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Sunday, October 24, 2010

October 23/24, 2010 - Our Last Night of the Passage to Australia - Nearly There!

Saturday continued pretty much the same, we read. I baked a loaf of bread and we enjoyed hot fresh bread with butter and honey - yum! The evening was pleasant enough and then last night I just could not get myself to go to sleep at 7:30 for my watch. Frank said no worries, we would bump our schedule back an hour. By 8:30, though I went below, put an eye cover on and forced myself to try to get some sleep. I was dreaming away and snoozing soundly when Frank roused me at 10:30. I got up, saying, "has it been 3 hours already?" He said, "yeah" and headed off for the front cabin. I looked at the clock and went linear. I grabbed his arm and told him if he wanted to change to 2-hour watches, then fine, I would get up but otherwise I was entitled to another hour of sleep. We argued about this like children. He was tired and wanted to go to bed but wanted his 3 hours. Now for anyone who has never done this thing - two people on a passage fight like wolves for their sleep time because grabbing 2 - 3 hours at a time creates a cycle of deprivation until your body catches on. Finally, although quite unhappy about it, he agreed to give me another hour. When he roused me at 11:30, I was in a total brain fog. I got up shook the sleep out of my eyes, drank some strong tea, grabbed some sugary snacks and decided to try one of the audio books we'd picked up. Lots of our friends listen to books on passage; I've just not been able to get into it but decided to give it a try. So I grabbed one (Double Cross by James Patterson) and settled into it as my body began to jolt awake from the tea and sugar. I went through 2 disks that covered a little more than my 3 hours and realized this is definitely the way to do a night watch! I even gave Frank an extra 35 minutes of sleep, waking him after 3 AM. He was grateful and I was happy. Peace resumed aboard Destiny. We managed to make it through the night and readied ourselves for our last full day at sea.

After breakfast on Sunday, we decided it was probably going to be tame enough to play a game of cards so we settled into the cockpit for a game of Baja Rummy. The game took us a through the entire morning - it was a good match! For lunch I scrounged everything I could think of out of the fridge and freezer to cook up. We will undoubtedly have to give up food and who knows what else to the Q officer at check-in so we feasted. Of course we have heard horror stories from other yachts that have heard the stories from their friends arriving in Oz this year already. The stories range from…"They will take all of your food" to "They only looked in my fridge and freezer too the fresh and stuff and dairy" to "They will look in ALL your lockers, even in your dirty laundry bag to see what you might be hiding". One thing is for certain; this year bio-security seems to have become very concerned about termites being transported via infested vessels, so we are prepared for every locker to be opened and inspected for termites. Although our boat hull and structure is comprised of fiberglass, the interior is nearly all wood. We have been warned that boats with a lot of wood will be scrutinized very closely.

I spent the entire afternoon vacuuming, dusting and scrubbing down the inside of the boat. Although I did a deep cleaning just a couple of weeks ago, I am amazed how quickly dust, hair and unidentifiable particles collect on board. We will be as prepared as we possibly can and hope for the best. I know we have no bugs or termites.

After finishing cleaning, Frank and I sat in the cockpit enjoying a cold drink when he said, "Wow, look at those huge tankers!" Two large vessels were passing in front of us about 3 miles away. Frank looked them up on our radar and reported to me that one of them was traveling over 21 kts/hr. That is fast out here. We realized we are in some serious shipping lanes and that from here on in, we had better be extra vigilant, always having someone alert in the cockpit, because at night they will not see us until they are upon us, and trying to get out of their way isn't so easy when we are traveling between 5.5 - 6.5 kts.

We chewed on that for a little while, and then as dusk was approaching, he said, "Oh my gosh! Something huge just jumped out of the water! Over there!" and he pointed to about 11:00 out front. Sure enough just when I looked over, a pilot whale or a very large dolphin shot up out of the water about 10 feet and did a side flip! We saw a few more similar acrobatics and then suddenly the show was over. It was a nice end to our last evening on passage. Thanks, God. Nice job.


So now it is 6:30 PM. Frank just finished reporting in on the "sked". We are 100 miles away from Bundaberg. Frank estimates us passing through the reef pass at between 2:30 and 3:00 AM, and then it will be another 6 hours to the marina. We are nearly there - but the fat lady hasn't sung and chicks haven't hatched so I'm not counting anything yet.

