Blue Moon's Cruising Log....

Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

2012-01-21T19:31:00.001-08:00

We're currently tied up to the marina in Rodney bay on the North west point of St. Lucia. We've been treating Blue Moon to endless amounts of water to try and remove all the salt and Sahara dust she picked up on the Atlantic crossing. We plan to leave here tomorrow and start to head north stopping over night on the north end of Martinique and then on to Dominica the following day. We hope to spend a few days hiking on Dominica before continuing on North.

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Anchored in Barbados!

2011-12-28T04:26:00.000-08:00

Position at anchor in Barbados: North 13*05'524 West 059*37'022

We made it! After 16 days and 2 hours from leaving the Cape Verdes we are now anchored off Bridgetown in Barbados. Just want to let everyone know we are okay, after loosing our SSB radio half way across and having no way to send out updates or get weather, we know a lot of you were worried for our safety. We still don't know what the problem is but will try to get it fixed here as soon as possible.

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Cape Verde to Barbados - Day 5

2011-12-15T13:12:00.000-08:00

Position at 20:49 UTC: North 14*27'731 West 034*36'033
1457 miles to go to Barbados.

We still have pretty much exactly the same conditions, the skies have been lovely and clear today and we've been making good speed between 6-7 knots. A lot of yachts ahead of us have been getting squalls and strong winds from an area of low pressure up ahead but it should have moved north before we reach it. We may get calmer conditions in a couple of days time and I have to admit we're looking forward to a little less rolling...can't complain about the speed we're making though!

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Cape Verde to Barbados - Day 4

2011-12-14T12:02:00.001-08:00

Position at 19:08 UTC: North 14*36'316 West 031*59'699
1609 miles to Barbados.

Not much new to report today, The winds have dropped off to a steady 15 knots out of the east and we are making about 5.5 knots. A little bit sunnier today but otherwise everything is the same, we haven't touched the sails since we first set them so we're still being pushed down wind wing on wing with a 2 meter swell.

There seems to be an abundance of flying fish in the Atlantic and part of the day we spend scooping them off the deck to try and get them back to the sea before they die. Unfortunately they are not really big enough to eat and I have a feeling the Mahi and Tuna wont be so easy to catch!

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Cape Verde to Barbados - Day 3

2011-12-13T11:43:00.000-08:00

position at 18:44 UTC: North 15*04'596 West 029*36'245
1748 miles to go to Barbados.

Today we have very much the same conditions as yesterday with 15-20 knots of wind out of the North East and seas around 2 meters, still lumpy and confused. The sky is very grey and overcast and the sea is covered in whitecaps, the temperature is a comfortable 21*C and at night we're still in need of thermals to keep the chill out.

We've spent the day cooking up food that we're worried will not stay fresh as we had to defrost the refrigerator this morning due to it over freezing and using up too much power. It's a shame to use up all our fresh meat at the beginning of the trip and I'm starting to wonder if it's just an excuse as Jimmy is desperate to start some serious fishing!!

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Cape Verdes to Barbados - Day 2

2011-12-12T11:56:00.000-08:00

position at 19:15 GMT is: North 15*53'665 West 027*22'767
1878 miles to Barbados

We've had a good sail today averaging about 5 knots of boat speed, we have 15 knots of wind out of the ENE and very confused and choppy seas. It seems that there's swell coming from two or three different directions and so when they merge they push us around making for quite an uncomfortable ride. We're sailing downwind with the head sail poled out on one side and the full main on the other and luckily our wind steering unit is doing a great job of holding a course.

Our plan is to head a little south of our rhum line to Barbados so as to try and avoid some of the stronger winds that are generally found on a higher latitude. We heard on the net this morning that the yacht 'Egret' ahead of us reported loosing their rudder and so other yachts are changing course to help them. It sounds like they may me directly ahead of us by 5 days so we will see if we can help with fuel or anything else when we are closer.

Life on board is slowly falling into a more familiar rhythm of three hour watches at night and half day watches during the day. The lee cloth is rigged up on our sea berth and it's coming in handy to strap us into the bunk so we can get some relief from the constant rolling!

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Cape Verdes to Barbados - Day 1

2011-12-11T11:10:00.000-08:00

Position at 18:46 UTC: North 16*43'592 West 025*30'597
1987 Miles to Barbados

We spent a lovely few days relaxing in Mindelo on Sao Vincente island in the Cape Verdes. On friday we joined cruisers from five other yachts and caught the ferry over to Santo Antaou island for a day of exploring. We hired a driver with a mini van to take us around and were amazed at the stunning scenery. The islands remind us a lot of the Caribbean but much more mountainous and with a lot less tourists!

Mindelo also offered us the chance to fill up on Diesel(0.84 per liter), Petrol (1.60 per liter) and drinking water (0.02 per liter). There are good laundry services that will wash for you or you can do it yourself. The marina is a little overpriced at 30 a night but we were more than happy to anchor out and there is a free dinghy dock. All in all we really enjoyed the stop and we're happy to be back in the more relaxed African islands.

Today it was time to leave so after doing some final provisions we upped anchor and left the anchorage at Midday. The wind was blowing up to 35 knots in the pass between the islands but now we seem to be in the wind shadow and are motoring with none, yachts ahead of us are reporting 20-25 knots and big seas so hopefully we'll pick that up before dark so we can set our sails in the light.

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Grande Harbour (Mindelo), Cape Verdes

2011-12-07T16:03:00.000-08:00

Position at anchor: North 16*53'006 West 024*59'722

As the sun rose this morning the wind died off completely and we slowly motor sailed along the stunningly high coast of Sao Vincente Island in the Cape Verdes. By 10am we had pulled into the Port of Mindelo and dropped our anchor among the 40+ other yachts in beautifully calm water. Straight away we were visited by fellow cruisers to let us know where everything we could possibly need in town was including the fuel station, bank, bakery and laundry.

This afternoon we dropped the dinghy into the water and headed ashore to check in with immigration and the maritime police. With just a small fee of 5 Euros and very friendly officials we were cleared into the Cape Verdes within 15 minutes. Tomorrow we plan to explore the town but for now we're happy to relax on board and catch up with some much needed sleep!

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Las Palmas to Cape Verde - Day 7

2011-12-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

Position at 19:08 UTC: North 17*48'045 West 024*31'716
61 miles to Mindelo, Cape Verdes.

The wind and seas have completely died down now so we're back to flying full sails with the main and headsail wing on wing for a comfortable down wind sail. We have about 10-15 knots out of the East with clear skies and are moving at an average of 4 knots, at this speed we should arrive in Mindelo on Sao Vincente island around 9am tomorrow morning.

We finally put the fishing lines out today and managed to hook two fish. The first was a little Mahi Mahi which we decided was too small so we put him back. The second was a larger Mahi Mahi perfect for a couple of meals. Jimmy has just fried up a couple of fillets with butter and teryaki within an hour of catching it and it smells delicious...can't get much fresher than that! So now we'll have dinner while watching our last sunset on this passage and look forward to discovering what the Cape Verdes hold in stall for us...fingers crossed a calm anchorage!!

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Las Palmas to Cape Verde - Day 6

2011-12-05T12:04:00.000-08:00

Position at 19:26 UTC: North 19*20'095 West 023*42'962

We have 164 miles to go to Mindelo in the Cape Verdes and finally the wind has calmed down to a steady 15 knots out of the east. The seas are down to about 1.5 meters so we are finding the conditions much more comfortable and finally a couple of layers of clothing have peeled off. This afternoon a fog bank lowered around us so we only have visibility of just over a mile making everything pretty gray. At our boat speed of around 5 knots we should make landfall the day after tomorrow.

There's really not much else to report except that we ran the generator to make water today and it was finally calm enough to take a shower... so we finally have much sweeter smelling crew! We continue to check into the Magellan net on our SSB each morning and Captain Fatty Goodlander aboard Wildcard also runs a more informal net in the evenings at 6pm that we also check into. There's a bit of a fishing competition going on between the yachts and it seems the New Zealanders are well in the lead, we're still eating fresh food from the Canaries but tomorrow the lines will go out for the first time.

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Las Palmas to Cape Verde - Day 5

2011-12-04T12:08:00.001-08:00

Position at 19:28 UTC is: North 21*04'950 West 022*25'130
290 miles to Cape Verde

Finally the winds have begun to abate a little and we're no longer getting tossed around quite so much! With 20-25 knots out of the west and 3 meter seas our wind vane is finding it a lot easier to hold a course without our constant attention. We still have the third reef in the main sail and just a slither of headsail out on the pole to keep us balanced.

The sky has been over cast all day and we're hoping it's the tail end of the system passing over us. The forecast shows much more reduced wind and seas tomorrow so fingers crossed for a calmer day and the chance to take a much needed shower!!

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Las Palmas to Cape Verde - Day 4

2011-12-03T11:33:00.001-08:00

Position at 19:12 UTC: North 22*39'215 West 020*36'665

Well the wind we were expecting certainly filled in right on time today, with speeds of up to and gusting over 30 knots. The seas also increased to around 4 meters breaking and have made for a pretty rough day. Our wind vane really struggles to hold a course down wind when the waves are pushing us around so we have to sit and watch the helm ready to grab it if we start head side on to a wave. Hopefully things will start to calm down during the night and within a couple of days we should have calmer conditions. We're making good speed and still averaging between 6-7 knots with 426 miles to go to the Verdes.

Jimmy was visited by a pod of dolphins today who put on a show of acrobatics for him...it's nice to be reminded of what we enjoy about sailing especially on days when we're not really enjoying it at all!!

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Las Palmas to Cape Verde - Day 3

2011-12-02T12:25:00.000-08:00

Position at 19:10 UTC: North 24*06'691 West 018*45'915

Another really fast day for us with boat speeds between 6-7 knots, the wind has increased to 25 knots and seas are between 2-3 meters. The sea around us is a mass of breaking waves pushing us around as Blue Moon surfs down the front of them. The wind has been slowly increasing and we're thankful that we're heading in the same direction and not trying to push against it.

With 558 miles to go to Mindelo we should arrive at this pace a day early, however, in 48 hours the wind is predicted to die down so we'll have to wait and see...not really trusting the forecast at this point. Trying to get sleep with the roll of the boat has been quite difficult, even with the help of the lee cloth strapping us in and several pillows wedging us in! Looks like we should have a clear night so lots of stars to help steer by.

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Underway to the Cape Verdes-Day 2

2011-12-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

Position at 19:17 UTC with 700 miles to go: North 25*52'320 and West 017*05'167.

Day two and we've been keeping a pretty good pace, the winds have increased to 20-25 knots and we're expecting them to build even more by tomorrow. We're sailing along at 6 knots with a double reefed main and a slip of a headsail, the seas are rough and around two meters high so we're getting knocked around a bit.

Our sea legs are slowly returning and we're generally getting back into the swing of three hour watches. We've passed a couple of container ships but otherwise sightings of other vessels has been pretty minimal, we have been warned to keep a look out for rowing boats as they head out to cross the Atlantic also...I definitely don't envy them!

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Underway to the Cape Verdes-Day 1

2011-11-30T11:35:00.001-08:00

Position: North 27*37'222 West 015*36'583

We were finally able to get underway today at 11am after spending most of the morning wrestling the dinghy on deck, getting everything stowed away and scrubbing the very fuzzy anchor chain before bringing it onboard! We've just passed the southern point of Gran Canaria and are making a decent speed of 5.5 knots under a reefed mainsail and poled out headsail. The winds have been slowly increasing as the day goes on and a predicted 10 knots is now blowing a breezy 20.

Our course is set at 219* True and we're slowly relaxing back to life at sea...just enough time for a chicken curry dinner before the sun goes down!

