Done and Dusted

We anchored in front of the Port of Bundaberg Marina at about noon today after a 6 day passage from New Caledonia. Customs and Immigration are not available to clear us in today, so they are having us anchor out until Monday morn where we can come into the marina and clear. The good news is we don't have to pay overtime to Biosecurity to 'inspect' the vessel.
Done and Dusted is the Kiwi (and I assume Ozzie) way of saying completed. The passage of Georgia across the South Pacific is now completed.
More to come when we get the luxury of some Interweb and catch up on sleep.

Paul


----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Enroute Bundy Day 5

24*20S 154*43E Noon to noon run 137nm Distance to go 139nm
We actually got in 33 hours of slow sailing that came to an end at 3am. Been motoring since then. The seas have gone pretty much flat and its sunny. Just no wind. We are about 88 miles from our waypoint to round the top of Fraser Island. Its probably the same waypoint that Capt. Cook used in the 1770s when he entered Hervey Bay. Since he named the named bay, I suppose any bay he entered then would have been Hervey Bay. This area is basically just below the start of the Great Barrier Reef that extends north for near 1,500 miles. We should be arriving midday on Sunday (that's Sat for those of you hanging on the otherside of the dateline.)

Paul


----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Enroute to Bundy Day 5

24*08S 157*10E Noon to noon run 139nm Distance to go 274nm
Whooa, we've actually been sailing for over 14 hours. Winds picked up to 10-14 kts out of the ESE early last night. Earlier in the afternoon we had a little rain that past over us and had us sailing for a full 15 minutes before its affects died off. This mornings big excitement was seeing our first ship on this passage. The 804foot big white cruise ship the Pacific Dawn on its way to Brisbane doing 19kts. The only other thing out here is the occasional storm petrel and boobie flying by. Looks like a Sunday arrival for us. If we arrive latter in the day we may just hangout till Monday morning to avoid the clearance overtime charges.
'
Paul


----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Enroute to Bundy Day 4

23*33S 159*37E Noon to noon run 120nm Distance to go 411nm
We are in eyesight of the halfway point. That's the good news. Still no wind. We sailed through most of the late night to sunrise, then back to motoring. Switched over to our second fuel tank this morning.
Only one catastrophic event onboard today. Someone maliciously put a raw egg in the hard-boiled egg container, with the expect resulting mess. I believe it may have been a left over Halloween trick.

Paul


----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Enroute to Bundy Day 2

23*22S 161*47E Noon to noon run 118nm Distance to go 530nm

It really take a lot of patience to sail offshore doing 3kts. We have been bouncing between motoring at 6-6.5kts and sailing between 3-5kts for the last 24 hours. The sailing usually lasts for 3 to 9 hours before the light winds just get lighter. There's really no sign of the winds filling in ahead of us, so its slow and easy for now. At least the seas are really small, making life onboard comfortable. It was hot shower night last night -- taking full advantage of our on-demand diesel hot water heater.
The turn out of Trick or Treaters was really low. But I guess that is to be expected when you are a few hundred miles off of a French island and an Australian island.
Paul


----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Enroute to Bundy Day 2

Noon to noon run was 140 miles. 648 miles to go.
Boring. We got in decent sail yesterday afternoon. By midnight we were down to 3 or 4 kts. Turned the motor on at sunrise and its been on since then except for a brief hour of wind head fake. Its now noon on Halloween day. We're a day ahead of the slow pokes back home. So far preparations for costumes have not preceded much. We will be giving out mostly low-sugar treats to the Trick or Treaters that come by, with the exception of some Skittles to the best costume.

The weather goddess is offerring up more of the same for the next few days.

Boo
Paul


----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Enroute to Bundy or The Coral Sea Adventure

We had a good week in Ille des Pins and the Southern Lagoon of New Caledonia. Ille des Pins probably deserved a blog with some photos, but I guess I was too lazy when we had connectivity. We left Isle of Pines and motored 36 miles west, ie closer to Australia, to Illot Kouare. Got in a good snorkel with some decent coral and another beach walk where we got skunked again for shells.
We are leaving this morning to cross the Coral Sea to Bundaberg, Australia. For those that are geographically insecure, the Coral Sea is bounded by Papua New Guinea in the north, New Cal in the east and Australia's Queensland state on the west. It is considered part of the South Pacific Ocean. It's not the Koro Sea that is in Fiji.
The passage is about 800 miles and should be a slow one. The winds are scheduled to be light most all of the way. We'd wait for more wind, but there doesn't seem like it gets much better over the next week and its getting to time to move on. Cyclone season officially starts Nov. 1st, plus Chris will be doing some work in Nepal mid-Nov.

The plan is to leave the S. Lagoon and head somewhat North of the rumb line (direct course), then sail in the light winds as best we can with maybe a day plus of motoring on the eastern end of the passage. It'll probably take about a week. We'll see.

Paul


----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com