Day 6 (Auguste 29th) - happy birthday Peter!

With almost no moon last night was very dark. But who needs light anyways - when there are at least a couple of stars which work just perfectly as reference points helping to keep the boat on course. What a beautiful way to steer the boat..of course it would be even more romantic if we were actually sailing ..and there was not this little detail of a constantly running engine ; ) ..anyway - then came the sun again! - and the captains birthday started with a drastic wind-shift to the south-south-west, freshly baked bread (this time not burned!) and to celebrate the day - our one and only pineapple! Nonetheless the increasing breeze - Quickstar was struggling to make head ways - while we were struggling to hold on tight. Due to the wind shift waves and current seamed to be fighting each other creating messy, choppy seas which caused us to "hobby horse" barely making 6kts(and still running the engine). But hey - we gained an hour! and soon the current will be pushing us - so no worries - we will be in Coffs Harbour tomorrow early afternoon ; )
enjoying a little celebration drink we look forward to our Birthday dinner!
2pm and ONLY 136nm to AUSTRALIA!

Day 5 (Auguste 28th) - out on the ocean!

A beautiful morning welcomes us! The see - majestical and unusual flat (of course - there's no wind!), is glistening in the rising sun. Still running the engine - but disregarding the noise (we almost got used to it already) - we enjoyed an extraordinary breakfast with pamplemose, ham and eggs for the guys and sautéed veggies for Barbara. Then Peter refills the fuel tanks with a 100 liter more - this should bring us to Coffs. Later in the Day we even get some breeze - barely 10kn from the north-west - but whatever! - we take everything! Furling out the jib - we notice a default..something is wrong at the top of the mast. Instead of the jib we use the mainsail - which is anyway the better choice for our high course (according to the experience of recent cruisers there is a current going down south along the Australian cost - so we reset our direction, pointing now 40nm north of Coffs Harbour and hoping then to join the current and sail right into the Bay)
With the upcoming breeze and the speed we kept maintaining - it looks like we could make it by Friday noon!
fingers crossed!
5:29 and only 239nm to Coffs Harbour!

Day 4 (Auguste 27th) - half way!

In the night from Monday to Tuesday we got the bad news via e-mail from Diana: The Australian Immigration Officers do not work on weekends - which means unless we arrive in Coffs Harbour before Friday 3:30pm we will have to wait until Monday morning until we can check in. What a bugger! Our optimistic estimation calculated our arrival sometime on Saturday! Now we had the choice - trying to achieve the impossible and get there in less than 4 days - or sit around outside the Harbour for two days - or pay a lot when checking in Saturday. Peter decides to at least try to make it FASTER! - So we cranked the engine an started motor sailing from now on - without the help of our reliable friend Max - we now got heaps of steering practice. At least we had a delicious barbecue dinner with steak for the guys and self caught tuna for Barbara.
As the wind died more and more - after dinner it became clear - we are not going to make it on Friday.
6:20pm and only 411nm to Coffs Harbour - half way done!

Day 3 (Auguste 26) - Mahi-Mahi for lunch

The rest of sunday we had pretty strong winds. With 2 reefs in the main we were still keeping a speed between 5 and 6 kts. and within the gusts of some dark cloud we even speeded up to 7 kts. The 2nd night went by smooth - with enough winds in the sails, we had Max steering all night through.
Monday morning arose in a thick cloud cover - the wind finally shifted - coming now from the southt-south east. With a fair breeze in our favor we continued making good miles. Shaking out one of the reefs as the wind sattled down a bit we still maintained an average speed of 4.5 - 6kts. With Max doing all the work we were free to bother about more enjoyable things than driving the boat - fishing! Enthusiastic that these cloudy conditions, which fish seem to like, would increase our luck to catch one, we hooked on the "pink lady" on peters line and also let out the all-round rainbow lure on Barbara's handline. Despite the many birds that tried to catch our tackle - forcing us to wheel the lines in several times (and Barbara to scare them away by shouting into the sky) - we soon had a little Tuna on the Handline! having just brought in the first fish - we had another one - this time a beautiful Mahi-Mahi, on Peters rod! What a delicious feast was this lunch with a backed fish on rice prepared by David and Barbara's famous "vegetable variation"!
with full bellies and happy moods, we kept sailing consistently for the rest of the day - slower and faster in times and put in a second reef before the sunset.
7:05 o clock and only 540nm to Coffs Harbour!

Day 2 (Auguste 25) - sunrise on the ocean

As the last faint idea of New Caledonia was disappearing on the horizon and the setting sun colored clouds and sky in deep purple, the Quickstarcrew celebrated the successful first day by a homemade fried fish on salad and roasted veggies.
Still under sail and with Max steering the boat, Barbara starts off on her first night-shift from 6-9pm. Then poor David - whos just only had an hour of rest - got on wathch. But as the wind died at around 10pm he doesn't have to worry too long about how to keep himself awake. Turning on the engine, handsteering kept us bussi for the rest of the night. Under the power of the motor we took the advantage to correct our course, which had due to the wind fallen off our aim by 15nm. As a breeze started to pick up again it was now from the south-west - so directly in our face. Finally next morning after a beautiful sunrise, a good granola breakfast some more snoozing for the ones some more handsteering for the others, the wind had shifted again enough to allow us to shut down the engine and sail on a course of 230 (only 9 degees off our prefered course of 221) towards the australian coast. 11:30am and only 718nm to go to Coffs Harbour!

day 1 (August 24th) - buy buy new caledonia!

