ReVision II- Andrew Bellamy and Carolyn Reed

Christmas in the Wild West

2008-12-13T14:37:00.008-01:00

So the trip continues to Western Australia! This time last year we were very settled in Sydney starting to look at buying property (just as well that didn’t come off), we knew where to buy the groceries, had discovered our new best restaurants, had a great bunch of mates and R2 was moored 10 mins from our apartment, which had that view. If you had said that in less than a year we would have been leaving I would have said never. Sydney really is the place that has it all; I over heard a guy on the ferry one day say on the phone ‘it’s still the place everyone wants to live’. We loved it and I don’t mind telling you it really was hard to leave. We had a great send off, which made it even harder as it really hit home what great friends we had made. ReVision went on the truck, the car went on a train and we went business class, all off to the wild west…..

Since we have arrived I can honestly say we have never worked so hard, so it is a little hard to comment on life in Perth yet. Carolyn has been holding down two jobs effectively and has made two trips back to Sydney. Andrew has found his calling and is loving/living work, it just goes to show that it is possible to find a perfect job. Although if you have to go to work, getting up in your beach side apartment, driving down the coast for 20 mins to an office that looks out over the Indian ocean, with dolphins swimming by in an industry you are passionate about is a bit hard to beat - good on him eh – I just wish he’d put the blackberry down at weekends at least!

Then there is ReVision; she has taken up nearly every other spare minute we have since arriving. She fared well on the truck, however the job of putting her back together combined with updating some equipment and carrying out necessary maintenance has been all consuming. She’s been overhauled below the water, all new instruments, all new mast lighting and wiring, pulpit has been off, bowsprit painted, some varnish refreshed, sails repaired – the list goes on… But today we have declared her fit to go to sea – she’s been out just locally but next weekend the plan is to take her on our Christmas trip and go south about 200 miles to Geographe Bay. This is just north of Margeret River, apparently it has some great sheltered, shallow anchoring in clear water - just what we need for some heavy duty relaxation whilst partaking some of the local wines and produce.

That all said our first impressions of Perth are good, the weather and beachside living is certainly agreeable. Carolyn is fairly regularly seen in the sea before work in the morning. The quality of fresh food is exceptional; we do have the best food shop in Perth just up the road, which is just so tempting, but there are plenty of fresh supermarkets which are also fantastic. As a result we have mainly been eating at home, cooking on our new Webber- Q (BBQ), sat on our fabulous terrace overlooking the beach and ocean with Rotnest island in the distance. We have met a few people through work, neighbours and marina neighbours . All of whom have made us very welcome, so we are starting to get out and about a little more – always handy through the Christmas period. Having said that Perth city is probably one of the most uninteresting city’s we have ever been to, there is really nothing there, although it’s small enough to walk across and is quite green. The Swan River is huge but shallow so it’s just water with nothing really going on in the city area anyway. Needless to say we never go there other than for work. The list for and against Perth at present is as follows:

For / Against
Beaches / No shops after 5 or services on the weekend
Weather / A long way from anywhere
Food & Wine / Restaurants
Cottesloe / Perth City
People (other than CUBS) / CUBS (cashed up boguns)
Real stuff happens here – it’s wild! / Too many Brits – one dart board on a balcony is one too many!

It is interesting how you adapt. It’s quite late in the evening and Andrew has just flown off to Dubai, I am writing this with music blaring from the street and xmas revelers partying, and I am oblivious. When we lived in Mosman it was always so quiet, you only heard the engines from ships over the water. Here it is full on with the sound of waves crashing all the time, surf life savers and runners in the mornings, kite surfers in the afternoons and the partying on the weekend. I only realised tonight that I don’t even notice the noise anymore and the sea, beach and sunsets are just spectacular! Maybe I even like living in this place – it makes you feel alive.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a safe and happy new year.

New Year

2008-01-12T11:23:00.000-01:00

Last day of the year starts with a dip in our pool - tough eh?

Then the mob start to arrive.....

Next it's the boats....

2008!

Xmas Hols Continued

2008-01-11T10:57:00.001-01:00

Andrew proves he can still catch fish even though he works in an office (well??)

Paul n' Drew, aka Carolyn's Mum & Dad join us for a night.

Sailing back to Sydney - skipper trimming the sails (shock horror!)

Christmas Downunder

2008-01-10T10:37:00.001-01:00

Happy New Year to everyone!

We had a great Christmas and New Year. We decided to take advantage of the time off and make use of the boat we have been working so hard on for the last few months. So we loaded her up with goodies and set sail a full 20 miles north on 23 Dec. It was actually quite a big deal as it was the first time we have ventured out of the heads since we arrived in Sydney back in April!

It was a fairly bumpy but fast ride up to the Pittwater, it took us a while to remember how to sail in an ocean but soon we were flying passed the northern beaches. We had passed Pittwater by on the way down as we had hoped to holiday here at some point. We were quite excited to be going somewhere new again and we were amazed at how beautiful it was as we sailed in passed Palm Beach (where Home & Away is filmed I am advised for tv boffins). A sea plane landed just ahead of us as we settled into Careel Bay for the night and we were happy as nothing broke.

Christmas eve and we ventured to the mouth of the Hawkesbury River and found two of the most popular bays in the area nearly empty, we settled into America Bay and went exploring waterfalls and beaches of this fab spot together with neighbouring Refuge Bay by dinghy. The Hawkesbury River winds through the Kuringai Chase National Park and is a million miles from the City, unfortunately we cannot get to alot of it due to bridges but there was still more than enough to keep us occupied for a week.

Christmas Eve ended up being quite a special day. After a lovely relaxing day we were enjoying a drink and reflecting on Christmas Eve's past. The year we spent taking ReVision II on our maiden voyage, the year we spent in the Canaries a few days before we crossed the Atlantic and last year in a pub in Yorkshire where after a few beers Andrew agreed it might be a good idea to get married at some point. So Andrew decided to make it official a year on and did the honourable thing by putting a very sparkly rock on my finger. Two bottles of Verve later and Christmas day was a right off!

Landlubbers

2007-12-17T07:39:00.000-01:00

Oh dear what has gone wrong. Here we are living in Sydney and back in the rat race...well almost. Carolyn has even managed to get a promotion at work and starts a new job in January. We have spent much time and even more money refitting R2 partly because of the fire and partly because of wear and tear after a few years of hard travels. All that remains is to sail out of the heads and head for the ocean. We are going to try a little coastal trip over the holidays, a sort of shake down sail (in my mind) and a sort of hammock lounging, snorkelling trip for Carolyn. Having just read the blog of our friends Walter and Rita on Noa who are currently in South Africa I have to say I am very jealous of their trip and would love to follow in their footsteps. Watch this space......

R2 goes to Sydney

2007-04-04T09:28:00.000-01:00

During our time travelling around Australia in our trusty Ford Falcon we decided we'd look at staying a while. So while other tourists did the Harbour Bridge climb and went to the zoo we plotted a plan to find a sponsor and get jobs in Australia. R2 was safely tucked up in Queensland while we pursued this goal. After many meetings in both Sydney and Melbourne Andrew did the deal to provide us both a 4 year working visa - not an easy task by any means but he really doesn't like to do half measures.

In March we drove back up to Queensland while the department of immigration did their stuff, two weeks into our stay I got a call for a telephone interview and before I knew it I was also being offered a job in Sydney. So we waited for the best weather we could, as it really wasn't the season for heading south and off we went on our cruise to Sydney. We actually left twice as the first time the wind was against us we turned back for the first time in over 12,000 nautical miles. Eventually we made it into the Sandy Straights and then onto Tin Can bay a fabulous low key holiday destination where they have dolphin feeding each morning. The weather basically gave us a few of days at a time before the next southerly hit, as we got closer and closer to Sydney the gaps seemed to get shorter and shorter although less severe. We were just docking when the first hit but Andrew did super quick parking as the wind went from 5 to 35 knots in a few seconds. The bar on the south entrance to the Sandy Straights is said to be one of the hardest, although we weren't sure why this is other than you have to turn halfway through, we had a super sail through and made it to Mooloolaba, just north of Brisbane the following night.

Mooloolaba was a great spot, very upmarket with man made waterways and huge waterfront homes - the sort of place I really didn't think we'd like as it was so commercialised but it was only commercial in a Queensland kind of way and we loved it so stayed a week, swimming off the beach on the ocean side every morning and eating fabulous seafood. We decided to skip Brisi as we'd been there before and went outside of Moreton Island heading towards Yamba or Southport depending on how long the weather gave us. Late the next evening we decided to round cape Byron and push onto Yamba, this was quite a night, the weather forecasters got it wrong and we had really tough conditions which the died the next morning as we approached the coast again. We found ourselves drifting becalmed with dolphins swimming all around us while we waited for the tide to enter the Clarence river. Yamba was a real outpost, we met the kindest and strangest people here, drank beers with fishermen in neighbouring Iluka, got lifts around town in the back of a van and got told off by NSW maritime for venturing too far from our yacht in our tender.

Coffs Harbour was our next stop after another beating and even more dramatic parking by Andrew as the wind whipped accross the marina - after no marina berthing for years he was now getting quite good. Luckily two fellas who had followed us from Yamba in a tinnie (approx 5m tin dinghy with no protection) were there to take our lines. Next morning the same pair returned to find their boat sunk, we got out every line we had and lent them nearly all our fenders to try and get the boat to float enough to bail it, with some help from a local fisherman and none from the water police they dragged the boat to the shore and we bailed it and tried to save a little of their stuff in the end we dragged them off to the pub. It turned out to be the bilge pump syphoning back into the boat - what a shame, at least they were insured. The next night a yacht race from Sydney to Southport diverted due to bad weather, at 2am we had a load of very scared new neighbours that had been out in a gale in their lightweight Sydney Harbour boats. The weather was so bad and the marina so unprotected we couldn't bear to spend another night on board so we went off to a lovely B&B inland a little for the night, the couple that run it turned out to be would be cruisers so came down the next night to see R2 and took us out for dinner. We eventually broke free from Coffs after filling my new camera with pictures of ugly seas and grey skies.

We had a fantastic trip down to Port Stephens, with the best dolphins we have seen in a long time - loads and they stayed for ages doing the biggest flips and spins. Port Stephens is one of the most beautiful spots we have taken R2 in Australia - the Coast Guard told us as we arrived that they call in Dutch country and that was a good likeness. They had free moorings we took until our friend the wind blew up and made them uncomfortable, so off we went to find a quiet anchorage. We dropped the hook and settled down to make lunch, then we saw smoke! As Andrew investigated found more than smoke - flames. I packed the evacuation bag then Andrew let a fire extinguisher off in the cockpit lazerette where the flames were. Gosh we were so lucky.... it turned out to be the regulator for the wind generator, it shorted out, set on fire and then burned out much of the contents of the locker including electric wires, drain hoses, GPS antenna, nav lights and fenders but just missed the gas hose. And what a mess. A bit shaken up we found a spot in the most expensive marina we have ever been to but they did bring us newspapers, coffee, cocktails, lend us a car and have marble bathrooms! We were now just over 2 hours by car to Sydney so really considered leaving R2 in this fab spot - as if you paid for 2 months it was quite reasonable. But Andrew worked hard and we cobbled things together to make the trip to Sydney.

We arrived in Sydney two days later - just as the next southerly hit - typical. We therefore nipped up into the Middle Harbour to R2's new home on a mooring buoy at Cammeray Marina and left exploring the city on our boat until the next weekend.

Aussie Road Trip 2

2006-12-14T05:43:00.000-01:00

After the cool and quiet of the hills we were fancying a bit of beach fun so headed to Yuragir National Park. On the way we made a short stop in McLean - Australia’s Scottish town, all the telegraph poles and lamp posts have different tartans painted on them, there are Scottish shops and the butcher even sold haggis. The town is right on the lake and if wasn’t for the fact it was about 35 we could have felt as if we were in Scotland. We head to the National Park and drove down about 10 kms of rough road and found ourselves in the completely magical spot of Sandon River. The camping area looked pretty ordinary on first impressions, but after we explored a little we found we were in paradise. We had a spot looking right onto the beach, at low tide there was an island just off the entrance to the river which was covered in pelicans. The river itself was as the back of the camping area and was extremely tidal. At the change of the tide we launched our kayak and had a beautiful leisurely push up stream through channels gorged in the sandbanks. Around us was the wildest scenery, all mountains, dry landscapes with the occasional area of mangroves. We took a picnic and landed on an island up stream for lunch - we felt like this was real Australia.

That night we got chatting to our neighbors and ended up being invited for drinks with Joan the ‘Mayoress’ of the campsite and her friends and family. Joan lived about 20 mins away but had been coming to Sandon River for the whole summer for practically her whole life, she was missing a few teeth and enjoyed homebrew made by her husband Bill in large quantities. It turned out that the whole group - about 12 people just move to the beach in their caravans/tents for the summer - some even go to work from there. We had two fabulous nights and then decided it was time to move on. Our next night was even stranger, we went to Crowdy Bay National Park in search of Koalas but instead found nuddie running, moonshine drinking cowboys. There was supposed to be showers at this place so after we put the tent up I went off in search, the spot called Indian Heads was deserted apart from a lot of Kangaroos and one large group with lots of utes and boats around their camping area playing loud music. I walked by the group nervously, but I should have remembered that I was in Queensland, as I was greeted by a really friendly bunch and one guy showed where the shower was. Later that evening after dinner Andrew and I kept getting different visitors from the group and in the end they invited us down. So off we went drinks in hand and met about 5 families that were camping for the weekend, they were farmers from inland and had loads of kids. Not long after we arrived out came the moonshine, Andrew having a chemical background was very dubious but we both tried a little and it was actually alright with a lot of coke. Next the conversation turned to another activity, nudie running! I was terrified when a middle aged man stripped off to nothing but hat and boots and started chasing poor kangaroos while the others shone a flashlight on his arse - this is country living for you!

We were both in need of a bit of luxury after the last few days so we decided our next stop would be in the boutique wine growing region, the Hunter Valley. After a lot of negotiation we managed to strike a bargain deal to stay in one of the nicest hotels in the region. The station wagon loaded with all our worldly belongings pulled in to the driveway of Peppers Convent, along the avenue through the vineyards to the turning circle complete with fountain - this was perfect. We were so spoiled, we got all dressed up, had champagne and canapés before going to diner at Roberts, a fantastic French restaurant on the same estate. Next morning we had the longest breakfast before spending a few hours chilling out in the spa. Life was good!!

Getting right in to the tourist trip now, our next stop was the Blue Mountains. We skirted round the edge of Sydney, nearly running out of petrol about 30 kms from the nearest town when luckily there was a truck stop which charged twice as much as a normal garage but we were so relieved we didn’t care. Our first night in the Blue Mountains was as Glenbrook just inside the park, we did a short hike and found the Nepean river where we took a swim underneath staggering cliff faces in the most clean tranquil spot. We drove 10kms down unmade roads and then hiked to find the Red Hand Caves - famous aboriginal hand prints - we were less than impressed by prints that looked like a two year old had done them - but who are we to comment!? Next to Katoomba, the tourist hub of the Blue Mountains, we did a great hike right out into the middle of the park to Mount Solitary. We stood on the top and looked back at the famous Three Sisters and the blue shimmering eucalyptus trees all around. Unfortunately a lot of the park was inaccessible due to damage caused by forest fires so we decided to cut short our trip and head back to the central coast. Here we spent a couple of nights at the beautiful Boudi National Park before heading to lake Macquarie to catch up with our sailing friends Paul and Liz who we last saw in the Canaries.

Paul & Liz returned from cruising a few months before after selling their yacht Amaranth in America, they live in a beautiful house that they designed themselves on the banks of lake Macquarie. It was wonderful to see them again and exchange all our stories. We spent a few days with them taking full advantage of their kind hospitality. They took us on a city tour of Sydney before leaving us to defend for ourselves in the big city for two days before we flew back to the UK for Christmas.

Aussie Road Trip 1

2006-11-30T02:26:00.000-01:00

It’s now a week since we set off on our road trip. Our last day in Bundy was a fuelled by a few too many drinks the night before with our sailing friends and resulted in us just chucking everything we could in the back of the car to be sorted out later! We have a lot of stuff as we decided to take our inflatable kayak with us (just in case we get withdrawal symptoms from being off the water), we are also going to N England for Xmas, New Zealand in Feb -this all means a lot of shoes!! We managed to get away about 3pm and after a quick trip to Woolworths to booster our camping supplies we were on the road. First stop about 2 hours south of Bundy in a place called Howard. A nice little campsite but a bit near the main road for us, although we did meet Lindsay in his ‘big rig’ - this is a coach that has been turned into a home - Lindsay had a coach complete with trailer for his 4x4, washing machine, study, fitted bathroom and parrott!! This is a whole new world! Lyndsay and his wife run their business from the coach and travel around Australia - he gave us loads of good advice on things to do and see and we left Howard really excited about our forthcoming trip.

Mount Tambourine was our next stop. Everyone we met in Queensland told us we had to visit this beautiful area just inland from the Gold Coast. It was good advice as it really is lovely and the town is really quaint and cute. As we arrived in the area we called in at pub for a bit of lunch - this pub held cane toad races every Sunday, had alpacas in the garden and menu items that included crocodile and kangaroo. We felt like we had arrived in Australia. Our campsite in Mount Tambourine was right alongside a gorgeous creek, it was Saturday and was absolutely packed with Australian families having a great time. We read their was a nice walk down the creek so donned our boots and off we went. We realized this wasn’t a real hiking area when we reached the carpark and saw women in heels and dresses heading for the same walk - the pathway was all paved but the views of the gorge were just lovely and we managed to sneak off the path to find some fish poachers downstream drinking whisky - nice chaps though! We eventually found some more remote walking areas in Tambourine but we have realized that walking in Australia is very different to the UK. The countryside here is so wild you dare not leave the path and there are no old established trails like we have.

For a bit of a reality check, after leaving Mount Tambourine we headed to the gold coast. Wow! This is like miami (not been but how I imagine it) all high rise buildings, glitz and cheesiness everywhere - it had to be seen to be believed. We didn’t stop long as friends Darren & Annie on Ripple II had been towed into a nearby marina with engine probs so we stopped by to see how they were doing - in true Aussie fashion they were not letting the engine troubles spoil their celebrations on arriving home! We left them after Darren wound Andrew up over the cricket and found our way back in land to the calm of Lamington national park.

