We had a lovely start to the day, sailing in flat seas and enjoying a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of 7.5 to 8 Kts, under sunny blue skies. We slowed down slightly in the early afternoon, but the winds soon picked up again, although they changed direction too, but we still managed a suitable SOG of around 7 Kts. It wasn’t long afterwards, though, that our VMG (Velocity Made Good) went downhill when the wind stopped and a delightful current developed on the nose requiring both engines to keep our SOG above 5 Kts.
Regardless, Roy continued his baking streak; this time submarine bread rolls, which we enjoyed for lunch with Italian prosciutto ham and French brie cheese.
Dinner was another helping of the buffalo stew we’d make in Uligamu and had frozen. Strangely enough, though, we still have some fresh produce onboard, including apples and carrots, both of which make a nice healthy snack.
We haven’t seen much in the way of sea-life these past few days, with the exception of some large swooping sea birds, which we have been unable to identify; not quite as big as a pelican, but certainly much larger than a sea eagle.
The usual chats to our cruising friends continue to stave off the monotony, but hopefully that’ll change in the few days as we approach civilisation again, where we can stop and take a break from all the sailing, stock up on fresh produce, as well as top up on our diesel, although we’ve definitely not used as much diesel as we did on our passage from Thailand to Uligamu. Guess time will tell if that changes!
With that, we wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day. For us Valentine’s Day was a romantic handwritten note to each other on our paper chart as we tracked our progress on our separate watch.
While sailing around in the “big blue yonder”, it’s always the little things that warm our hearts. Today it was a message from Keenan indicating that our grandson, William, had developed an ear infection after contracting a cold. When my reply was read to William about Grandma requesting that his Daddy give him a big kiss from her, William insisted on getting that kiss from his Dad. Too cute and such a personality, but apparently all the grandsons have developed a great sense of humour and are keeping their parents on their toes. So looking forward to getting to know them properly again!
A “milky seas” effect started the day, possibly created by the waxing gibbous behind an overcast sky as the sun was rising, producing a white haze that made the sea, horizon and sky completely indistinguishable. It resembled something similar to being inside a snow globe that had been shaken. Very spooky and haunting, especially with the completely calm seas!
With that our day started. Once Roy surfaced, he jumpstarted the port engine in order to switch over to that side and then started the watermaker, given the calm conditions. By lunchtime, when Elaine surfaced after a nap, she discovered Roy had baked a rustic loaf; warm bread straight out of the oven, a dollop of butter and a helping of French brie was the perfect lunch!
This afternoon Roy then tackled a few maintenance tasks on the starboard engine, including tightening the v-belt which had started to slip and, in between all that activity, he also enjoyed a chat to the men off Talulah Ruby III, Golden Spirit and Kandiba.
Under sunny, blue skies, dotted with white puffy clouds, we motor-sailed onward, but later this afternoon, the winds had set in and we were off sailing again in flat seas, enjoying a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of anything from 6.5 to 7.5 Kts.
The excitement for the day was twofold; from a sailing perspective, we were still sailing, in decent winds and sea-state and still enjoying a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of 7.5 to 8 Kts. From a sea-life perspective, it was raining flying fish and much larger ones than we’ve seen before. What we weren’t expecting, though, was for one to come flying through one of the saloon portholes and land on the saloon sofa. It was the funky smell that alerted us to something being amiss, only to discover the fish, which fortunately had landed on a towel, flapping widely. Seconds latter another one came flying into the cockpit, landing just outside the saloon doors. Luckily enough, they were returned from whence they came still alive and kicking, or rather, flapping!
We, of course, had another encounter with a fishing vessel, when this particular bright spark decided to cut across our bow with less than a nautical mile to spare and just ignored our hailing on the VHF radio. Fortunately they weren’t trailing any nets, but we were forced to slow down significantly to allow them to pass, when they just as easily could have passed us astern. When we’re under motor, encounters like this don’t have the same dilemma as when we’re under sail and flying along.
We’ve been luckier, though, than one of the other yachts sailing with us, Morgane (Noelle and Daniel). Yesterday they got caught in a fishing net which wrapped around their rudder, taking a significant amount of time to cut it away.
We’ve had a few of our own niggly issues to contend with, however, specifically an intermittent problem with the generator, which started before we left Thailand and has continued, regardless of what troubleshooting Roy has undertaken; one minute it works and the next it doesn’t. Then an issue materialised with the port engine, but we’re not altogether sure if it’s the new battery we added in Thailand or the starter motor that has decided to give up the ghost at the most inconvenient time, as did the starboard side just before we left Thailand. Either way, we have spares for both, so it may well be a repair job for tomorrow. Fortunately, Roy can jumpstart it, so it’s not urgent. More infuriating, though, is discovering a small water leak in the new starboard hot water tank, which was only replaced in Australia. Fortunately it’s not a major leak, but another repair required nonetheless. Lastly, this afternoon Roy noticed the clutch on the main halyard had started to slip, not a major issue as the halyard is always secured around the winch anyway when we’re under sail, but some maintenance will be required on that as well, no doubt.
Guess none of this should be surprising, given the lack of use over the past two years, never mind the harsh climate of SE Asia that the yacht sat in. Frustrating, though, given the time and effort spent in keeping Paw Paw in top notch shape for that period. Guess that’s the joy of owning a yacht; fixing it in exotic locations!