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Las Palmas ~ Gran Canaria

2011-11-29T08:30:00.000-08:00

Position at anchor: North 28*07'971 West 015*25'478

We've been anchored in Las Palmas for three weeks and have slowly been getting Blue Moon ready for her trip across the Atlantic. This has been our last stop to get any repairs done and to stock up with food at the big hypermarkets before heading to the Cape Verdes where we expect only the basic amenities.

Caroline has just returned back from a trip to England to visit family and friends while we're still so close and Jimmy's brother in law 'Todd' flew out for a week long visit from the states to keep him company. Every day cruising yachts have been leaving the port and heading out towards the Caribbean so we're starting to feel that it's time to go!

Our plan is to leave tomorrow morning and head 858 nautical miles south to Porto Grande (Mindelo) on the island of Sao Vicente in the north west Cape Verde islands. We'll stay there for up to a week to explore and do some hiking and then make the 2000 mile jump to Barbados in the Caribbean. I have to admit we're looking forward to getting closer to the equator and warmer weather as it has been getting pretty chilly here!

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Day 4 underway to the Canaries

2011-11-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

Current Position @ 20:00 GMT: North 30*00'458 West 012*34'642

With just 68 miles to go until we make landfall in the Canaries we've had a great couple of days sailing. On day 2 we were able to fly the spinnaker with light winds out of the north west, by night fall they'd increased enough for us to pole out the headsail on the starboard side and let the main out on the port for a beautiful down wind run. We kept that set up until a couple of hours ago when the wind changed more out of the west so we flipped the headsail onto the port and are now making a comfortable 5 knots on course.

The weather has been great with clear skies during the day, just a little too cold at night for our liking so the thermals have come out and we're kitted out with about four layers during our watches. The wind vane has been steering an almost perfect course so no need for hand steering, we're enjoying watching the miles slip away as the big Atlantic swell carries us closer to warmer latitudes.

We've been in contact with other yachts around us all making about the same speed and each morning the Mag Net on the SSB keeps us updated to where everyone is. There will be over 20 yachts making landfall in the same anchorage as us so it should be interesting to see how we all fit in!

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Underway from Morocco to the Canary Islands.

2011-10-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

Current Position underway to the Canaries: North 32*51'680 West 009*15.140
Position while in Rabat, Morocco: North 34*01'652 West 006*49'378

After a great two week stay in Bouregreg Marina in Rabat, Morocco we are back underway and on Passage to the Canary Islands. Due to large swell outside the river entrance to the marina the port was closed for over a week so when the swell finally died down enough yesterday we all made a mad dash over the bar and back out to sea. We were joined by 21 other yachts so there's a convoy of us all heading in the same direction.

Last night we spent the whole time trying to avoid the Moroccan fishermen with their nets that line the coast with just little flashing lights to mark each end. Unfortunately the lights are all the same so it's impossible to tell where one net ends and another begins. We seem to be free of them now and are making good progress sailing down wind averaging around 5 knots of boat speed. With 310 Miles to go we should arrive at La Graciosa Island some time on Wednesday.

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Gibraltar to Rabat, Morocco.

2011-10-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

Current position heading south along the Moroccan coast: North 35*18'011 006*17'440

After spending a week in Gibraltar preparing Blue Moon for our Atlantic crossing we're back underway. We have just passed through the straights of Gibraltar and into the North Atlantic Ocean. Thick fog engulfed us a we left the port this morning and we've been motoring through it most of the day. Crossing the shipping channel was pretty hair raising as we could only see a boat length in any direction...thank god for the AIS!

We are now motoring down the coast of Morocco and unfortunately the fog is back upon us and it's now dark outside. Instead of ships we have to worry about running into fishing nets and boats that don't show up so well on radar. So it's back outside for me as four eyes are better than two and I'll post more tomorrow when we arrive in Rabat.

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Ibiza to Gibraltar - Day 3

2011-10-05T10:31:00.001-07:00

Current Position underway along the coast of Spain: North 36*23'433 West 003*46'432

We have 78 nautical miles to go to Gibraltar and still not enough wind to sail. This morning we were able to fly the headsail for a few hours but eventually it started to flog and had to pulled in. So now we're back to just motoring, the good thing is the auto pilot works perfectly in these conditions so we rarely have to touch the helm. The Shipping lanes are just south of us and now and again a cargo ship or ferry will brake off and pass in front of us heading to a Spanish port, other than that; a few fishing boats and lots of dolphins are the only signs of life we've seen.

Our arrival time in Gibraltar should be about midday tomorrow and our first stop will be the fuel dock to fill up on duty free Petrol and Diesel. We're looking forward to spending a few days in the luxury of a marina to mark the end of our time in the Med (and on British soil no less) and to supermarkets filled with English goodies!

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Ibiza to Gibraltar

2011-10-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

Current Position Underway along the Spanish Coast: North 37*09'546 West 001*18'267

We left Formentera Island yesterday and are now underway along the Spanish Coast heading for Gibraltar. There's been very little wind so we're motor sailing along on an oily calm sea and making good progress. With a lot of shipping in this area it's been great to have the AIS system transmitting our position and it makes night passages much more enjoyable! With 212 miles to go we should be arriving in Gibraltar on Tuesday if the weather continues to hold in.

We've finally gotten in to some good fishing ground and today we caught four Mahi Mahi within a couple of hours of putting the lines out. We released two back and the other two have given us plenty of fillets for the next couple of days meals and without a freezer we're limited to how much we can keep.

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Ibiza and Formentera Island.

2011-10-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

Position at anchor in Cala Saona, Formentera Island: North 38*26'151 East 001*23'216
Previous position at anchor off Las Salinas beach, Ibiza: North 38*50'435 East 001*23'382
Previous Position at anchor in Cala Boix, Ibiza: North 39*01'738 East 001*36'507

We're currently anchored off the west Coast of an Island called Formentera just south of the Island of Ibiza. The water is 10 feet deep and a beautiful turquoise colour, so crystal clear that we can see our anchor snuggly hooked up into the white sand ahead of us. We haven't seen an anchorage like this since the Maldives and it's hard to believe we're in the Mediterranean!

To be honest Ibiza was a very pleasant shock to me, I'd never been here before and it being pretty much the clubber's Mecca of the world didn't bring up images like the one I'm looking at! Gorgeous sandy beaches, great sailing and on the north side of Ibiza loads of beautiful little Cala's (bays) surrounded by towering rock formations...if only we had more time. It would be easy to spend a month or more here exploring the coasts but as usual we have a schedule and the Atlantic is calling!

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Santa Ponca ~ Mallorca

2011-09-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

Current position at anchor: North 39*30'905 East 002*28'281

After 250 nautical miles of Motor sailing it was a dream to finally drop the anchor and switch the engine off to some peace and quiet. At 5pm this evening our third day underway we pulled into the beautiful anchorage of Santa Ponca on the western coast of Mallorca. We found a spot between the medley of big and expensive motor yachts and let our senses adjust to the hive of activity going on around us as wake boarders and jet skis buzz by. The bay is overlooked by grand looking houses and hotels and it's obvious that we've just landed in the playground to the super rich...

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Day 2 ~ Underway Sardinia to Mallorca

2011-09-16T11:03:00.000-07:00

Current Position: North 39*13'182 East 004*36'990

With very little wind blowing out of the East we're still motoring along hoping it will pick up just enough for us to cut the engine and sail. We have changed our plans a little as we're making better time than expected. We will now head for the west coast near the city of Palma to look for a good anchorage to use as a base to explore the island. With 105 miles to go we should arrive some time tomorrow afternoon.

The only good thing about motoring this long is that we've completely topped up the water tanks, the water maker has been pumping away doing a grand job of turning salt water into lovely fresh drinking water!

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Underway from Sardinia to Mallorca

2011-09-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

Current position heading west: N39*04.719, E007*08'.008

After a few days of exploring the South Western corner of Sardinia we are back underway again and heading to Mallorca in the Balearic Islands. We had just enough time to explore the lovely old town of Sant'antioco and stock up on provisions at the large Lidl Supermarket which seem to be popular here in Italy. Blue Moon wasn't neglected and Jimmy got to work doing an oil change on the engine and replacing oil and fuel filters while I fought the continuous battle of keeping salt and dirt off the decks.

The weather window has opened for a three day passage so we're making the most of the flat calm seas and motor sailing along. We should arrive Saturday morning in Porto Colom on the South eastern coast of Mallorca. The moon is still blessing us with it's presence so we have a beautiful bright clear night to look forward to...Just a shame we have to listen to the engine.

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Porto Ponte Romano ~ Sardinia

2011-09-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

Current Position at Anchor: North 39*02'29 East 08*28'04

The wind finally picked up enough last night for us to sail so we had speedy arrival in Sardinia this morning just as the sun was rising. Our first stop was the fuel dock in Porto Ponte Romano to top up on diesel (1.55 litre) and the extremely friendly attendant was happy to work with us using mostly sign language to figure out how much fuel we needed - which depended on the amount of Euros in cash we had on board!

The wind was blowing hard out of the south so we had to cross to the west side of the bay to get protection from the building swell. We managed to find a spot of sand in all the sea grass, which seems to plague this side of the med, and anchored off a really beautiful long white sandy beach...we have it all to ourselves! Tomorrow if the winds change round to the North we'll head back over to the town to pick up some supplies and then start to explore some of the many anchorages in this area.

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Underway to Sardinia

2011-09-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

Current Position: North 38*35'085 East 009*47'100

At 6pm last night, with just a couple of hours of sunlight left, we dropped the mooring ball and started our passage to Sardinia. The winds were lightly blowing out of the north so we kept the engine running and haven't turned it off since. With flat calm seas and almost a full moon it was easy to spot and avoid the floats set by the local long line fisherman so no tangles with the propeller and a peaceful night at sea.

This morning I was awoken by the sound of a whirling fishing reel and the site of Jimmy struggling to pull in a beautiful Mahi Mahi or dolphin fish - Yippee...Our first fish caught in the med and tonight's supper! We're still motoring along as the sun sets on another day and looking forward to a calm and clear night. We should arrive at our anchorage on the South West Coast of Sardinia some time early tomorrow morning.

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Favignana Island ~ Sicily

2011-09-09T07:39:00.001-07:00

Current Position On a mooring on south coast of Favignana Island: North 37*55'023 East 012*18'540

Our final stop in Sicily is the Small island of Favignana five miles off the north west tip. Favignana is one of three main islands that make up the Edagi Group and Marine Reserve. For the first time in Sicily we're not anchored off a commercial port which means the water is lovely and clean, perfect for swimming and snorkeling...it feels soo good to be back in the water again! We didn't even have to drop the anchor as we're snugly tied off to one of the free national park moorings.

The main town is just half a mile's walk across the island on the North side and a really popular spot for Italian tourists. A quaint little fishing harbour that was once home to one of Italy's largest Tuna factories. At night they open the old factory, which has been made into a museum, to the public and it's almost haunting to walk around a place that was once the site of so much Killing...the smell must have been unbelievable! These weren't just small tuna like the ones we're used to catching but often bigger and heavier than three men put together.

Over a hundred men would row out in wooden boats then set nets the size of football pitches, they'd wait for the tuna to swim in then slowly pull in the nets by hand. Once the tuna were cornered in a small area it would take five or six men to hook each fish with gaffs and pull them into the boats. Back at the factory they would cut them up, boil and salt the meat then pack it into tins that had also been made on site. A lengthy process that would involve the whole town including the women and children. However, like most industries new and faster ways of doing the job were created which meant the depletion of fish stocks due to over fishing and less work resulting in the factory finally closing down.