The drive into the park is amazing in itself, a journey you think will take no more that half an hour takes more than double, the roads a twisty turning mountain roads with cliff edge sides but the views were amazing as you drive from one side of the mountain range to the other. The park itself is about 3000 metres above sea level. We went to the Green Mountain section where O’Reilly’s guest house is the famous point with is treetop walk through the rainforest. We were a bit suspicious as how these Irish farmers ended up with a prime bit of land in the middle of the National Park - but the marketing guys have had a field day and they are now building holiday homes up there. Anyway, enough rambling we tucked ourselves in a great corner of the national park campsite, together with billions of Pademelons (little wallaby type creatures), loads of brightly colored parrots and these amazing Satin Bowerbirds (they collect anything blue for their nests - one we saw had loads of pepsi merchandise and even a blue flip-flop). We did two days of full hiking around the park. The first day was beautiful unspoiled rainforest with over eighteen waterfalls on the way back - and we missed some out because quite frankly waterfalls are boring now!!! (Listen to me!) The second day we dropped down into a beautiful creek and walked though amazing Antarctic beech forests (these trees grew in the Antarctic and ended up being in Australia when the land split away and have adapted to grow in the rainforest - they are huge and have several trunks in one tree). Just over halfway round the circuit walk we came across a beautiful guana (big black lizard) so stopped to take a picture, as we walked around the next corner I let out a big gasp and stopped dead - right across our path was the biggest snake I have ever seen, (including in zoos and on tv) it was over 2m long and sunning itself right on the path with no way round. Andrew’s response was first lets take a photo! Anyway we survived and managed to scare it off by stamping our feet. We had our picnic lunch on a rock in the river away from where snakes could get us and quickly walked out of the park. It turned out not to be poisonous but we still wouldn’t like to meet it again.

Trial Camping Trip

2006-11-19T05:48:00.000-01:00

Carolyn prepares lunch - outside our new home!
Kangaroos woke us up bouncing around outside the tent the next morning.
We tried our hand at surfing at Agnes Water - the professional surfers didn't seem to mind us in histerics trying to catch waves on Jon & James' body boards! We were exhausted and half drowned by the end of the afternoon but on a spot like this you just had to have ago.

A morning stroll on the beach with only pelicans for company.

Bundy Pics

2006-11-19T03:59:00.000-01:00

Andrew receives the Port to Port rally award 'Spirit of the Event' for supporting Dallandra on passage when Ron had a kidney stone - luckily the stone went away but Robyn was very relieved to have us on standby so nominated Andrew for the award.

Our first trip outside of Bundy took us to Elliott Heads beach where we had a great picnic and swam in the sea for the first time since Fji. The beach was deserted and beautiful. If this is just an ordinary Aussie beach I'm excited.

It's sugar cane harvesting season in Bundaberg. This year the cane here has a bug so they are having to burn the leaves etc before harvesting - the fires are amazing but the bits of black stuff all over the boat is not!

Our new car! Freddy the ford has taken Andrew's attention from fixing R2 as he's been servicing the car and getting him ready for our trip south. We bought some cheap camping stuff and have been on a trial camping trip this week.

Turtle Eggs

2006-11-14T05:37:00.000-01:00

We had an awesome night on Sunday. We went to Mon Repos, a turtle rookery just along the coast from the marina. We had a talk from the park ranger, then waited. At just after 7am the rangers had spotted a turtle on the beach, we waited a short while until she had dug her nest and then we were shown down to the beach with the researchers to witness her lay her eggs. We were just a few feet from her and watched as she laid 106 eggs. Her eyes look like she is crying but it's just her regulating her eyes while out of the water. She was one of only 700 loggerhead turtles reproducing in Australia and one of the first to arrive at Mon Repos this season. After she had finished laying eggs she buried them and turned towards the sea, oblivious to us watching her she made her way back to the ocean to return in 15 days. After she had swum off the researchers dug up the eggs to count them- they can move them within 2 hours of being laid and they even allowed us to touch them - they were like squidgey ping pong balls. Only 1 in 1000 baby turtles make it to adult. She was 96 cm long and weighed 100 kgs. What a special experience!

2006-11-06T21:50:00.000-01:00

ReVision II Down Under

2006-11-06T03:36:00.000-01:00

Some 12,000 nautical miles after leaving Spain a year ago we have arrived in Australia. We have spent more than 140 days at sea and vistited more than 40 countries or islands.

Yesterday morning just after dawn we completed our approach to Bundaberg in Queensland. It's really exciting to be here. Will update more later.

Here's a picture of us just prior to arriving taken by Robyn aboard Dallandra

Perfect!

2006-11-03T03:33:00.000-01:00

In the last couple of months there has been a few times when I have really wondered what we are doing out here - worrying about cyclones, sleepless nights on anchor watch, horrid weather.... Today, however we have had a unreality check (if there is such a thing), it is just the most beautiful perfect day. We have had amazing weather since getting clear of Vanuatu with lovely sailing but today has just been one of those days dreams are made of. The sea is flat calm, the sky is completely clear and there is only about 6 knots of wind. We motored a little this morning, but then had a better idea. We bought a spinnaker (big coloured sail for the non sailors) from a guy in Raiatea for £50 and have never even had a good look at it. Out it came and we managed to set it up and had fab time playing around with it. We got it set and R2 just loved it, being gently pulled along by this huge parachute, but sitting flat and right on course at 5 knots - we were so chuffed with ourselves. We had a celebratory beer and then sat down to enjoy our lunch. Yesterday we caught a lovely little yellow fin tuna, so we had a fillet each coated in sweet chilli sauce, coconut and sesame seeds then seared and served with salad - basically a free lunch and it was delicious. We sat looking out at the ocean rippling along and the spinnaker bouncing ahead and just said wow this is why! ReVision II's position 0400 GMT 3 November 2006 22 degrees 25 mins South, 155 degrees 49 mins East - 233 miles to Bundaberg.

Blue Skies and Fair Winds

2006-11-02T12:46:00.000-01:00

At 00:30 GMT on Thursday November 2nd ReVision II was at 20 Deg 38 Mins South and 158 Deg 11 Mins East with 403 miles to go to Bundaberg. We have had four days of perfect sailing with blue skies and light winds. It's been several months since we have had anything like this. The boat is going well and we were relieved to navigate our way through a series of outlying reefs during the night without incident. We are now crossing an area which is at the bottom of the great barrier reef so there are lots of hazards to watch out for even though most of the time the water if 3000 metres deep. We caught a nice Mahi Mahi on the first day and then a small yellow fin tuna yesterday so we are not going hungry. We didn't buy any food in Vanuatu as we know that Australian customs will confiscate most produce on arrival so we are working our way through the ships stores. Our friends Ron and Robyn on Dallandra, a 47 foot ketch from New Zealand are only a few miles away and we are in touch by radio. Other friends Chris and Karyn on Magic Carpet are a day in front and we will be having a big party in Bundaberg as they are completing a circumnavigation. Yesterday we were able to make contact with our old friends on Kika, Zefrin, Ragtime and Noa who are all on route to New Zealand. It was great to speak to them all. It's still amazing to us that we can speak to people on their boats a thousand miles away with our HF radio. We're hoping the weather holds out so that we can make landfall on Sunday.

On way to Oz

2006-10-30T05:02:00.000-01:00

As Cyclone Xavier managed to turn full around and head off in the other direction we were able to breath a sigh of relief. It had come within a hundred miles of us and for some time looked liked we might get a direct hit. Fortunately the weather has settled again and on Sunday morning we left Port Vila making for Port Bundaberg in Australia some 1008 miles to the South West. There are about 30 boats taking part in the Port 2 Port rally including ourselves and already we spread all over the place. We did see one yacht for most of last night before we passed them by. Nothing seen today, Monday but blue skies...can't remember a day like this for several months. At 05:50 GMT On Monday October 30th ReVision II was at 18 Deg 16 Mins South and 164 Deg 53 Mins East with 809 miles to go.

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Cyclone approaching Port Vila

2006-10-24T21:55:00.000-01:00

We are still here in Port Vila in Vanuatu. We have been pretty busy experiencing Vanuatu and monitoring the weather for the last week. We went for a village feast on Friday which was one of the most amazing experiences of our trip so far. We went with some other cruisers and were met from our taxi by the village caller - a man dressed in a grass skirt, full war paint and calling on a conch shell to announce our arrival in the village. We met with Alick, who had arranged the visit and he explained that in the old days the call was for intruders and alerted the village to attack but now they accept visitors and we were quite safe! Although in many ways Vanuatu has adopted western ways you are very much aware that the ‘past’ is not that long ago and the ‘kastom’ or traditional life is only a little way beneath the surface or still prevailing in some parts of life here. We entered the village and were welcomed by the Chief. We were given a coconut to drink. The villagers were all dressed in traditional grass skirts, flowers, leaf garlands and body paint. They all smiled nervously at us but made us very welcome. The men were then invited to drink Kava, which they had to down in one. It makes your mouth numb then your legs if you drink enough. Traditionally women cannot even see the kava being prepared let alone drink it, but they allowed us to try it - not really my thing but an experience. The village we were in was a group from the neighboring island of Tanna who had come to Efate to earn money to send back to their island. They explained that when they are in their own village life is very different and strictly in line with traditional kastom ways, so for example women wouldn’t drink kava. People from Tanna are especially famous for turning their back on modern influences. They have a very special dance called the Toka dance which is usually only performed at an annual 3 day festival called Nekowiar where the villages of the island come together to make alliances and arrange marriages. This village had been given special permission to perform the Toka dance outside of Tanna and we sat and watched an amazing spectacle of men chanting, bamboo poles being rustled together and passionate singing.
After the dance the men were taken off with the warriors and us women went with the village women to serve the food. The food, laplap which roughly translates to pudding, had been cooked under ground wrapped in banana leaves with hot rocks. It is basically a lot of root vegetables and some meat cooked in coconut milk - it really is absolutely delicious. After dinner we had more dancing. The women and children joined in and invited us too. Andrew had a little boy called Rubin and I had a little girl called Joanna who held our hands tightly for the duration of our attempt to join in, which left us exhausted. The children didn’t let go of our hands until we left and Joanna gave me part of her feather headdress. It really was a very special evening and we felt very honored. The next day we took some gifts to Alick for the villagers.

They have fantastic little buses here which you just hop in and say where you want to go - the driver then finds a route for all the travelers it only costs about 50p and it’s really fun. We went down the south of the island to a village called Mele where they have a cultural centre which was really interesting. We learned all about the history and kastom of Vanuatu along with a lot of tales which we found terribly funny but which the locals believe. Black magic is a really big influence here and even more so on the island of Ambrym, we have noticed the local people really believe this and we have to try hard to respect their views. The history of cannibalism here is pretty horrid as is some of the traditions such as burying people alive - women with the husbands if they died before them, unwanted children, elderly people, sick people etc. When one chief died he was buried with 40 family/villagers who were alive. They also had practices such as knocking out a women’s front teeth to make her more beautiful, bringing up an illegitimate child until he was 13 and then hanging and eating him. The last ‘reported’ case of cannibalism was in 1969 so the government doesn’t really like it discussed as many ‘flesh eaters’ are still alive. There is a lot of joking about it though; the local beer adverts says ‘who’s on the menu?’ and there are tourist t-shirts of cooking pots with people in. I could go on forever but one last strange thing for now - there is a village here that believes Prince Philip is their Chief, they worship him and await the day that he will return to Vanuatu!

We have also done some great snorkeling here, had snakes around our necks, held and eaten coconut crab, spent hours wandering around the 24 hour market and been to see all the sights of Port Vila including the President’s residence, a pink court house and a some interesting churches.

We hoped to fly down to Tanna to see the active volcano there but unfortunately the flights were full. As it happens we could have gone later as we are still here because a cyclone has developed currently 200 miles north east of us. We joined up with a rally heading to Bundaberg in Australia which was supposed to leave on or after 23 October but that day cyclone Xavier made it’s appearance and is currently heading our way. We have prepared the boat best we can and are on a mooring in a pretty protected harbour but are very anxious to see what the next few days will bring.

Halo from Port Vila

2006-10-20T00:28:00.000-01:00

After a fast and frenzied trip from Fiji we arrived in Port Vila in Vanuatu on Wednesday October 18th. We dropped anchor at 0300 after picking our way in by radar and computer glad to get out of biggest seas we've seen since we left a year ago. We've caught up on our sleep and started exploring. We are going to a village tonight for a feast cooked in an umu (oven in the ground) and to drink Kava. Hopefully it's not us who are on the menu as the last recorded canabalism here was as recent as 1969 (not sure when the last unrecorded canabalism was). Its a very different place to anywhere else we have been where black magic and ancient tradition is still very strong. We are looking forard to seeing as much as we can whilst we are here but are watching the weather carefully as we will head to Australia as soon we get a window. Cyclone season is approaching fast so not much time to hang around.

Departure from Fiji

2006-10-16T02:01:00.000-01:00

After a few more days enjoying Savusavu our new belt for our autopilot arrived and we headed out on route to Lautoka on Vitu Levu the main island in the group. The route to Lautoka took us back out into the ocean for a few miles, then in through a reef pass to a route behind the reef along the south side of Vanua Levu where we made our first stop in a huge mangrove bay. We met up with Chris & Jim on 12th Night here but they stayed put when we left early the next morning. The reef routes are fairly well marked but when a marker is missing it really through's you so we had to pay careful attention. We had to cross a wide expanse of water called Bligh water where the wind really whipped up but we had a fast sail across right on the wind. The reef pass on the other side had our hearts in our mouths as we could only find one marker so had to feel our way in with depth readings and gut feel against a 3 knot current and 25 knot winds - very relieved we put into the nearest anchorage. We took a rest but were woken by a German boat calling us on the radio to say our anchor was dragging, this was all we needed but off we went to reset it putting out all 80 metres of our chain this time. We invited the Germans for a drink but just as we were expecting them R2 was off again, the mud was a bit too gloopy and the gusts were pretty strong 40 knots plus matched with a current setting us side on in between gusts, so drinks on standby we had to reset the anchor, launch the dinghy and set a second anchor. We finally got a good holding but it still leaves you a bit nervous for a good night sleep. Next morning we were off again, now running along the north coast of Vitu Levu with green hills rolling inland and reef all around with occasional little atolls on the outer reef. The autopilot decided to fail again, Andrew quickly realised the gearbox was broken which must have been what caused the belt to snap before luckily we had the right contact and immediately arranged for it to be sent to Lautoka. This meant the next two days of hand steering as we were under motor - not tough just boring. The next night we found a lovely little creek to anchor up in, just us and birds - a bit like Newtown Creek on the Isle of Wight. We managed to find an unmarked coral clump right in the middle of the bay which we closely missed after 'full engine astern'! We sat and chilled with a G&T that night all relaxed - only 30 miles to go. Another early start, and before we knew it we worked our way through the outer islets and into Lautoka. Wow how completely horrid it was - I'm sorry but it really was just minging, we took one look at the anchorage with smoke from the Sugar Factory pouring out and oil floating all over the water and immediately headed further south. A low was forcast to pass over the island group so we decided we deserved a treat and headed into the Marina at Vuda point - this was more like it! A white lie to customs - 'yes, the boat is just out there' when we went to Lautoka to clear in and all was well. We had four lovely nights at Vuda, which had a great little yacht club. Next door was the First Landing Resort where Prince Charles stayed earlier this year - good enough for him then we thought we ought to pay a visit so in we popped took full advantage of the facilities (for free of course) and they were so kind to us we decided to stay for dinner. It was lovely, all lit by lanterns - really romantic. That was until we got chatting to some locals on the next table who it turned out worked for customs when we said we were leaving for Vanuatu next morning and they'd see us to clear us out - oops we already did that earlier in the day.... a quick exit with no further chat and we left Fiji next morning. The trip started in flat calm, within the reef, clear skies all was well. As we approached the pass we could see lots of white stuff - on we went and found surfers having alot of fun, but we were trying to go the other way. Progress was slow but we made it through and got out into a pretty big ocean swell as we left the island behind the wind got stronger and stronger until we had a steady 40 knots with gusts on top - heavily reefed down we speeded along holding on very tight - we stuck with it as the forecast showed reduction which eventually started just after midnight. It was probably some of the roughest conditions we've been in and don't want to go back in a hurry. Now we are gently rolling along with just over 200 miles to go to Vanuatu. Position 0140 GMT Monday 16 Oct 17 degrees 58 South 171 degrees 55 East

Leaving Fiji

2006-10-13T19:30:00.000-01:00

We are setting off for Vanuatu today. We've had a great time in Fiji - more to follow.

Fijian Hospitality

2006-10-05T00:05:00.000-01:00

We are adapting to life in Fiji very quickly. Yesterday we hired a car to explore the island but only drove it about 30 miles. We ventured out of Savusavu, drove through some amazing villages, all very neat and orderly with smiling faces waving at us. Tourism is very limited on the island of Vanua Levu so white faces are very unusual to the people here. We went in search of Nakasa village where we had heard there was a good waterfall. After taking directions from many villagers along the way we found the completely overgrown track we had to follow, we parked up after our nerves couldn’t take any more and hiked the rest of the way down to the river. We couldn’t raise anyone in the village so walked out behind the village in search of the waterfall. After hiking for half an hour through dense rainforest we decided we needed help so headed back to the village. We met Carla and three of her children washing clothes in the stream, she was very excited to meet us and said her husband would take us to the waterfall. He was out hunting wild pigs so she called out for him in a big whooping noise (no need for mobile phones in Fiji), a few minutes later Seca fell through the bush on the other side of the river. Seca hiked up to the waterfall with us and we all swam in the pool, the boys jumped in off the rocks. The fall was beautiful and the area around it completely rugged and unspoiled. We returned to the village, collecting coconuts on the way. Carla had prepared food and drinks for us when we got back and dressed in her best clothes. Seca prepared coconuts, the children cuddled up with me and we had a feast of local vegetables. Seca invited us to drink Kava -(the local grog with him but we have heard it makes you very sleepy and numbs the mouth so declined as Andrew had to drive. Seca only drinks Kava on special occasions but smokes special Fijian tobacco. He told us many Fijians drink Kava all the time and it makes them lazy. Seca and Carla were certainly not lazy, they were building their house when they could buy materials from selling vegetables, Seca also worked on the family farm and was a fisherman. We had a lovely time with them and left about 4pm.
On the way back to Savusavu we stopped in a very different village, this village was obviously very wealthy as the houses were immaculate and the villagers dressed well. We chatted with the villagers a while and were invited to stay but had to return the car. We took a picture and when we showed the villagers one of the ladies was so excited she hugged me. Our day was very special and we felt so welcome in Fiji.

