November – 2011 Brisbane, Australia Dear F&F, \”Beach House\” has finally \”Jumped the Puddle\”….We\’ve completed our crossing of the worlds largest ocean which started 4 years ago. The \”Puddle Jump\” is the euphemism that many US West Coast sailors in particular call the Pacific Crossing. It\’s a but cutesy, but you get the point. There […]
A Cathartic Voyage…… Read More »
October 22nd – October 26th, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere) Dear F&F, As predicted by our weather software and watching the \”BOM\” (Bureau of Meteorology) website in \”OZ\”, it was time to go. The winds were backing from South to East and the seas were coming down rapidly in size. We expected the trip to take five
Off to see the Wizards!……Our Sail to Australia….. Read More »
October 19th – 22nd, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere) Dear F&F, Well, after a good nights rest, we were still so tired from the previous days trip, we just chilled out for the day, cleaned up, did the laundry and boat chores to recover from the previous days passage. Jerome and Nathalie came by and gave us
Dear F&F, October 17th – 18th, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere) One of the problems that slipped my mind a few weeks back was that I didn\’t realize to check to see if I had the current chart cartography (chart chip) for the East Coast of Australia for \”Beach House\’s\” navigation system. When I started to do
Checking out….for want of chart chip….. Read More »
Dear F&F, October 13th – 16th, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere) Of all the places I\’ve visited in the Pacific, New Caledonia is perhaps the place I knew the least about. It is an absolutely beautiful island, 300 miles long by 30 miles wide. Located about 900 miles East of the north central Australian Coast. The Western
New Caledonia – a most interesting history…..A most interesting future…… Read More »
Dear F&F, October 8th – 12th, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere) This would be Kay\’s first ocean crossing. We went to the local markets, cleared customs and immigration and prepared \”Beach House\” for sea. The journey would be a short one, but potentially a bit more up wind than normal as we had to go around the
Sailing to New Caledoinia….. Read More »
Dear F&F, October 5th-6th, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere) I\’d made arrangements for Kay and I to fly to Tanna Island, about an hour flight. Despite assurances that the drive upon arrival would be fairly easy, it was anything but! I would have to say that the 20 minute drive to our hotel was exciting, but nothing
Tanna Island Volcano Trip….. Read More »
Dear F&F, October 3rd, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere) As lovely as our time together was, Anja had met \”someone\” while we were in Fiji. They decided on a rendezvous in Brisbane, Australia and far be it from me to hold back young love…:-)) I don\’t want to embarrass Anja, so I\’ll just leave the details for
Port Vila….Goodbye Anja, Hello Kay!…. Read More »
Dear F&F, September 30 – October 1st, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere) We left our mooring at Aore Island with a favorable weather report to motor south against the dormant trade winds. We weren\’t sure how far we\’d get, but wanted to try and keep the trip to two days. As such, we ended up going down
Santo to Port Vila…… Read More »
Dear F&F, September 27th – 29th, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere) We arrived at Luganville\’s \”Segond Channel\” just about 8 pm local time. It was completely dark and all the navigation lights on the charts either were not working or had changed their light patterns! Welcome to navigating in the \”back of beyond\”! We came in through
Luganville – \”SS President Coolidge\”…… Read More »