Since we had completely calm winds and flat seas, there was no sailing this morning. Instead we got a few domestic chores out of the way. Then, to our horror, when Roy went to replenish the diesel tanks, he discovered that we’d been given really dirty fuel in Uligamu. The first indication of something amiss was the dirty rings visible around our clear jerry cans. Extremely frustrating and annoying, not to mention, inconvenient, since we were charged a premium price for this diesel and, of course, there’s no comeback because we’ve left Uligamu. Fortunately we still have plenty of jerry cans filled with clean diesel from Thailand, but it does mean we’re going to have to jury rig one of our fuel polishing systems to polish every jerry can of dirty fuel from Uligamu before we can add it to the tanks. Another unplanned, time consuming, unpleasant task.
On the bright side, though, by lunchtime we were enjoying another fantastic sail in flat seas, with a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of 7.5 to 8.0 Kts.
Elaine also decided to make good use of the leftover bananas that were looking rather sad and baked a banana loaf, enjoyed with a nice cup of tea after dinner.
Chats to the crews of Talulah Ruby III, Golden Spirit, Kandiba, Morgane and Sea You also added a nice dash of cheer to the day.
Today we had stronger winds, which translated to lumpy seas, making for a somewhat uncomfortable sail, but we were happy to be sailing and not motoring nonetheless. Regardless of the sea-state, though, we still enjoyed a good SOG (Speed Over Ground) of 7.5 to 8 Kts under double-reefed main and head sails, giving us a good VMG (Velocity Made Good) too.
The days are definitely starting to feel like Groundhog Day, though, with chats to the other yachts to break up the monotony. While Elaine napped this morning, Roy enjoyed a chat to Paul off Talulah Ruby III, Michael off Golden Spirit and Hasan off Kandiba, but aside from that, it’s been a case of “rinse and repeat”. The only variable being the time the sun and the moon rise and set each day. With a waxing gibbous at the moment, there aren’t even any starry nights to marvel at, but we haven’t had any rain or squalls, so we’re definitely not complaining.
However, there is one major advantage to being off-grid; we get plenty of time to read, eat and sleep, without fretting over world affairs or the stock market.
For dinner this evening, we decided on the buffalo stew we’d made in Uligamu. Thankfully it was actually very tasty since we still have two more portions in the freezer.
Today was a gorgeous day, although cloudier than what we’ve had, but still sunny and although the wind was not at the best angle for sailing, the seas were comfortable and the most striking colour of blue; it wasn’t navy or royal blue, but something in between and so clear. Simply stunning!
Setting course for a favourable angle to the wind kept our SOG (Speed Over Ground) at an acceptable average of around 7.2 Kts. Not too bad at all!
We’d thought lunch was going to be the highlight of the day, simply because Elaine cooked unsupervised while Roy napped. Yes, you read correctly and indeed a tad daring! However, her driving force was the fact that she didn’t want the last two potatoes to go to waste or the last fresh tomato, so she prepared tuna fish cakes, accompanied by a small side salad and a caper mayonnaise, outshining herself to her surprise and to Roy’s amazement! The light meal was actually very tasty.
The actual highlight of the day, though, was our dolphin escort. Noteworthy to the extent that Roy woke Elaine from her afternoon nap so that she wouldn’t miss the display. A huge pod had come to frolic in Paw Paw’s bows and stayed with us for the best part of half an hour, putting smiles on our faces and bringing another fabulous day on the water to a close.
After a peaceful night under a magnificent starry sky, which felt like we were in a bubble of sparkling diamonds, Elaine was delighted to spot the Southern Cross hanging low on the horizon; always a wondrous sight, especially since she hadn’t expected to see it again so soon.
Today, under glorious sunny clear blue sky, we enjoyed another lovely day of sailing in flat seas, albeit a little slower than we would have preferred at times, but, at least, we weren’t having to burn any diesel. By the afternoon, though, with the wind picking up slightly, meant slightly lumpier seas too.
The day, however, was essentially a repeat of yesterday; lounging around, taking turns to nap, eating, snacking, reading, etc, with the exception of an issue with a fishing boat. This is the third encounter we’ve had with fishing boats in this part of the world. First, on our approach to the Maldives we had, what initially looked like a pleasure craft, stop right across our bow about 1NM off while we were under sail and refused to move or answer our hail on the VHF radio, but soon moved when we didn’t alter course, only to realise afterwards it was actually a fishing boat and we were, in fact, the give-way vessel. Then, at anchor in Uligamu, we had one drag down on us in the middle of the night and, this morning, we had one alter course and come hurtling straight towards as if to t-bone us. It wasn’t until we switched on both engines at full revs, under full sails, that we left them to our stern. By this stage, it’s fair to say, we’ve actually had enough of them, so the next one that gets up to any antics is going to experience more than they bargained for. So unnecessary, not to mention dangerous and it certainly begs the question as to why fishing vessels are always the stand-on vessel regardless of any irresponsible manoeuvres made, but, unfortunately, those are the “rules of the road”!
In Indonesia we had similar incidences, but later discovered that the fishermen had a belief that they could pass their bad “juju” to the other vessel by coming really close to it; unnerving, nonetheless, for the unsuspecting like ourselves, since we have no idea what their intentions are, whether acting out on a superstition or something more sinister, especially when they continue to pursue the yacht. It certainly doesn’t help matters that none of these vessels have an AIS (Automatic Identification System) either and we only pick them up on the radar until we have a visual on them.
Anyway, putting that behind us, literally and figuratively, we enjoyed chats to Talulah Ruby III (Andy and Paul) and Golden Spirit (Caroline and Michael) this evening.
Our day wrapped up with a delicious Penang curry, accompanied by the rotis made for us in Uligamu; turned out to be a delectable combination!
