Just bobbing along on our little boat Bob

2010-09-18T15:42:00.003+12:00

this mud crab arrived by outrigger, trussed and alive. Bruce stabbed him in the appropriate place and he promptly tore free from his pandanus strapping and grabbed the knife. we couldnt
free the knife so we got another and gave a second death stab. He freed his other claw and grabbed the second knife! (We did eventually manage to squeeze him into our biggest pot and he was delicious.)

2010-09-18T15:18:00.003+12:00

Back in Port Vila for a week before the girls fly out for Auckland. Ella and Pop are both keen to be back in the company of their peers, Nic is in two minds about getting back into all those timetables and routines...
Mat and son Stan are coming up to sail Bob down to Noumea with Bruce, hopefully via the Tanna volcano and Lifou in the Loyalties. Then Stan flies home for school term 4 and Al and Max fly in for the final leg from Noumea to Opua.
Good to see Max is keen to sail again despite the awful first leg out of Whangarei. Hopefully they'll get some palm trees and snorkelling in the fabled Isles des Pins before a perfect sail home....

Homeward Bound

2010-09-18T14:30:00.003+12:00

ella and a lamen bay turtle

note the load on the deck of the interisland cargo barge....

our only whale...

sunset at epi island

have chook, will travel.

lamen bay airport

shell searching...

masquelines

sailing outrigger

aiwe island

Just some photos

2010-08-22T13:51:00.003+12:00

Playing with the dolphins at Asanvari. Getting ashore at Wala island.

The kastom dancers at Wala.

Playing with the kids on our kayak at Loltong.

The land dicing tower at Pangi, Pentecost.

Oh $%^*%$)&

2010-08-22T13:26:00.000+12:00

Currently back in Luganville thanks to an incredibly bad stroke of luck with our dinghy. What should have been a gentle sail between anchorages resulted in a freak accident with our dinghy being punched by the self steering rudder pole. Turns out there is noone in Luganville that can repair it or even anyone in Luganville selling inflatables to replace it! So here we are in the one of two available internet sites tring to sort it out. An adorable french fellow sailor is letting us use his 'spare' so at least we can get to and fro shore in the meantime. It's a bit small to take our outboard so we're getting a good workout with rowing.
The day before it happened we had the most gorgeous snorkel off a place called Port Latour. Several corals none of us had seen before, lots of the usual bright and crazy looking fish and the added bonus of huge turtles.

Nic

Back in Luganville Again!

2010-08-17T13:23:00.007+12:00

Well, we are now back in civilization Luganville after cruising the islands east of santo for the last month and a half.This will be brief as internet time is limited.

In Lolowai on Ambae we anchored in an extinct volacano crater,

In Asanvari on Maewo we played with dolphins from the dinghy, walked up to some gardens and a prawn farm, watched kastom dancing and string bands, seen Maewo magic and shared a potluck dinner with all the other yachties, and Beth and Nixon.

In Loltong on Pentecost we played with the local kids on our kayak,SAW A DUGONG, and got invited to a 1 year olds birthday on Childrens Day at which one of the party games included arming the children (including those only just able to stay on their feet) with a pair of scissors and a blindfold and them having to chop down a lolly.

In Waterfall Bay we swam and jumped from rocks into the pool below a tumbling waterfall with the crew of 'Chimere'.

In Wali Bay we swam in a beautiful, clear, clean river and visited water taro gardens with Thomas. A walk around the coast brought us to pangi where we had a look at the land diving tower.

In Ranon on Ambrym we watched many carvers on the beach hewing large Tamtams (slit drums) out of tree trunks, all working flat out to complete an order for a container load due to depart for Noumea the following week. A walk up the hill brought us to Fanla to view a range of carvings, by the time we left we had procurred a laplap preparation board the size of a small coffee table (and many times the weight) that had been carved from a very large piece of wood, and a number of bamboo flutes.

In Banam Bay on Malekula we met a class full of kindy kids on the beach and got invited to Sunday lunch with the teachers family. Great walk through the food forest, great lunch and great fun with the family.

