Riding over HUGE swells...



 We are sailing up and over huge swells...(of course my perspective:) )

JUST KNOW cody! I had to be out there to take this pic:)




Cody loving all the island animals whether they like it or not:)

   

5 lines are out! Just now-while handwashing the towels, I saw the one fishing rod bend and straighten. My now trained eye went out to the lure-just in time to see a nice fish tail slap the water. I leapt for the rod but as usual- the drag was set toooo tight and the fish was gone:((

What fun we have been having since we left Sabang- which feels like a looong time ago! The strangest thing but each day is long and yet also flies by at the same time in this timeless world:)

Caden at Lagundri Nias trying to bring the duck to Micah in big winds:)

We woke up this morning in our anchorage at the Simoleu islands where we arrived yesterday afternoon.

I slept soundly and the evening passed so peacefully. The sea was calm. It was extremely hot though and the hatches and portholes were kept closed because there are apparently lots of mozzies around-I have not seen any yet though.

Cody surfing his heart out in Lagundri Bay Nias

Today has been full of adventure! Although we are at the same island as last years trip, we anchored on the opposite side of the island for protection from the swell and the wind. It feels like we are in a totally different place to last year.- not as pretty. Jackie from Barbara Ann went ashore and got confronted by water buffalo:)

Cal and Austin-born mad:)



Last year's catch:)

The underwater terrain in this area is very erratic. There are pinnacles underwater that rise from 1000 m dropoffs to 10 m below the surface ! This makes the swells on the surface suddenly get really large and for me always a little frightening I am afraid to say:( We had a nice zzzing on a line but it went quiet...and then wild! Ah- what a great sound:) We have hardly caught any fish since Malaysia and I started to panic that our lures were wrong this year. But-Brent reeled in an 8kg Barracuda. We have bagged it and squeezed it into our large freezer for trading as we do not generally eat Barracuda just in case it has Sigaterra. We hope to trade it with some local fishermen for octopus or squid:) Friends of ours on a monohull called Baro said they eat the smaller Barracudas...interestingly they mentioned that one of the symptoms of Sigatera is that hot feels cold to the touch and vice versa...madness is another sign:(



A Preview of Things to come:)



This morning we woke up tired- as usual...Believe it or not, this is an EXHAUSTING lifestyle:) I know that most people who do not own a boat, will not believe me and just like us before - can only imagine beautiful white sand on wild palmtree islands while one reads while swinging from a hammock on board your yacht:) Not so sadly:) There is a LOT of cleaning on our boat-but it nevers seems to get any cleaner...hey I know what you are thinking...tell someone who cares:) you are on the yacht living our dream, so I hear you and ...lets carry on about the fun stuff!

Caden bracing himself mentally:)

I am at the helm while everyone else 'relaxes" and snoozes. I am a few miles away from the shore and taking Micah from a depth of 40 to 17 metres to see if I can entice a nice fish to grab a lure!:)) Yip-getting nervous-its getting shallow really quickly. Hope this plotter is right about the depth!!

caden surfing Lagundri:)



Still a while to go before we get to Lagundri but it was worth the wait:)

This morning, as we were getting ready to pile into the duck for a desperately needed surf inspection, Caden spotted SQUID hovering underneath our yacht! Before we knew it. he had caught his first large squid! Of course- it did squirt its blank ink EVERYWHERE! As Cade brought it up to pop it into a bucket, it gave a defiant spray of black ink that went so high it hit the bimini (which is the roof that goes over the cockpit area! I had to do some serious cleaning but it was worth it! In the end Caden got 3 squid and  Cody hooked a large squid but Brent got the ummm...clever idea that if Cody left his on the jig that another one would come  to look at it and then get greedy and Cody would hook two! Well -who would have thought that the second one would actually free his buddy! They really are intelligent creatures:) Perhaps more so than some humans:)...say no more-nudge nudge wink wink:))