Yesterday we decided it was time to get some exercise and followed in the trend of the locals by renting bicycles for 4 each and rode around the whole island. Some of the roads are paved but many are just bumpy dirt and gravel tracks and our bums are definitely paying the price today. We've been here for five days waiting for a window to head north to Sardinia and it looks like we may have our shot this weekend with a window of two days of southerly wind. If the northerly winds slow down enough we may leave tonight and head for the South West coast (200 miles)taking two nights but if not we'll wait until the morning and head instead for the South East corner (150 miles) arriving the following day...watch this space for an update!

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Sicily ~ South Coast Anchorages.

2011-09-09T03:35:00.001-07:00

30/08/11 - Pozzallo: North 36*43'182 East 014*50'375
Anchored behind the harbour break wall off the town. The Coast Guard moved us from our first anchor spot as we were within the 300 meter no anchor zone, very friendly no probelms. Small town with Conrad supermarket and bakery for supplies, fuel at dock in marina.

31/08/11 - Marina Di Palma: North 37*10'025 East 013*43'421
Our first choice of an anchorage at Licata wasn't possible as a large marina has been built in it's place! Wanting to avoid paying summer rates in the marina so we moved on down the coast to the small fishing town of Marina Di Palma and anchored 300 meters off the small harbour. An open road stead anchorage so not much protection but it was calm the night we stayed there, we didn't go ashore and left early the following morning.

01/09/11 - Porto Empedocle: North 37*17'036 East 013*31'543
Yachts can anchor on the western side of the inner breakwall, no room to tie up in the harbour as far as we could see. The anchorage was very comfortable, the town is small but interesting to explore and has good provisions at Carrefour mini market. From here we caught the bus to the Valley of the Temples near the city of Agrigento, well worth a visit. The bus leaves regularly from the east side of the port and takes roughly 20 minutes to get to the temples.

04/09/11 - Mazara Del Vallo: North 37*38'744 East 012*35'330
Again just another over night stop off what looks to be quite a big city. We anchored off the Eastern side of the inner break wall gaining what little protection we could from the larger outer western break wall. The swell from the south east made for a rolly night and the bottom is thick with sea grass so not the best anchorage but fine for an overnight stop. There is a marina which would be advisable if wanting to spend more time and fuel is available from the dock.

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Porto Palo, Sicily.

2011-08-29T10:44:00.001-07:00

Current position at anchor in Porto Palo (South east point of Sicily): North 36*40'105 East 015*06'790

It was a hard decision but today we left Siracusa and one of our favourite anchorages in the Med. We were up early enough to head into town to the market to do a final stock up on yummy cheese and fresh fruit and vegetables. It's amazing how lively the city is at 8am with the cafes full of Sicilians drinking coffee and meeting up with friends before work. Our favourite cheese guy was as lively as ever and we were even treated to a free Sicilian sandwich and glass of red wine...Yes for breakfast - Sicilian hospitality will be hard to beat!

After a quick drive through the anchorage to say goodbye to our friends on other boats, we picked up anchor and sailed out of the Port around midday. It was a 25 mile motor sail down the South East coast to Port Palo on the Southern point, a big harbour with two giant break walls protecting us from any Swell from the South. We dropped anchor in 10 feet of water in lovely sticky mud and are snuggly settled in for what we hope to be a peaceful night.

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Siracusa, Sicily.

2011-08-28T14:14:00.001-07:00

Current Position at anchor in Grand harbour, Siracusa: North 37*03'504 East 015*17'026

After arriving in the port of Siracusa a week ago we've been completely immersed in the Italian culture. The city was built on an ancient Greek settlement founded in 737 BC by the Corinthians. Home to such sites as the ruins of the Greek Temple of Apollo, extensive Paleo-Christian catacombs and The Fountain of Artemis in Piazza Archimede, it's an amazing city to stroll around and explore.

The colourful morning market has provided us with a tasty array of Sicilian treats including roasted mozzarella, Green & black olives, Tortellini Pasta, Salami and Italian Sausage. We've gotten our fix of Pizza and seafood pasta in a great local restaurant and the coffee shops for great frappes and deliciously fresh Cannoli!

We finally bit the bullet and invested in a wireless dongle so we can pick up internet on the boat, using a local phone network provider called 'wind' we now have unlimited connection for just 15 a month. Our knowledge of the Italian language is pretty much non existent but with our broken Spanish, the locals limited English and a lot of sign language we seem to be coping surprisingly well.

This has been one of our favourite stops in the Mediterranean so far with the combination of a great anchorage, a city full of beautiful buildings, amazing food and extremely friendly people we're going to find it really hard to leave.

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Underway to Sicily.

2011-08-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

Current Position underway in the South Ionian Sea: North 36*57'854 East 019*03'775

After a few relaxing days exploring Methoni and the ruins of the Venetian fort and Turkish castle we are now underway to Sicily. Yesterday we caught the bus to the town of Pilos 20 miles north along the coast from Methoni. We checked out of the country with the Port Police and picked up a few supplies including some local wine, olive oil and fresh veggies. At 7pm last night after a hectic few hours stowing everything away, mounting the wind steering vane and putting the dinghy on deck, we upped anchor and left Greece. It's sad to leave as we've really loved everything about Greece; the people are really friendly, the scenery is beautiful and the food is delicious...we look forward to coming back and exploring again some day!

As for now though we're 120 miles from Methoni on a west bound course towards the town of Siracusa on the east coast of Sicily. We have 178 miles to go and we're sailing along with 15 knots of wind out of the North West, the seas as usual for the med are uncomfortably bumpy but we're making good time at a speed of 5 knots. At this pace we should arrive in Siracusa on Monday morning. The wind vane is steering for us so we've just sat down to watch the sun set while enjoying a hot bowl of Chilli con Carne, the weather forecast is for much the same winds so fingers crossed we should have a very pleasant night!

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Methoni - Peloponnesse, Greece.

2011-08-15T14:32:00.000-07:00

Current position at anchor in Methoni harbour: North 36*48'921 East 021*42.587

After a rough sail from Patmos to Naxos Island we were lucky to get a great sail the next day, 55 miles to the town of Adhamas on Milos Island. Milos, the origin of the famous Venus de Milo statue, was as far west as we made it last year before heading back to Turkey so it was a great feeling to be back knowing from here on everything would be new. We spent a couple of days sitting out another 30 knot Meltemi filling the time stocking up on fresh food in the small supermarket, getting Jerry cans of fuel from the petrol station across from the beach and jerry cans of water from the public dock down town. We also squeezed in a bus trip up to the town of Plaka high up the mountain offering breathtaking views of the island.

We caught up with friends Carolyn and Cap'n Fatty Goodlander from the yacht 'Wild Card' who we hadn't seen since last year and who are also planning to cross the Atlantic this year. By coincidence they were in need of a new head sail after blowing theirs out in a strong Meltemi and it just so happened we had picked one up from another cruiser in Turkey. It turned out to be a little too big for our boat but after a quick measurement discovered it would fit Wild Card perfectly and thus the sail has found a new home!

Three days after we arrived the wind calmed down and at 6pm on the evening of the 13th we said our goodbye's and sailed out of the harbour. We had just under 100 nautical miles to our next anchorage of Port Kayio on the southern coast of the Peloponnese. We spent the night sailing with light winds out of the North West and then motoring when they eventually died off. Our first night sail in just under a year and we were blessed with calm seas, clear skies and a beautiful full moon...not a bad way to be eased back in! At 5pm yesterday evening we dropped anchor in Port Kayio encompassed by a stunning mountain range which has created a perfect natural harbour.

After an extremely peaceful night catching up on sleep this morning we upped anchor just as the sun began to rise and motor sailed the 50 miles north west to the town of Methoni. We've just set our anchor amid a small group of international cruising yachts and are comfortably nestled behind the protection of the large Venetian fort that stands out from the headland. The water is crystal clear, 15 feet deep and the bottom is great holding in sand. Our plan is to spend a few days exploring the town and fort while keeping an eye on the weather and looking for a good window to sail the 300 miles west to Sicily.

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Naxos Island

2011-08-09T12:27:00.000-07:00

Current Position at anchor on South Coast of Naxos Island: North 36*56'100 East 025*28'301

We were finally able to leave Patmos Island today, with a weather forecast of 15 knots of wind from the North West it sounded a lot more appealing than the 30 knots we've had for the past week. We tried to leave a couple of days ago and after an hour of bashing into huge waves we had to turn around and head back for cover. Today started off well but the winds slowly increased and half way thorough the day we were faced with the same high winds and big waves, by the time the weather had filled in we'd gone too far to turn back so had no choice but to carry on.
We covered over 55 nautical miles in 11 hours with a double reef in the main and a slither of head sail, the boat is caked in salt and pretty much everything down below that wasn't tied down was flung around the cabin...we really can't figure out the Greek weather.
We're now very happily anchored in a beautiful calm bay that we've affectionately named 'sheep anchorage' (due to the huge herds of sheep that cover the hills) and are looking forward to a shower, a hot meal and a good nights sleep. Supposedly tomorrow the weather will be 'even better' so we plan to head on to Milos Island and another 55 mile sail west of here...we shall see if the forecast can ever be trusted!

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Goodbye Turkey...Hello Greece!

2011-07-31T14:50:00.000-07:00

Current Position at anchor in the South bay of Lipsos Island, Greece: North 37*16'770 East 026*46'153

We checked out of Turkey on Friday in Bodrum, after much hassle avoiding a 75 Euro agent fee, which we managed to do but as usual something that should have taken half an hour took half a day instead. The blow was softened a bit by us discovering a duty free shop at the ferry terminal where we had to get our passports stamped and thus we smuggled out a couple of bottles of cheap liquor in our backpacks...typical cruiser style!

This morning we upped anchor and after topping up with fuel and water at the marina we motored the 25 miles to Lipsos Island in the Northern Dodecanese of the Greek islands. With a 15 knot head wind it was slow going but at least the engine got a good run and we topped up the power in the batteries and have enough hot water to last us a few days.

Tomorrow we'll head 10 miles to the west to the town of Skala on Patmos island, follow in our footsteps of last year and fingers crossed complete a smooth check in to Greece.

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Marmaris to Bozuk Buku

2011-07-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

Current Position at anchor in Bozuk Buku: North 36*34'490 East 028*00'660 - Good holding in 25ft of sand and weed.

After a month of endless hard work both on the hard in Yacht Marina and at anchor in Marmaris bay we have finally 'almost' completed all the jobs to get Blue Moon back into a fully functional live aboard cruising boat. Today that hard work paid off as we blew out the cobwebs and made our first step back into our Mediterranean cruising season.

This morning we picked up anchor and motored (against the wind of course) 27 nautical miles west along the coast and back to the beautiful anchorage of Bozuk Buku. Also known as Port apolotheka or ancient Loryma, the bay is overlooked by the ruins of an ancient citadel and dotted with small fish restaurants nestled in the valleys of the imposing rocky hills.

We're heading up the coast tomorrow towards Bodrum where we'll do a final stock up with food and fuel and then check out of Turkey.
For now it's off to enjoy a cocktail while watching another great sunset!

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Blue Moon update!

2010-11-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry for another really long delay in updating this site but our situation changed rapidly a couple of months ago so it's gotten a bit neglected. Instead of being in the Canary Islands right now, with us preparing for an Atlantic crossing, Blue Moon is out of the water in dry storage at Yacht Marine in Marmaris, Turkey.

We decided to leave the boat for the winter season in the Mediterranean and return back to her in May of 2011 to continue on. We're both currently in Orlando, Florida staying with Jimmy's family and Enjoying the luxuries of living on land.

Ormos Vathi ~ Sifnos Island, Greece

2010-08-05T01:19:00.000-07:00

Current Position at anchor: North 36*55'846 East 024*41'400 ~ Great enclosed anchorage, good holding in 20ft sand & Weed.

We're currently anchored in yet another beautiful bay off the village of Vathi on the South West coast of Sifnos Island. The water is crystal clear with visibility of over 100 feet making it a perfect place for swimming and watching the fish! Ashore there's a lovely little village with two mini markets for getting basic provisions and a long beach fringed with Tavernas selling everything from Octopus to Greek meat balls.