At Wala Island, Malekula we watched the island get invaded by tourists when the P&O Pacific Jewell droped anchor and disgorged over a thousand passengers onto the beach for the day.

At Vao Island, Malekula we got greeted by lots of outriggers and lots of children all offering us mandarins.

In a day or 2 we will be leaving for Port Vila , which will take us around 3 weeks cruising down the other side of Malekula and then Epi. Emae and Efate.

Bruce and Ella

Millenium Cave Tour

2010-07-07T11:22:00.002+12:00

Yesterday we went on the most awesome tour up to the Millenium cave. It all started with an exetremely bumpy 1 hour 4WD trip. When we arrived at the village we met Tony our lovely lovely guide. The first part was an 1 and 1/2 walk in to get a paintd face and drop down over the raging rapids into the gaping mouth of the cave!Inside it was pitch black (we had torches) and there were tonnes of these really cute little bats:). When we emerged half and hour later in to the light again it was time for some canyoning (It was like the gorge walk...) we got to float through this tunnel under the rock and then claber and climb over numerous boulders. My favourite part was the next bit, for 45 minutes we got to float down the river -sometimes having to get out to avoid the waterfalls-with a little floaty ring.The scenery was like something out of a lost world, it was amazing. The freshwater fish came right up to you and there were these huge prawns or mini freshwater crayfish sitting just under the surface on the rocks. When we left the water we had to climb up a waterfall, which sounds hard but was actually really easy coz the rock wasnt slippery and there wasnt much waterflow. Then at the top of that there was 4 more bamboo ladders . Id have to say by that point all our knees were thoroughly jittery. At the end was another short walk in which i seriously felt as if i was on top of the world.
All in all it was a magnificent day. Anyone visiting Espirito Santo absolutely has to do it!!!!!!!!!!

Passage

2010-06-28T11:54:00.004+12:00

Poppy practising for when the chance comes to re-enact her part in Titanic! The crew of Bob sans mum on the second to last day when we were all actually really enjoying this passage!

Luganville!

2010-06-28T11:34:00.002+12:00

Yay, we are finally here after a passage i would definitely not describe as joyful. It took us 10 days of which (typically) i felt sick basically the whole way, although the last 2 days were absolute heaven that all of us enjoyed immensely! We had Deb on board with us ,who is mums friend from when they went sailing together ages ago.. Being back in Vanuatu is absolutely amazing! We have been moored off Aore resort for the last week which had a pool and some good snorkelling. We spent some time with other kids that were staying in the resort, they were all under 8 but it was still fun jumping off the jetty and rope swing with them! Tomorrow we will make our way round to Palekula bay, then to Oyster resort and the blue hole. The town here isnt exactly great but still im so happy to be back in the islands again. We have had basically constant rain for the last 5 days or so but today is beautiful blue,sunny, clear skies. In fact its too hot! Well i feel sorry for you guys all in that cold,wet weather. Okay, bye for now.
ella

Gemstone fossiking

2010-05-31T14:20:00.001+12:00

This is a photo.

Ha sorry,

of us fossiking for sapphires and yes we did find some.IT was really fun

nearly ready to leave the land of oz

2010-05-31T13:51:00.002+12:00

had a road trip up to one of the gemfield areas inland from Bundaberg where the girls fossicked for sapphires, found a small bagfull each and now well and truly bitten by the prospecting bug. they are keen to try gold panning next... found several national parks which we thoroughly enjoyed but still no snakes to be seen. probably a good thing but after all the hype of the dangerous creatures we're yet to see more than the jellyfish.
deb will join us at the end of the week and we will head off for new caledonia, winds permitting, and vanuatu if the trades are too strong. deb and i sailed together in the pacific and oz nearly 30 years ago so it should jog a few memories.
we've found a way to get poppy over her worry about the ocean passages, she now has a ds electronic game toy and is actually looking forward to being allowed to play it for hours on end!
looking forward to seeing everyone again, nic

