Passage to Cairns, Australia

Reluctantly, we left Tanna on Friday, November 5th without visiting any other islands in the Vanuatu archipelago. But with 1400 nautical miles ahead of us and cyclone season fast approaching, we decided to take advantage of a good looking weather window and head for Australia.

Luckily, the weather was as predicted: winds a steady 10 to 20 knots from the east southeast and following seas from the same. There were occasional squalls and distant lightening, but they never resulted in any drama and I always appreciate the fresh water wash downs a shower gives our salty boat on ocean passages. As Jon noted in his Blue Planet post from sea, downwind sailing is quite civilized.

We were escorted from Tanna's shores by spinner dolphins. About a dozen were cruising past our starboard side heading east, as we were heading west. When they were abeam, they turned in unison toward our bows. It's always thrilling to have company at sea. Given our lack of a common language to get the full scoop, we can only speculate that they are familiar with fishing boats and perhaps were hoping we'd have fish for them. But I like to think they also are curious about us and enjoy frolicking in the bow wakes. Jon and I sat on the bow seats and enjoyed their show. They stayed for half an hour and then were gone.

Our other visitors are sea birds. On this passage a noddy (we think) decided we were a cool place to rest from its never-ending quest for fish. It was the first time a bird landed on board (at least that we know of) at sea and stayed for a while. He slept on our outboard engine for one of my four hour watches. Like I said, it's fun to have company at sea, but this guest left his droppings.

Other regular visitors on this passage were blue-beaked boobies. This one hung around our boat a lot, but never got the courage to land. At times he was joined by 6 or 7 other boobies, circling our boat, probably looking for fish. They are beautiful birds and their surfing along the the tops of waves is a sight to see. Still, I am glad I do not have to make my living as a sea bird....it's a long time away from home and the rewards of hunting seem few and far between.

Our second day out, Jon the fish slayer could not help himself and put two fishing lines out. Though we were not in need of food and I was off watch, I was awoken by an excited "Jen!!!" which meant he had a fish on the hook. He promised me if it was a mahi-mahi, he'd throw it back. (I've gotten a little tired of fish lately, and we were trying to eat up what meats we had remaining before we arrived in Australia.) Luckily for Jon, but not for the fish, it was a short-billed spearfish; Jon was so happy with his non-mahi-mahi catch that it was impossible to stay irked for long. Besides, who can be annoyed at a man who goes deep sea fishing in his boxers?

Besides, the fish really tasted good!

In addition to lovely meals, we enjoyed lovely sunsets and sunrises as seen here. We were able to read to our hearts' content, get plenty of rest, and clean the anchor locker and chain before our arrival. All in all it was a great 12 day passage and the longest one Jon and I have made just the two of us thus far.

Posted below is a short video I made on an early morning watch to show what the following seas were like. It's not high drama sailing, but as you can see we were cruising along nicely with just a Genoa out.

Finally, on Tuesday, November 16th, with the mountainous coastline of Queensland in sight, Jon hoisted the flags of all the countries we've visited this year on the port side, the Australian and Quarantine flag on the starboard, and of course, the Stars and Stripes flew proudly off the stern.

Making landfall always involves a lot of work initially: clearing in, deciding where to park the boat, cleaning the boat, doing laundry, and catching up on sleep. As I finish this post, Jon is waxing the hulls, and I will return to rusty nuts and bolts with my rust stain remover and elbow grease. But we will be land lubbers for the next 4-5 months. Then we will have time to put immediate tasks aside and reflect on the miles we've traveled, the countries we've visited, the new friends we've made and insights we may have gleaned along the way. For now, at least, I am feeling very, very fortunate.

Cheers.