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Friday, October 22, 2010

Oct 20th - 23rd - Passage From New Caledonia to Australia, Days 1 - 3

We awoke the morning of the 20th trying to decide whether to leave for Australia (OZ) or to wait another day. It was raining and the winds were really whipping up a chop outside. We decided to have breakfast and give it some more thought. I was anxious to get going - once we'd made the decision to leave on the 20th, I was psyched up. It's also something I can feel in my bones - no reason to wait another day, and it felt right to go. Frank agreed, so we waited for the storm to subside and at 11:00 AM, I went forward to cast off the mooring buoy. We made some calls to our children, parents and siblings back home on the Sat phone and said good-byes over the VHF to our "yachtie" friends, many of whom were departing for New Zealand. This was a farewell to Ivory Quays, Just In Time, Scallywag, Cop Out, Windflower and a few others. It has been a good season and a good time cruising with these wonderful Kiwis. We know that we will stay in touch with several of them. As I write this I am thinking of creating a list of the boats/friends we have met along the way and those we have cruised with; a list that will include where they are now or where we last parted company, which will be nice to look back on in the years and miles to come. This departure right now is a BIG goodbye for us. Time for Frank and I to begin new chapters and for Destiny to experience a new country. We are looking forward to reuniting with our Aussie friends.

Although we are participating in a rally, it is not an organized sail. We left by ourselves and will be checking in on a "sked" with the rally organizers out of Bundaberg every morning and night. The check in will require us to report our current location (lat and long), boat speed, wind speed, sea state and miles left to go (to reach Bundaberg). Bundaberg is north of Brisbane in Queensland. We have anticipated arriving at the marina around 2:30 Qld time on Monday, October 25th.

Our first 24 hours out of the chute was a splendiferous sail! We had 25+ knots on the beam and 1-2 meter following seas. It was fast and rough but we both took a Dramamine and tried to settle into the at sea rhythm of the boat and our bodies. Frank is posting his Captains Log Updates on his blog so I won't get into the technicalities. Anyone reading this can go check out his blog for the 411 there. Thank goodness I had pre-cooked all of our passage meals because the ride, being fast and furious was also tough on the below decks maneuvering. All we had to do was "heat'em up and eat'em up". The first night of watches was agony, trying to get into the 3-hour on/off routine.

Day 2 was again a very nice sail but a little rougher, but we made good progress. We spent most of the time holding on and reading books. I finished my first passage book and was onto the next one. By this time we have been sailing pretty closely with three other boats that left within 4 hours of us: Wind Pony (USA), Alliance (Aussie), and Bijou Verhmelo (Brazil). It 's been nice to have VHF contact and to see the other boats from time to time - the tips of a white triangle on the horizon during the day, and the twinkling of a mast light or two at night. The night watches were more brutal the second night - each of us nearly shoving the other out of bed at the end of a watch in order to pass out as soon as our heads hit the pillow. I finished my second passage book and started my third. Frank is beginning the second one I just finished. (both James Patterson novels)

It is now around noon on Saturday. We just completed our 3rd, 24-hour period of the passage. All is well except that last night we lost our wind and the waves began coming at us from the stern quarter to the port beam (hitting us at an angle), and making the ride ridiculously uncomfortable. I'm tired of crashing around and getting bruised and so is Frank. We finally turned on the engine and center-lined the staysail and a partially reefed main. The ride is much nicer now. I am finishing my third book, a Jonathon Kellerman novel. All is well aboard the good ship, Destiny.

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Thursday, October 21, 2010

October 5 - 19th, 2010 - The French Way of Noumea

We had originally thought that once I was taken care of we would head back out to explore some of the beautiful anchorages around Noumea; however, Tuesday brought terrible weather that lasted until the weekend. Frank and I spent three days battened down playing cards, reading books and just being lazy enjoying every minute of the solitude.

Friday saw beautiful weather and a mass influx of boats into the anchorage. Most of them were cruisers who had been waiting for the weather to clear so that they could jet into Noumea. We also took note that the locals chose this day to sail or motorboat off for nearby anchorages to spend the weekend out. We stayed and decided to take in whatever the city had to offer. It offered a lot. We joined forces with Bill and Val on "IQ", taking long walks to several of the lovely bays, packing picnic lunches and enjoying the pretty beaches at Baie des Citrons and Anse Vata. We shopped, browsed and ate delicious French food. There were some parades and festivals in town, and one that we particularly enjoyed was a Tahitian Dance festival. Internet on the boat was just short of non-existent, so a couple of times we went through the rigors of wrapping up the laptops for transport to shore in search of internet to get the business end of our lives sorted and to reconnect.

