While I was up front raising our anchor to leave I heard the tell-tale sound of a whale spouting nearby. I turned to see the water slick left behind, then watched as they surfaced again right next to another boat in the bay. They continued out around the point and … Read More
Komodo Dragons
We sailed overnight to Komodo National Park to go see the famous Komodo dragons. It’s exciting to be able to sail to see a creature that is endemic to just a few small islands in Indonesia. While seeing one particular animal might not be that big a deal in the … Read More
Parasailor
This post is dedicated to our favorite sail ever, the Parasailor. Unfortunately, the conditions needed for this sail are narrowly defined. Wind has to be from behind at 120 degrees or more, and it has to be under about 17 knots. When conditions are right, though, it’s magical. It’s dead … Read More
Hanging Out on Rote
I can’t overstate what a big deal it is for us to have fresh sourdough available to us every day. This little restaurant/bakery probably thinks we’re a little crazy, but in boat life these seemingly miniscule wins take on an outsized significance in day-to-day life. Ouest’s daily breakfast: There was … Read More
Rote Island
From Kupang it was just a quick overnight sail to our next stop, Rote Island. We’d all been very excited about this stop. Finally, some surf (and lots of restaurants). There were a lot of big surf breaks we couldn’t go near, as well as plenty of smaller breaks, too. … Read More
Clearing In Kupang
Waking up in Kupang to the wailing sounds of morning call to prayer. Twenty years ago we couldn’t enter Indonesia without hiring an agent at our port of call months ahead of arrival. Since then, they’ve eased up a bit, and now it’s more of a two-week online process. Not … Read More
Headed to Indo
Last night in Darwin, after a couple of weeks soaking up everything we could find to do. We’ve spent a lot of time with this fun group (5 kids between 13 and 14 is not an easy group to find out here) the last couple months in Vanuatu and up … Read More
Litchfield National Park
We piled into a rental van with our friends and headed down the road a bit to Litchfield National Park. We’d come here 20 years ago with Ali’s sister, Katy, when she visited. It was a great day out then, and a great day out now. Everything seems so dry … Read More
Fannie Bay
The anchorage in Fannie Bay isn’t the world’s most convenient. The huge tides (~30′) necessitate anchoring far from shore, and once ashore you are required to calculate how long you will be gone and where the tide might be when you return. It’s also a bit out of town. With … Read More
Darwin Reunion
The next couple of days were nice sailing as we made our way towards the Dundas Strait north of Darwin. We thought we’d have to anchor outside the strait to wait for a favorable tide, but good sailing weather got us there earlier than expected and we zipped right through … Read More
Wessel Islands
After a lively two night passage with virtually no sleep, we arrived in the Wessel Islands, anchored in the dark with no depth finder, in what we hoped was a safe spot, and went straight to bed. We woke in the morning to find we were well positioned, far from … Read More