Yesterday we caught the local bus to the town of Apollonia high up in the hills for a look around the winding alleys and beautiful views of the coast line. We stopped in a Taverna for a drink sitting outside under a blanket of winding vine leaves and enjoying a break from the baking sun! This morning we've been catching up on boat chores, doing laundry and filling up with water from small dock (cost 1.50 euro for two runs with our Jerry cans). Later today we plan to sail to the island of Kimolos just 12 miles to the South West of here and then on to Milos tomorrow.

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Paroikia town, paros Island ~ Greece

2010-08-02T23:31:00.001-07:00

Current Position at anchor: North 37*05'412 East 025*09'227 ~ Very good anchorage, large bay off town with sand/weed bottom good holding.

Paroikia Town is on the north west coast of Paros island and is extremely pretty and steeped in history. It's home to the Katapoliani 'the church of the hundred doors', a beautiful Greek Orthodox building containing three churches in one and well worth a visit. The town dates back to the 13th century and the old quarter or 'Kastro' is a maze of intricate little alleyways and home to some great boutique shops and Restaurants. We even found a small catholic church and were able to attend Sunday mass the first time since Singapore over a year ago!

We've been here two days now and have enjoyed idling away the days wandering the streets window shopping and people watching. There are two small supermarkets both owned by the same company where we've been able to reprovision with all the basics...more expensive than Turkey but reasonable enough! Today we are going to make the most of what little wind we have and try to sail the 22 miles to Ormos Vathi on Sifnos Island.

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Naxos Island.

2010-07-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

Current Position at anchor: North 36*56'119 East 025*28'263 ~ Great anchorage in 15 feet with all sand bottom, crystal clear water and small quay where water and power is available.

Today we sailed another 20 miles to the South East with a lot more wind than the forecast predicted, 25-30 knots on the beam made for a pretty bumpy ride but at least it's given us our sea legs back after months of taking it easy. We dropped anchor in yet another beautiful anchorage on the south side of Naxos Island, surrounded by golden coloured hills full of sheep and picture perfect little white and blue houses and chapel. We're enjoying having another anchorage completely to our selves and can hardly believe this is high season in Greece...no complaints here!

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Dhenoussa Island.

2010-07-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

Current Position at anchor: North 37*05'772 East 025*48'238 ~ Anchored in 20 feet sandy bottom, great holding.

Yesterday we decided to make the most of the Meltemi winds (strong winds that blow from the North West here in Greece) and sail the 38 miles South West of Patmos island to the small island of Dhenoussa. We're currently anchored off a beautiful sandy beach on the south coast covered in tents belonging to Greek holiday makers who catch the ferry over and spend a few days camped out on the beach.

Today the wind has been gusting up to 30 knots so we've stayed on the boat to keep anchor watch with the occasional swim to cool off. Tomorrow we plan to head further south to Naxos island and some of the smaller less visited islands below it and then on to Paros and Sifnos, we have no real time deadlines to be anywhere so we'll just take it slow and do some exploring!

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Patmos Island ~ Greece!

2010-07-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

Current Position at Ormos Stavros, Patmos Island: North 37*17'583 East 026*32'569
Last night's anchorage at Skala, Patmos Island: North 37*19'648 East 026*32'701
First anchorage in Greece on Lipso Island: North 37*16'787 East 026*46'199

Our entrance into Greece two days ago was extremely smooth and enjoyable, after leaving Bitez in Turkey we sailed 30 miles North West to the island of Lipso. The anchorage is beautiful with great holding in sand and picturesque white buildings lining the hills overlooking the bay. The next morning we had a great sail 12 miles to the town of Skala on the island of Patmos where after anchoring we headed ashore to check in. Straight away we could tell we were in another country with Tavernas and pretty little shops lining the winding alleyways with beautiful white washed walls that are so common here in Greece.

The check in process was quick and easy; first we visited the Police to check in with immigration, they gave us a form to take downstairs to Customs who charged us 30 Euros for a cruising log to be filled in at every port we visit. Then on to the Port authority who checked our boat papers and charged us 15 Euros for entering the country, they filled in our first entry of our cruising log and also charged an 11 Euro fee for spending three days in the port. Within half an hour we were all checked in to the EU and we're surprised at how simple it was after hearing not such good reports from other cruisers.

This morning however we were asked to move from where we were anchored as a large ship was coming into the port, instead of tying up to the town dock as offered we decided to move south to another beautiful anchorage called Ormos Stavros. We're currently anchored beneath a lone Monastery perched on the hill side and have the place all to ourselves...beautiful. There's even the wreck of an old airplane that crashed during the war just a short swim from us that we can explore snorkeling...so far we're loving Greece!!

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Goodbye Turkey!

2010-07-24T21:45:00.001-07:00

Today we are upping anchor and leaving Turkey after three wonderful months of exploring the beautiful coastline from Fethiye to Asin Liman. We've spent the last month around the Bodrum area with an inland trip to the ancient ruins of Ephesus and another quick trip home to England for Caroline to replace an already full passport.
We'll be sad to leave Turkey and it's beautiful rugged anchorages and incredibly warm and welcoming people but it's time to move on and we're excited to see what Greece has to offer!
Our first stop will be the island of Leros in the Dodecanese and then on to Patmos the following day to check in and start our three months in European waters.

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Datca to Yalikavak - Turkish west coast.

2010-06-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

Current position at anchor in Yalikavak Bay: North 37*07'061 East 027*16'218

Previous anchor Position at - Kefaluka Beach: North 36*57'862 East 027*17'140 - anchored in 17 feet with sandy bottom and tourist resorts ashore.
Bitez Village: North 37*01'468 East 027*22'843 - Great spot to visit Bodrum by Dolmus, anchored in 30 feet sand good holding.
Kalaboshi Bay: North 36*41'054 East 027*34'419 - Beautiful little bay with lovely restaurants ashore, anchored 10 feet in sand.
Datca Town: North 36*43'201 East 027*41'369 - Good town with all provisions, water on dock, anchored in 30 feet sand & weed.

The last ten days we've spent slowly cruising our way up the Western coast of Turkey. We're currently anchored in a beautiful little bay with clear water and a great swimming beach with hiking trails leading into the hills behind. Last night we had the bay to ourselves which has been a first in Turkey so we plan to make the most of it and spend a few days here! Today we'll take our dinghy across to the southern side of the bay to the marina off Yalikavak Village to take a look around and pick up some provisions.

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Bozuk Buku

2010-06-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

Current Position at anchor: North 36*34'497 East 028*00'651

Three days ago we upped anchor and said goodbye to Marmaris harbour heading just 20 miles west along the coast to the beautiful anchorage of Bozuk Buku. A deep bay cut into the spectacular rugged mountains, we anchored in 30 feet in a sandy patch between the sea weed that coats the bottom and relaxed into a few days of Hiking, swimming and reading. We'd almost forgotten what it was like to be away from civilisation and to just take it easy for a few days.

At the entrance of the bay stands the huge remains of a citadel high on a hill so yesterday we packed a lunch and went ashore to hike along the rocky donkey and goat trails to do some exploring. The views from the top were beautiful and we found a great spot in the shade of an olive tree to take a break and eat our packed lunch. It's quite surprising how clear the water is here in Turkey, a beautiful deep sapphire blue colour that really stands out from the dusty brown of the hills. The temperature of the water still holds a lot to be desired though and back at the boat it took an inch by inch process to finally get into...very refreshing after a long walk though!

Tomorrow we plan to leave here and head up the coast to the town of Datca to pick up some fresh provisions and then carry on to the historic site at Knidos the following day.

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Marmaris Harbour, Southern Turkey

2010-06-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

Current Position at anchor: North 36*51'023 East 028*16'062

Sorry for being pretty slack at keeping up with updates over the past couple of weeks but we're back on track after a quick visit home by me and then a family visit topped off with a bout of the flu that knocked us down for a couple of days! On my return from the UK we sailed Blue Moon 50 miles west along the coast from Fethiye and are now anchored in Marmaris harbour off the town Quay.

My mum flew in for a visit staying at a local hotel here in Marmaris so we enjoyed a week of exploring (mostly shops and markets...mums favourites!) and have gotten to know the main town and it's smaller neighbouring villages almost by heart. We spent one day on a jeep safari which resulted in us getting soaking wet, thanks to the Brits with water pistols, but found it a great way to see some of the country side we tend to miss with our usual short excursions on foot from the boat.

Marmaris is a lot more touristy than Fethiye with rows of hotels fringing the harbour beaches, but it still holds a lot of the Turkish charm. With small winding alleyways snaking their way around the old castle that sits over the harbour and creating a labyrinth of tiny shops selling anything and everything. From fake designer clothes and bags to Turkish trinkets and carpets It's all available and if something your looking for isn't at hand it can all be found for a price!

Pretty cafes with a blissful aroma of Turkish coffee wafting out onto the street are dotted everywhere and a great place to try out the hugely popular apple tea or just sit and watch the games of dominoes that seem to be continuously taking place. The harbour wall is packed with traditional Turkish wooden sail boats called 'Gullets' that shine with all their brightly varnished hulls and take tourists by the bus loads on tours of the bay.

It's also been great while we're here to catch up with some friends, Mark and Nicole, that we haven't seen since Oman on board their yacht 'Sea life' for a lovely Roast dinner (proving that Aussies can cook a roast as well as us English!) and to swap Red Sea Stories and plans for the trip across the med.

In a couple of days we plan to up anchor and start slowly cruising up the west coast of Turkey before jumping over to the Greek Islands next month. Not sure yet where we'll stop but we'll keep one eye on the weather and the other on our cruising guide and take it from there!

Taking some down time!

2010-05-16T06:05:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update as Blue Moon is still at anchor in Fethiye but Jimmy is currently alone onboard. I've flown home to England for a week to attend my Grandmothers funeral and will return to Turkey on Wednesday. My mum has flown out to Marmaris in Turkey just 50nm from Fethiye so on my return we'll sail around and meet up with them for a week. Jimmy is hard at work repairing winches and generally getting the boat back in shape for this season!

Fethiye ~ Turkey.

2010-04-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

Current Position at anchor: North 36*37'434 East 029*05'764

Well we made it to Turkey arriving yesterday afternoon in Fethiye harbour on the south western coast and are really loving it! We can't believe what the landscape looks like - high mountains all around (even some with snow on the caps)and pine trees covering the hills - the smell is wonderful - we both thought we lost our noses in the desert so it's a treat for the senses and so beautiful. Blue Moon is happily sat at anchor in 40 feet of water, Fethiye is a natural enclosed harbour so it feels like we're on a lake high up in the mountains!

We spent today walking around the town getting our bearings, it's a pretty big place with lots of great Cafes and Restaurants and little back alleys of shops to get lost in. The people are really nice and very laid back and it's great not to get hassled to buy things at every turn! The temperature here is a lot colder than we've had for a long time so we're getting used to wearing long trousers and fleeces again. The good thing is summer is coming so it's just going to get warmer each month but to be honest it's quite lovely to wrap up for a change! We plan to stay here for a week or so and then hop along the coast to the bigger town of Marmaris to the west, our visa lasts for three months and if our first stop is anything to go by we'll probably stay and cruise the coast for the duration.

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Suez transit complete ~ We're in the Med!

