativos ainda, e o chefe vem para aceitar tripulacões dos barcos que passam.  Nós temos roupas e chocolates para as crianças. 

Ontem a noite o tempo virou pior, e neste momento e chato.  Eu acho que as correntes do mar estão mudando e criando um confusão no mar, e com este vento, não ajuda.  Mas é isso.  Não pode ser fantastico o tempo todo.  Eu espero que isso deu para voces intender…  Até logo – Beijos e abraços.