2010-05-15T09:49:00.000+12:00

2010-05-15T09:47:00.000+12:00

2010-05-15T09:44:00.001+12:00

2010-05-15T09:32:00.003+12:00

We had a road trip up to Bundaberg at the end of February, to watch the turtle nests hatching out at the DOC centre at Mon Repos. After arriving from New Caledonia in november we sailed out to Lady Musgrave Is on the Great Barrier Reef to see the adults laying so we wanted to see the cycle completed. Very different experience from the laying where Tin Soldier and Bob crews were the only ones there. With the hatching we had a large group, very organised and the upside was the excellent information given by the volunteeers.
They hatch at night, several hundred from the same nest, and immediately start crawling down to the sea where they head off for years before returning to the same area when ready to breed. They have been tracked to Chile and back thru the Pacific, taking up to 20 years to get back! From here they jump into the East Australian Current, as seen in Nemo...
The numbers born each year is stunning, i think they said there are 630recorded nests in this area alone this year.

Mooloolaba to Fraser Island

2010-05-14T23:43:00.003+12:00

Finally we're away from Mooloolaba! We had a crappy passage up to and over the wide bay bar but from there it was pretty pleasant. Tin Can Bay and the Great sandy straights have beeen sunny and lovely with flat seas and gentle wind, what more could you ask for? (money, fame, a porsche...)

The highlight of my time at school here in Mountain Creek High was the initative day up in the hinterlands, it was exciting and challenging. Like the leap of faith where you had to climb an 11 metre telegragh pole to jump off (with a harness). It was really fun.

Brock, Scott and Hai Ying joined us at Fraser Island for a tumultous, bumpy, tree clearing, seat lifting 4wheel drive expedition.Gorgeous clear lakes,white white sand but not a dingo or a snake to be seen (except for the spiritual dingo poppy and ella saw on the beach in the pitch black of darkness while dad excruciatingly slowly launched the dinghy).
They are currently with dad bringing Bob to Bundaberg and we are off on a national park and gem fossiking road trip before they return home on the 23rd of May. Mums friend Deb is joining us for the passage to Vanuatu via New Cal, weather permitting we will go in the 2nd week of June.
We now have Ted the Red Rascal on board, he's a hydrovane self steering system, so the passage should be a lot easier if he behaves himself. Means we dont have to hand steer the whole way and can actually make a cup of tea or go to the lu during a 3 hr watch (luxury!)

Had an excellent last night with Tin Soldier playing charades at Kingfisher Lodge. After 9 months we're parting company and Im gonna really miss them ;-(
& Mum wont have anyone to talk to on the VHF anymore.

Ella and Nic

Nippers

2010-04-26T15:31:00.000+12:00

2010-04-18T02:00:00.013+12:00

2010-04-18T01:59:00.001+12:00

day two of the holiday a wave picked tim up and dumped him on his head before sanding off his face skin on the sea floor.... two days in nambour hospital and he was cleared to leave but with one cracked vertebrae in his neck and missing quite a lot of skin. bounced back amazingly quickly tho. we put the camping trip off for two days under doctors orders and within four days he was driving the wicked camper. He refrained from joining in on all but one of the gentlest of the gold coast thrill rides two weeks afterwards tho.

2010-04-18T01:49:00.000+12:00

2010-04-18T01:46:00.001+12:00

Tangalooma sanddunes

2009-12-27T00:47:00.001+13:00

Back in Mooloolaba

2009-12-27T00:32:00.002+13:00

Ok well,after the Browns left Cambell stayed for another week and we sailed to Brisbane to drop him off. 2 days later Maia arrived and shes gonna stay for a month!Now were back in Mooloolaba after a lovely sail down and a stop at some massive sand-dunes.Christmas day was really fun and the waves were a pretty good size.We went swimming before breakfast and ( because maia and i were cooking) the hashbrowns were finally cooked by 11.30.We all got some cool presents and poppy got a scooter that shes been on non stop scince she got it in the morning on the 25th.Thank you Lee and family for my shorts ,their soooo cool!
Thenn we played manhunt at night, it was a pretty awesome christmas..........
Today the waves were even bigger and it was soo fun we spent all morning in the surf and im soo burnt it isnt funny.Its pretty funny at the moment its like scooter central on the paths by the marina office theres 6-7 going at times.
The plan is to still stay here until the end of term one...........................................
ella

2009-12-01T23:28:00.000+13:00

This is me feeding a wallaby,theyre sooo cute!

