Hi,
Last week we arrived Waingapu on island of Sumba. Had a bit of hassle with local officials. They don't get too many yachts guess. Police urgently waved us and Capricorn Dancer into the docks, and took our passports and documents for copying. Tourism officials then killed us with kindness to make up for the rude greeting. Horse racing the first day with child jockeys. Later that day we met some of royal family and had meeting with a bunch of slaves. It was a strangely powerful experience.
Over the next couple days we toured around the area and were treated to more excellent hospitality,including a local fair and boxing matches. Then we watered up, and left in the afternoon, bound for Komodo National Park. But soon our friends on Capricorn Dancer lost their engine. We headed back to meet them while they worked on repairs. After bypassing their Racor fuel filter they were chose to proceed.
All went well until the following morning on approach to Rincha Island in the Park; their engine died again. We rigged a bridle and took Capricorn Dancer in tow, a bit of a trick as she is much larger than Madrona and bullets of wind exceeding 25 knots were whipping down from the spectacular mountains that comprise these islands.
Anchored safely at 8 42.210 S/ 119 39.466 E we looked in amazement at the spectacular scenery. It wasn't a hour before cries from both boats brought us on deck to watch a large Komodo Dragon walking along the nearby beach. We have spent the last two days exploring and climbed hills and me many dragons in their native habitat. They are very cool,and clearly in charge.
Tomorrow we move again to another location the the park. Capricorn Dancer's fuel tank has been emptied and cleaned, and all lines and filters cleaned. Think the problem is licked. Today I cleaned the prop and the bottom. All the kids played on the beach, and there was baking and relaxation on both boats after the hectic repairs of the last few days.
In the next week or so we need to figure out if we continue on to Langkawi, and Thailand, or jump across the Indian Ocean for Africa. Stay tuned.
Owen
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This is the blog for SV Madrona and her crew Griffyn, Tamsyn and their parents Carrie and Owen, as we navigate new waters for our family.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Blue Hole Photo Post - Wayback Machine, Santo, Vanuatu
Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu
Oyster Bay
The Blue Hole
December 1, 2012
Oyster Bay
The Blue Hole
December 1, 2012
Why we do this...
Every now and again I ponder why we do this. Why we sold everything we owned back home in Seattle. We sold a modest yet lovely home, two nice cars, all our things. We left jobs and schools behind. We left friends and family back home waiting for us to return. We left it all for an adventure we tell ourselves. The adventure of a life time. And every now and again, after too many expensive boat repairs, passages that make one question the sanity of sailing as a mode of travel, and living for years in a space smaller than most zoo enclosures, we get part of the answer. . . to see beautiful places, to experience other cultures, to make new friends in distant lands, to see what is over the horizon. The Blue Hole in Oyster Bay is one of the most beautiful places we have seen on our little adventure.
I took over 400 pictures (from a moving dinghy) in an afternoon - to try to capture the beauty of a spring fed pool and the river that flows from it. Here are my favorites. I hope they show you some of the magic we felt that afternoon.
Every now and again I ponder why we do this. Why we sold everything we owned back home in Seattle. We sold a modest yet lovely home, two nice cars, all our things. We left jobs and schools behind. We left friends and family back home waiting for us to return. We left it all for an adventure we tell ourselves. The adventure of a life time. And every now and again, after too many expensive boat repairs, passages that make one question the sanity of sailing as a mode of travel, and living for years in a space smaller than most zoo enclosures, we get part of the answer. . . to see beautiful places, to experience other cultures, to make new friends in distant lands, to see what is over the horizon. The Blue Hole in Oyster Bay is one of the most beautiful places we have seen on our little adventure.
I took over 400 pictures (from a moving dinghy) in an afternoon - to try to capture the beauty of a spring fed pool and the river that flows from it. Here are my favorites. I hope they show you some of the magic we felt that afternoon.
Carrie
Numberala beach - Roti Island, Indonesia
So we moved on to a nice anchorage on the island of Roti a couple of days ago - a village called Numberala, which is apparently known for its surfing. Big breaking waves to either side of our anchoring spot. Tamsyn is missing her new friend Cleo from an Australian boat called Capricorn Dancer. They should be meeting us here soon.
