Latest Posts

  • Equatorial sailing. Gili Air to Batam…

    The landscape in Eastern Indonesia has consisted of dry brown islands and clear blue skies.  Then it changed as we neared the equator to lush jungle covered islands and massive puffy cumulus clouds that tend to drop their load in… Continue reading

  • Up the Karimata Straits…with a paddle and a spinnaker pole…

    We’ve sailed  600nm in the last week! We’ve got our ears pinned back and making tracks for Langkawi. After our overnight stop at Gili Air and an excellent pizza ashore with all the young European tourists, we set sail for… Continue reading

  • Fluid plans…

    We’ve been busy problem-solving! Life is never linear, and wouldn’t it be boring if everything always went according to plan? Our house in Auckland is our income. For the last eight months, that has worked quite nicely… until a month… Continue reading

  • Ordeals and Adventures – Indonesia.

    Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself! The passage to Timor was hot and noisy, motoring nearly all the way with virtually no wind. As we turned into the… Continue reading

  • Passage-making, food and sea-sickness…

    With any luck (but actually through good planning), by the time this blog post goes live next Monday, we will have made landfall in Kupang. I hope to be sitting on solid land enjoying a Bintang. Here is an insight… Continue reading

  • Next stop Indonesia, and a visit to Humpty Doo…

    Our time in Darwin is coming to an end, and the preparations are now underway for the passage to Indonesia. We’ve been reading our cruising guide and planning the route. The courtesy flags for Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka… Continue reading

  • Darwin: a remote little city.

    Darwin is a city that has been completely rebuilt twice. Once after the bombing of Darwin after WWII, and again after the devastating Cyclone Tracy struck on Christmas Day 1975.  It’s hot, windy, and dusty at this time of the… Continue reading

  • It’s not all cocktails on the aft deck, you know! A challenging trip from Torres Strait to Darwin…

    A distance of 750nm of remote nothingness is stretched out before us. I’ve pre-cooked meals, we’ve stocked up on snacks, and we estimate that we will be sailing into Darwin in 5ish days time. This will be the longest passage… Continue reading

  • Thursday Island – Torres Strait

    Torres Strait is a place you’re unlikely to visit unless you’re on a sailing boat, working for an airline or for a government department. Thursday Island (or TI as it is colloquially known) is the administrative hub for the Torres… Continue reading

  • Makroro and the ghost of Baz.

    We’ve had the pleasure of meeting Mitch and Clancie. They are the young, enthusiastic owners of Makroro, a 32ft West Sail, designed in the the early 1970s by Colin Archer. This couple have a great story to tell! They’re slogging… Continue reading