timor

on our way to the island of bali we ran out of diesel and we had to make an emergency stop in the port of kupang to refill. the wind was seriously lacking and the cyclone season upon us; we could not risk drifting out in the ocean waiting for some wind so we stopped in this industrial port full of fishermen to get our diesel. we anchored outside of a mosque at the time of prayer, took the jerry cans in the dinghy, met some nice people that spoke english and got money and the diesel. shortly after we left timor and continued our way towards bali.

sailing indonesia

after the torres straight which was only about 200 nautical miles off port moresby we still had 2000 miles to go sailing between the north coast of australia and the south part of indonesia. we had a much slower sail than expected. very little wind and flat seas with hot and humid days and nasty thunderstorms at night. we crossed oil and gas platforms and where accompanied by birds every night. sadly there were no fish at all so our diet sailing these waters was mostly based on pasta.

sailing the north of australia

crossing the torres straight was an experience. the cargo ships pass very close through the narrow natural channels. there are beautiful islands on either side some of them with long white sand beaches and the color of the water is beautiful. we saw turtles mating in the water and a long scary snake. in some parts it felt like sailing in the bahama banks, because the depth would never be more than 30 of 40 feet for many miles and days. it was fantastic. we did have a front come by when we were crossing the middle of the straight (which takes about 25 hours to cross) and had very strong gusts and added with the very strong currents in the straight (6 knots) created bad seas. for that night we sailed as far as we could from the reefs and had minimum sails up. at the end of the next day the weather cleared and brought beautiful sailing conditions for the next 5 days.




we were also accompanied almost every day by a plane form the Australian coast guard who would radio us very time and request the boat details. the entire area is very secure, protected and certainly well watched by the Australian authorities.

port moresby

port moresby is the capital of papua new guinea, it is poor and a bit dangerous. there are guards everywhere in every store. the yacht club by contrast is the most elegant, complete and fancy structure of all the marinas we have seen on our trip. it is more than a marina, it is a social club where all the expats in port moresby go, with a different event every night and women all day dressed formal playing cards and drinking tea. the yacht club is located on a new place of town called harbor city; very pretty with all new houses looking at the commercial port, the bay and the marina but all enclosed in bars and with guards outside… feels bizarre to be so protected from the outside reality. we mostly prepared the boat for the next long crossing all through the north of the australian coast.


Because of the weather forecast was for very little wind, we had to get some extra jerry cans for more diesel, and some drinking water for the hot days ahead.



We pampered the engine, the boat and ourselves to great food and some of the fantastic local crafts! We also enjoyed the company of the only other two cruising boats in the marina that were sailing like us, a little bit late in the season. this was a good stop for us to recharge energies and prepare for the long crossing ahead.