So this is how we passed our time in Noumea and before we knew it we were attending the Saturday night (Oct 16th) Port 2 Port Rally dinner. We are participating in the rally to Bundaberg with some 30+ yachts departing from Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Our friends on "Baraka" did it last year and gave rave reviews and high recommendations for the rally and the organizers. Sunday - Tuesday were spent cooking passage meals (for me), and readying Destiny for the 5 ½ day passage. Monday we cleared out of the country, fueled up the boat and had a farewell dinner with Bill and Val on Destiny that night. Tuesday, as we returned to the boat from our morning last-minute errands we noticed that Scallywag and JIT had arrived. We had a quick farewell visit with them and then were off to go anchor at a little island called Maitre just a few miles outside of town. We picked up a mooring ball right before a gushing rainstorm moved in and pounded us for the rest of the evening.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Sept 30 - Oct 5th, 2010 - a Surprise Encounter and Medical Treatment in Noumea

Fate dealt us a sweet surprise as we were sailing into the pass at Baie du Prony; we literally met Ivory Quays approaching from the east. They had made an overnight passage from Beautemps Beaupres. They followed us in and joined us at a small island called Casy, which offers free moorings. It is a beautiful little marine preserve, as are many of these areas in NC. There is a defunct resort there and some quaint walking trails. We spent two nights with them there enjoying the little island. It was quite hot after our walks so Frank and the others enjoyed a nice swim and snorkel in the pretty little bay. I had been advised to stay out of the water until my condition had been assessed, and besides there was no way I could get a mask on my face without suffering. We had emailed the Port Moselle Marina office a few days ago asking for a medical referral but had received no response from anyone, so on Friday I used the Sat Phone to call them. They explained to me that I would have to go to the hospital for an examination because it would actually be less expensive and more efficient than to try to get in to see a doctor who would undoubtedly refer me to the hospital for tests. My best bet was to just go there when we arrived in Noumea. So that is what we did. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and anchored in Baie del'Orphelinat along with Ivory Quays. There was some pretty high wind and chop in the bay, so we settled in, had a late lunch, packed our backpacks with books to read (for the waiting room) and then at 3:30 PM went in search of the hospital.

Noumea's hospital is interesting to say the least. We think it might be post-WWII. Everything is painted white. On approach it reminded me of the asylums I have seen in old movies. Parts of the buildings looked dilapidated and abandoned, yet other areas appeared to be operational. In several nooks and doorways locals seemed to be just loitering about as if on a downtown street corner. Don't know what that was about. As we entered the ER, I had difficulty trying to figure out where to go and to whom I should speak. There were lots of people milling about and they all wore white. I had that flash again in my head that maybe I was in a nut ward! I couldn't find anyone to speak to who could understand what we needed. NO ONE SPOKE ENGLISH. Finally a lady who was checking in for back surgery turned to me and said that she would interpret for me. I wanted to throw my arms around her and never let her go. She spoke good English, and after explaining "me" in French to several members of the medical staff, I was directed to a window for registration. I was asked for my Passport. I didn't have it on me. So a woman slid me a piece of paper and told me to write my name and home address and email address on it, then I was told to sit. We sat and read our books for 3 hours, while seriously injured and infirm patients were escorted and rolled past. I knew I had a long wait ahead of me so just took it in stride and tried not to stare at some of the really strange injuries that were coming in the door. As I mentioned, everything is white. But there was a lot of red. Blood. Smeared on floors, walls, and chairs. People came in bleeding but no one cleaned up after them. I decided if I had to use the toilet I'd rather pee myself rather than use their facility.

After a couple of hours a nurse came for me, she was Portuguese French but spoke much better English than my attempted French. She took me to an examination room where she ripped a dirty cloth off the vinyl covered table, scrubbed it with something wet, covered it with another cloth and directed me to lie down. I felt dampness down my backside and had a very difficult time feeling at ease. She got the preliminaries out of the way: questions about my accident and injuries, how much pain was I in, took my temp and BP and then left me there for an indeterminate amount of time. She returned, giving me something fizzy to drink, for pain. She raised the bed to let me sit up and then she left again. I wished I had my book it was a really good book and I had much more waiting ahead.

Finally in came the doctor. He was so good looking that I nearly stuttered when he spoke to me. I sat there thinking I should have worn makeup and fixed my hair. How stupid am I? I was beginning to feel ditzy from the fizzy drink but finally, after a week of knife-sharp pain in my left temple there was relief. I found later it was 1000mg of paracetamol, which I am told is the equivalent of our Tylenol. The doctor poked and prodded my head and face, confirming that my nose had broken but that it was healing and if I wanted anything done about that I'd need a plastic surgeon. I took a pass on that. He then ran some other tests, and told me that I definitely have an infection in my sinuses but that he wanted me to have a CT Scan to rule out internal injuries. At this point I asked if Frank could come in with me. The doctor nodded,saying it was no problem and left .