Fiji

2006-10-02T03:18:00.000-01:00

We have finally got over the trip down to Fiji, caught up on sleep, done the laundry and dried out the boat - all the glamorous stuff taken care of and R2 feels like our home once again. We are in Savusavu which is a small one street town on the island of Vanua Levu, the second largest island, in the north of the island group. We are currently on a buoy off the Copra Shed Marina which is a really cute little low key yachting development. The town itself is very simple and pretty poor - quite run down in some places but the people are very warm and kind yet again. It is very different to anywhere else we have been, probably a bit like the Caribbean 20 years ago. Fiji is interesting as the people are either the indigenous Fijians or Indians, the two groups do not appear to mix much and they look very different and obviously have very different cultures. The Indians are fourth or fifth generation descendents of laborers brought from India to work on the plantations, the Indo-Fijians have adapted to life in Fiji in many ways but remain Indian with many of the women wearing traditional dress, Islam and Hindi being the second and third religions here and curry features very prominently on the menu boards. The Fijians have lovely big afro hair and wear Polynesian style dress that we have become familiar with plus the odd England football shirt or two thrown in for good measure.

The weather has stayed a bit wet so we have not done a lot of exploring yet, other than the yacht club bar and the town. The food here is fantastic and really cheap so it’s great not to have to cook on board but not so good for the waistline. We have got a cruising permit so hope to cruise around and do some snorkeling and maybe diving if the weather gets better this week.

Picture of our arrival in Fiji!

Bula from Savusavu

2006-09-30T04:06:00.000-01:00

After 4 rain and wind lashed days the drowned rats aboard R2 pulled into Savusavu in the Fiji Islands today. Its fair to say we are glad that the last 600 miles are behind us and that we will be at the front of the queue at the yacht club bar this evening for happy hour. Busy mopping up as best we can at present although as the rain continues to pour it's not proving to easy. More later...

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Drowned Rats

2006-09-28T23:06:00.000-01:00

The crew of R2 are officially drowned rats after 3 days of torrential rain and squalls since shortly after leaving Samoa headed towards the Fiji Islands. Today, Thursday 28th September has brought the first improvement in the weather so that we could update the blog. The winds have finally moderated a little and the sea has begun to calm. We have 160 miles to go to Savusavu and hope to make landfall tomorrow, which will be Saturday as we will cross the international dateline tonight. We are looking forward to arrival and drying out. At 19:00 GMT on September 28th R2 was at 16 Deg 19 Min South and 178 Deg 12 Min West.

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Talofa Lava from Apia

2006-09-20T01:46:00.000-01:00

After eight days of glorious weather and perfect sailing conditions we started to make our finalapproach to Apia, the capital of Samoa. The trip was probably one of the best we have ever had, we had 15 knots of wind just off the quarter, blue skies, clear nights with an amazing moon and gentle waves rolling us along. On our final day we passed the halfway round the world mark from the point we left Punta Ala in Italy just over a year ago - that was cause for a little celebration. We had thought we were going to have to stand off the entrance as our arrival time was going to be night, but the wind picked up just enough for us to arrive on the afternoon of 13 September. There was some thunder squalls around us on our last night, but in the distance so we had been keeping an eye on them but they didn’t come close, that was until we were making our way in! The entrance is pretty straightforward but no buoyage just leading lights on the hill that you had to line up, the reef on either side of the entrance was fierce with breaking waves. Out of nowhere the squall hit us, reduced our visibility to less than a boat length and slammed us with 45 knots of wind. There was no way we could continue as we were not sure how good our chart was and could not see the leading lights. So Andrew turned R2 around and put the engine on full revs taking us out along the track we came in, the sea picked up really quickly and we could only make about a knot against the huge waves. We had to rely totally on our GPS, which at one point told us we were going towards the reef when we were steering away from it because the wind and sea was pushing us. It was really scary and I sat inside monitoring our position screaming it to Andrew every few seconds, while he stood out in the elements being battered by torrential rain and breaking seas - he always gets the short straw. The squall eased a little and we called friends in the harbour on the radio who said it was calm in there and we turned around again and motored in at full speed to calm waters to be greeted by lots of boats we knew. We found a great spot to anchor and got out the beers!

We spent out first night catching up with friends, unfortunately Sandy on Zefrin was not well so they were there which was good for us as they had planned to leave a few days earlier, Noa arrived later in the afternoon with Kika making a night entry around midnight. Next day we cleared in which was easy enough but we had to visit four different offices, but it meant we explored the town a little and met some lovely Samoans in the process.

Samoa is the last place on earth to see the sunset, being just east of the international date line. There are nine islands in the group, all of which are volcanic. Upolu is the most populated, where we arrived in the capital Apia. Samoa is famous for beautiful beaches, spectacular waterwalls, freshwater cave pools and tropical plantations. Robert Louis Stevenson spent the last years of his life here and was known by the locals as Tusitala - teller of tails. In the last century it has been governed by the Germans and New Zealand before becoming independent in 1962. So English is widely spoken as a second language although the culture is very much Samoan. The ‘faa Samoa’, the Samoan way of life resists the pressures of the rest of the world. The ‘Aiga’ the extended family stay close and loyal within the village and the ‘Matai’, the chiefs are well respected , the ‘Alii’ the high chief makes the laws for each village. Houses known as fale in Samoa are usually round or oval, with a high thatched roof supported by wooden posts, most do not have walls and you seen straight through. In Apia some houses have walls but are still very open. The local sports are rugby and cricket.

We hired a jeep for a day and went on a tour, we were side tracked by a hike to a lake in a crater which was amazing and we swam in Lanatoo lake which no-one has ever found the bottom of. Goldfish swam with us and it was so serene and beautiful after the hour hike through dense rainforest. We continued on our tour passing through many villages of groups of fale, we witnessed a women’s committee meeting, waved back at about a thousand people who saw us on our way. We went to the south to see the incredible white beaches and to the north through incredible rainforest, passing gorgeous gorges and waterfalls at every turn. As we headed back to Apia we spotted a Kiribati or cricket match so stopped and met the locals watching. It was cricket with singing and chanting in skirts! The batters waiting sing, the fielders chant and all this wearing the local attire of lava lava, a sarong. Nearly all men in Samoa where lava lava and the women wear the same with very conservative fitted tops that match.

That evening we decided to go in search of a curry house we saw as we left Apia that morning, we found it but they were only doing take-away, but that wasn’t a problem as the lady waiting for her food invited us to come and eat our food at her house with her family. Luna was the bubbliest kindest lady and made us so welcome. She lived in a huge and beautiful house within her family commune of about 20 acres, the house was full of children and relatives who all spoke perfect English. This was the other side of Samoan life. We ended up staying until gone midnight, putting the worlds to rights and learning all about Samoa. Luna’s great grandfather was William Masters who settled in Palmerston and took many wives and spread families around
the Cook Islands.

The next day was Sunday, an important family day in Samoa, so most of us cruisers stayed on our boats and relaxed, we met with Annie who writes for yachting monthly, so watch out for us in her blue water letter! Annie and Tevor invited us for drinks, which went into dinner and a great evening, they have been cruising for years so have many stories to tell.

Yesterday I went off shopping and for lunch with Ellen (Kika), Emily and Sophie (Zeffrin), while Andrew and Nick went off to do some boat errands and ended up in a bar playing pool with the locals including the mayor and a village chief. The fun carried on back to R2 where I cooked dinner last night and much wine was consumed. This is such an amazing place and we feel very at home. Lots more to see and do so another long blog to follow I feel.

Still on route to Apia

2006-09-12T04:27:00.000-01:00

Position 14 deg 16 mins south and 165 deg 57 mins west at 18:17 GMT on Monday 11th September. We're still out here rolling along on our way to Apia, Samoa and have 338 miles to go. We have been joined in our trip by friends Nick & Ellen on Kika and Walter and Rita on Noa, they are north of us as they came from the Northern Cook Islands, but have the same distance to run so Nick is plotting us all on his 'geeky' program to see who does best each day. Amazingly we are in the lead at present but the German contingent on Noa are pretty speedy so we have to watch out for them. We also have a lovely family from Alaska aboard Nueva Vida about 30 miles away from us, we left Bora Bora together and kept VHF contact until we got too far apart from them. They have a boat a little larger but very similar to R2 so it is interesting to get their position reports. The winds have been nice and consistent and we've been having a nice trip so far. We are a bit anxious that we may run into a squally zone sometime soon as we know it's out there. For now we are enjoying it, spending our days reading, doing a few boat jobs and cooking. I am proud to say I have perfected my flapjacks at last - ridiculous that they've been such a problem but that's life - Andrew is pleased as if I use up the Muesli in flapjacks he doesn't have to have it for breakfast! Oh the excitement out here!!

Poisition report

2006-09-09T05:15:00.000-01:00

At 0437 GMT on Saturday September 9th ReVision II is at position 15 Deg 08 Mins South and 159 Deg 44 Mins West with 703 miles to go to Apia Samoa. Today we finished off the last of our tuna so will start fishing again tomorrow. After a squally night we have had a beautiful day today with clear skies and light winds. All is well.

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Bye Bye Bora Bora

2006-09-07T04:15:00.000-01:00

ReVision II finally left the Society Islands on Tuesday much to the disappointment of Captain and Crew. We are having a good sail so far and are heading towards Apia in Samoa. We are keeping a close eye on the weather which has been somewhat variable of late but so far we have had clear skies and steady winds. We hooked three fish today, firstly a huge sailfish which got free after a brief fight, then we managed to get a large Wahoo to the side of the boat but couldn't gaff it but finally we managed to land a nice Tuna of 8-10lbs which Carolyn is currently preparing for dinner tonight. The moon is full at present and is almost bright enough to read by so night watches are proving more popular than normal. At 0430 GMT on Thursday 7th September ReVision II was at 15 deg 59 mins South and 154 deg 54 mins West and we have 986 miles to go to Apia. More later.

ps just heard from another boat on passage that hooked a whale today but couldn't land that either !

Bora Bora

2006-09-04T10:25:00.000-01:00

We finally left our friends at the Raiatea boat yard and village a few days ago and had a lovely trip up to Bora Bora. We motorsailed up to give the engine a really good test and all Andrew's hard work paid off as for the first time since we have owned R2 there was no oil leak and no overheating - we were very pleased! The view of Bora Bora was amazing as we got closer, the lagoon making the clouds above it green and the peaks standing tall, we were very excited as this was one of the places that started this trip for us. The entrance was straightforward and we headed into the clear waters of the lagoon in fantastic weather. We had heard that there was alot of development in Bora Bora so were a little worried that it wouldn't live up to our expectations. There are alot of hotels but the lagoon is so huge and they are mainly bungalows on the water so they don't spoil it too much. The main settlement only has two supermarkets and a few nic-nac shops and had a nice sleepy feel to it. We hiked through the rain forest to the middle of the island on our first day and took a baguette for a picnic on the top of the ridge looking out over the lagoon which was a perfect view. Yesterday we took R2 on a trip all around the lagoon passing through some pretty shallow coral passes which was quite scary but worth it as it was just incredibly beautiful. We have alot of friends here and there is a happy hour at the yacht club, which is great to meet up for a beer without breaking the bank. We had to buy a new outboard in Raiatea as the Honda was no more after it's trip in the lagoon in Rangiroa, so we've been having fun running Suzy in (sorry Suz but what else do you call a Suzuki?) We went snorkeling across the bay and it was quite nice but hope to get to see some of the really amazing coral on the south of the lagoon before we leave. Unfortunately the weather turned a bit and it has been torrential rain through the night and this morning, but it is still warm and we are still in Bora Bora! WOW!

En Vacances

2006-08-22T20:16:00.000-01:00

We've just arrived back in Polynesia after a whirlwind trip back to Europe to take the boys on holiday in France. We had a great time exploring Brittany although the sea was a bit colder than we are used to.

Today is the last day of luxury for us as we head back to the boat in Raiatea this afternoon and back to work. We plan to get the boat back in the water early next week and then head off to our dream destination of Bora Bora.

Raiatea and Tahaa

2006-08-01T00:57:00.000-01:00

Andrew prepares for engine repairs after a pretty scary entrance to Raiatea pass under sail because of engine overheating.

Engine repairs carried out and we set off to test it. Our anchorage in clear water off Taha, a small island just north of Raiatea, but within the same lagoon. Here we snorkelled on the reef, met a lovely Tahitian family, found conch and shells and had a lovely time.

Engine test successful - Andrew very happy having solved a problem that has just got worse and worse since we bought the boat. So we set the sails and sailed around Taha, all on our own in flat sea with perfect wind - I decided I like sailing afterall!!

To celebrate the end of Heiva, the July festivities in Polynesia, the best group from Bora Bora performed in Raiatea. We went with the villagers surrrounding the boat yard where R2 has been hauled out and had a great night. The locals dressed up in there finest clothes, the performance was amazing and very professional although we have a soft spot for to the Raiatea group we heard practicing every night for a week and that we saw perform in competition earlier in the week.

Cooks Bay in Moorea

2006-08-01T00:36:00.000-01:00

Ia Orana from Moorea

2006-07-15T02:08:00.000-01:00

It has been a nightmare to get sailmail connections since we arrived in the Tuomotus, hardly surprising as the nearest stations are in Honolulu and Sydney (3000 miles each) - we did hitchhike across the atoll of Rangiroa to another village in search of the internet but had no luck - so we are still waiting to catch up on our hotmail since the Galapagos. We went to take our dive but when we got their our divemaster advised they were doing a special dive that afternoon with a filmmaker - we decided to be brave and went for it. We went out of the pass in the dive boat where they dropped us in the deep blue water 2000m deep, we went down 20m, then they lowered a cage of fish bits and then the sharks came! Yes sharks and not small friendly looking ones like we had seen in the Galapagos, these were huge, really mean looking sharks with bits missing all over them. Their beady eyes staring right at us, as sped backwards and forewards to enjoy their feeding frenzy within a few feet of us. There was about 20 grey reef sharks and several larger silver tipped sharks, then a lovely huge bottle nosed dolpin came to play too. The experience was amazing, I'm not sure if I actually enjoyed it at the time but it really was incredible. We had our first meal out in ages at the Kia Ora hotel just near to where we were anchored, I dug out my kitten heels and Andrew smoothed out a shirt and off we went to be civilised for an evening - it was great and we were really looked after by the hotel staff when they found out we had arrived by yacht - two cocktails cost more than we had spent in the last month though!

We took a trip to village of Tiputa across the pass. We zoomed over in the dinghy trailing a local boat so we knew where to go to miss most of the current, he also smoothed the way for us with his wake. We came across a house with beautifully sewn traditional polynesian patterned material covers and displays of stitching, we were invited in by a lady and she introduced us to her Uncle who made these things to sell in Papeete. He showed us his workshop which doubled up as the front room and samples of his work; he agreed to make us a bedspread. When we collected it a few days later and gave him a postcard from England he was so thrilled that we loved it so much he gave us some pillow cases and we were all very happy indeed. We had truly amazing weather while in Rangi so much so that we took the opportunity to explore the lagoon a little. We left the main anchorage and charted zone and headed off in search of our own little spots in paradise. The water was so clear we could see the bottom in 20m which made spotting coral heads easy, we stopped in four different spots in the lagoon and all were just perfect and we were on our own with just fish for company. Unfortunately though we left our motor on the dinghy one night in our relaxed state and the valve failed sending the engine for a little swim - so we headed to Tiputa again in search of fresh fuel and spark plugs but found a village bbq on the sea front. We joined a group of locals drinking and relaxing on the gorgeous Sunday afternoon and had a fab meal of duck and some kind of meat, we met Tauta as we had anchored in front of his house, next thing we had half the village around us trying to communicate with us in our very poor French. While we sat in the sun three dolphins gently swam by making little arches right in front of the gathering - wow! Tauta took Andrew off on his scooter to show him where his house was so we could visit him the next morning, it turned out he was a mechanic so gave us some spark plugs (unfortunately they didn't fit, but how kind??). We went to visit Tauta and his family the next morning and he showed us around his home and talked with us about the atoll - such a lovely man we felt really honoured to have met him and be invited to his home. The houses have several buildings some communal and others just beds, generations of one family live in the same place.

The next day we sailed across the lagoon to the village of Avatoru, there was only about 3 knots of wind so it was very slow but just a beautiful day and with no time pressure it was great to enjoy sailing for a change rather than only sailing to get somewhere. That evening we left through the Avatoru pass and waved goodbye to our beautiful Rangi and the wonderful people we met there. This is the sad thing about this life - it is always time to move on. Next stop for us, Moorea, just north of Tahiti in the Society Islands.

The passage to Moorea started off very slow as there was very little wind but the second day the trade winds filled in a we had a great sail, at first light this morning we saw our first glimpse of Tahiti and Moorea - this was very exciting indeed I think perhaps because Tahiti is what you think of for the South Pacific and it feels along way from home. We sailed passed Marlon Brando's island and made our approach to Moorea. The islands are green and mountainous like the Marquesas but fringed with coral reefs so we had to find the pass into Cook's Bay. Thankfully the pass was nothing like that at Rangi more like entering a harbour but careful attention to the buoys is still required, just after we entered a huge squall passed over but luckily we were safely in the bay now. The squall has stayed with us today so our first experience of the Society Islands is rain lashing down and howling winds - just perfect for catching up on our blog with a cool G&T!