As we left Kupang, we left seven other boats, friends who all have more serious repairs that are still underway. Two blown engines, electrical problems, rig problems, and so on. A high percentage of Sail Komodo boats had repairs to undertake in Kupang; which is interesting since most of them are only 4 days out from Darwin when they arrive. It only keeps happening the longer you're out from home. We just felt glad to get our stuff fixed and get out of there.
All is well. Moving west in a few days. The wind is back!
Friday, August 9, 2013
Indonesia scenes - Kupang Photo Post
So... we're still here.
Ready to leave soon (as soon as we sort out our outboard motor - it never ends). When we first got to Kupang we were not impressed, as it took forever for officials to clear us in, and we had to get a local agent to help, but once we spent time in the town we got to like it.
While we've been here we dug into our steering problems again, and think they're sorted now. Time will tell for sure. Our local mechanical genius Matthew resurrected our windlass too. Need work in Kupang, he's the man.
Provisions are on board as is water and fuel, so we should be good to go but the wind is supposed to completely die for a few days. I'm also finishing up a contract, so I guess we have to be somewhere with internet. We certainly could use the silver.
Here are some images from our time here. Street life, a couple of outings and some friends.
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| Griffyn in the Torres Strait; that's Australia back there! |
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| Caving |
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| Popular picnic site |
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| Everything is better with monkeys! |
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| This one stole Carrie's orange |
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| This gentleman helped us with provisions and the Indonesian language |
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| Making our lunch |
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| Mother and daughter |
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| Market scene |
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| More of the market |
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| The view from Madrona at anchor. |
That's all for now. Hope you like the pictures. We miss all our friends and family; hope you guys are well.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Madrona safely at anchor at Kupang, Indonesia
Just touching base. We got into Kupong this afternoon after a long haul to get here. The town lies perched, a haphazard jumble, on top of frozen waves of dark basalt. Mr. Christian's castaways are no where in evidence. Most definitely an Asian feel to the place. The call to prayer is loud and embracing.
Only one other cruiser here - a boat from Finland named Melina. Hopefully Customs and the lot will come tomorrow, as the larder is getting kind of bare. Could stock up as deeply as we like, and now we are dreaming of food in all its glorious possibilities.
Owen
10 09.492 S
123 34.570 E
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Thursday, July 18, 2013
Madrona becalmed 40 miles off Timor
Hello from the old Mill Pond here off the island of Timor.
Well, from having too much wind for much of the trip, for the last couple of days we have had virtually no wind. Average wind speeds have been in the 4 to 5 knot range, and surprisingly with a mirror flat sea, we are able to make very slow progress in such light winds.
Apparently there is a high pressure system over Western Australia that has killed our local trade winds, but they should reestablish themselves in a couple days, by which time we hope to be fairly close to the south end of Timor, where we will turn into a channel between Timor and it's neighbor to the west and sail another 18 miles to Kupang - our landfall.
When it is so calm that you cannot even really sail (much) what do we do? Well, we sleep good at night as it's so calm. We do school a bit, and bathe in the cockpit. Today Carrie and Tamsyn baked bread. The other day we celebrated Griffyn's birthday! He loved his presents (and chocolate cake), and all of us have played many games of Battleship, and helped G make many mechanical contraptions with his Erector Set/Mechanix. Carrie also sewed an Indonesian flag with her new Singer hand cranked sewing machine (Thanks James!) She loved the experience and it took her only 20 minutes from opening the box to actually sewing - a novel experience considering the old Singer electric we had on board needed constant repair and adjustment.
We are enjoying these quiet days, and watched the most gorgeous sunset last night.
Owen, Carrie, Griffyn & Tamsyn
10 25.695 S
125 00.781 E
285 degrees true
2.0 knots
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Well, from having too much wind for much of the trip, for the last couple of days we have had virtually no wind. Average wind speeds have been in the 4 to 5 knot range, and surprisingly with a mirror flat sea, we are able to make very slow progress in such light winds.