A few minutes later Frank bopped into the room. As always, Frank made himself completely at home and spent the waiting time browsing the various items in bins and on the shelves in case he saw something interesting he might feel warranted further inspection. Eventually a giant of a man dressed in scrubs that were at least 2 sizes too small came for me with a wheelchair that looked like one my great grandmother may have used. I began to worry about the state of the radiology department. He wheeled me at warp speed down a corridor, zipping around corners, out into the night, across a cobblestone road, down a sidewalk, across another road and into a building. Frank had to quick step it to keep up. I was really dizzy after that ride, and when they asked me to stand up to get onto the table in Radiology, I did a little spin nearly falling down. They didn't muck about. I was immediately strapped in, told not to move and the scan began. Before I even got back into the wheelchair and out of the room, Frank was given the OK sign by the technician. Thank God! Shortly, a more humane intern arrived to transport me back to the ER treatment area to await my physician's report. I was parked there with several very sick and injured looking patients on gurneys. I actually felt guilty for even being there. We eventually got word from the doc that, thank goodness, my CT scan was good and I just needed to be treated for an infection that had lodged in my sinuses. He then passed me a handful of prescriptions for antibiotics, a steroidal anti-inflammatory and the pain medication. He assured me that within 3 days I would be feeling much better. He said that we should return the next day to pick up the CT scan results. We then waited at the window to pay and were told the computers had been turned off so we could just come back the next day to pay. Would this EVER happen in the USA? I think not. In fact regardless of appearances, Frank and I were quite impressed with the staff and their efficiency once they got me into the treatment room. We arrived back on Destiny at 9:30 PM. It was a little late for dinner so we just went to bed.

We returned to the hospital the next day to pick up my CT report and pay the bill. Unfortunately, we were not prepared to have to wait this time and spent 2 ½ hours waiting for someone to even talk to us. No one seemed to be able to understand what we wanted. This time there was no angel of mercy there to interpret for me. Frank was getting annoyed that he couldn't even pay the bill. Again, this would NEVER happen in the US. To shorten a very long story, we eventually got the films and the report and then they happily took our Visa card. What is more amazing is that the bill for all of the services came to less than $800 (USD).

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Saturday, October 16, 2010

Sept 25 - 29, Ouvea, New Caledonia

The passage from Pt Vila, Vanuatu to Ouvea, New Caledonia was one of the best yet. Winds were high and close to the beam and seas were fairly tame. We flew! So did all of the other boats - 35 in all participated in the rally. It was exciting seeing them all around us, competing for those few extra knots of speed. The one night we spent at sea was just beautiful; not only were the skies brilliantly lit with stars, the nav lights from nearby yachts added that extra colorful sparkle of greens, whites and reds and then the phosphorescent plankton contributed the fairy dust element among the waves and the wakes to the show. We felt energized during the entire short passage. We had planned to make the trip in roughly 36 hours and actually arrived in just under 30. As is normally the case on these short and quick passages we were exhausted by the time we dropped the hook and so after a wash down of the boat and a hearty breakfast we took a nice long rest.

Early Monday morning the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine officials arrived. Captains were called to shore for the clearance process while mates and crew were asked to stay aboard to await quarantine inspection. Coming with the ICA Rally was a good decision on several levels. The best part was getting to clear in at Ouvea instead of going all the way into Noumea on the big island, and second to that was the exemption given to rally boats for bringing in meats and other foods which would normally have been confiscated during the clearance process. Ouvea is just lovely. It is the ideal postcard view for a south Pacific advertisement. Frank and I had planned to spend a few days there, snorkeling, diving and enjoying the white sand beaches but I'm afraid I put a damper on things. The pressure inside the left side of my head was beginning to develop into sharp, knifelike pains that were shooting into my temple. The vision in my left eye was getting blurrier and the area around my left eye was swelling - making me look as though my eye was half -closed. The OTC medications I'd been taking weren't doing the trick. I had no idea whether this was a result of the hit I'd taken or if it was a separate issue, and had been hoping it would just go away. Frank suspected I'd developed some infection in my sinuses. We decided to take it easy for a day or so and just see what happened. So on Tuesday, we read our books and played cards with friends. Some of our friends had wanted us to go diving, but I knew it would not be an option for me. I tried to encourage Frank to go, but by Wednesday, I was not getting better and needed some medical attention, therefore, we made a decision to head for the mainland and make our way to Noumea where we knew there were decent medical facilities.