Rangiroa in the Tuomotu

2006-07-10T00:02:00.000-01:00

We have been a bit busy since we arrived in Rangi (local name as we feel like locals) plus it has been a bit difficult to get sailmail connections - we did hitchhike across the atoll to another village in search of the internet but had no luck - so we are still waiting to catch up on our hotmail since the Galapagos. We went to take our dive but when we got their our divemaster advised they were doing a special dive that afternoon with a filmmaker - we decided to be brave and went for it. We went out of the pass in the dive boat where they dropped us in the deep blue water 2000m deep, we went down 20m, then they lowered a cage of fish bits and then the sharks came! Yes sharks and not small friendly looking ones like we had seen in the Galapagos, these were huge, really mean looking sharks with bits missing all over them. Their beady eyes staring right at us, as sped backwards and forewards to enjoy their feeding frenzy within a few feet of us. There was about 20 grey reef sharks and several larger silver tipped sharks, then a lovely huge bottle nosed dolpin came to play too. The experience was amazing, I'm not sure if I actually enjoyed it at the time but it really was incredible. We had our first meal out in ages at the Kia Ora hotel just near to where we were anchored, I dug out my kitten heels and Andrew smoothed out a shirt and off we went to be civilised for an evening - it was great and we were really looked after by the hotel staff when they found out we had arrived by yacht - two cocktails cost more than we had spent in the last month though!
We took a trip to village of Tiputa across the pass. We zoomed over in the dinghy trailing a local boat so we knew where to go to miss most of the current, he also smoothed the way for us with his wake. We came across a house with beautifully sewn traditional polynesian patterned material covers and displays of stitching, we were invited in by a lady and she introduced us to her Uncle who made these things to sell in Papeete. He showed us his workshop which doubled up as the front room and samples of his work; he agreed to make us a bedspread. When we collected it a few days later and gave him a postcard from England he was so thrilled that we loved it so much he gave us some pillow cases and we were all very happy indeed. We had truly amazing weather while in Rangi so much so that we took the opportunity to explore the lagoon a little. We left the main anchorage and charted zone and headed off in search of our own little spots in paradise. The water was so clear we could see the bottom in 20m which made spotting coral heads easy, we stopped in four different spots in the lagoon and all were just perfect and we were on our own with just fish for company. Unfortunately though we left our motor on the dinghy one night in our relaxed state and the valve failed sending the engine for a little swim - so we headed to Tiputa again in search of fresh fuel and spark plugs but found a village bbq on the sea front. We joined a group of locals drinking and relaxing on the gorgeous Sunday afternoon and had a fab meal of duck and some kind of meat, we met Tahuata as we had anchored in front of his house, next thing we had half the village around us trying to communicate with us in our very poor French. While we sat in the sun three dolphins gently swam by making little arches right in front of the gathering - wow! Tauta took Andrew off on his scooter to show him where his house was so we could visit him the next morning, it turned out he was a mechanic so gave us some spark plugs (unfortunately they didn't fit, but how kind??). We went to visit Tauta and his family the next morning and he showed us around his home and talked with us about the atoll - such a lovely man we felt really honoured to have met him and be invited to his home. The houses have several buildings some communal and others just beds, generations of one family live in the same place.
The next day we sailed across the lagoon to the village of Avatoru, there was only about 3 knots of wind so it was very slow but just a beautiful day and with no time pressure it was great to enjoy sailing for a change rather than only sailing to get somewhere. That evening we left through the Avatoru pass and waved goodbye to our beautiful Rangi and the wonderful people we met there. This is the sad thing about this life - it is always time to move on. Next stop for us, Moorea, just north of Tahiti in the Society Islands.
The passage to Moorea started off very slow as there was very little wind but the second day the trade winds filled in a we had a great sail, at first light this morning we saw our first glimpse of Tahiti and Moorea - this was very exciting indeed I think perhaps because Tahiti is what you think of for the South Pacific and it feels along way from home. We sailed passed Marlon Brando's island and made our approach to Moorea. The islands are green and mountainous like the Marquesas but fringed with coral reefs so we had to find the pass into Cook's Bay. Thankfully the pass was nothing like that at Rangi more like entering a harbour but careful attention to the buoys is still required, just after we entered a huge squall passed over but luckily we were safely in the bay now. The squall has stayed with us today so our first experience of the Society Islands is rain lashing down and howling winds - just perfect for catching up on our blog with a cool G&T!

Paradise found

2006-07-04T02:56:00.000-01:00

We arrived safely in Rangiroa in the Tuamoto Archipelago on Sunday. We had to bypass Ahe as we had made such good time we would have had a long overnight wait outside the pass until it was safe to go in so we continued on to the next Atoll. Some local fishermen helped us out and pointed the way in as it was difficult to see with huge waves breaking all around us. The pass was running at about 5 knots out to sea and as a result there were overfalls and whirlpools which we ploughed right through. Without doubt the most exciting arrival we have ever undertaken but slowly we were able to battle through the entrance into the calm of the lagoon- (much overheated engine and frayed nerves). The place is truly paradise. A huge lake in the middle of the ocean surrounded by 140 islands. Its 40 miles across, flat calm and the bluest blue. Tomorrow we are making a drift dive through the pass, you jump in at one end and the rescue boat collects you as you zip out the other side. Its full of sharks and other wildlife- we'll write a full report later.

On the Move Again

2006-06-30T03:52:00.000-01:00

We left Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas on Wednesday June 28th and are headed for Ahe in the Tuamotu Archipelago. Its a trip of 500 miles and hope to arrive on Monday. We need to time things right as the islands are all coral atolls and can only be entered in the perfect conditions of sunlight and tide. Since we left we've had a pretty rough trip with a lots of squally weather and big seas. We finished off the Mahi Mahi tonight that we caught a couple of weeks back so guess we'll be fishing again tomorrow. At 0430 UT on Friday 30th June ReVision II is at 11 Deg 02 Min South and 142 Deg 28 min West with 306 miles to go to Ahe.

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Marquesas Landfall

2006-06-23T07:11:00.000-01:00

As promised, here is an update on our landfall. The last part of our passage was completely devoid of wind so unfortunately we had to motor, this was pretty slow progress as the propeller had been fouled with so much weed and barnacles on the way we could only make about 5 knots. On the last day the engine had been revving a little every so often, at three am on the night before we were due to arrive we discovered why this was when the engine just stopped on my watch. We had about 5 knots of wind at the time but luckily a calm sea. I managed to get the boat moving very slowly in vaguely the right direction - this involved poling out the jib on my own - no easy task! Andrew meanwhile, just woken up was working on a boiling hot engine, trying to figure out what was wrong. He eventually discovered the fuel filter was blocked, so he replaced it and then had to bleed the engine, but about an hour and a half later we were on our way again. Andrew went back to sleep and I took the final hours of my watch as we approached Fatu Hiva. As the sun came out I decided to put the fishing rod out - I thought I might catch a fish for Andrew when he woke. A short while later and the reel went, I have only brought the line in when there's nothing on it before but this was a huge huge fish. I tried really hard and with all my strength got it to within 10 feet of the boat, by now Andrew was up and I got him to take over as I physically couldn't hold it any more - it kept pulling the line out, going deep, under the boat, in circles who knows. Andrew then struggled with it for another 20 mins, then it went under the boat and got away. Luckily it left our top lure. I think we were secretly pleased it got away as it was so big we would have had difficulty getting it into the boat. Next time I'm going to try a smaller one.

We choose Fatu Hiva as our landfall destination in the Marquesas as we had read that it was the most beautiful and unspoiled of the ten islands, the anchorage features on the front cover of our pilot guide for Polynesia so we just had to go. The rumour has it that the bay was originally called Bay des Verges by early explorers because of the shape of the rocky pillars (a little French test for you). Supposedly the missionaries disapproved and inserted an i making it Bay des Vierges - Bay of the Virgins. We could see the island from about 25 miles out, which is alot further than we would usually be able to make out because the mountains are so high. As we got closer we could back out the jagged cliffs and deep green ravines running towards the sea. The lush foliage covering the peaks was incredible, even the sea took on a green tinge. We spotted the bay and the towering pillars with a few yachts anchored beneath, as we approached a squall came over which cast a perfect rainbow neatly across the opening - we had a cheesy moment and then got ready to anchor. As we came into the bay Zefrin blew a conch horn and all the other boats cheered us in. The anchorage was incredible, the cliffs rising straight up either side covered with trees and palms of all different greens - a testimony to the high rainfall in these islands. Tucked in the corner we could make out the landing for the hamlet but all we could see of it was a little white church and a football goal!! We got ourselves settled and then went to Zefrin for dinner with Kika too. Warwick cooked this fantastic spicy fish in batter. Ragtime arrived at about 10.30 to the same welcome as us, Will and Alyssa were then whizzed over for fish too. It was a bit of a boozy night which hit us all hard after 21 days with no alcohol.

In the morning we ventured ashore and found the neatest little hamlet tucked in the valley. A typical Marquesian statue adorned the harbour wall, outrigger canoes were lined up on the shore and the place just smelt fantastic. We went to find the policeman to check in and were directed to his house, he was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt with a police logo but just pottering at home with his pig tied up out front. He just took a note of our names in a book and said we could stay for a couple of days - Fatu Hiva is not a port of entry so really we should have gone to one of the big islands first but we had been told he was pretty relaxed and he was. The village has one shop and a church, no bakery and the shop doesn't even sell beer - luckily we had enough provisions on board. The trees and flowers in the village were beautiful, huge pamplemouse (like grapefruit but much bigger and so sweet) hung on some trees, limes on others. The people were all so friendly, most of the women just wearing printed sarong or lava lavas, we felt instantly at home. We went for a hike through the valley, were we found many streams, banana trees, mango trees, limes that had fallen so fell into our bag, it really was breath taking we felt like we had come somewhere really exotic. In the afternoon we went snorkeling just outside the bay, we saw lots of different fish and an octopus luckily we didn't see any sharks as there are plenty around these parts.

As amazing as Fatu Hiva was the anchorage was very swirly and huge gusts came down from the mountains making it pretty uncomfortable and it was time to move on so next morning we left and sailed all day to Tahuata. On the way we caught two yellow fin tuna and a wahoo - all about 2 hours - I spent most of the passage gutting and filleting fish! The anchorage we picked is reportedly one of the top spots in the whole of Polynesia - we were not disappointed. It was just like you imagine the South Pacific, a perfect white sandy bay backed by coconut palms and green mountains behind. This spot was not swirly just a gentle swell and breeze - perfect. In the morning we swam ashore. The area was deserted, just a covered area that looked like it was maybe used for meetings or celebrations. The ground beyond the powder white beach was littered with coconuts and limes so obviously a few of each made their way back to ReVision II. We snorkeled and found beautiful coral around the edges of the bay and I picked up some really cool shells (Carolyn later lost the shells in 25 foot of water which Andrew then had to free dive in to rescue them). We had such a lovely day of relaxing which was just what we needed. We did do a few boat jobs too obviously - the genoa had been damaged on the crossing so I had some repairs to do while Andrew did engine jobs. But again it was time to press on so we can see as much as possible. So we are now sailing overnight to Ua Pou. We should arrive first thing Friday, here we will formally clear in and hope to experience a bit more of life in the Marquesas, there is also a museum and craft centre together with a restaurant which I think we will be visiting. We're hoping to find a phone too so we can call home.

Safe Arrival in Fatu Hiva

2006-06-21T04:45:00.000-01:00

On Monday afternoon ReVision II arrived safely in Fatu Hiva after a 20 day passage covering some 2900 miles. Today Tuesday we spent the day ashore stretching our legs. We are happy to be here safe and sound.

Normal Service Resumed

2006-06-16T23:10:00.000-01:00

At 23:22 GMT on Friday June 16th ReVision II is at 8 deg 39 min South and 132 deg 23 mins West. We have 388 miles to go to Fatu Hiva. We are glad to report that normal service has been resumed. For the last few days we have had steady winds, blue skies and rolling seas. It really is wonderful out here - knowing we only have a few more days makes it even better. Our days are lazy again, reading, cooking and doing the occasional tweak to the sails or steering. Yesterday was overtaken by the catching of a fabulous dorada, it was absolutely beautiful, bright blue and yellow and weighed about 15lbs so plenty of fish for the next few days - Andrew seems to have the magic touch when it comes to fishing in the Pacific as many of the other boats we are with have tried for days with nothing. Although 3 boats all caught a fish yesterday. I have taken over net control for the formal radio net in the afternoon, something I never thought I could do but so far so good, I just have to be careful I don't talk to each boat too long as it uses alot of power, it is quite fun and we feel like we are doing our bit.

As promised Andrew's Birthday poems:

From Nick & Ellen on Kika:

On the good ship Revision II
Carolyn was most excellent crew
Andrew was the Captain strict
Any problems, had 'em licked
Bust their backstay, no problemo
Not to worry, when Scooby was 'let go'!

R2 had fun on their way
To the Marquesas, left in May
Hoping to arrive in June
By the light of the next full moon

Shared their journey with their friends
Speedy Zeferin, Roomy Helene,
Racy Raggers, Ripple 2
and Kika (the ex Boat Show sloop)

Birthday wishes they all sent
To Andrew, that fine sailing gent
'Bonne Anniversaire' and all that jazz
In Fatu Hiva, we'll have a razz

From Will & Alyssa on Ragtime:

Andrew and Carolyn went to sea
in the beautiful R2 boat,
they took some spares
and plenty of flares,
all wrapped up in a foul weather coat!

They sailed night and day
to a land far away
to a place where Scooby broke free,
they drank beer and wine
which made everything fine
when Scooby returned from the sea!

Andrew and Carolyn went to sea
in the beautiful R2 boat,
with cockroach drills
and backstay ills
all aboard their Galapagos float!

Life at sea
seemed ever so glee
on the BIRTHDAY R2 boat,
there's been fish and cake
that Carolyn baked,
And there'll be plenty of time for wine,
when we all get to the Marquesas on time!

Obviously this lot have been at sea too long!! But it did really make Andrew's day - thanks.

All change

2006-06-14T00:51:00.000-01:00

At 00:20 GMT on Tuesday June 13th ReVision II is at 7 deg 06 min South and 124 deg 55 mins West. We have 841 miles to go to Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas - breaking the 1000 mile to go marker was a really big deal for us, we are now on the count down. The weather has taken a bit of a turn for the worse as we hit a convergence zone - this brought high winds and big seas. We were getting a bit frustrated as the wind was really not strong enough to keep us moving through the fairly big sea and we were 'slopping' around with sails and rigging banging for two days. We did take the opportunity of going slow to do a spot of fishing and it only took ten minutes before we had a fantastic little wahoo just enough for a meal for two - and very tasty it was. Then out of know where the wind picked up, the sky was full of clouds. We knew to expect this as the others ahead of us had had a couple of really miserable days. We had near gale force winds and the seas just got bigger and bigger, breaking and slamming into the side of the boat. Seas got up to about 18 feet - ahhhh. People told us to expect calm seas on this crossing and possibly periods of no wind - we have learned one thing about all oceans - they are all big and when the wind gets up the sea does too. Andrew did a top job of getting the sails balanced and we took turns doing short watches to make sure the boat didn't round up into the full strength of the wind - it happened a couple of times and would take all my strength to turn the wheel to get her back on course. The other problem is some of the really big waves seem to lift ReVision II up spin her around and then put her back right in the force of the wind. She has been amazing though taking the sea and together with Malcolm, the windvane steering, they have been partners at keeping us on track. But the rain is relentless you can hardly see the sails at times! We have both gained a few bruises from being thrown around. Tell us why we do this again.... oh yeh it's not cold. Anyway we got in a routine and once you get used to it it's not nearly as scary, just tiring. The next day was Andrew's birthday. When we called in on the radio first thing Nick played happy birthday on his trumpet, he also got a poem from Ellen (which she's promised to email so we can add to blog), singing and harmonica playing from Matt & Togs plus kind wishes from everyone else. Andrew was surprised I had managed to get the message out. The day was dampened a little by the weather but I still managed to cook a special birthday tea of Parmo (a Middlesborough delight) and treacle sponge pudding with custard. The weather continued into the night and we sat watches all night. Andrew had two visits from the sea - first a huge squid flew out of the sea and hit him on the side of the head (not sure who was more shocked) then when he was sleeping a wave broke into the cockpit and managed to get through the gap in the washboards and land on him in bed - the storm board is now in place! Today things have eased a little and the sun has come out so it feels much better. The good news is that we've been speeding along nicely in all this wind.

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Past Halfway

2006-06-11T15:33:00.000-01:00

At 16:16 GMT on Sunday June 11th ReVision II is at 6 deg 33 min South and 119 deg 19 mins West. We have 1174 miles to go to Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas and are now well past the halfway point. The weather continues to be fair although the frequency of squalls has increased. These squalls are torrential downpours with Gale Force winds. Fortunately they only last a few minutes but they do lead to a lot of activity on board as we try to reduce the amount of sail we have. It seems that they come mostly at night when they are difficult to spot. Sleep is at a premium at the moment but otherwise all is well on board. Quite excited about a frozen chicken that we have defrosted for dinner tonight.

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Krazee Kiwi's

2006-06-09T01:09:00.000-01:00

At 0049 GMT on Friday June 9th ReVision II is at position 05 Degrees 50 Minutes South and 112 Degrees 46 Minutes West. 1565 miles to go. We have spent the last 2 days playing cat and mouse with our good Kiwi friends Sandy, Joan and Warwick aboard Zeferin. We first met Sandy and Joan in the Canaries and have been in close contact with them ever since speaking regularly by radio and meeting up in Bonaire, Curacao, Panama and the Galapagos. Warwick (our human gearbox in the Panama Canal) joined them for this leg of their trip in Panama. Sandy and Joan really are the most remarkable couple. This is their second time across the Pacific having previously made the trip in 1973 with their children and another family- 4 adults, 5 kids, one backpacker and a guinea pig on one boat by all accounts. I don't think they will mind me saying that they are both in their seventies and act as though they are in their twenties. Joanie is totally glamorous, climes the mast and is just the warmest person. Sandy has a big bushy beard and is always jolly - a bit like Father Christmas. They have been hot on our heels for two days and trailed us by 1 mile overnight last night hanging back before making a dawn flypass. Sandy decked out in his Hawaiian shirt and Warwick at the helm. Lots of photos from both sides for exchange later. Quite a special moment meeting up with friends mid ocean some 1400 miles from the nearest land. What a revelation GPS has been for the ocean navigator!

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Moving along

2006-06-05T00:39:00.000-01:00

At 0120 GMT on Monday June 5th ReVision II is at position 04 Degrees 11 Minutes South and 102 Degrees 45 Minutes West. The weather is beautiful and we are making steady progress west. All is well on board. Only 2172 miles to go !

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Perfect Sailing

2006-06-03T01:03:00.000-01:00

At 0120 GMT on Saturday June 3rd ReVision II is at position 03 Degrees 11 Minutes South and 97 Degrees 55 Minutes West. We have had perfect conditions for sailing during the last couple of days and are now moving along very comfortably after a slow start. The weather is calm and sunny with blue skies. We are keeping in close contact with friends who are crossing at the same time. Nick and Ellen on Kika are 100 miles or so in front of us and we have been talking to them twice a day- They had a pod of pilot whales with them today. Meanwhile we are still working our way through the Tuna we caught. All the fresh tuna has now been eaten -2 meals a day for 3 days and all that is left is frozen ie the other half of the fish. I'm secretly hoping for a menu change tomorrow. We also have a whole stalk of bananas on board which is hanging outside and ripening rapidly. Tonight Carolyn is preparing a delicious banana crumble for supper. If anyone has any recipes for tuna with bananas let us know. Best get back to the sailing as Sandy,Joan and Warwick are hot on our tail on Zefferin with Will and Alyssa on Ragtime not far behind either. Matt and Togs on Helene are planning to leave Isabella on Saturday and we should all be arriving in the Marquesas about three weeks from now.