With the early morning sun Quickstar is leaving the visitor dock of Noumea. On board: captain Peter and his two new crew members David and Barbara. Motoring her out of the Marina we wave goodbye to Diana - "see you soon in Coffs Harbour - have a good flight!!" Following our finds catamaran, we headed for the pass and out of the channel, from where we seperated and each followed our own way - Bubas to Brisbane and Quickstar to Coffs Harbour. With the uprising of a fair apparent 15kts. south-south-easterly breeze, we hoisted the genova and happly started sailing towards Australia. After Barbara and David both had a little bit of practice on the wheel Peter set up the windpilot and left the helming to "Max" from then. With beautiful 6-7kts. we started off on a close haul - aiming for 215, the best possible course south.
At 10:40am the green hills of New Caledonia start getting faint in the distance - and only 842nm to go to Coffs Harbour!

Next stop.....Australia

It is a bittersweet day for me today.  At 7:00 a.m. this morning on a beautiful, bright sunny day here in Noumea, New Caledonia, I waved goodbye to Peter and crew aboard QuickStar, as well as our dear friends Marios and Ara on Bubas as they headed off to Australia. 

A gecko stowaway on Bubas

 

This past week both the Captains - Peter & Marios (and Admirals, aka Diana and Ara) have been busy getting the boats ready for the passage.  Peter was able to give Marios a hand, by going up his mast and replacing the main halyard, as well as making some changes to the running rigging on Bubas.  Peter, of course was in his glory as he loves puttering on boats, plus this was the least he could do, since Ara has shared her many amazing culinary talents with us these past few weeks.  As they were leaving today, she gave us a hand-made recipe book that she made for us, which we will treasure always!

Our crew arrived two days ago.  David – a professor of architecture from Adelaide, Southern Australia whom we met in Vanuatu, has just celebrated his 60th birthday.  He can now cross off one of his dreams on his bucket list…to make a blue water ocean crossing.   David has already demonstrated his eagerness by helping to lug groceries and by swabbing down the decks, along with Barb (Jane….he said you wouldn’t believe it, if you saw him working so hard, ha,ha)

 

The other crew member is Barbara (26 years old) from Austria.  She is an amazing young lady who speaks French, German and English.  She has been on the road for two years via bicycle and “hitch-hiking” on sailboats.  You can check out her blog at www.caretaker.cc/barbels-blog.  Barbara reminds me so much of our wonderful daughter Kylie (25 years old) – full of life, enthusiastic, with a brilliant smile and a real keener.  Barbara has already made herself indispensable on the boat and has promised to take care of the two “old guys”.  She is so sweet and will also make a surprise birthday cake for Peter’s 59^th birthday on August 29^th.  I’ll be sorry to miss celebrating his special day with him, but will make up for it when he arrives in Australia.

When Barbara gave me a hug goodbye she said how thankful and appreciative she was for our warm welcome and the opportunity to make this crossing.  That made me feel so much better about not being able to make this crossing and jumping ship.  It was a tough decision to make, but I know it was the right one.  The past two days, I have had a major Lupus flare-up with my body hitting me over the head with a  2 X 4 (since I’m not good at reading subtle signs) to make sure I didn’t have a last minute change of heart. As always though, I will focus on and be grateful for all the things I can do, and not those few things that I can't.  

Both Bubas and QuickStar were supposed to cast off the lines yesterday, but the weather didn’t cooperate.  On top of that, Bubas ran in to a problem.  They had taken on a crew member  named Thomas (27 years old from Germany) to help them with the crossing and he had moved on board the day before.  We all went out together and treated the crew to a dinner and an evening of celebration (Peter was feeling no pain by the end of the evening!).

Final morning....the safety meeting and pre-departure plot charting

 

Yesterday morning, while doing all the paperwork and running around from port captain to customs to immigration, Marios and Ara found out that their crew member has been banned from Australia for overextending his visa on his past visit there.  They were told if they took him they would be arrested on arrival for people-smuggling.  Needless to say they were very disappointed that he had lied to them (since he knew full well he was banned when he applied for his visa for Australia).  They kicked him off the boat and then had to repeat all the check out processes to take him off the crew list.   As I sit writing this at the waterfront café, I see Thomas walking the docks with his backpack, so he is looking for the next boat to “scam”.  

 Thomas in the blue shirt

 

It is really too bad that this happened as Ara and Marios are now making the crossing on their own, which makes Ara understandably nervous. The weather looks promising though, so hopefully both QuickStar and Bubas will have an enjoyable and safe trip.  They have set up frequent radio schedules to maintain contact, especially once they separate.  QuickStar is heading for Coff’s Harbour and Bubas is heading for Brisbane. 