So we made an all day trip over to a quaint anchorage at Nemou. It is a preserve, as is much of the coastline in New Cal, giving us a feeling of utter privacy and safety. We would loved to have stuck around to explore the little islands but rose early Thursday for another day-long motor-sail into yet another pristine and well-protected bay called Yate. By Friday we realized we would not make it into Noumea before the weekend approached and weren't even sure if I'd be able to get into a doctor if we did put the peddle to the metal. We decided to duck into Baie de Prony for the weekend.

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

September 14-25th Last Stop in Vanuatu - Port Vila Area

Our attempt to anchor at the "top" of Erromango was denied. The bay was very small and extremely exposed to large swells and high winds, in spite of good information our friend Ian had received. We therefore, in spite of our need for rest and fear of entering the mainland of Efate at dark, turned northwest for an overnighter. We got tossed around for about 2 hours before settling into a good cruising angle. Although tired neither of us slept much as we kept a sharp watch for traffic and other obstacles. The high winds became an asset putting us into a well-marked anchorage just outside the entrance to Port Vila at around 3 AM. We dropped the hook and fell into bed. The next day we got settled into the mooring field and then spent the next several days taking care of business. First priority was getting our Aussie visas at the Australian High Commission. We were disappointed that rather than renew our visas from the previous year we had to re-apply for all new visas which entails completing a 12 page CV and application, submitting proof of good health, health insurance coverage, financial independence (bank statements and pay stubs) and submitting to a criminal and whatever else background check. Did they think we were buying a house or something? It is arduous to say the least, but we had done this drill before so we sucked it up and began the process of gathering support data. As has been the case since leaving Fiji, internet is a luxury in Vanuatu and can be accessed but not easily, readily or cheaply making our information and proof gathering a bit burdensome but we got it done in two days, dropped off our passports, forms and documentation and then took off for the weekend out at Mele Beach Resort for some fun.

We met up with Bold Spirit, Just In Time, Ivory Quays, Scallywag and Windflower out at Mele Beach. The little restaurant there provided all sorts of water sports, great brick oven pizza, a big screen TV and pool table. Bold Spirit told us about a great place a few kilometers up the road called "The Warhorse Saloon". The owners are from Littleton Colorado! They had sailed here a few years ago and loved Vanuatu so much they stayed, bought an old establishment and named it after the Warhorse Saloon in Parker, CO. Of all things! We had a great time there. It felt like home.

After the weekend we returned to Port Vila where we spent a week just kicking back and enjoying the opportunity to eat out, do a little shopping and reconnect with friends. Frank played several rounds of golf. I had "girl time", shopping and visiting museums. A couple of times we loaded the laptops into our backpacks and went into shore in search of internet mostly to pay bills and see what emails were waiting for us. These days all we get is junk email and it kills us to have to pay by the hour or the "byte" to sort through that stuff which is getting worse than the paper junk we used to get at home. Cyber junk - it is a wonder we can't see it flying through the air!

The face smash I took on the way to Tanna from Fiji was beginning to worry me. My nose was still very tender and pressure was building in my head. Gloria from Scallywag, who is a nurse, told me I should get an x-ray to make sure there is no head trauma going on. The problem was that the medical facilities in Vanuatu leave a lot to be desired. One cruiser named Tony on a boat called Xanadu II had been sick for a week and was getting weaker and sicker after three visits to the doctor there. They kept running tests on him but couldn't give him the results because there is no local lab. Everything has to go through Australia and after waiting over a week for his results his liver and kidneys began to shut down and his fever was running 105 degrees. He finally booked a flight to Auckland where he was diagnosed with Malaria. This did not give me much confidence in the Vanuatu medical community so I continued taking strong decongestants and anti-inflammatories hoping for the best.

We were ready to get going to New Caledonia. Port Vila seemed to be sucking the money and the energy out of us this year. The heat was getting to us and the dust and dirt were contributing to my sinus troubles. It seemed that just since last year, Port Vila was taking a down turn. Some muesli that I bought at the nicer grocery store in town was crawling with little black bugs that looked like baby roaches. Even our cruiser friends seemed to be getting run down. Disappointingly we bided our time until the rally departure date for New Caledonia, which finally arrived on the 25th. We slipped from the mooring at 5:30 AM and were off!

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