2010-04-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

Current Position @ 13:00 GMT: North 31*23'486 East 032*19'428

We have just completed our transit of the second half of the Suez canal and are now very happy to say that we are officially in the Mediterranean Sea! We left Ismailia Marina at 5am this morning and we were lucky to get another really nice pilot so easy going the whole way. It's now 3pm and we are making our way through the shipping anchorage just outside the canal entrance with 352 miles to go to Fethiye on the south western side of Turkey. We're in company with one other yacht called 'Equinox' from Scotland who are heading West of our destination to Rhodes in Greece. The weather looks pretty good although it's hard to get a good prediction in the Med but fingers crossed we will finally be able to switch of the engine and just sail (hopefully we haven't forgotten how to do this as it's been so long!).

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Suez Canal, Ismailia - Egypt

2010-04-23T03:35:00.001-07:00

We're currently tied up to the Ismailia Marina half way through the Suez canal and waiting for good weather in the Med to keep going. Our trip up to Port Suez was pretty eventful with oil rigs and heavy shipping to contend with along with 25 knots of wind right on our nose. On arrival at the Port Suez yacht club we were met by our agent from Felix Maratime and the measurer was scheduled for the same afternoon. All went very smoothly until the question of fees arose and then as always in Egypt everything became very difficult.

Baksheesh is a way of life here and everyone is constantly asking us for money, whether it's buying groceries at the supermarket or catching a bus 'everyone' wants a tip. However they also try to sneak in extra costs when they think you don't realise and this is what happened with out canal transit fees. Jimmy had already worked out with the measurer how much the cost would be but when Felix came back with the bill an exta $50 had been added on out of nowhere. After a lot of arguing and many comments about how they didn't like Americans the agents finally agreed to the correct price and we made our transit the following day.

Our pilot was a really nice guy and we actually enjoyed the first half of the canal with a relaxing atmosphere. Arriving at the Ismalia marina however, he did ask for extra money of which we expected and so we gave him $10 and he left with a lot more ease than other pilots!

Jimmy's birthday was on the 20th so we took a trip into Cairo to see the Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum. We spent two nights in a great hotel called 'City View' overlooking the museum and enjoyed wandering the busy streets of Cairo and generally taking a break from the boat. We had a really nice taxi driver from Ismalia 'Mohammed Imbaby' come and pick us up on our last day and take us to the Pyramids and then back to the marina. Now we're waiting for the weather to calm down so we can make our transit through the second part of the canal and then on to Fetiye in Turkey some 375 miles away.

Hurghada Marina to Port Suez.

2010-04-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

Current Position @ 15:20 GMT: North 27*58'809 East 033*36'973

We've spent the last five days moored up in Hurghada Marina, Hurghada is a large tourist town full of shops selling every kind of Egyptian souvenirs that you could possibly imagine! Despite the constant hassle we got from people trying to sell us miniature sphinxes and Mummy figurines we really enjoyed being back in civilization and being able to restock on fresh food at the local markets and cheap food in the restaurants. Hurghada is a Mecca for Russian package holidays which makes for an interesting mix of people but not necessarily in a good way. Egypt has one of the more reserved Muslim populations we've seen so far and drunken scantily clad Russians just don't seem to blend in so well!

Early this morning we dropped our lines and left the marina and are now underway to Port Suez where we'll begin the procedures to transit the Suez canal. We're sailing in company with one other yacht 'Wild Card' with Carolyn and Fatty Goodlander on board and hope to arrive in two days time. We have very little wind and are currently weaving our way through the fields of oil platforms that litter this area.

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Port Ghalib ~ Checked into Egypt

2010-04-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

Current Position @ 17:00 GMT: North 25*31'719 East 034*38'146

After a pretty rough trip over night last night we are now moored up in a four star resort complex in the middle of the desert and are checked into Egypt... 'wow' from one extreme to another. We arrived at 3pm and pulled up to the customs dock where the check in process took roughly an hour and cost $100 US, very smooth and easy. Now we are med moored inside a really nice complex which seems a million miles away from the isolation we just came from. We have to check weather in the morning to figure out when the next window is to leave but it looks like we'll be enjoying the facilities for the next couple of days at least!

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Swimming with Dolphins at Dolphin Reef!

2010-04-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

Current Position @ 16:00 GMT on 4/4/2010: North 24*24'790 East 035*32'745

Today we had a very special easter as it was spent swimming with a pod of dolphins at Dolphin Reef off the coast of Egypt. We arrived at 9am and wound our way through the mine field of coral heads to anchor in 30 feet of crystal clear water. Just over an hour later we were in the water with a large pod of bottle nose dolphins who appear to just hang out inside the reef. They seemed quite happy to be accompanied by human swimmers and even came up close to have a better look...magical!

Unfortunately we'd made the tough decision to head back out to sea and sail further up the coast for another over night to Port Ghalib just spending 7 hours at the reef. We're currently motoring into northerly winds and choppy seas wondering why we didn't stop for a couple of days and make the most of the opportunity. The hard part of sailing up the Red Sea is to know when to stop and when to keep going on a good weather window but this time we think we've probably made the wrong decision as we sit and relive the days events!

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Crossing Foul Bay ~ Great Sail!

2010-04-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

Current Position: North 23*04'061 East 036*21'191

Yesterday we made a short hop 10 miles up to Marsa Umbeila a beautiful anchorage but didn't enjoy it for long as at 3am this morning we were up and back underway. The winds have turned to the east at 15 knots and we're now having one of our best sails ~ averaging around 7 knots with calm seas and a beam reach. We didn't expect to get these kind of conditions this far north in the Red Sea but we're certainly not complaining. At this rate we'll have to reef down overnight to go a little slower allowing us to arrive at Dolphin Reef with enough light in the early morning. Fingers crossed Dolphin reef holds up to it's name and we get to swim Dolphins for the first time!

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Marsa El Marob ~ Sudanese Coast

2010-04-01T23:28:00.000-07:00

Current Position: North 21*50'192 East 36*51'527

The winds have filled in stronger from the north so we've been forced to pull into a 'Marsa' which is basically an inlet in the desert that opens into a protected bay through a long winding channel. It's pretty strange to be anchored in the Nubian desert with camels walking by and high mountains in the distance shrouded by a dusty haze from all the sand that's blown around. Today we took the dinghy ashore to climb the dunes and enjoyed the beautiful views of the nothingness that seems to go on forever. The coral reef in the pass is some of the best we've seen in a very long time but the water is starting to get much colder the further north we head so it's finally time to pull out the wet suites.

We had some excitement later today when a military boat (with machine gun mounted on the front deck and men in plain clothes) arrived out of nowhere and instead of informing us of it's presence attempted to pull alongside in 30 knots of winds and almost ripped out the side of Blue Moon with it's bow. Luckily Jimmy noticed them just in time to fend off which resulted in one of our metal stanchions being completely bent back. However, they didn't learn the first time and thus came around the other side and tried the same thing, it took five of us to fend off and eventually with a lot of shouting (from our side) we managed to convince them this wasn't a good idea! All the time we were wondering who these guys were and why are they trying to board us. Luckily a small fishing boat was nearby and it was called upon to pick up and deliver the 'officials'. They turned out to be really nice guys who are part of the Sudanese border security force and just wanted to see our paperwork but who obviously don't get much practice in boat maneuvering or international relations!!

Tomorrow the weather forecast is a lot more promising so we plan to head back out and make a jump 30 miles further north to another Marsa and then an overnight passage the following day across Foul Bay to Dolphin Reef...weather permitting!

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Heading North along Sudanese Coast ~ Wreck Recovery Anchorage

2010-03-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

Current Position: North 21*01'071 East 037*18'410

We left Port Suakin three days ago after enjoying a great stop in a really interesting Sudanese town, literally like stepping back in time with donkey carts and goats everywhere!! A group of us took the hour long bus trip into Port Sudan for a look around a bigger city and to restock on fresh meat and vegetables. The Sudanese people are extremely friendly and we got nothing but warm smiles and words of welcome everywhere we went. The only down side is that it's an expensive country to check into for a short period of time at US$130 but well worth the cultural experience.

Now we're back underway and slowly making some distance north, we have to wait for low winds and move in the mornings or over night as the afternoon seems to be the most windy. We're currently anchored behind a reef in 'Wreck Recovery anchorage' and plan to head out tomorrow morning and see how far we can get. The coast line here consists of pretty much desert with high mountains in the distance, occasionally we've seen a tent or small village but otherwise there seems to be very little sign of life but very spectacular!

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Shab Teeta ~ Shubuk Channel

2010-03-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

Current Position: North 18*45'906 East 037*36'877

Yesterday we made the hop 55 miles north and are now anchored behind Shab Teeta island at the eastern end of the Shubuk Channel. The Shubuk Channel is a pass through a reef system along the coast that will allow us to motor through with flat calm seas. Today we plan to head 30 miles north to Port Suakin but at the moment we have to wait for better visibility as it's poring down with rain...very unexpected!!

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Khor Nawarat ~ Sudan

2010-03-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

Current Position: North 18*15'067 East 038*19'722

After an over night sail from Massawa in Eritrea we stopped to anchor behind a small group of island called Khor Nawarat and have been here ever since! The northerly winds filled in at 25-30 knots making it impossible for us to make the next jump 50 miles north of here to Long island. We are now in Sudan and roughly a third of the way up the Red Sea, the islands here are very dry and flat but we've been able to catch fish from the dinghy and pick clams from the sand at the waters edge. We are here with six other yachts and have been meeting ashore every evening to light a bonfire and cook whatever we've caught during the day.

It looks like tomorrow the wind will lessen enough for us to make a push north and we're hoping to be in Port Suakin in a couple of days. From Suakin we'll catch a bus to Port Sudan to restock our food supplies and take a look around the old city.

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Massawa, Eritrea.

2010-03-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

Current Position: North 15*36'676 East 39*28'292

We've been anchored here in the Port of Massawa for five days and have just gotten back from an inland trip to Eritrea's capital 'Asmara'. It cost us one US dollar to ride the four hour bus trip up through Eritrea's mountain range rising up from the African desert. For around forty five years Eritrea was colonised by the Italians ending in 1941 but the culture and architecture is still very prominent making Asmara a beautiful old city. On sunday we rode the refurbished Eritrean Steam railway from Asmara to the village of Nefasit winding through spectacular scenery and a real treat that we least expected!

Our plan now is to sail north tonight to try and make the 180 miles to Khor Nawarat before the next set of Northerly winds set in.

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Mersa Dudo

2010-03-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

Current Position: North 13*51'925 East 041*54'525

We sailed another 24 miles up the coast of Eritrea today and are now anchored off Mersa Dudo on the mainland. The headland looks like a Mars Scape with red sandy hills and a dormant volcano. A group of fishermen live in a few huts made of rocks at one end of the beach and they've already visited us on their skiff asking for cigarettes, food and water. We gave them a small pack of biscuits and a couple of Oranges of which they seemed to be more excited about the latter, I guess fresh fruit is hard to come by out here!

The wind is howling down through the anchorage and blowing over 30 knots at times which is considerably more than off shore. It was a bit unexpected so we've opted against climbing the volcano as planned and have been stuck on the boat most of the afternoon. Tomorrow we plan to make an overnight trip towards the town of Massawa and decide along the way where to stop the following night. We're in company with five other yachts at the moment but it looks like we may be parting company with a couple of them tomorrow.

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Dannabah island ~ Heading North

2010-03-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

Current Position: North 13*40'012 East 042*10'476

Today we sailed 55 miles north from our last anchorage with South Easterly winds reaching over 30 knots. Our first choice of an anchorage at a headland called Ras Terma had to be abandoned as the hills acted as a wind funnel and we were hit by a sand storm with winds reaching 45 knots. Our current location is off a low lying island and is a lot more comfortable although we still have plenty wind but much calmer seas. We caught our first Red Sea fish today a medium sized Yellow fin Tuna but have also already lost three of our lures to much larger fish...very frustrating!

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Through the Bab El Mandeb and In the Red Sea!