 Saying goodbye to Marios and Ara...                                                                     until we meet you again in Australia and until you visit us in Canada.

 

One of the greatest things about us sailing  across the South Pacific for the past seven years is the life-long friendships we have made with people from around the world.  It is also also the saddest part, because we have to say goodbye as well.

 

Glenda (from Venezuela) and Eddy (from Begum) on Helena,                                waving a final farewell to us.

  

 So hard to say goodbye

Bubas casting off

 

I will now be heading to the airport for my flight this afternoon to Coff’s where I have arranged for a cozy cottage to spend the next week – 10 days, depending on how long it takes QuickStar to get there.  I look forward to getting some projects done and getting back in shape for our next two months exploring Australia.

Very surreal for me to stand on the dock and cast off the lines for QuickStar

 

Barbara will be posting the daily blog from the Ham radio, so if you want to follow them across please visit this blog.  Just a reminder that blog postings are subject to the radio propagation being cooperative for the message to get out, so if there isn’t a posting one day, please don’t be alarmed (this message is especially for Barbara’s parents who sound wonderful – Barbara has said that you are very loving and supportive of her adventures.) 

 QuickStar heading out to sea... Aussie or bust!

Until next time……I’ll be back to updating the blog each Friday once I connect up again with QuickStar in Australia.

Final week in New Caledonia

We're back in the city of Noumea after a great time out at the Isle of Pines.  - We've seen lots of marine life - dolphins, turtles, sting rays and humpback whales.  Yahoo!  We have been out for the past 2 plus weeks, so this posting has more photos than usual, so I cut back on the "editorial".

The weather at the beginning of the week rained, but the rest of the time was perfect!

Entering Noumea

Marina at sunset

 Peter's favourite meal of the day on QuickStar

Heading to the Isle of Pines

another sunset....will always treasure these

There are lots more local cruisers in New Cal, than we have seen anywhere in the South Pacific. 

 Never crowded though.

Lovely sailing

Our first anchorage at Isle of Pines.  This is one of the busier ones, but beautiful

Some of the scenery on our walk around the island

New Cal church with the unique New Cal pines - not found elsewhere

The only "store" - the outside stuff

Heading inside with Marios and Ara

Dusk

Time to leave...the cruise ship arrived. 

 We spent the next week travelling with Marios and Ara on their beautiful 44 ft. Lagoon catermaran

Peter in his glory

Our next remote anchorage

Cocktails and dinner onboard Bubus

Our handsome hunks with more of Ara's gourmet treats

sneaking in another sunset shot

 

A lousy picture of a large sting ray swimming under our boat

Following Bubus out through the reef

it's not all just fun....regular household chores still need doing

Heading inland

Di covered from head to toe (as always)

Bay view

View out to QuickStar

Crab on the beach

Next stop

Bridge over the inland river

Our anchorage

Another great dinner on Bubas

QuickStar motoring - shot taken from Bubas

To top off the great week we spent with Marios and Ara, we were able to celebrate Marios name day in a special, secluded beach.  Marios is from Cypress (lives in Australia now) and their name day is almost more important than a birthday.  We shared champagne and a great barbeque on the beach.  A very special day to remember.

 Nothing like champagne on the beach!

The boys admiring their fire

Lots of food

Smile

Yes, I was there...but am usually the photographer

Ara and I hunting for sea snails - a local speciality

 Another great memory

 Splish-splashing

Grown-up kids

The perfect end to a great day

At our final anchorage, we took the dinghy out to a little "desert" island 

The boys went scuba diving while Ara and I kept watch for tiger sharks!

Luckily they made it back in one piece, but we had started to get worried since the wind had really picked up and the dinghy was being bounced all over.  We were very glad when they emerged.

In our final anchorage of our out-island trip we enjoyed kayaking

 

We have been back in Noumea for a few days, getting everything organized for the crossing this Friday or Saturday to Australia. 

Out for a pizza dinner

We met up with Glenda and Eddy again on Helena, so we had them and Ara and Marios over to QuickStar for a cowboy dinner of hamburgers and chips!  It was lovely under the full moon.

Peter at the BBQ with Marios and Ara

Glenda and Eddy

We now have all our provisions on board and tomorrow the crew will be arriving.  David is a professor of architecture from Adelaide, Australia. We met him in Vanautu and doing a blue water crossing was on his "bucket list".  Also joining as crew  is Barb - a 26 year old Austrian who has spent the last couple of years traveling by bicycle and sailing. Her goal is to travel the world via environmentally sustainable methods of transport.  I will be flying out to Coff's Harbour, where I have rented a lovely little cottage. 

The crossing could take anywhere from 7 - 10 days.  Either Barb or David will be sending a blog post each day via ham radio, so if you are interested in following this passage, just drop in for a visit.

Until next time......Wishing our son Danny a very happy 29th birthday.  You have been a wonderful son and we also thank you for our fabulous grandchildren.  We are so proud of you!!!!!