Galapagos - Isabela

2006-05-31T15:33:00.000-01:00

We left San Cristobal on 25 May and had a wonderful overnight passage to Isabela. We had officially cleared out of the Galapagos so prayed the Port Captain would look kindly on us and allow us to stay. The Galapagos is a National Park and the Ecuadorian Government previously prohibited yachts from visiting, currently they permit yachts on route to other destinations to stop in either Santa Cruz or San Cristobal for a short period determined by the Port Captain and to only stay in the main port. Many people had told us that the authorities in Isabela were relaxed about yachts visiting and would give onward clearance to the Marquesas. We anchored in a beautiful spot with lava islands all around protecting us from the ocean swell. Our friends Nick & Ellen on Kika had arrived a couple of days earlier, they whizzed us ashore in their super new dinghy, Jordan and we went to meet the Port Captain. He was absolutely lovely, spoke no English but smiled a lot. We gave him all our papers and asked if we could stay for 3 days and he agreed - we were delighted.

Isabela is the largest of the Galapagos Islands and the least visited by tourists. It was so very relaxed and low key we instantly fell in love with the place - it was just like we had expected the Galapagos to be. Dirt roads, a few small shops and restaurants and naturally beautiful. The people were amazingly friendly and everyone smiled and said Hola! A couple of the bars had a small bbq running each evening and for $2.50 you got a huge plate of delicious food. We thought it only right to sample these places as we didn't want to eat into our provisions for our Pacific crossing. We took a hike along the coast and saw flamingos, lava tubes, huge lagoons, loads of iguanas, worblers, and blue footed boobies but failed to find the famous flightless cormorant. Next day we went off with Nick & Ellen in search of white tipped sharks and Galapagos penguins - we weren't disappointed. Just around the corner from the anchorage we landed the dinghy and walked a short way to a crack in the lava, this was the sharks daytime resting place. We saw about 8 sharks lazily cruising up and down occasionally being tormented by a sealion and her pup - it was just like an aquarium. After a short hike around the lava islands we took to the water and snorkeled amongst the islets hunting for penguins, we saw a couple but they were a bit too far away but then we came to penguin rock where they were clustered. They are the cutest things about 30 cm tall, proud little chaps with fluffy coats they stood pruning on the rocks. Andrew wouldn't let me bring one with us - just so cute! Our final day on Isabella took us on another hike (all this walking!!) through lagoons with mangroves, huge candelabra cacti with bark trunks and trees with poisonous apples to reach the tortoise breeding centre. We had the place to ourselves except the staff who were just starting to feed the giant tortoises. As we approached the enclosure we had about 10 huge tortoises approach us looking for food. One of the keepers said I could give them some leaves, which they took straight from my hand, their huge triangular mouths grabbing it from me. The centre takes care of all the breeding of tortoises on Isabela as the eggs are destroyed in the wild by rats, goats, dogs etc. When the tortoises have gained their tough shell they are released into the wild on the south of the island, they had about 50 waiting to be released when we were there.

We would have loved to have stayed longer in Isabela but it was time to push on so we upped anchor at 0900 on 30 May and set sail (well motor initially) for the Marquesas Islands some 3000 miles west of the Galapagos. An hour out of the anchorage and Andrew decided it was time to try fishing. After just ten minutes the line reeled off very fast, we managed to slow the boat down and Andrew started the normally fruitless task of dragging in a huge fish only for it to escape just as it gets near to the boat. But this time it kept coming, we saw a huge tuna in the water and felt sure it would escape but no! After along struggle Andrew managed to get it right to the boat and then I had to get it with the gaff. I had not done this before, but we just had to have this fish so I just went for it and managed to drag it onto the boat. It was a fantastic yellow fin tuna, about 30 llbs. Andrew immediately gutted it and made it into steaks. We put about half in the freezer and have enough fish for at least a week. For lunch we had tuna fried in potatoes flakes with salad (a little recipe courtesy of Ellen)- it was amazing! Then we noticed our stem of bananas was already going yellow and as the day was going so well, we decided to celebrate with a banana cake - made up recipe but turned out very well indeed. We had a fantastic sail all afternoon and really feel good about this trip. Kika are a day ahead of us, Zeffrin leave tomorrow, then Ragtime, Helene and Ripple II won't be long behind.

Position 31 May 2006 1530 GMT 02 degrees, 03 minutes south, 092 degrees, 51 minutes west. 2780 miles to go the Marquesas Islands.

Happy Birthday Jane x

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Galapagos Tours

2006-05-24T18:56:00.000-01:00

We have been very busy since we arrived in San Cristobal. After a day of clearing in and finding our landlegs again we went to visit the interpretation centre to find out all about the history of the islands, we also took a hike from the centre up Frigate Hill where we saw nesting Frigate birds and Darwins statue. The next day we took a tour with Matt & Togs from Helene. We went to the largest extinct volcanoe, to visit the giant tortoises, to a beach with loads of marine iguanas and all around the island. It was a great day which ended with lunch at our guide´s house. The iguana´s were my favourite, they were huge and not scared of us at all. We were so sad to learn that there are only a few giant tortoises on San Cristabal that are not in the protective sanctuary. Unfortunately introduced animals and plants have lead to them being close to extinct here. They were great to see though even in a sanctuary, the oldest one we saw was over 100 years old, the youngest just 30 days.

The next day we went diving. We are here with Ellen & Nick from Kika, Will & Alyssa from Ragtime and Matt & Togs from Helene. We all went diving with Victor from Challo Tours for the day. Victor picked us all up from our boats and we sped off to a beatiful bay just outside the anchorage. We did our dive checks surrounded by sealions and huge fish before zooming off to Leon Dormido - a group of rocks just off the coast. As soon as we went down we saw Galapagos sharks, they came quite close enough for my liking, they were about 2 m long and quite beautiful. We also saw loads of turtles, rays and loads of incredible fish. We did a second dive after lunch in the hope of seeing hammerhead sharks but we didn´t see any but still had an incredible dive. The water is really cold here as we are in a cold current from south america, even so we couldn´t resist getting in the water again for a bit of snorkelling on the way back.

We have been having a great time with our friends here too. Every night we seem to be at one boat or another for dinner or drinks. Sandy, Joan & Warwick on Zeffrin arrived yesterday, we also have met up with Pepe & Bianca from Arjo and a group of Swedes on a very small boat. Last night Helene had 13 of us for dinner, Matt & Togs put on a splendid feast and we drank and ate far too much.

Now it´s back to boat jobs to prepare for the next leg of our Pacific crossing - from Galapagos to Marqueses - about 3000 miles.

Galapagos Sealions

2006-05-24T18:25:00.000-01:00

We feel very priveledged to be here in the Galapagos - the wildlife here has blown our minds. We are at anchor in San Cristobal, the boat is surrounded by sealions, blue footed boobies (their feet look unreal they are so blue), frigate birds with bright red throats, pelicans and so much more. We have a sealion that has been sleeping in our dinghy all morning - very cute. On our first day here I was photographing baby sealions on the beach when a huge one came at me so fast I had to run away and hide!

Arrived in the Galapagos

2006-05-18T14:13:00.000-01:00

ReVision II arrived safe and sound in San Cristobal (Wreck Bay) in the Galapagos on Wednesday afternoon after 10 days on crossing. We are now at anchor with the Sea Lions. Update to follow.

From Pollywogs to Shellbacks

2006-05-17T14:33:00.000-01:00

At 0701 GMT on 17 May 2006 ReVision II crossed the Equator at 88 degrees 50 minutes west.
Information courtesy of Ragtime: Crossing the Line" is nearly as old as seafaring itself; Our modern practice is believed to have evolved from Viking rituals, executed upon crossing the 30th parallel, a tradition that they passed on to the Anglo-Saxons and Normans in Britain.
Early "Crossing the Line" had a fairly serious purpose, however: they were designed to test the novices in the crew to see whether they could endure their first cruise at sea. Ceremonies in the seventeenth century were particularly rough. Today, "Crossing the Line" no longer has such serious undertones, although some of the novice/veteran dichotomy persists in the titles given to those who have and have not been initiated by the rites: those who have crossed the equator are termed "shellbacks" (often called "trusty shellbacks") and those who have not are called "pollywogs" (also rendered "polliwog"). These "slimy" pollywogs (or "wogs" for short) must endure the entire ceremony at the hands of the shellbacks before being accepted into their number.
What does a "Crossing the Line" ceremony entail? Traditionally, the night before King Neptune (the most senior shellback) sends a messenger informing the Captain that he intends to board the ship the following day, and summoning a list of slimy wogs to appear before him. The actual ceremony revolves around the pretext of "preparing" the wogs for their audience before King Neptune. This "preparation" involves any number of disgusting, dirty and deprecating actions. This may include crawling through garbage, eating coloured food, allowing the "Royal Doctor" to squirt foul-tasting liquids into one's mouth, and kissing the "Royal Baby" (the fattest chief on board) on the belly.
The penultimate ritual is a "shaving" by the Royal Barber with a huge wooden "razor," after which one is dunked in a tub of water (often dyed a hideous colour) to "cleanse" oneself for the final meeting with King Neptune. At this meeting, King Neptune appears with his entire retinue, Queen Amphitrite, and Davy Jones and officially proclaims the wogs to be trusty shellbacks. After the trial, the new shellbacks receive elaborate certificates testifying to their safe passage, along with a wallet-sized card to prove the fact on future crossings.
Where do these colourful characters come from? Neptune is the Roman god of the sea, who originated as the god of fresh water but later became associated with the Greek sea god Poseidon. Poseidon was one of three sons of Kronos: Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon were said to have cast lots for the three kingdoms of heaven, underworld, and sea. Neptune generally appears with a trident (a three-pronged spear) and his consort, Queen Amphitrite. Davy Jones has a number of stories concerning his origins. The most common tale is that he is the evil spirit of the sea, whose name came from a corruption of " Duppy Jonah," duppy being the West Indies name for "spirit" or "ghost" and Jonah being the Old Testament prophet who was thrown into the sea.
Aboard ReVision II we had planned to have a disgusting dinner of tinned Duck A'orange (don't ask where we got this or why) although fortunately Andrew caught a fabulous tuna just before sunset and it could not be left in the fridge. Local time of our Crossing the Line was 0201 which meant we had to curtail our ceremony somewhat but we still had fun. As we had no shellbacks on board I took it upon myself to where Andrew's clothes and subject him to the ceremony after waking him at 0100. He was dressed in a skirt, little top and my lama hat, his nails were varnished, his face drawn on and his legs waxed (shaving a little too dangerous with 20 degrees of heel). He was then fed tinned fish worms (courtesy of a Christmas present from the Goolka's - thanks guys - appropriately disgusting). We then sat down to a rum laced hot choc and sped across the equator at 6 knots. I touched the water (we'd hoped to swim but hey we were just pleased to be here) and splashed it upon us. We proclaimed ourselves trusty shellbacks and were very excited to be in the South Pacific.
We hope to arrive in the Galapagos later today - hurray!!

Speeding Along to Galapagos at last

2006-05-14T14:12:00.000-01:00

Position 14 May 2006 14:30 GMT 02 degrees, 34 minutes north and 85 degrees, 23 minutes west. Conditions have improved greatly since our last update, we had record speeds of 7.2 knots last night, actually in the correct direction. The night before Andrew caught our first tuna, which was small but absolutely delicious - a 'reel' treat. Now I am pressing him for more. Our two boobies are still with us - they come closer and closer to ReVision II with every visit - we are getting quite fond of them. Three of our friends have already arrived in the Galapagos now the race is on between us and Helene. We hope to arrive on Wednesday or Thursday all being well. Sorry not much more to say - we are just out here - Togs on Helene has been writing a poem about this passage which I will have to post later on. Byeee for now.

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Why does it always happen at night?

2006-05-12T16:52:00.000-01:00

Day 6 of our passage to the Galapagos. Position 12 May 2006 16.30 GMT 03 degrees, 32 minutes north, 82 degrees, 8 minutes west. 515 miles to go. Progress since our last update continued in the same dire fashion, we were stuck for 3 days in hideous current, with everything against us, our friends Matt & Togs on Helene were in the same area and also managing about 1.5 knots mostly in the wrong direction. In the end we stuck on the engine and used more of our precious fuel to plough through, still slowly, but eventually made it past this tiny Columbian Island which was our landmark. Yesterday afternoon we were finally making really good speed sailing in roughly the right direction. The mood on R2 lifted and we had a lovely afternoon and evening. Andrew even caught a small Tuna but he was too small so we returned him alive. We have had two boobies (birds) flying along with us for the last three days - Peter & Paul (original but....). Yesterday afternoon we received an email from our friends Will & Alyssa on Ragtime to say their backstay had broken (the thing that holds the mast up from the back) but that they had rigged a temporary fix and were doing okay motor sailing. We spoke with them on our net, which Will is running superbly, and they were pretty happy with the fix and don't have too far to go so we all agreed to speak in the morning as well to check on them and off we went. We had a great evening, speeding along, roast beef for dinner, full moon, calm seas - perfect! Then about 2300 I was sleeping and Andrew was on watch when we heard this almighty bang. We thought we'd hit a floating container but then noticed OUR backstay flogging at the back of the boat. We couldn't believe it. We quickly took down the sails and clung on to this 50 ft wire bouncing all around in the swell with all our might. Luckily ReVision II has a keel stepped mast (it goes through the deck to the keel,rather than sitting on the deck) and running backstays (moveable wires to counterbalance the sails) which were in place towards the back of the boat at the time, otherwise we could certainly have lost our mast(...doesn't bear thinking about 500 miles to go, no mast and not enough fuel to get there). A metal plate 1/4 inches thick had broken in two places - unbelievable. After an hour of struggling Andrew was able to temporarily secure the stay and the mast to the boat before tensioning the rig again. This was an okay fix so we put some of the sails up again and cautiously sailed off. When we went to send an email to our friends to let them know our predicament we found our radio was not working - the backstay acts as the antenna. We were worried that if the fix didn't hold we would not be able to make radio contact with the boats nearby. Andrew remade the connection to the backstay but still no luck. We decided we needed to get some sleep and would start again in the morning. This morning Andrew climbed under the steering deep in the stern locker and found where the radio connector came through - while the backstay was swinging around the electrical terminal had been pulled off. Good news - Andrew was able to replace the terminal just in time for our morning contact with the Panama Pacific Net. It was such a relief to be in contact with the outside world. We had a feeling we had seen some spare rigging parts deep in the bilges of ReVision II so I set about lifting floorboards and discovered just the thing we needed. So down came the sails again and we tentatively removed the backstay again. Andrew was able to fit the replacement end to the turnbuckle (the thing that tensions the rig and links the stay to the chainplate in the deck) and tension the rig once again. We feel very very lucky to have got through this experience and very lucky to have the parts we needed on the boat - some people believe their is a fairy watching over each boat on the ocean - we want to thank our fairy for being there through this. Now on we go speedly at last - those tortoises better be worth it!

PS sorry for the technical stuff. It's been a tough few days but we are sailing again and the weather is beautiful and calm has returned to R2

PPS Ive saved you from news of the exploded furler which controls the stay sail, the fused inverter which charges the computer and the engine leaking oil as they didnt't seem too important in the scheme of things.

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Slow going to the Galapagos

2006-05-10T14:32:00.000-01:00

At 15:00 GMT on Wednesday May 10th 2006 ReVision II is at 4 Deg 33 minutes North and 80 Deg 36 minutes West. 3 days after leaving Pedro Gonzalez in the Gulf of Panama we have managed only 250 miles, half of this with the engine. We have light head winds, a lumpy sea and a current constantly pushing us back where we have come from. It's slow progress. We have been lucky enough to see an abundance of wild life on the way. Our journey has been full of dolphins and turtles and last night we were accompanied by 3 pilot whales for a while. They were about 15 feet long and right beside the boat...almost touching distance. We hooked a very large tuna yesterday only to see it leaping out of the water before escaping. We are in regular contact with friends also on passage aboard Kika, Helene, Noa and Ragtime as well as Zefferin back in port in Balboa. Only 664 miles to the Galapagos and 4700 to Tahiti!

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The Path Between the Seas

2006-05-07T00:44:00.000-01:00

After our few days of relaxation and testing Andrew's work on the engine in the Chagres River we returned to Colon for three days of mad rushing around, laundry, shopping and dealing with the paperwork to check out of Panama. On 2 May we collected Sandy, Joan and Warwick from Zeffrin and brought them aboard R2 to be our line handlers for our transit of the Panama Canal. We had been told to expect our advisor at 17.45. At 1800 the signal control radioed us to advise the time was now to be 1900, so we had our dinner and relaxed a bit. About 1915 Carlos arrived, we knew Carlos from our transit with Goolka, we were very pleased to see him as he was really lovely and very professional. We pulled the anchor and then as Andrew put the boat into reverse it stuck! This was not good to put it mildly so in the anchor went and out came the tools. Carlos advised us we had some time as our first canal was not booked until 2100. Tension was high as Andrew worked to find out what the problem was, all the while thinking we could loose our transit date, fee and bond of $1450 then we'd have to wait another 3 weeks, pay again and then have to rush to reach Tahiti in time for our flights booked in the summer - this really was not good. Flightless, the boat transitting with us offered to tow us but their advisor would not allow it. After 20 minutes Andrew realised the problem was with the mount for the gear lever cable rather than gear box so he disconnected the cable and installed Warwick in the locker behind the engine to operate the gears manually on Andrew's instruction. This was quite a warm spot for poor Warwick who had only arrived from New Zealand on a plane the day before. Up came the anchor again and we headed towards the canal entrance. We rafted with Flightless to transit the Gatun locks - three locks that take you up 85 feet to the Gatun lake. Flightless took care of power through the locks with Andrew (and Warwick) on standby in case we needed to assist. The locks are huge - we went through with a cargo ship called Afric Star which was 520 feet long and 80 feet wide. The locks take ships up to about 750 feet long and 105 feet wide. There is a lot of hype about the locks but to be honest they are just locks and anyone who has sailed in Europe will be quite familiar with the process - it was just fine. We reached Gatun lake shortly before midnight, tied up to a buoy and got out the well deserved rum.