2010-03-06T07:21:00.000-08:00

Current Position at anchor: North 12*58'205 East 42*50'381

We're currently anchored off a small Eritrean island in the Lahaleb Desert just forty miles inside the Red Sea. Passing through the straights yesterday we had to motor sail across the shipping channel and are now on the African coast. The winds have picked up from the south so we plan to leave here tomorrow and then decide how far we will go depending on the conditions.

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Ras Al Arah, Yemen ~ Aden to the Bab el Mandeb straights.

2010-03-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

Current Position: North 12*37'818 East 43*54'699

Yesterday afternoon we left the Port of Aden after a really enjoyable stay and are now anchored off the village of Ras Al Arah seventy miles to the south. This will be our last stop before passing through the Bab el Mandeb straights and into the southern part of the Red Sea. The Yemeni coast line is pretty spectacular with sandy mountains fringing the water and small fishing villages scattered in what seems the middle of nowhere! We've been approached by a lot of fishermen in skiffs and they all seem extremely friendly and are willing to trade fish for food, cans of coke or cigarettes.

We plan to wait here until Saturday when we should have more favourable southerly winds to help us through the straights and then on to the town of Massawa in Eritrea about 300 miles north on the African coast. We're traveling in company with three other yachts which is a much more comfortable group compared to the twenty seven we arrived in Aden with!

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In Aden, Yemen!

2010-02-25T12:11:00.000-08:00

Position at anchor in the Port of Aden: North 12*47'555 East 044*58'839

We arrived in Aden two days ago safe and sound after a pretty eventful Motor sail from Salalah in Oman. In total we heard five different attempted pirate attacks over the VHF radio and on our last night out we ran into a huge area of fishing nets resulting in a lot of boats getting caught up. It was a big relief to drop anchor in Aden's protected harbour and we've been enjoying the fascinating sights and sounds of this old city since the moment we first stepped foot ashore.

The checking in process was extremely quick and costs nothing for the first seven days which is a big difference from the expense of Oman. We now have to replace all our batteries onboard as we've been struggling with them since Thailand and want to make sure they are good for the long trip up the Red Sea. Luckily we're managing to mix work with being tourists as Aden is such an interesting place and hasn't changed at all in the last eight years.

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News from Pirate Alley!

2010-02-21T08:53:00.000-08:00

We have just heard over the radio a pirate attack taking place 60 miles ahead of us along the Yemen Coast!! A small Korean tanker called 'Brocolli 1' (strange name) had a skiff with 10 somali's on board with AK 47's try and board them with a ladder. One of the pirates fell into the water and the skiff moved off to retrieve him loosing the ladder in the process, all the time the crew of the tanker were screaming out for help on the radio to a US coalition war ship which was heading for them under full speed (very scary to hear so close to us). We've been listening as the tanker directed the war ship towards the skiff that was chasing them a mile behind. The last we just heard is that another American war ship also showed up and the original one asked them to stay out of they're line of fire. Obviously we are just hearing what is being said on the radio and not sure what the outcome is yet.

Our Convoy leader has called the War ship and alerted them to the fact that 27 yachts are heading in their direction and need to know the eventual outcome of attack...If the skiff is not apprehended then it could be a threat to us! Hopefully we will hear soon but it seems that the war ships often let the pirates go unless they catch them actually on board the ship. We're all pretty surprised that this is taking place so close to the Yemen coast as we thought it would be much safer over here. We've been advised to keep a good look out and stay in a tight formation so that's exactly what we're doing!

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Underway to Aden, Yemen.

2010-02-19T06:55:00.000-08:00

We're currently underway to the town of Aden in Yemen and are sailing with a group of 26 yachts for safety purposes as we are passing through the Gulf of Aden and the high risk pirate area. We have current against us and are motoring along at 4 knots, it's quite an impressive sight to see so many yachts sailing together in a tight group but obviously it has it's disadvantages as well. We're at the front of the group so enjoying some space but with 26 captains all having their own ideas on speeds and distances there's never a dull moment on the radio!

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Salalah Port, Oman.

2010-02-12T08:43:00.000-08:00

We arrived yesterday afternoon in the port of Salalah in Southern Oman, It's a pretty small anchorage tucked away in the back of the huge port and with around 30 yachts here it's pretty tight! Most of us have had to put out stern anchors and then take two lines to shore to tie around boulders on the sea wall. We're surrounded by dry dusty mountains and a spectacular cliffed coast which is such a contrast from where we've spent our last year in Asia...welcome to the Middle East!!
Yesterday evening we walked out of the port to the aptly named Oasis Bar where they sell great steaks and pints of beer on tap...in a dry Muslim country that's pretty impressive! Over the next couple of days we plan to hire a car and explore the city of Salalah and the surrounding area, it will be quite interesting to see how much it's changed in the eight years since I was last here. The checking in process is extremely smooth and easy although pretty expensive at $161 US dollars in and out.

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Storm Sailing!

2010-02-10T07:51:00.000-08:00

We've had a pretty interesting 48 hours as two nights ago due to a storm that came off Oman we were hit with the 35 knots and 3 meter seas (with many that we're much higher!) that the boats ahead of us were reporting. It was one of the roughest 24 hours we've had as the waves were hitting us from the side and pretty much breaking over the boat...very exciting.

Blue Moon performed fantastically though and we pushed on through without any problems except for a few leaks, us having complete lack of sleep and the odd bruise here and there. Last night the seas dropped enough for us to get some rest and by this morning the worse had passed over and believe it or not it's now flat calm and we're motoring ~ from one extreme to another!

We now have just 58 miles to go to port so should arrive first thing tomorrow morning.

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Rough Conditions!

2010-02-08T06:27:00.000-08:00

The weather has done a complete switch and gone from flat glassy calm with us having to motor, to rough and squally conditions in which we're making 6 knots with a tiny amount of sail up and no sign of it letting up any time soon. We've heard boats ahead reporting of constant 35 knot winds and 3 meter seas so it looks like we're in for a wet night! We still have 255 miles to go and should be arriving in a couple of days at this speed, the good news is that the pirates supposedly don't come out in bad weather so one less thing to worry about!

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Motoring along.

2010-02-06T06:08:00.000-08:00

We've been lucky enough to have had a great sail so far but this morning the wind has dropped off and we're having to motor along. Luckily the seas are nice and calm so it's very comfortable, with any luck the wind will fill back in tonight but the weather forecast doesn't look to promising. With 489 miles to go we should be arriving in about five days time if we keep this pace. All is well on board and we're enjoying catching up on some reading and are still feasting on the fish we caught two days ago!

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Crossing the Arabian Sea!

2010-02-03T06:31:00.000-08:00

We're having a great sail with winds out of the North East at 12-15 knots and we're making about 120 miles a day. The seas have stayed calm so it's been a really comfortable trip so far but we still have around 840 miles to go. It's been calm enough to watch movies on our watches and we've only had to move out of the way of one ship so far...big difference from our last trip!

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Underway again!

2010-02-01T04:16:00.000-08:00

We're back at sea and underway to Oman, the weather has been great so far with 10-12 knots of wind out of the north and we're skipping along at 5 knots. With 1100 miles to go we're settling in for at least another ten days underway and keeping our fingers crossed we don't meet any stray pirates along the way!! I won't be posting our position of this trip or the next until we arrive in Yemen as we've been asked not to while being involved with our daily radio net. The organisers are using a code for our positions which they feel may be put at risk if we submit our position to the internet...I guess this means we really are in pirate territory now although we're a little more worried about container ships not running lights at night than the pirates themselves!

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The Maldives ~ Enjoying Paradise!

2010-01-27T22:54:00.001-08:00

We've been anchored here off the beautiful Uligan Island in the Maldives for four days now and are enjoying all the peace and tranquillity of island life once again. Blue Moon is sitting in 12 feet of the clearest turquoise water we've seen in a very long time and surrounded by fantastic coral reef bustling with tropical fish. On Monday we took a boat trip with 18 other cruisers to visit some of the other islands in the atoll (as we can't move our own boats) and spent a relaxing day getting to know everyone in the anchorage. Last night the locals arranged a Pot Luck Dinner on the beach where they cooked up a bunch of fresh fish on the BBQ and sang and danced to traditional music.

The Maldivians are extremely friendly people and our agent 'Imad' has done everything possible to make visiting here as smooth and easy as possible. We've been able to buy fuel at $1.20 a liter and water from the village Well is free. There are a few very small shops in the village where you can buy fresh fruit and vegetables and sliced white bread. Checking in and out is really easy and free for the first 72 hours after which you have to hire the agent which costs $20 US for a further 15 days and another $10 when you check out. We plan to stay until Sunday and then head on to Oman...that's if we can pull ourselves away from all the great snorkeling!!

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We made it! ~ At anchor off Uligan island in the Maldives.

2010-01-23T19:38:00.000-08:00

Current Position at Anchor: North 07*05'041 East 072*55'161

We are now very happily anchored within the reefs of Ihavandiffulu Atoll behind Uligan island in the far northern Maldives. We spent the last 24 hours motoring as the wind dropped off completely but took the opportunity to run the water maker and made 75 Gallons of fresh water. The islands are really beautiful circled by white sandy beaches and covered in palm trees, not much has changed in the eight years since I was here last except of course two cell phone towers have cropped up! There are 15 other yachts anchored here and we're looking forward to catching up with everyone tomorrow.

Tonight we plan to cook a nice dinner, have a glass of wine and enjoy a great nights sleep...

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Day 11 ~ Thailand to the Maldives: Calm weather at last!

2010-01-22T07:20:00.000-08:00

Our current position @ 02:39 GMT: North 06*55'513 East 075*01'805 Course: 274*T Wind: North East 5 knots Miles to go: 124 (hurray)

The weather has changed considerably over the past 24 hours and we've gone from having 30 knots of wind to almost nothing! We had a great sail during the night as the winds decreased to a steady 15 knots and we made great time as we also have a 2 knot current with us. This evening however, the wind has dropped off completely and we finally had to give in and start the engine. Although it's painful to have to burn fuel I have to admit it's a relief to finally get flat calm seas and be able to function normally again. Everything that had flown out of cupboards and off shelves has been put back in place and the boat no longer looks like a battle field! We're looking forward to being able to keep regular 3 hour watches tonight so we can catch up on sleep and make water while we motor to refill the tanks.

Tomorrow we have to break out the fishing rods and start catching some food as we used the last of our fresh meat today. It's been too rough to try before so we're really looking forward to feasting on fresh fish especially as we haven't caught anything since Australia due to the over fishing in Asia...lets just hope we get lucky!

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Passing the Southern Cape of India ~ Blowing a gale!

2010-01-21T06:43:00.000-08:00

Current Position @ 02:18 GMT: North 06*28'243 East 077*41'203 Course: 278*T Speed: 7-8 knots

Another exciting day on board Blue Moon as the wind has picked up to a consistently strong 25-30 knots from the North. The waves have doubled their size and are breaking against our hull making a very wet and uncomfortable sail. We've reefed the sails down to almost nothing and are still maintaining speeds around 8 knots as we pass the southern tip of India. We're constantly battling the endless stream of shipping that runs in this area and calling the massive ships on a regular basis to make sure they can see us on their radar, most are friendly and are happy to alter course if neccessary but trying to understand the different accents of the radio operators is pretty confusing...should make for an interesting night!

..282 nautical miles to Uligan in the Maldives!

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Running the Gauntlet ~ Past Sri Lanka.

2010-01-20T06:17:00.000-08:00

Current Position @ 01:20 GMT: North 05*57'099 East 080*06.042 Course: 279* With 425nm to the Maldives.

We've had a hair raising 36 hours with squalls bringing winds of 35 knots and a few more near misses with the odd container ship. This morning we started our pass below the south coast of Sri Lanka in the dark and spent frustrating hours avoiding fishing boats looking for hand outs and staying out of the major shipping channel. By the time the sun came up we were finally having a great sail and with a 3 knot current helping us along the way.

