INDO 3 HERE WE COME:)!

It happened so fast that I am still getting my mind around that we are heading back to Indonesia after we have just been there for two months:)

This time though is different and I feel a little nervous about it.

First,we are sailing minus Cally as she went back to South Africa to learn and write her exams:( Cally is always very helpful on the yacht and so the pressure is on...

missing you already cally!

Secondly, we are sailing alone this time with no other boats. This does not worry Brent but I always feel comforted knowing that IF we sank:) then we would be able to climb onto someone else's boat:) Never mind that our life-raft is the top of the range
 R120 000 12 person raft AND we also have a large duck with two engines,-so really,what am I worried about:)?



My birthday heading across the Straitts to Indo:)

Precious times for a Mother:)love love love

 

Missing Cally on this trip:(

We left Langkowi Malaysia on my birthday 22nd Sept and what a wonderful way to spend ones birthday:) Wind,sun,salt and sea, and of course my favourite perfume Beautiful- My family spoilt me...missed you Cal-u are the magic on my special day and the sparkle was missing:)

 You would not like to be where we are now!

Visualise this...we are about 50hours sail away from Malaysia in the Malacca Straitts. 7 nm ahead of us is a stationary tanker and 20 nm right behind us is a 333m tanker heading straight for us! And...Brent has gone to lie down! So that leaves me sitting at the helm, with my eyes locked on the Plotter...watching that tanker moving rapidly toward us. I forgot to mention that it is pitch black as there is no moon to help us on our night sail. So the night is pressed up against my face and the ship is roaring toward our stern , making me very nervous:(

this is the plotter and all those arrows are ships around us...we are the black boat in the middle!eeeeek!..



Brent and I on Barbara Ann Indo2:)



Last Indo2 trip-Austin taking a deeep breath:)




New Year One year ago in Patong!



I have just done the checks all around us to see if there are any lights around us that may not be on the plotter.The radar shows 7 ships near me and the tanker behind us is now only 16 nm away! That is one and half hours away.We thought we would only hit the shipping lanes tomorrow at 8am. And now, suddenly just before nightfall the ships started appearing all around us!

Gorgeous Caden just loving this life:)

For My Eyes only:))) What a treat!



and how I am missing my daughter...get those exams over with!



So we changed our course slightly and had to move further out to skirt the ships.Now it is like the running of the bulls:)I smile but I am a ninny:) If it is not the ships then it is the large black buoys that mark the shipping lanes.At night one cannot see them at all if there is no moon and apparently they can cause a lot of damage to your boat if you hit one.

Thumbs up:) and all smiles for the surf!

Cody and Caden one year ago:)

Cody and Caden now:))

Thankgoodness the night is over and it is the next day:)-Saterday 24th Sept 2011. Last night I just could not take it anymore and I woke Brent up. He radioed the tanker to let them know we were around them and all was good:) They glided past us just lights in the dark, with less than a nautical mile distance between us.

I did a 5 hour night shift and at 4am woke Brent up to take over. When we are doing overnighters, we tend to camp in the saloon rather than in our bedrooms:) At least I know that the children are safe as I can see them...

A tanker heading straight for us as we cross its path!

Micah looking very comfortable in these many shades of blue:)

The sea is a deep rich blue and the swells are lifting us gently:)

Good things to come:)

Brent bottom-turning Lagundri:)

The horizon to my right or starboard, is crispy clear but in front of the the blue ocean becomes a milky satin colour and then disappears in a misty haze.The wind is gusting at 6 knts but there are big westerly winds predicted from tomorrow onwards and so we departed for Indo earlier than planned so that we can take the clear gap in the weather. Sumatra winds around here come out of nowhere and can turn a pleasant sailing trip across the ocean, into a bucking bronking experience. Now we are hopping and skipping our way across our last 20nm to our first anchorage in Indonesia. I am relieved. We are out of the shipping lanes:) A few hours ago,we had to cross the bows of two monster tankers one after the other. I could clearly see the ocean curling like a snarl and a sneer off the ships bows...

The ship was so close it makes me shudder:)