We were told our next advisor would arrive at 0630, so got up bright and early. Morning on the Gatun lake is out of this world, Howler Monkey's roar (yes roar), the trees all around are alive and the view across the lake is calm and quiet. We waited for our adviser, and waited and waited. The advisor to Flightless arrived at about 0730 and they left. This worried us as we knew the transit was as at 1230 and if we were to make it the 21 miles to the Pedro Miguel locks we needed to leave soon. You have to say you can do 8 knots otherwise the Canal authorities make you pay more, but at this late time 8 knots was even pushing it. 0915 and a launch appear across the lake, George arrives on board and off we go at last. His first question is how fast can we go!! He then disappeared below and watched a dvd during our trip down to Pedro Miguel. This was fine by us as the route is totally buoyed and we had a nice trip - we got the sails out and managed 7 knots most of the way. We were very relieved to see Flightless when we arrived as we could raft with them again. Pedro Miguel is just one lock and then a mile to the two locks at Miraflores. As we left Pedro Miguel we spotted Charmer, the boat my Dad built when I was about 10 moored in the little yacht club - we knew she was in Panama but not where so it was great to see her and snap a couple of pics. The Miraflores locks went smoothly just gently lowering us into the Pacific. There was a webcam at these locks so we waved to Jonathan & James who hopefully were watching. When the last gates opened we had a bit of turbulence as the fresh and salt water mixes but it wasn't an issue. George prized himself from his laptop and zoomed off on his launch and we were free - we took the momentous journey into the Pacific under the bridge of the Amercias. It felt great if not just a little scary.

We took a mooring in Balboa and went out to TGI Fridays (of all places). Next morning it took Andrew about an hour to disassemble the steering, find the bolt that had worked loose from the gear stick and put it all back together. We then took a whistle stop tour of Panama City before heading back to Balboa for a few too many beers with Tim, Darren and Annie - friends from Colon we found loitering in the yacht club bar. Friday morning we broke free and headed out to the Perlas Islands. This is a small archipelago in the gulf on Panama, not quite the San Blas but still quite special. Our first night was spent off Contodoro a very exclusive island where South American political meetings often take place. Tonight we are on an island called Pedro Gonzalez near a small fishing settlement. We had three local children on board most of the afternoon - India, Carla and Luis were fascinated with our binoculars and digital camera. They brought us bread, papaya and plantain before exploring R2 confidently.

Tomorrow we are heading out towards the Galapagos, a trip that should take about 10 to 14 days.

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Canal Transit with Goolka

2006-04-30T19:31:00.000-01:00

Rio Chagres

2006-04-30T18:55:00.000-01:00

After spending two weeks here in Panama we decided we deserved a break from the burning tyres at night and constant wash from passing tug boats. We took R2 out of the harbour and took a short trip down the coast to the River Chagres. It was out of this world. It is a river that runs through the jungle, complete with crocodiles, parrots, monkeys and all sorts of other wildlife. Zeffrin came with us and we had three fabulous days listening to the jungle noises, exploring the creeks in the dinghy and generally enjoying the peace and tranquility. We wished we had come sooner.

Emailing in Panama

2006-04-15T17:40:00.000-01:00

This is how we check our email at the Panama Canal Yacht Club. Mike, Alyssa and Nick online for free! They are not our towels drying on the cactus.

San Blas to Panama

2006-04-12T02:22:00.000-01:00

We spent five incredible days in the San Blas Islands. Our second day took us exploring the islands around the anchorage by kayak, snorkeling on the reef and getting our first experience of the way the Cuna Indians live. We met a couple of cruisers who had almost moved onto one of the uninhabited islands - they had their washing hung out, a hammock set up in the palms and a bbq area, they�d been there for months! We went on a conch hunt and managed to collect 10 conch so we cooked up a fantastic curry that night. The next day we headed west a little to the Lemon Cays, catching another wahoo and another large fish on the way - who needs supermarkets?! We arrived at an anchorage between two islands - Banedup and Nuanedup. As soon as we anchored we were surrounded by Cuna Indians in dug out canoes trying to sell us Molas. Molas are a type of tapestry made by layering fabrics - the Cuna women wear these along with layered clothing, beads wrapped around their arms and ankles and rings through their noses. The women were generally very shy and polite. The men were very friendly and seemed to be keen to talk as much as sell things. We bought a couple of molas and traded rice for bread and coconuts. We visited Banedup where the Indian�s made the bread - they welcomed us to walk around their island and their homes. We met a little man who was 81 who spoke excellent English but unfortunately was as deaf as a post but we chatted to him for a while and learned a little of his life working on the panama canal. Our last day in the San Blas took us to Chichima Lagoon after buying 6 small lobsters and a huge crab for the equivalent of about 4GBP. The man who sold them to us brought two of his Children to meet us but they were too shy to even look at us until they had left R2, then they kept looking over their shoulders - very cute. Chichima was our last stop before we headed for Colon on the mainland of Panama.

The trip to Panama was an overnight crossing which brought us into the approaches of Colon at fist light on 11 April. I had been sleeping and woke as we approached, I couldn�t believe my eyes when I saw the number of ships all around us. Andrew had been doing an amazing job monitoring them all. I counted over 30 waiting to enter the harbour. As we approached the breakwater Andrew called the signal office on the radio and they instructed to pass through and call them when we were in. The breakwaters shelter a huge expanse of water full of ships with docks and tower blocks all around. This was all very strange after the paradise of the San Blas. We came into the anchorage and immediately spotted our friends John and Elaine on Goolka and Nick and Ellen on Kika as well as three other boats we know. John put the coffee on and explained how the formalities work for arranging the canal transit. Andrew has now gone to clear in and arrange an agent for us to make the arrangements which include visiting about five different offices, having the boat measured, hiring 4 very long ropes, depositing a large amount of money at the bank and arranging line handlers to accompany us on the transit. All a lot to take in but it appears that the cruising community is set up here to help. We will probably transit the canal with John & Elaine as two of their line handlers so we know what to expect when we take R2 through. It is likely that we will have to wait 2/3 weeks for transit - so watch this space for news from Panama.

Arrived in San Blas

2006-04-08T14:58:00.000-01:00

We had probably the best sail this year from Curracao to San Blas. We had perfect winds of 15-20 knots right behind us all the way. The weather was hot and dry and the sea was gently rolling with us. We had peaceful night watches with only the odd ship passing by and the occasional visit from a flying fish. We had really good current with us so were flying along so much that we had to slow down on Thursday and took the chance to practice heaving too (basically stop the boat just off the wind by balancing the sails - this is what we would do in a storm). While we were playing around some dolphins came to see what we were up to. Just after the sun came up on Friday morning palm trees appeared on the horizon in little bunches - this was the San Blas. We approached carefully as you cannot rely on charts for coral atols as they are always changing. The closer we got the more exciting it was. These islands all look like something out of the movies and there's hundreds off them. Sand fringed islands just above sea level covered in palm trees and nothing else. We had a reality check as we saw the hull of a yacht wrecked on the reef as we approached Hollandes Cays. We passed in through the islands and reefs into calm waters behind. I was nervously watching for reef patches on the foredeck when the fishing reel went as we'd caught a fish. After a quick fish drill Andrew landed a reasonably sized Wahoo. We edged our way into a lagoon behind a largish island and anchored just off the most perfect beach with islets dotted all around us. They call this area the 'swimming pool' so we immediately grabbed our snorkels and went exploring. The first fish we saw was a huge sting ray swimming just beneath us - amazing. We explored the reef and then swam to the island. Completely uninhabited and totally beautiful - I cannot describe you'll just have to wait for pictures - we felt like we had arrived. We walked to the windward side of the islands and snorkelled in huge hot pools behind the reef. We found a conch and were really excited so went hunting for more and found enough to make a small meal. We also found a lobster but without anything to catch him he was a little too vicious and went for us when we went near him so we left him under his rock. We swam back to R2 with our second catch of the day. Early evening we pumped up the kayak and paddled over to another island. Two small settlements exist on this island - Cuna Indians. Their houses were wooden huts with roofs made from coconut palms. The areas around the houses were neat and orderly. There is no water supply or electricity on the island. They have small fishing boats with sails as well as canoes that they take off for the day fishing. We headed back to R2 for a feast from the seas. We had spicy conch chowder followed by wahoo and salad - what a yummy treat. We hope to spend a few more days in this paradise before heading for Panama.

It is James's 7th Birthday today - have a very happy birthday James and don't eat too much cake! x x

Panama here we come

2006-04-05T00:00:00.000-01:00

We had such a great time in Bonaire we thought we might never leave but on Friday we dropped our mooring and had a fantastic day sail to Curacao. We anchored in an enclosed area called Spannish Water, it was not quite a beautiful as Bonaire but had it's own charm of mangroves and houseboats, sailboats whizzing about and a great little bar set up to help cruisers. Clearing in took us on a bus to Willemstad the capital then on a ferry across the river that separates the town. Luckily they let us clear in and out at the same time as we were only staying a couple of days. The town is really clean with lots of bright coloured buildings in a dutch style. It's been along time since we were in such a busy place but we really enjoyed it. Unfortunately we had to buy a new camera as the old one got a bit damp on a diving trip in Bonaire and didn't like it. We managed to bargain for a good deal so we are up and running again. We stocked up on fruit and veg in the Venezuelan market - rickety boats bring the produce and they sell it on the dockside. It was funny trying to talk Spannish again but we got by even if we are not sure what some of the things we bought are. After two days in Curacao we decided to push on. We passed Sandy & Joan coming in the channel as we left Spanish Water and set sail towards Panama. We are hoping to visit the San Blas Islands off the Panama coast for a few days before heading to Panama to arrange our canal transit into the Pacific. All is going well at the moment and we are getting used to being at sea once again - rolling along with the wind behind us. Position 1830 GMT 1326N 7350W. We have to stay quite a way off the Columbian coast as it can be very windy and the best current is out here. All being well we should arrive on Friday in San Blas.

Swimming with the fishes

2006-03-31T02:20:00.000-01:00

Well our first impressions of Bonaire have stayed true. We have really been having fun here. This island has everything in pink, from the airport tower to a beach to rumours of pink dolphins. On Sunday we rented a motorbike and toured the island, everyone we passed gave a smile and a wave. We stopped off on the way for some snorkeling on the west of the island then headed inland and saw amazing desolate lakes where the flamingoes feed and had a great lunch of conch and fish for just a few pounds. In the afternoon we went out to the east coast and watched the huge seas break on the shore - it�s amazing the amount of debris they bring, mostly plastic bottles - a real shame. I even had a go at riding the motorbike! Monday we started our PADI open water diving course. It was a pretty intensive few days of diving and studying but we sat the exam on Thursday and did our final dive with our instructor and both passed so now we are divers. We have dived four times since and it gets better and better. We have seen the most amazing fish and coral. Yesterday a French Angel Fish swam right up to my mask and just stared, we think it was looking at it�s reflection. Then to make our day just as we were returning to R2 we spotted a turtle - he was right under R2 and we swam with him for a while - incredible!

We have met some great people here - lots of boats have been here for ages diving and relaxing. There is a great little bar which has a happy hour every night where lots of people meet up. We met Laura and Glen from Turn One at the dive school and are trying to persuade them to head west with us but their dive boots are keeping them firmly fixed in Bonaire. Yesterday we met up with some of our old friends from the Canaries and had a BBQ on board Pelican with Vincent, Iris, River & Roxie and Sandy & Joan from Zeffrin.

Bon Bonaire

2006-03-17T13:20:00.000-01:00

Some 80 hours after leaving Martinique we arrived in Kralendijk the capital of Bonaire - 460 nautical miles. We had nice winds to bring us down here but the seas were really lumpy and confused, which made getting any rest quite difficult, but when we saw our first glimpse of Bonaire it was all forgotten. The south of the island is barely above sea level fringed by the whitest sand and then a turquoise strip of the clearest water. Unfortunately we couldn't see much more as there was heavy dust from Africa in the air limiting our visibility. We turned the corner to sail up the leeward coast and the winds built across the low land. We sailed right on the wind all the way up the coast really close in storming along - it was wild and the first time we have sailed R2 like this in ages. We took a mooring as the water is too deep to anchor and the island is surrounded by coral which we don't want to damage. I jumped in the water and found coral and hundreds of amazingly coloured parrot fish gathered under R2 - we fed the fish and they went mad. We went ashore yesterday afternoon to clear in and have a look around. Bonaire is nicely developed, a little cheesy in the main town centre but just lovely with a quiet innocence about it. It is a diver's paradise with over 60 dive sites so we are going to see about doing a course or trial dive while we are here.

This morning the air is clear, the sky and sea are as blue as each other, we an see over to the island paradise of Klein Bonaire behind us - just got to go and explore! On the way down Andrew hooked a huge fish which stripped 300 metres of line off the reel before we could stop the boat, after a short but energetic fight the wire trace on the lure snapped and he was free. The game fish here grow to over 500 pounds so we were probably a little optimistic with our 100 pound set up but we'll keep trying.

Going West Again

2006-03-13T23:31:00.000-01:00

We arrived in Des Saintes as planned and found a beautiful group of islands. Unfortunately, so had half the boats in the world so it wasn't quite the secluded paradise we had hoped for but nevertheless had a nice time exploring the main town (about the size of a small village in the UK). It was really very 'French' we almost felt like we had left the Caribbean if it wasn't for the weather. The place was so busy we decided to leave earlier than planned and head to Dominica just 20 miles away. We arrived in Dominica early evening on 6 March. We were a bit nervous as the books we have say to be wary of 'boat boys' and crime in Dominica. As we approached the anchorage a small fishing boat zoomed towards us and we agreed our strategy. We were greeted by a chap with a big smile who just said 'welcome to Dominica my name's David and if you need anything while you are here just call me on the VHF' then off he zoomed - we were really pleasantly surprised. We spent a lovely night in Prince Rupert bay, before heading further south as we wanted to leave the boat on a buoy and explore ashore. We arrived in Roseau, the capital of Dominica and met Pancho (also known as Poncho, Pinko, Panko on R2). Pancho found us a buoy and took us to clear in his very fast boat as the customs dock was a fair way away. We then went to explore Roseau a little, before Pancho picked us up and whizzed us back. Roseau was a little poorer than other towns we have seen but the people were just lovely and all said good afternoon to us, we met a couple of great guys who were building chairs and they chatted to us for ages. The next day we got on our hiking boots and ventured inland. We tried to get a bus to some waterfalls but unfortunately a cruise ship was in so all the buses had become taxi's for the day. So we decided to walk and see if we could find a bus, we met more lovely people as we walked and were stopped by Julius who offered us a lift, after a bit of bartering we agreed a price and off we went. We are not sure what Julius was supposed to be doing that day but in the end he took us on a tour and we paid him about the equivalent of 20 GBP for the day. We went to the amazing Trafalgar Falls which are two falls, one hot and one cold. We found the spot where they meet down stream a little and swam in a pool that was hot on one side and cold on the other - really amazing. We then headed to the mountains to a huge fresh water lake, where we hiked and saw amazing birds, plants and trees. Julius hiked with us but he really was not expecting us to want to go quite so far and it really was very hot - poor chap! Dominica was really out of this world, by far the most beautiful island we have seen, really lush and green with mountains and valleys that take your breath away (as did the roads). But no time to stop as we were off to Martinique to meet our lovely friends Talara & Bob on Imaginess. We had an early start and then great sail down to Fort de France, the capital of Martinique, where they were anchored and pulled in just after lunch. It was great to catch up with them and we hung out together for a few days in a very swirly, rolly anchorage. Last night we said our goodbyes and this-morning they headed north and we are heading west again. We are sailing in the direction of Bonnaire which is in the south west Carribean, part of the Netherlands Antilles. The passage should take about 4 days so we hope to arrive for the weekend all being well. At the moment it's all a bit rolly and we are having to find our sea legs again, it is strange to be out of sight of land once again. Hopefully we'll do better on the fishing front on this trip as I'm still waiting for that Tuna.

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Life beyond Antigua

2006-03-05T17:48:00.000-01:00

Yes folks, you may not believe it, but as much as we love Antigua we have finally left! Friday morning we said good bye to our friends Derrick & Louis on sister ship to R2, Aldebarran II (A2 maybe?!) after they replenished our stores as A2 was being lifted out. We checked out of Jolly Harbour and Antigua and made the big step to the anchorage just outside. We had a fantastic evening with an amazing sunset followed by a few two many rums with Matt & Tracey from Helene and Larry from Kokopelli on board R2. Saturday morning a little worse for wear we pulled out and started our trip south. We heard on the radio that the volcano on Monserrat, which is just off the west coast of Antigua, was having a little eruption. So we sailed out towards the island to take a closer look (not too close though). It was amazing - smoke and ash pouring out the top of the crater. We then turned south and headed to Guadeloupe, catching a nice Barracuda on the way which we returned because they are frequently poisonous.

We arrived in a little town called Deshailes late yesterday afternoon avoiding customs and immigration for the evening as checking in and out wasn't going to be a pain. Deshailes is a real mix of France and Caribbean absolutely beautiful and very different to the places we went to in Antigua. Swimming and snorkelling in Deshailes was lovely as the water was so clear, in Antigua the water was quite cloudy due to limestone so you could rarely see much. No time to stop though and another early start today as we are now on passage down the west coast of Guadeloupe to a group of Islands called Des Saintes. Our journey got off to an interesting start this morning when half an hour out the engine overheated. There was absolutely no wind and the sea was like a mill pond. Luckily Andrew noticed the temperature gauge was right up before the engine stopped and luckily again he had bought the hose that had gone in Palma in the summer. He thought it looked like it might be on the way out. So Andrew set about repairing the engine while I sat watch - he got the short straw as I had dolphins come to visit and the gorgeous coast of Guadeloupe to look at and he had to work on a steaming hot engine on an already scorching day. Anyway, half an hour later and we were on our way again. We hope to spend the next couple of days around Des Saintes before moving on to Dominica and then to Martinique to meet up with our friends on Imaginess.

Exploring Antigua

2006-02-09T11:30:00.000-01:00

We still quite can’t believe we are actually here, despite exploring the island for three weeks. Writing the updates became part of our life during the crossing but since we arrived we just don’t seem to have been able to fit it in.