To bring tensions on board up to a whole new level this morning however, we had the least expected near collision of all. While looking for obstacles above the water we were suddenly faced with a major one from below. As we sailed ten miles off the coast we spotted a whale bigger than the boat off to our starboard side, while enjoying the sight we were suddenly struck into panic mode as it diverted course and headed straight for us. It then dove down under our hull and appeared to be rising up from below, Jimmy was able to grab the helm and turn us 90 degrees just in time for it surface and slap it's tail with a huge crash right where are stern had been moments before. The whale then continued on the way just as if nothing had happened, why it decided to target us we have no idea but we're thanking our lucky stars we still have our rudder attached and we'll be keeping a better watch in 'all' directions from now on!!

It's now evening and we've left Sri Lanka 10 miles on our stern and are on course for our final run to the Maldives...with just one more Gauntlet to run we have to cross over the shipping channel that runs north up the coast of India. Once again we're doing it at night but with the help of another cruising yacht who have an AIS receiver on board allowing them to track the course of the ships (much like an air traffic controllers screen) it's making it a lot easier for us to avoid a collision. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a more relaxing day and the chance to finally catch up on some sleep!

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Squally Weather!

2010-01-18T05:46:00.000-08:00

Current Position at 01:43 GMT: North 06*21'242 East 084*49'833 Course: 266*T Speed: 5.8 Knots

Still having a great sail and keeping the pace up but the weather isn't so nice at night with a lot squalls bringing high winds and rain. We've been really lucky to avoid most of them but spend a lot of time changing course to get out of their way. The seas are confused with two sets of swells coming from different directions but we're now on a port tack making the ride a lot more comfortable and easier to cook meals! We have 192 miles to go to our Way Point off the southern tip of Sri Lanka and should pass by in roughly 32 hours.

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Making good progress!

2010-01-16T04:31:00.000-08:00

Current Position @ 11:00 GMT: North 07*03'075 East 089*28'105 Course: 261*T

The winds have been steadily building to around 20 knots so we've been making great time even getting speeds up to 8.5 knots when surfing down waves! The seas have also built so we're rolling around a lot with the sails still winged out on either side but at least the waves our coming from behind so no problems there. Our wind vane is still doing a great job at steering for us so we just have to sit back and keep a look out for ships and fishing boats. We had a near miss today as a tanker was on a direct course for us...we haven't seen anything for four days and then this guy is coming straight for us...luckily Jimmy was able to hail them on the VHF radio and they altered their course to miss us, I guess we have a lot of that to look forward to as we get closer to Sri Lanka!

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Bumpy Bay of Bengal!

2010-01-15T04:55:00.000-08:00

Current Position @ 11:30 GMT: North 07*28'297 East 091*48'591 Course: 261*T ~ Averaging 4 knots

We're now crossing the Bay of Bengal and it's pretty uncomfortable with confused seas and not quite enough wind to keep us on track. We have the head sail poled out with the main goose winged on the other side as the winds coming from our stern but finding it difficult to get speeds over 4 knots so we're sliding all over the place. Our wind vane is steering pretty well so at least we're not using up all our power on the auto helm! Weather is pretty grim with lots of squalls around us and just trying to keep out of their way and so far we've been pretty lucky. Otherwise we're doing fine and are finally getting into a good watch pattern, we've had a lot of encounters with dolphins and pilot whales swimming off our bow which has been really great to see again after the baron waters of East Asia...we're back in passage mode!

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Sombrero Channel ~ Nicobar Islands.

2010-01-14T05:32:00.000-08:00

Current Position: North 07*41'819 South 093*24.861 Course: 262*T Speed: 4.3 Knots under Motor.

We've just passed through the Sombrero Channel in the Nicobar Islands, a chain of islands running from north to south and owned by India. It's not possible for us to stop for a break here as the islands are only open to Indian nationals although the sight of land is a comfort. We've had a slow day as there's been very little wind and we've been motoring since yesterday afternoon, the weathers been unpredictable and we were drenched in squall that passed by this morning!

Jimmy topped up the Diesel tank this afternoon with 17 gallons from the deck cans, we hold 90 gallons in total the main tank holding 50 and the rest in Jerry cans. It looks like another slow night with no moon so pretty dark with overcast skies...fingers crossed for a little more wind so we can have a break from the engine and no more rain.

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Thailand to the Maldives ~ Day 2

2010-01-13T03:47:00.000-08:00

Current Position: North 08*14'00 East 095*15'752 Course: 257*T with 1325 nautical miles to the Maldives @ 10am GMT

We had a great sail last night with 15 knots of wind out of the North which meant just before sunset we we're able to shut down the engine and average 5 knots of speed. This morning the wind died down but we we're still able to maintain a good enough pace to sail until about an hour ago when the wind dropped off completely! So now it's 6pm for us and we're motoring with slightly rolly seas and keeping our eyes on a big rain storm behind us...could be a wet night. We listen in to a radio net every morning with many of the other yachts underway and it sounds like we have a lot of calm weather ahead, fingers crossed the wind will fill back in just enough to save our fuel as we still have a very long way to go!

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Heading West ~ Underway to the Maldives

2010-01-12T04:28:00.000-08:00

Current Position: North 08*31'447 East 097*08'020 heading: 261*T @ 4.8knots under full sail.

We've spent the last few days in the Similan islands just 30 miles off the coast of Thailand waiting for enough wind to pick up to sail by. Finally today the breeze kicked in at around 10 knots from the North so dropped our mooring ball around midday and are currently underway to the Maldives. It's been over a year since we've done any long distance sailing and with 1400 miles to go we're feeling a bit rusty. As night closes in we've enjoyed a beautiful sunset with dolphins swimming at our bow and tucked in to a big pot of Chillie...so far so good!

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Family visits.

2009-12-02T01:53:00.000-08:00

We're back anchored off the town of Patong on Phuket island in Thailand and have just waved my mum off at the Airport. She and my brother 'Tom' flew out three weeks ago for a holiday aboard Blue Moon cruising the Islands of Phang Nga bay. Tom is with us for another two weeks so we're trying to keep busy and enjoying moving around more than we probably would on our own!

Yesterday we stopped in Kata Bay where the Kings Cup Regatta is being held and enjoyed a fun night out with our friends Terry and Karen off 'Sora'. However, on our way home we spent about an hour trying to rescue all the dinghy's that had been left by the race boats too low on the beach and we're getting washed out by the high tide...obviously the difference between cruisers and racers is that they have more money than sense - ever heard of an anchor guys?!!

We have Fresh Water!

2009-10-29T23:22:00.001-07:00

After a week of frustratingly pulling hoses and fixing leaky connections we can very happily say that we have had our first glass of Blue Moon desalinated water! Yes we now have a fully functional water maker that will make life on board a lot more comfortable and Jimmy is walking around with a permanent grin on his face. It's a big weight off our mind as we carry a limited water supply and I no longer have to worry about Jimmy breaking his back collecting Jerry cans of fresh water at every port we get to...A good thing all round!!

We're still here in Langkawi doing our final stock up before checking out in the next couple of days to head north to Thailand. Caroline's mum and brother are flying into Phuket for a visit on the 9th of November so we have move pretty quickly to get ourselves into a good anchorage in time. The North East Monsoon seems to have finally set in bringing some great weather which hopefully means an end to the Rainy season!

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Getting organised ~ Telaga Harbour

2009-10-20T05:41:00.000-07:00

Blue Moon is back at Anchor in Telaga Harbour in Langkawi after being tied to the dock in Rebak Marina while we took our inland trip to Cambodia. We're now preparing the boat for the next big leg through the Red Sea on leaving Thailand in January. Jimmy's taking on the role of plumber while installing a brand new Water heater sent in from America and a second hand Water Maker brought from another cruiser here in Langkawi (The water maker is an HRO Mini Pack that should produce us around 7 Gallons of fresh water an hour with a pull of 20 Amps).

We still have to reprovision the boat with all the things we can't get in Thailand or things that are cheaper here, it costs 50 Ringgit ($15 US) to rent a car for 24 hours which you really need as everything is so spread out here. Instead of going to one supermarket to buy everything we have to go to different shops that specialise in different things like Cheese, Meat, vegetables, cleaning goods and so on. A shopping trip that might take an hour or two at home can take all day here, plus you have to remember where all the shops are, what they sell and at what prices!! Of course the same thing applies when trying to find boat parts which can take another whole day of running around.

The important thing to pick up here is the very cheap duty free alcohol which we'll have to stock up on enough to see us through to the Caribbean as we probably won't see prices like this again on the trip. It looks like we'll be filling every spare space with rum, Jameson and wine again...a lot like being back in Panama I think!

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Penang Island ~ Malaysia

2009-09-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

We've come full circle and even though we're back in Malaysia we're not yet back on the boat! After leaving Cambodia we spent a few days exploring Bankok, enjoying all the great street food and cheap shopping stalls, before jumping back on the overnight train to Butterworth in Malaysia. From Butterworth we caught the ferry over to Penang Island just south of Langkawi, to spend two more nights in a guest house arranging our three month visa for Thailand.

Tomorrow at 8am we're hopping on another ferry back to Langkawi where two weary travellers will be very happy to be home enjoying the comforts of a familiar 'western style' bathroom and a home cooked meal!!

Siem Reap ~ Cambodia.

2009-09-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

We've been in Cambodia for over a week now and are loving everything about the country and it's people. Smiling faces meet us everywhere we go and it's hard to believe the atrocities that took place here such a short time ago. Siem Reap is the town closest to the Angkor temples and our home while we explored the beautiful ruines by Tuk tuk (motorbike with a covered cart) for three days. Things have changed dramatically since I was here eight years ago and the town is booming.

We took a side trip down to the capital of Phnom Penh for two nights (6hrs by bus) to visit the Killing fields and Genocide museum but are now back in Siem Reap with a bus booked for tomorrow back to Bankok (8hrs by bus).

Bankok ~ Back in Asia and on the Move!

2009-09-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

Caroline flew back to Langkawi in Malaysia last week and rejoined Jimmy and the boat after almost three months back in the UK. Jimmy's been working really hard to get lots of jobs done in preparation for crossing to the Med in January and Blue Moon is looking in fantastic shape. So to combine a much needed break for Jimmy and also to renew his Malaysian visa we Jumped on the overnight train to Bankok and are now enjoying the comforts of a great hotel and exploring this hectic city! Tomorrow we are catching a Coach to Siem Reap in Cambodia to see the Temples of Angkor Wat and then decide where to head to next.....?

Back in the UK

2009-07-11T03:51:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Hampshire in England enjoying the fantastic weather we've been getting and catching up with family and friends. My eldest brother's wedding was last friday and it was a beautiful day, great to catch up with so many family members I haven't seen for almost ten years. The last time I was home was almost four years ago and it's amazing how very few things have changed but still a huge culture shock from life on the boat...have to admit i'm enjoying the creature comforts!

Jimmy is back in Rebak marina after a quick trip with his mum down to Penang island to do a quick restock. Pat flew home to Florida on the 5th and Jimmy's now working hard on all the annual boat jobs that need to be addressed including Varnishing, rewiring and waterproofing. Blue Moon is scheduled for a haul out on the 30th of July for 5 days and with me still here in England Jimmy has a lot of work to do sanding & painting the hull single handed!

I want to wish our friends Eli and Jorn on the boat 'Silene' Congratulations on returning home to Norway after three years at sea! And an even bigger Congratulations as Eli is pregnant for their first child ...Good luck guys and hope you enjoy your new adventure!!!

Rebak marina, Langkawi

2009-06-19T03:24:00.000-07:00

Blue Moon is happily tied up to the docks in the marina of Rebak island resort in Langkawi and is even more happy at finally being plugged into shore power. Caroline has flown back to England for a two month visit with family and friends and Jim's mum 'Pat' has arrived for a three week vacation on the boat.