Apparently there is a high pressure system over Western Australia that has killed our local trade winds, but they should reestablish themselves in a couple days, by which time we hope to be fairly close to the south end of Timor, where we will turn into a channel between Timor and it's neighbor to the west and sail another 18 miles to Kupang - our landfall.
When it is so calm that you cannot even really sail (much) what do we do? Well, we sleep good at night as it's so calm. We do school a bit, and bathe in the cockpit. Today Carrie and Tamsyn baked bread. The other day we celebrated Griffyn's birthday! He loved his presents (and chocolate cake), and all of us have played many games of Battleship, and helped G make many mechanical contraptions with his Erector Set/Mechanix. Carrie also sewed an Indonesian flag with her new Singer hand cranked sewing machine (Thanks James!) She loved the experience and it took her only 20 minutes from opening the box to actually sewing - a novel experience considering the old Singer electric we had on board needed constant repair and adjustment.
We are enjoying these quiet days, and watched the most gorgeous sunset last night.
Owen, Carrie, Griffyn & Tamsyn
10 25.695 S
125 00.781 E
285 degrees true
2.0 knots
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Thursday, July 11, 2013
Madrona north of Western Australia -
Hi,
It still very rough and wild out here. Huge rolls. It got so wild last night that some of our batteries broke loose and we lost all electrical power for about fifteen minutes until I could figure out what had happened. The power went down right when we were reducing sail in 30+ knot winds, and we both got this horrible sinking feeling. Sure was dark out here in the ocean with heavy clouds, rain, and the knowledge that you've got a wee problem to sort out. Anyway... re secured the batteries in question, and were back in business in literally fifteen minutes. Made us realize how truly dependant on power we are.
Wind is fickle today. 30 knots one hour, 12 knots the next. Seas uniformly big. Plugging away at something like 4 knots (our slowest day so far).
For the last two days we get a daily flyby by low flying Australian boarder patrol aircraft. Literally at mast top level. Wakes you up! That's their way of saying, "turn on your VHF radio." They are very nice, asking for ship's details and route, etc... We enjoy their visits. We also had a big bird ( a Booby) stow away on deck all night to get out of the sloppy weather. Tamsyn and Griffyn were delighted.
Tomorrow Griffyn turns eight years old! We have yet to decide if presents will be opened on passage or not. (He's getting Battleship and an Erector Set).
That's it from her. I need to pull down some weather info - see if there is an end in sight to this bad weather.
Everyone says hi.
Owen
9 49.975 S
132 23.801 E
270 degrees true
4.0 knots (or there abouts)
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radio email processed by SailMail
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It still very rough and wild out here. Huge rolls. It got so wild last night that some of our batteries broke loose and we lost all electrical power for about fifteen minutes until I could figure out what had happened. The power went down right when we were reducing sail in 30+ knot winds, and we both got this horrible sinking feeling. Sure was dark out here in the ocean with heavy clouds, rain, and the knowledge that you've got a wee problem to sort out. Anyway... re secured the batteries in question, and were back in business in literally fifteen minutes. Made us realize how truly dependant on power we are.
Wind is fickle today. 30 knots one hour, 12 knots the next. Seas uniformly big. Plugging away at something like 4 knots (our slowest day so far).
For the last two days we get a daily flyby by low flying Australian boarder patrol aircraft. Literally at mast top level. Wakes you up! That's their way of saying, "turn on your VHF radio." They are very nice, asking for ship's details and route, etc... We enjoy their visits. We also had a big bird ( a Booby) stow away on deck all night to get out of the sloppy weather. Tamsyn and Griffyn were delighted.
Tomorrow Griffyn turns eight years old! We have yet to decide if presents will be opened on passage or not. (He's getting Battleship and an Erector Set).
That's it from her. I need to pull down some weather info - see if there is an end in sight to this bad weather.
Everyone says hi.
Owen
9 49.975 S
132 23.801 E
270 degrees true
4.0 knots (or there abouts)
----------
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