English Harbour - We had a lot of fun in English Harbour with the billions of other boats that were there. The weather was not quite what we had expected, every time we got in the dinghy to go ashore the heavens opened and we arrived looking like drowned rats. Nelsons Dockyard itself is beautiful and totally immaculate, we really enjoyed wandering around, especially after all the tour parties had left in the evening. We spent a lot of time here working on the boat but tried to have a bit of fun everyday. We took a couple of hikes - one to Shirley Heights and another over the cliffs to Pigeon Beach in Falmouth Harbour. The scenery was amazing on both, we walked though the woods to Shirely Heights which was all vines with jasmine trees and cactus. The second hike was tougher because we were more exposed to the heat - but it was stunning walking along the cliffs and the swim at Pigeon Beach worth it. One evening we snuck ashore for a rum cocktail and met the Antiguan Tot Club. This is a group of expats who meet every night to drink a tot of rum and toast the queen - we were invited to join them and it was a lot of fun.

Non Such Bay - After all the hussle and bussle of English Harbour we were ready to escape so we took the long trip (9 miles - into the wind) to this expanse of water on the south west corner. The bay has lots of small bays and creeks and is open to the Atlantic other than a reef which is virtually solid. We had our first experience of a reef pass to enter the Bay which was actually fun as we had to do proper navigation rather than just watch it on the computer (a bit unsettling for me but Andrew loves the close nav). We anchored alongside a couple of super yachts just off Green Island and were blown away by the beauty - this is the sort of stuff they put on the front of holiday brochures. Flat calm sea changing blue, green, tourquiose, white as it laps against a perfect white beach fringed by palm trees and a few token rocks just for effect. Wow - this is the paradise we had dreamed of. The super yachts cleared off, we swam on the reef and we had a BBQ with just 2 other boats in sight. We went exploring around the bay in the dinghy and treated ourselves for a special lunch are Harmony Hall. In true cruiser style we turned up at this really very posh place with our garbage for them to dispose of - and they did without question. Food was amazing and we had a lovely afternoon being very spoilt. When the wind increased from the steady trade winds we hid away in a mangrove creek for a couple of days. We were right in so close you could nearly touch the trees with just pelicans and fireflies for company. The pelicans are wild, they sit in the trees and just watch you, then all of a sudden they take flight and seem to chuck themselves at the water with a huge splash that makes you jump. The fireflies lit the creek up at dusk like Christmas lights - I’d never seen them before and they were really special.

While in our private creek we removed, disassembled and rebuilt the wind generator which died after the pounding it got on the crossing. Now it is all painted and has new go faster stripes and it is working better than ever now.

North Sound - This area runs on the north east coast of Antigua alongside Non Such but you have go out of the reef and right around the north of the island and back in along the reef to get there. We had a great sail after we picked our way through the narrowest winding reef pass which put my heart in my mouth all the way - especially when a squall hit us so we could see nothing for about 10 minutes.

We anchored off the perfect beach which belongs to the island which is home to the exclusive Jumby Bay resort and millionaires homes. Beaches in Antigua are all public so we were able to explore a little but the resort were not keen to welcome us. Andrew thought it would be fun to take a football on the beach and tried to persuade Kathy & Ian anchored next to us to join in. Instead we enjoyed the reef in our kayak and sampled the local rum onboard Ariel - the beautiful Wylow that Ian & Kathy built themselves.

Our next stop in this area was to Parham. Parham used to be an important port but is now a sleepy village where we met the loveliest local people and had chicken & rice lunch for just 2 GBPs. We hoped to spend a night at the remote area east of Parham just off Bird Island but the wind was swirling through the rocks and we didn’t think we would be able to leave R2 to go and explore so we found a quite corner further in where we could get the kayak out again. Then on to Deep Bay - Just a lovely semi-circle bay with the wreck of the Andes in the middle. We had a lovely relaxed evening here.

Jolly Harbour - Back into civilisation and a pretty beach. As we arrived in Jolly Harbour we saw both Ariel & Storm Along anchored off. I think we gave a few boats cause for concern as we weaved between the other boats to say hi to our friends. Nell & Brian on Storm Along came and helped us moor in the marina and we then all went out for lunch. Then we went to explore the chandlers and facilities at this purpose built marina and resort which has everything from a casino and helipad to darts to laundry to offer!

Yesterday we took the local bus to St John’s which is the capital of Antigua. The bus (minibus) runs along a defined route but not to a schedule. It waits in the bus station until it is full (that is completely full) and then sets off so you don’t know quite when you are going to get anywhere. Its fun and cheap. We spent the day exploring St Johns. We mistakenly ended up in a crowd of people off a cruise ship and got hounded by the welcoming committee to go sight seeing. It was quite funny but we wont make that mistake again. We walked out of town to the Antigua Recreation Ground home of West Indies Cricket. As is typical of the place we just wandered in and were met by the caretaker, Emanuel George. He was kind enough to give us a personal tour which included the changing rooms, lunch pavillion and out onto the field. They are busy preparing for two games against England later this month. We later stopped for a local lunch of curried goat and steamed fish. Everywhere you go in Antigua people stop to enquire where you are from and how you are enjoying Antigua. It must be one of the friendliest places in the Caribbean.

On the way back we got off the bus in Bowlans village to go to the post office ran by John. In addition to the mail he runs a bar, petrol station, cooking gas depot and any number of other enterprises from the same premises. He also buys over strength Rum from the Antigua distillery and makes his own product in a vintage cask. It's there in the picture between the engine oil and antifreeze...That’s why we were there. We were able to sample some very special Bowlans Rum and enjoyed John’s company very much. We bought a gallon just under eight quid and John threw in 4 grapefruit from his garden for good measure. Just to make sure it was good we made up some cocktails in the thermos and went to the beach to test the quality!

Today we are preparing for a trip to Europe. Looks like -2 C in London so think we will need socks with our flip flops.

Day 22- Land Ahoy!

2006-01-18T19:39:00.000-01:00

We did it! 22 days 15 minutes and finally ReVision II is at anchor in English Harbour, Antigua and it is absolutely fantasticly beautiful. We hope to get to an internet cafe in the next few days and upload some pics from the trip but for now we are going to drink a bottle of champagne and then sleep. Andrew went to check in with customs and immigration and he hardly knew his name let alone answer all their questions. How I feel now about the crossing - glad it's over - it was the most amazing, scary, hard work, tiring, soul destroying thing I have ever undertaken in my life but how exciting to be in the Caribbean.

Raising the Antiguan courtesy flag / Freeman Bay, English Harbour (our new home)

Day 21

2006-01-17T21:29:00.000-01:00

Position 17 January 2006 2200 GMT 17 degrees 03 mins North 60 degrees 00 mins West. Only 102.7 nautical miles to go. With any luck we will make landfall in Antigua tomorrow (Wednesday). Carolyn just sighted an unknown creature alongside- not sure if it was a shark or a whale? Decided against getting closer to determine. All quiet this evening with light winds and a washing machine sea. Looking to a roll free night tomorrow.

Day 19 / 20

2006-01-16T18:50:00.000-01:00

Position 16 January 2006 1900 GMT 17 degrees 11 mins North 57 degrees 01 mins West. Only 269.7 nautical miles to go. We are really starting to get excited now as in a few days we will be feeling Caribbean sand between our toes and tasting a rum cocktail or two. We heard from friends who arrived a few weeks ago to say they were anchored with their boat tied off to a coconut tree - how very cool! Well since we wrote our missing chapter someone out there is trying to prove us wrong. We had two days of sailing with full sails in 15-18 knots of wind with clear skies, no squalls and a gentle rolling sea - we have even been sitting night watch in shorts & t-shirt (without foulies). Then as of the early hours today the wind died and we were down to 3 knots of boat speed so we put the engine on and have been motoring in flat calm for the last 10 hours. This is great as all our batteries are fully charged, we have filled our water tanks and have had a lovely lazy day in the sun. We did take the opportunity to top up the fuel tanks with our three jerry cans while the sea was calm - so we also have a full tank of fuel. The first boat on our net arrived this morning at an island called Bequia, west of Barbados, south of St Vincent. The net has got very cheery as people are getting near to their destinations and the weather is improving.

My thoughts from my perfect night watch 14 January - The Perfect Night Watch - 0000 to 0300 GMT, wind East 15-20, sky clear with just the odd cloud and full moon, wearing fouly leggings and t-shirt, bare feet, boat speed 6 knots. On a night like this you have time to think like you never usually do in life. I just ate an orange - it took me 20 minutes to peel and eat it properly. I peeled it like my Gran used to - take the whole skin off in one piece without any breaks. I made an awful mess but is tasted so much better than just cutting it into quarters. Usually I wouldn't bother with an orange or peeling it properly but is really was fab. The moon is so bright I am writing this in the moonlight (now copied up) It is huge and you can clearly see the man in the moon. It is directly behind the boat streaming moon beams across ReVision II's wake and lighting up the ocean rolling behind us. Only the brightest of the stars shine through the moonlight. I cannot see my faithful plough tonight - I must check my star book to see if it's left us or if it's just too bright. (Insert picture I drew of RII and the man in the moon - very good - honest). I read the title of a book today - Home is Where the Boat Is. This really struck a chord as I can't get away from thoughts about the couple who abandoned their home last night - First Light. All the things you would have to leave bobbing around in the ocean, all the memories and sentimental things we collect on the way as we travel and all the wonderful gifts from other cruisers. All the equipment and gadgets collected so carefully all in full working order but just attached to a boat that cannot steer. They must have been SO desperate and sad that they could not save their home, their boat that looked after them. I give them my thoughts this beautiful night.

Day 18

2006-01-14T13:50:00.000-01:00

Position 14 January 2006 1100 GMT 17 degrees 21 mins North 51 degrees 41 mins West. Only 575.5 nautical miles to go.

We have had cracking sailing for the last two days - storming along at over 6 knots day and night, it has been a bit bumpy but when you see the miles dropping down it really doesn't matter. We had a full moon last night that you could practically read by, which made such a difference to the night watch as you can see the ocean all around rather than just hearing it. We heard this-morning that the boat who lost their rudder have had to abandon their boat despite an attempt by a trawler to tow them to Barbados. We really feel for them. - update 20/1/06 just heard they arrived safe and well in Barbados.

Day 17 - The Missing Chapter

2006-01-13T11:39:00.000-01:00

Position 13 January 2006 1200 GMT 17 degrees 39 mins North 49 degrees 21 mins West. Only 713 nautical miles to go.

On the shelves of ReVision 11 and all cruising boats like her you will find books written by distinguished ocean travelers. Next to Jimmy Cornell you will find a Nigel Calder, a Les Weatherit and a Beth Leonard. Beth is a particular favorite of Carolyn's as she also covers girl issues. We feel however that there is a missing chapter in these books and have started to compile a few ideas which we will be passing on to Beth for her next edition.

Here are a few of the things Beth and Les don't say:
- You CAN sit a night watch in t-shirt and shorts, but only if under full foulies and wooly hat
- The wind DOES blow between 14 and 18 knots - but only when in transition from dead calm to full on gale (an average perhaps?)
- You CAN set your sails and not touch them for 4 days - only if you have 4 sets of replacements or if they are furled away and you running under bare poles
- You CAN sleep on deck at night - only if you don't mind being drowned in the process
- DON'T bother learning sail trim just learn how to reduce sail fast
- DON'T bother passage planning with waypoints just sail downwind in the knowledge that this is anywhere between North and South through West in a 10 min given period
- Clothes, bedding, cushions, walls, etc will all get covered in various beverages at least once a day so don't do laundry before you leave
- Deck inspection is best carried out from the cockpit with binoculars or best still while in Las Palmas
- DO join a radio net and get the most up to date weather forecast from NOAA - then ignore it and just sail West anyway
- All things CAN be repaired by Sikaflex, seizing wire and duct tape
- Ignore traditional navigation methods and adopt 'Blue Sky Navigation' ie head for the sunshine
- Be sure to keep a watch at all times - we saw a ship 6 days ago and a piece of seaweed today
- You CAN wash clothes on passage - but only if you want them rinsed in salt water or to go moldy in the heads
- Clarins hand cream is NOT up to ocean sailing
- Pressure cooking at sea is NOT for the faint hearted
- You DON'T get used to rythemic rolling - whatever they say

Day 16

2006-01-12T20:49:00.000-01:00

Position 12 January 2006 2058 GMT 17 degrees 56 mins North 47 degrees 50 mins West. Only 798.1 nautical miles to go. We have now covered more than 2000 nautical miles since leaving Las Palmas so to celebrate this evening we had another 8 cheeses pizza and a can of beer. This evening has proved the most beautiful so far as the wind is steady from the east and the sky crystal clear. The sun set a few minutes ago although clouds on the horizon point to another busy night on watch.

Day 14/15

2006-01-11T18:59:00.000-01:00

Position 11 January 2006 2033 GMT 17 degrees 56 mins North 45 degrees 17 mins West. Only 946.3 nautical miles to go. So we have broken the 1000 mile to go point so we had the chocolates the Goolka's bought me for my birthday (we're saving the worms for another day - thanks guys yummy). Unfortunately we have been a bit preoccupied for the last couple of days as one of the boats in our net group lost their rudder yesterday morning about 130 miles south of us. Boats tend to leave in groups when there is a weather window, in our group there 12 boats on crossing spread over 1000 miles but in daily contact via one boat who controls the 'net'. The two closest boats were called to standby and give assistance, this being our friends on Argonauta 1 and ourselves. After a couple of hours it was clear that Argonauta would make it to the position before us, so we reverted to our original course after clearing with the net control. Argonauta reached them early this morning and confirmed that all crew were well and working hard to rig some sort of temporary steering. Argonauta have since moved off and the next boat will make contact with them in the morning. In the interim we have all been able to offer support and advice through regular radio contact. An article we had on board has formed the basis of their latest attempt and Andrew spent alot of time going through the detail of this with them this morning. Other boats have assisted by making satellite telephone calls and sending emails on their behalf. All our thoughts are with them tonight as they spend their second night in this very rolling ocean without any control over their boat - it must be truly awful. Life on boat ReVision II has been a bit lumpy, bumpy and squally over the last couple of days but today we have had a glorious hot sunny day with only two squalls. We are getting to the point with the squalls that we are not giving them the satisfaction of ruining our day so just carry on with what we're doing after putting a bit of sail away - they will not win!! Oh and Andrew nearly got knocked out by a flying fish last night while sitting in the cockpit on watch - it just missed his head, smacked into the boom and landed at his feet. He had to wake me up to tell me about it - unfortunately still not big enough to eat so I went back to sleep.

Day 13

2006-01-11T05:10:00.000-01:00

Position 9 January 2006 2000 GMT 18 degrees 06 mins North 41 degrees 06 mins West. Only 1171.1 nautical miles to go. Well after our wishful thinking last night the winds continued to increase together with a few squalls thrown in and we had a pretty tough night all round. Today has been calmer and we have managed to catch up on a little sleep but we are both feeling a little jaded today. Here's hoping for a good night tonight.

Day 11 / 12

2006-01-08T20:49:00.000-01:00

Position 8 January 2006 2000 GMT 18 degrees 37 mins North 38 degrees 55 mins West. Only 1301.3 nautical miles to go. That's over halfway now so we are really counting down the miles. After the last update we had a bit of a change in weather. It is not uncommon to experience squalls on this route although we have had a pretty intense period of squalls over the last 36 hours. A squall is basically a localised storm that lasts from a few mins to an hour, we get gale force winds and torrential rain. The squalls are pretty hard work and mean that we are constantly tending to the sails and steering of the boat. When the weather is good we keep a relaxed watch during the day and at night we keep a watch but usually from the inside checking all is okay every 10 mins or so. With the squalls one of us have to be on deck at all time monitoring the wind and trying to spot anything sinister heading our way. The seas are also very confused which makes sleeping difficult when off watch. We got so fed up with soaking our wet weather gear today we put on our swimming cosies during the squalls (bikini and safety harness - hmm a good look I think). Anyway about 5 pm tonight we had a huge squall and when the sky cleared behind was our old favourite trade wind sky. Winds are still pretty strong but we hope to put the intense squalls behind us for a while. We used it as an excuse to celebrate with a beer. Despite the more difficult sailing conditions we are still doing really well and enjoying ourselves.

Squall passing by / view of squalls on radar

Day 9/10

2006-01-06T18:51:00.000-01:00

Position 6 January 2006 1850 GMT 19 degrees 22 mins North 34 degrees 13 mins West. Only 1568.7 nautical miles to go. I think we can officially say hello from mid-Atlantic and I have to say I thoroughly recommend it as a destination. We really didn't expect to have such amazing weather. Today we have had 15 knots of wind out of the east and glorious sunshine. Andrew burned a square on his back today from his harness lines. For me this really is the best sailing experience of my life - please may in continue just like this. We couldn't email yesterday as we were cut off due to excessive use. Luckily our friend Hugh on Argonauta 1 was able to email the provider, explain the situation and they reconnected us thankfully. Tropical Storm Zeta made an about turn and we were a bit concerned so overloaded on weather analysis. We are pleased to report it has now turned again so we can relax a bit. We passed our waypoint at 20 North 30 West (the traditional route turning point west) just after midnight on 5 Jan - to celebrate we had Christmas Pudding and brandy butter. (The old clipper ships used to say head south until the butter melts then turn west - so we had melted butter - it's the little things when you are this far from land!!). So we are well into the trade wind belt and enjoying it very much. Today is a very special today for us - after spending far too many euros on equipment, numerous hours of discussion with other cruisers and at least 10 lures we finally landed a fish! Fish drill (the original not to be confused by imitations - Kika!) commenced at 3pm just after Lasagne and garlic bread was served. Andrew controlled the fish while I reduced sail, cleared the cockpit, put lunch on standby and got out the gaff and 'fish gin'. Having experienced many fish drills that amount in nothing but a moody skipper I was a little tense. However we landed a beautiful dorado about 6 lbs - just perfect for two! His skin was deep purple/blue but changed to gold as we squirted him with gin and he died - rather sad but now he is two large fillets for our lunch tomorrow and some marinating ceviche for our supper tonight - can't wait!