Jimmy managed to pick up a step down transformer that takes the local 240 volt power supply and converts it down to the boats American 110 volts. So the air conditioner is happily buzzing away and the battery bank is purring nicely...something tells me they're going to find it very difficult to drop the lines and go back out cruising after all this comfort!

The Hole in the wall, Langkawi.

2009-05-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

Current Position: North 06*25'171 East 99*51'993 - Kilim River, Langkawi Geopark.

We've moved around to the East coast of Langkawi's main island and are now anchored in the Kilim River, known locally as the 'Hole in the Wall', in Langkawi's Geopark. It's quite literally a hole in the wall as the entrance to the river is flanked by two towering cliff faces just twenty meters wide. Inside there's a labyrinth of mangrove rivers and creeks that we've spent hours exploring alongside huge limestone pinnacles filled with crevices and caves and home to hordes of Bats!

The Geopark is also home to hundreds of Eagles and from the boat we've able to watch them dive down and feed on fish from the murky river. The numerous tour boats stop to throw pieces of chicken out that they grind up in their engine propellers and create a feeding frenzy often with over twenty eagles swooping down to join the feast...quite an impressive sight.

Today took the dingy up the river to the main boat dock and from there walked up to the 'Galeria Perdana', a gallery showcasing over 2,500 Gifts that Malaysia's longest serving Prime Minister received while in office. Apparently it's the only one in the world and I have to admit it's pretty interesting to see what kind of things other countries give...everything from a tiny ceramic cup from Jordan to ornate Chinese vases and a carriage coach from Pakistan. Jimmy on the other hand found the air conditioning to be the most impressive thing and with temperatures outside now up in the high 30*C/90*F range it was a god send to have a break for a couple of hours!!

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Back in Langkawi!

2009-05-18T02:24:00.001-07:00

Current Position: North 06*21'721 East 099*40'716 - Anchored off Telaga Marina.

We made it back to Langkawi a couple of days ago and are comfortably anchored off Telaga Marina on the main island. Checking in went very smoothly except for immigration taking a very long and detailed look at our passports to see if we'd been in Mexico recently...I guess Swine flu is effecting everyone. No complaints though as Malaysia don't charge anything to check in or out.

There's not a lot here in Telaga except for the marina but it's a great place to rent a cheap car and run around into town and the surrounding shops to restock on lots of cheap goodies! We're back in the land of plenty (booze and chocolate) all duty free so we're going to make the most of it!! Our plan now is to start work on Blue Moon cleaning and re-varnishing before I fly home for a visit and Jimmy's mum flies out in about four weeks time.

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The Butang Group.

2009-05-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

Current Position anchored off Koh Lipe Island: North 06*29'083 East 099*18'083

We've slowly been making our way south and are now anchored in the Butang Island Group just a few miles north of Langkawi and the Malaysian border. Along the way we stopped at the islands of Koh Lanta, Koh Kraden and Koh Bulon Le all of which are extremely beautiful with some great snorkeling and even better beaches.

Today we had our first taste of the South West monsoon weather after being hit by a storm with over 30 knot winds, torrential rain and rough seas, all coming from the way we were headed. Apparently we've become lazy with preparing the boat before a passage as just about everything that wasn't tied down decided to fly around becoming lethal weapons and creating a huge mess. We slowly beat our way up into the island group and finally found a free mooring in nice looking bay with lots of touristy restaurants ashore. It's a little rolly but now that we've managed to dry ourselves off and eaten a warm meal we should sleep just fine!

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Heading back South.

2009-04-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

Current Position at Koh Phi Phi Don Island: North 07*43'514 East 098*46'239

After a hectic few weeks of exploring Phuket island in more detail on our 'Pink' rented moped and a sail up to James Bond island in Phang Nga Bay we finally checked out of Thailand in Ao Chalong bay on Monday (also Jimmy's Birthday) and are heading back south to Langkawi in Malaysia. We've been in Thailand for over two months now and instead of spending over $100 to renew our visa for another month we decided to slowly make our way back south stopping at our favorite islands on the way and some that we missed on our trip up.

Jimmy was very unhappy with the fact that it appears the whole Thai fishing fleet is here in Ton Sai Bay sheltering from the rough seas and have taken up all the best anchor spots. We had no choice but to drop ours out the back of the bay in 70ft of water as getting close to 14 huge wooden boats rafted together, a record so far, wasn't a good option ... (an electric anchor winch becomes more appealing every day!!)

April marks the change of the seasons here and we're starting to get some squally weather and a lot more wind and swell from the West. The temperature has continued to increase which has been unbearable at times, especially when trying to sleep at night with just a tiny fan moving the warm air around - making breathing a little easier. With highs around 40*C we break out in a heavy sweat doing the simplest of things and have to lather up in sunscreen before heading ashore so as not to get completely fried. It's not all bad though and on our trip from Phuket to here we were able to sail down wind the whole way which is a first for us here in Thailand and great to save on some fuel...finally the wind seems to be in our favour!

We plan to spend a couple more days here enjoying our last really touristy anchorage with all the back packer bars and restaurants and what could be the last of the clear water that we'll see until we're back up this way in October.

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The Similan Islands

2009-03-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

Current Position: North 08*34'114 East 097*38'576 - Moored off Ko Miang Island.

The Similan Islands named after the Malaysian word 'Sembilan', meaning 'nine', are a group of nine islands roughly 35 miles west of the coast of Thailand and 50 miles south of the Surin Islands. Much like the Surins the Similans are run by the national park and beautiful green islands fringed by pristine coral reef. The water clarity is even better than that of the Surin's and are home to an abundance of tropical fish. With the diving supposedly the best in Thailand dive charter boats arrive in flocks and present a never ending stream of activity.

We've been tied to a mooring here for almost a week and have been able to find something new to do everyday from Hiking the trails ashore to discovering new little bays to snorkel and an array of fish we've never seen before! We're sad to leave but today we are heading back to civilisation and the hustle and bustle of Patong Bay on Phuket island. We finally ran out of fresh food and have been eating through our stores of tins for a while now, with both of us craving a nice big salad and fresh meat we've decided it's time to head back and reconnect with the outside world with definite plans to come back again soon!

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The Surin Islands - Another Paradise found.

2009-03-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

Current Position: North 09*24'876 East 097*52'449

We've been here in the Surin Islands for over a week now and are loving their beauty both above and below the water. The Surin's consist of two main Islands managed by Thailand's national Park, roughly 35 miles off the west coast of Thailand and 5 miles south of the Myanmar (Burma) boarder. Thanks to the National Park the islands are pretty much untouched except for two ranger stations and camp grounds for tourists and a local 'Sea Gypsy' village which is home to the 'Mokan' tribe.
There are loads of Mooring balls provided for both us cruisers and the many dive boats that frequent the islands which helps to protect the pristine reef from badly placed anchors. The water is crystal clear and the beaches pearly white fringed by dense green rain forest stretching up to the tips of the islands high peaks. We've probably seen more species of coral fish here in one place than anywhere else we've been and all this can be seen by jumping off the back of the boat with snorkel and fins!!
The ranger stations have a small restaurant for the workers and campers which has allowed us to stretch out our diminishing food supply as we are almost out of fresh and making the most of our stored up cans. We're low on petrol for the dingy engine so we've been kayaking everywhere which has actually been a lot of fun and allowed us to sneak up on monkeys and huge lizards on the beach...the exercise is pretty good too! The Park fee for seven days for us and the boat is 500 Thai Baht which equals about $15 US or 10 British pounds and well worth every penny. Tomorrow we'll be heading 50 miles south to the Similan islands, also a part of the national park, consisting of nine islands and supposedly even more abundant in marine life!

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Almost in Burma!

2009-03-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

Current Position: North 09*43'654 East 098*23'061 - Anchored off Ao Yai Beach on Ko Phayam island - 10 miles south of the Burmese Boarder.

In the past ten days we've slowly made our way up the west coast of Thailand stopping at some fantastic bays and only once seeing other cruisers. The scenery is beautiful with miles of white sandy beaches fringed by thick green jungle and inhabited by local sea Gypsy villages. The weather has been pretty good although it's supposed to be the North East season and the wind continues to blow from the North West making some of the anchorages a little rolly and the odd afternoon thunderstorm bringing a deluge of rain. Temperatures have been up around 35*C/95*F everyday making a walk on the beach feel like your walking in an oven...even the water temperature is so warm that going for a swim doesn't really help to cool off!
For the past two days we've been anchored off a beautiful island called Ko Phayam and a little piece of heaven just 10 miles south of the Burmese boarder, There's a 3km-long sandy beach scattered with a number of eclectic beach bungalows each with their own bar and restaurant. It has a much more laid back atmosphere here compared to the hustle and bustle of some of the more touristy islands further south but still has enough going on to keep us entertained! Yesterday we hiked the concrete moped 'highway' that crosses the island through cashew nut plantations to have lunch at the 'main' village, named this as it has the only dock that services the island, a beautiful walk shaded by the lush vegetation with some great little restaurants along the way to stop and cool off.
With the full moon the tides here are huge at the moment and yesterday we made the mistake of leaving the dingy at the top of the beach at high so when we returned we had to drag her 300 feet along the beach in the heat of the day - it took us over half an hour and we could barely breath by the time we finally got to the water. We won't be doing that again so today we'll blow up the inflatable kayaks which will be much easier to carry then rent a moped to explore some more and keeping a little cooler!!

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Patong Bay, Phuket.

2009-03-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

Current Position: At anchor in Patong Bay: North 07*53'515 East 098*17'072

We've been anchored in Patong Bay on the West coast of Phuket Island for almost a week now and have enjoyed walking the streets of one of Thailand's most busiest tourist towns. There are more bars and restaurants than we've seen in one place for a very long time and a great place to People watch as tourists line the streets with freshly fried skin and cash to burn! Every inch of the beach is taken up with hundreds of colourful umbrellas and sun loungers with tourists getting Thai Massages as they soak up as much sun as possible in a two week period.
Just across the road from the beach you'll find vender's selling everything from dried squid to copies of DVD's and tailor made suits. At night the real shows begin with 'Lady Boys' lining the streets trying to get customers into the bars... Local Thai guys dress very impressively as Women and with all the right operations it's almost impossible to tell the difference!!

This afternoon we plan to start heading north along Thailand's West Coast to cruise up to the boarder of Burma and the off lying islands for a couple of weeks.

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Krabi - Thailands Climbing Mecca!

2009-02-17T20:08:00.000-08:00

Current Position: North 08*00'711 East 098*49'844 - Rai Lei Beach, Krabi Province.

We've landed in a Climbers dream with beautiful white sandy beaches framed by spectacular limestone pillars covered in caves and fissures. The water is still pretty clear and the beautiful emerald green colour that we've seen everywhere here in Thailand, with so many little bays and crevices it's a perfect place for Kayaking and exploring in the dinghy. We've been checking out the beaches with lots of great little restaurants tucked back in to the rain forest and a great place to watch climbers scaling every available cliff face. They give half, full and three day courses on Climbing so we're seriously considering giving it a try as we're going to be around for a while and it looks like a great way to keep fit!
We've been trying all kinds of new Thai Dishes and love them all, it really seems like you can't go wrong if you like vegetables and spicy food! Prices range from 35 Baht (1 US Dollar) to around 150 Baht depending on the restaurant but they all have ridiculously long menu's so 'plenty' of choices... not so good for those of us who can be a little indecisive though!
Today we'll be moving further north into 'Phang Nga Bay' to check out some more islands on our way to Phuket. This area is also known as the Hong group with many bays almost completely enclosed by high cliffs and deep caves...sounds like a lot more exploring to be done.

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