Day 7 / 8

2006-01-04T11:49:00.000-01:00

Position 4 January 2006 1045 GMT 20 degrees 13 mins North 28 degrees 38 mins West. Only 1885.5 nautical miles to go. Just been so busy didn't get a chance to update last night - not sure what we've been doing but the days just fly by. All is still going really well, we had another record 24 hours yesterday and logged 133 nautical miles. It was really hot yesterday so we did spend some time enjoying the sun and just watching the amazing ocean. We have now rigged our two foresails poled out on each side of the boat to make the most of the wind coming directly behind us and the set up is working really well (Heath & Mary thanks for the advice). I managed to reef both sails on my own in the dark in just a few mins when a brief squall came through last night. We were very excited to find our first flying fish on the deck this morning - he wasn't big enough to eat unfortunately but he had a gorgeous deep purple/blue skin. I hope this might encourage Andrew to get his fishing rod out and catch me that tuna he's been promising since Hawaii. We should reach 20N/30W later today which is the traditional trade wind route turning point towards the landfall destination (supposedly where the butter melts but we're keeping ours`safely in the fridge) - this is a big milestone for us. Argonauta 1 left the Cape Verdes this-morning so are about 180 miles east of us hot on our tails. As I type this Andrew is making a cup of tea - it is hilarious to watch him in the galley with the swell - only 1 minor scald to report!

Day 6

2006-01-03T08:37:00.000-01:00

Position 2 January 2006 2100 GMT 20 degrees 48 mins North 25 degrees 05 mins West. Only 2088.1 nautical miles to go. Today was the sort of day you dream of when planning a trip like this. ReVision II has been surfing down perfect waves with the clearest blue sky as a backdrop. We have been enjoying the sunshine and the exhilarating speed. Top speed today was 7.5 knots - wild! More importantly we recorded our best 24 hour run today - over 130 miles. We ran the engine briefly today for the first time since we left Las Palmas to top up our batteries, make hot water and run the water maker - so we are all replenished and clean. Andrew even had a shave! But then got dowsed in clean clothes by a rogue wave - he wasn't very happy the second time (both escaped me - tee hee). We ate the last of the fresh meat today but we still have plenty of vacuum packed as well as some frozen chicken and a leg of lamb so we are not doing too badly or venturing near the fray bentos pies just yet. Every day we consult the provisions spreadsheet and check all the fresh food. Some fruit and veg survives surprisingly well out of the fridge so we have a crate in one of the lockers as well as the infamous net on top of the refrigerated stuff. We hope to still have potatoes, cabbage, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, onion, melon and oranges towards the end of the trip. Andrew is moaning about Muesli and yoghurt for breakfast and thinks he's on the verge of starvation. Today after muesli (which had lovely kiwi fruit on top) we had choc biscuits, sausage with mash and onion gravy, a snack of braseola and bread sticks and finally spanish omlette with salad so I've given him a packet of werthers originals to see him through the night - it's tough out here!

Day 5 - Happy New Year

2006-01-01T20:21:00.000-01:00

Position 1830 1 January 2006 1830 GMT 21 degrees 44 mins North 22 degrees 36 mins West. Only 2230.4 nautical miles to go. The New Year arrived for us in cheesy style with Ocho Queso Pizza (because 4 cheeses is never enough to give you nightmares)and half a bottle of cheap Cava - both gave us indigestion all night but we had a fun time sitting out in the middle of the ocean on a beautiful night, before going back to our watches. Today has been hot and sunny all day and we've been back in our shorts again for the first time since we left. It appears that tropical storm Zeta will move North West away from us and so we have started our turn West towards the Caribbean. We are not sure if it's the effect of the change in course or it's just today but the rolling as a result of cross swell has been driving us crazy. The boat is constantly rolling side to side at over 30 degrees. This makes any small task a complete episode even sitting or sleeping let alone making a cup of tea or carrying out a sail adjustment! Our friends, Hugh, Heather and David on Argonauta 1 look set to leave the Cape Verdes in a couple of days so should not be far behind us as we go across. Our other good friends Elaine and John on Goolka, Bob and Talara on Imaginess and Sandy, Joan and Tom on Zeferyn are all set to leave Las Palmas this week so we will be in good company. We all have an informal chit chat every morning on the radio which is really great. We are waiting to hear how Jo and Tim from Rose Rambler are doing with their engine problem in Gomera and hope you'll be on your way soon guys, if not already. When we checked in with the net this morning we heard a yacht just over 70 miles away from us. We have seen no ships or yachts in the last couple of days just us and the ocean so on we go.

Day 4

2005-12-31T18:06:00.000-01:00

Position 1837 GMT 31 December 2005 22 degrees 54 mins North 20 degrees 42 mins West. Only 2358.3 nautical miles to go! We've made it to the tropics. We crossed tropic of cancer about 11 last night. We expected to have glorious weather today but just more of the same - maybe tomorrow?? We have had our best sailing day so far today averaging over 5 knots all day, we are continuing to go south as a new tropical storm named Zeta has formed mid Atlantic and we want to give that a wide berth. We continue to have radio contact with our friends in Las Palmas and those ahead in the Cape Verdes. Today we also checked in with a new Atlantic crossing net on the radio. This is a group of boats all crossing around the same time, we give our position, share our current weather and support each other. We heard today that our friends Nick & Ellen on Kika arrived in Martinique and are already drinking rum cocktails - we can't wait to join them. (wwww.kikasailing.blogspot.com). No wildlife to report today but we were visited by the Mauritian Navy this afternoon - a ship appeared heading straight for us, turned when we called them up, but came right across our stern for a good look, probably to check we weren't drug or people smuggling. So it's New Years eve, we wish everyone a happy New Year and will be having a small glass of Cava at midnight.

Day 2/3

2005-12-30T17:51:00.000-01:00

Position 1800 GMT 30 Dec 2005 24 degrees 01 minutes North, 18 degrees 50 minutes West. Just after we sent our day 1 update the wind started to gradually increase and increase as did the sea. Winds got up to 37 knots and seas 3/4 metres - not really what we had hoped for to say the least. We reduced our sails to handkerchief size and assisted the self steering system with any extra big waves. It's really important that we take such big waves on the stern quarter of the boat otherwise they could swamp us. We took it in turns and had a pretty intense night. Next morning it was still wild but when the sun came out the huge waves were actually beautiful and the ride was quite exhilarating now we were more used to it. By mid afternoon things had calmed down alot and we were able to relax a bit but every now and then a wave would just pop up out of no where. Andrew was snoozing in the cockpit and one landed right on his head - hilarious for me watching!! I've had my share too though - this morning my net holding our fruit for the trip broke and I was chasing apples all over the boat - nothing like a bruised granny smith I say! Then early evening last night we noticed that malcolm the monitor was not holding course. I took the wheel while Andrew investigated and found it was broken. The part we need is in the spares kit that arrived the day after we left the UK last month. This was not good news. Andrew hung off the back of the boat and removed the section affected but it was too late to do anything last night. We changed our course towards the Cape Verde islands 600 nm south and used Arthur the electric autopilot last night. Arthur is really not designed for ocean sailing but he did a great job and we both got some sleep. The alternative was hand steering all night - yuk! This morning Andrew chatted through our options on the radio with our friend John back in Las Palmas and then went absailing again. He managed to make a fix to the monitor and he's now back on the job and we are back on course for the Caribbean. Conditions today have been lovely - really nice sailing. Another yacht came by today - Spanish - they came right up to us while we were slowed for repairs to say hola and check we were okay. Ciao for now x

Day 1

2005-12-28T18:06:00.000-01:00

Position 18:27 GMT 28/12/05 26 degrees 43.1 North, 16 degrees 13.6 West. Today has been a real mixed bag as far as the wind is concerned - all directions and all strengths. This has had a great effect on the sea which is nothing short of a washing machine. We have had all sorts of sail configurations today and any number of headings. But despite the wind and the sea the sun has shone all day and it has been a good day. We had a huge pod of dolphins visit earlier - one jumped right over the bow of the boat! We are trying to get into our watch patterns today but it has been a bit hard to sleep because of the changing wind and sea. The mechanical self steering system has been helming today for the first time since Andrew re-ran all the lines, it's called Malcolm the Monitor and is doing a great job at holding us on course to the wind.

And they're off

2005-12-27T19:37:00.000-01:00

Finally ReVision II left Las Palmas in Gran Canaria at 15.45 GMT on 27 December 2005 heading for the Caribbean. We had to drink the last of the Baileys as there was no room to stow it due to the 1025 items of food on board! The sun was shinning and we had a lovely send off from all our friends on panatalon 18.

Christmas Day

2005-12-25T16:59:00.000-01:00

We had a lovely Christmas in Gran Canaria. Our friends John & Elaine on Goolka invited us for an incredible Xmas brunch including caviar and champagne and surprise guests - Bob & Talara. They really spoilt us and really made my Birthday. We then went to see Serg & Manu our lovely Mauritian/French friends for more Champagne before retiring to R2 for a full Xmas Dinner - yummy!!

Waiting for the weather

2005-12-16T17:30:00.000-01:00

We are still here in Las Palmas waiting for the right weather before leaving for the Carribean. It seems like a high pressure in Northern Europe is sending Low after Low towards the Canaries. This brings South West winds which would make any crossing difficult. We are not alone however as lots of our friends are hold up here too just waiting for a break. We've been busy checking and double checking everything on the boat. Photo above courtesy of Carolyn from the masthead!

Argonauta I leave Gran Canaria

2005-12-15T17:06:00.000-01:00

Our friends Hugh, Heather and David set off for the Cape Verdes - we later buddy boated with them across the Atlantic - they arrived to complete their circumnavigation in Barbados a day before we arrived in Antigua

Trip to the City lights

2005-12-07T20:54:00.000-01:00

After a great overnight sail from Lanzarote we arrived in the big city of Las Palmas in Gran Canaria today. The good news is our new sail worked a treat and sailed the 100 miles last night without any dramas. Here we have met up with friends and plan to stay a few days before leaving for La Gomera at the weekend.

Relaxing in Rubicon???

2005-12-04T17:06:00.000-01:00

For the sailors out there we have attached a picture showing how much our barometer dropped as Tropical Storm Delta hit. We don't want to see that again in a hurry.

After all the excitement of Delta we have been busy getting R2 ready for our Atlantic crossing. We each have a list of jobs pinned to the wall and are working our way steadily through them. We had hoped to be away from Lanzarote by now but are still waiting for our new main sail to be delivered - hopefully anyday but unfortunately our sailmaker felt the force of Tropical Storm Delta a little more than us.

We have bought all our non-perishable food for the crossing - more fray bentos pies and corned beef than any two people should eat in a lifetime. Stowing the food was a task in itself and took half a day including updating a spreadsheet so we know what we have got and where it is.

Andrew has re-plumbed the water pressure system and is very proud of his pump board!

Carolyn is seriously into varnishing - we want R2 to look pretty when we get to the Caribbean.

We have checked in with an Atlantic crossing net on the SSB radio - this is co-ordinated by another yacht who records the position of the yachts crossing and we then share weather and safety information as we cross. Many of our friends have left already and are going via the Cape Verde islands. We are heading for Antigua when we go.

And yes we are finding time for a bit of relaxing - we went to the pool at the marina this afternoon - lovely and hot for the first time in weeks.

Tropical Storm Delta

2005-11-29T09:34:00.000-01:00

We sailed from Graciosa on Sunday 29th November bound for Marina Rubicon in Lanzarote hoping to arrive prior to the forecast arrival of Tropical Storm Delta which was heading our way. Fortunately we were here in good time and were safe and secure in our berth on Monday night when the storm hit. I'm glad to say we were well back from the sea wall as a huge swell developed in the 60+ knt winds which has sandblasted everything here. The roof was blown off a building before our eyes (about 50 yards away), and flagpoles and other structural destruction is abound. A few boats have been damaged and a couple of pontoons ripped out. It's too early to say how extensive the damage is at this point we are just relieved that the storm seems to have passed and we are getting on with cleaning up. Our thoughts are with our many friends elsewhere in the canaries and we hope they are all safe. Byee for now

ReVision II still in Graciosa

2005-10-27T15:51:00.000-01:00

As we said in our last update, we have fallen for this small island and are still here - but we are doing some work on the boat now as well as having fun.

We did mountain bike to the village at the end of the island last week - it was great fun cycling on the rough roads - just a few steep hills. The end of the week was all very social with an art show put on by the boat kids, several get togethers on other boats and we had Paul and Liz from Amaranth over for dinner. Far too much drinking going on - but great fun!

We took the ferry to Lanzarote on Tuesday to drop the sail of to be repaired and pick up some boat bits and pieces. We took the bus (yes public transport again!) to Arrecife. It was lovely as we went right across the island and into lots of small towns. We managed to get all the things we needed, bumped into some of our friends from Graciosa and went to a local place for fab lunch before heading back to our lovely island.

Yesterday Andrew replaced the fuel filler and breather hoses while I made a start sanding the main hatch, which desperately needs varnishing. Today we have been re-fueling and filling the water tanks - a job that took all morning trying to arrange and get a slot and then transfer to the tanks. Simple things can take forever in paradise. We have decided to turn the fridge off today as it is using too much electricity - so using up the last of the ice in lunch time gin & tonics. I have lost Andrew for the afternoon as he’s been given a book on boat mechanics and electronics which he is engrossed in!!!

Byee for now. X

Isla Graciosa- Day at the Beach

2005-10-22T10:23:00.000-01:00

ReVision11 arrives in the Canaries

2005-10-22T09:58:00.000-01:00

After over a month of incommunicado we’re back again! As promised update from Isla Graciosa. Since we last wrote we spent a few more days in Gibraltar - walked up the rock, saw some apes, explored some tunnels and stocked up on heinz baked beans, cheddar and gin (four quid a litre)before taking the step through the dreaded Gibraltar straight and out of the ‘comfort’ of the med. The sail through the straight was the most exhilarating yet - we had 30 knots of wind behind us, a very small sail and went very fast. Carolyn helmed most of the 20 miles and ended up with a blister she held the wheel so tight.
The weather was not right for us to head down towards the Canaries as we’d planned so we turned right a tucked into the fabulous fishing port of Barbate - here we discovered real Spain. The marina was all set to host the battle of Trafalgar celebrations a short while after so the only allowed us to stay a few very cheap nights - but we managed to extend it as the weather was so awful no one could get in or out of the marina. We used the time and took the bus to nearby Cadiz and went exploring for the day. When we came to leave instead we decided to take the train to Seville, so nipped into an internet café and booked a hotel then jumped on the train. We spent two nights in Seville. Everyone should go to Seville, it is the most beautiful city - we absolutely loved it.
We finally said goodbye to Barbate on 13 October to make the trip down the coast of Morocco to the Canaries. 101 hours 15 mins later we arrived in Isla Graciosa just off Lanzarote. The crossing went really well, we had two days of fabulous sailing, two days of calm when we motored and one day of wind in the wrong direction. We experienced a crazy front on the last night, but luckily saw it coming a shortened sail sufficiently but it was still pretty scary when the wind does a turn of 180 degrees in 5 mins at 30 knots. One of the reasons we didn’t have much sail up was because earlier that evening we blew out a seam in the top of the mainsail - an expensive evening! On the way we saw loads of dolphins, some whales, turtles, had amazing sunsets and the biggest brightest moon every night, we read loads and generally had a great time.
Arrival in Paradise
I’m going to apologise upfront as I’m going to go rambling on forever about Isla Graciosa - but to us this really is what our trip is all about - we may not ever leave!
We arrived in Caleta del Sebo on Monday and feel like it’s our new home. The marina is full of international liveaboards - we’ve met Canadian’s, Australians, French, American, German, Norwegian, Swiss and a few Brits since we arrived. The marina has no facilities but cost just 5 euros a night (average we paid in the med was over 30). There is no traffic, the roads are made of sand, there is a couple of fab supermarkets, a few restaurants, amazing beaches, fantastic scenery, volcanoes and an amazingly an internet café - what more do you need?? The people we’ve met since we got here are great, we’ve been doing drinks, sharing boats bits and computer software. I went to pilates on the beach the other morning with a group of the girls. We went hiking the day after we arrived and walked over two of the volcanoes and across to the other side of the island - we found the most unspoilt beaches you can ever imagine. We had lunch on a beach about a mile long all to ourselves. Last night we took our kayak to Lanzarote - only about half a mile across the channel but quite hard going - but the sunset was worth it.
Today Andrew is in the bilge again doing jobs- even in paradise there is no let up! But we have been lent some mountain bikes so hope to cycle to a little fishing village just up the coast later on.
Will sign off for now - hope we’ve not made you too jealous - but this really is the life!!
Lots of love
Andrew & Carolyn x x

Volcano Walk, Isa Graciosa

2005-10-18T18:05:00.000-01:00

A front passes Barbate

2005-10-12T17:50:00.000-01:00

Luckily we were safely tucked up in the marina taking this picture from the sea wall. This was a result of Hurricane Vince that so many people we have since met got caught up in.

Andrew finds Christopher Columbus in Seville

2005-10-08T17:56:00.000-01:00

Sunshine in Seville

2005-10-08T16:17:00.000-01:00

Barbate

2005-10-06T17:46:00.000-01:00

Looks more like Hawaii but this is the town beach at the most real Spanish town we visited - wow!

ReVision 11 sails through Gibraltar straight

2005-10-06T15:58:00.000-01:00

ReVision11 in Gibraltar

2005-10-05T09:48:00.000-01:00

Hello from Gibraltar! We arrived here a couple of days ago after 3 nights sailing from Denia. I had been a bit anxious about the trip down as the weather in the med has really changed (we have had to get the duvet out and our sun tans are fading fast - just wind burn now!)
We had the most amazing trip down after all my worrying, we motored for the first day and night but then had lovely gentle winds in just the right direction and the sun came out and it was gorgeous being on passage away from land. We saw so many dolphins it just got to the point that unless they came to play we didn’t bother mentioning them but on the last night it was really dark and we had the most incredible phosphorescence that when the dolphins came to play they appeared as a streak of light approaching the boat and then looked like they had headlights on - unbelievable!
As we got near to Gibraltar the fog came right down and it was really errie, luckly Andrew had been getting really used to the radar on the way down, which we could not have done without. There was so many ships going in all directions - v scary indeed. We finally made it into Gib but no marina berths were to be found so we anchored off for the first night but managed to sneak a place the next night. Gib is v strange as all squaddies and sailors but the licor is v cheap and the morrisons supermarket is fantastic. We’ve stocked up and Andrew has done lots of engine jobs. Hopefully we are gonna go and do some tourist things tomorrow.
We hope to set off for the Canaries towards the end of the week but will see how weather goes.
Sorry we have not been able to reply to all your emails but web access has not been as easy as we’d hoped so far and when we get online we usually have only a few minutes but we really appreciate hearing from you.

Cala Barca, Mallorca. Awesome and all ours!

2005-09-16T16:13:00.000-01:00

RII tied off to rocks in Menorca

2005-09-02T15:47:00.000-01:00

RII gets a chance to sail downwind

2005-09-01T16:06:00.000-01:00