2009-12-01T23:26:00.000+13:00

These water dragons were wanderring everywhere and this one tried on lees shoes!

2009-12-01T23:23:00.000+13:00

Cuddling the Wallibies at The Zoo.

2009-12-01T23:16:00.000+13:00

Dingo hunting at Fraser is.

2009-12-01T23:11:00.003+13:00

Looks like we'll be living in Mooloolaba for the cyclone season. Ella is going to attend the Mountain Creek High School which she's pretty excited about, she has applied for a place in the dance academy which would become a subject which she studies each week.

Australia Zoo was awesome. we got to handfeed elephants, pat koalas, cuddle kangaroos and touch a baby alligator. the snakes were pretty amazing and there were a couple of huge 50 year old tortoises and there was one that died recently at 175 years old....

Bruces sister Lee is here with Isaac, Mia and Millie, it's great having them here and we are REALLY enjoying their apartment and swimming pool.

Australia

2009-11-11T14:44:00.002+12:00

We are alive despite all of the Australian venemous, stinging, biting,scratching, kicking creatures ,at the moment up the Bundy river.The passage was quite rolly for the first few days but it was ok coz we were zooming along at 7-8 knots!Then on the 4th day the wind died completely and we slowed right down. After all of one day and most of one night motoring the wind finally picked up a bit from the measly 1 knot and reached over 10.
We had a lovely sail in on the 7th day and the feeling of being here was awesome.
It feels so much like NZ but thats just after being in the islands.

We stayed a couple of nights at the entrance of the river and now are just further up at a marina near town.So far weve seen 2 walllabies and their Joeys in the wild and also lots of huge iguana like things.
We did a car trip yesterday and had fun on the fold-up bikes.Weve enjoyed being in a town and having 2.50 watermelons and 60c rockmelons.The landscape around here is very flat and theres lots of cropping-sugar cane, melons, tomatoes, capsicum etc.
This morning we went out to Mon beach where the turtles nest and learnt all the details.This afternoon were off to lady Musgrave atoll to do a night watch and see if we can see them ourselves.In 6 weeks time the hatchlings emerge and walk down the beach , hopefully we can come and watch that aswell.
Going down the river this afternoon hoping to spot dugongs or bull sharks .Mum saw something big and silver jump on the way up.

ella

2009-10-29T07:58:00.003+12:00

These are the really nice peoplein Thio, who took us to the market and shop .And kindly gave us some meat and jam!

2009-10-29T07:51:00.001+12:00

This is our campsite at Baie du Boquet,Poppy after her restful night ashore.

Ouvea

2009-10-29T07:45:00.002+12:00

After about 1 hour and 3 times asking directions we finaaly found the Blue Hole,its connected to the sea by an underwater tunnel so there were 3 turtles swimming around.

Sea life ...

2009-10-25T10:15:00.001+12:00

At the moment we have 5 big remora under our hull,weve been here long enoughfor them to accumulate... Yesterday we only had 3!
Also something you never get to experience on land: a FISH IN YOUR TOILET BOWL!!!
Poor fish...

new caledonia contd..

2009-10-25T09:51:00.004+12:00

we are now anchored in Noumea and have been thoroughly enjoying the fresh bread and croissants, the market and the Aquarium, the museums and cultural centre and even the zoo. it is a lovely blend of westernised organised bus services with navigation aids that are where they are sposed to be and working well. it's pretty pricey but not too bad and it's worth it to have access to such efficiency for a change.
we have finally started catching fish, trawling for green job (poulet) fish, waloo (spanish mackerell) and dropping the line over the side for a few tasty little breakfast trevally and little poulet. baie de prony was wonderful with extremely flat anchorages, good holding, large rivers spilling over boulders and waterfalls, (all the more appreciated with our leaking water tank so water has been rationed), rain, cool weather which has even required blankets at night, the only down fall is the enormous environmental degradation from the nickel mining. thankfully now the laws have been changed so they have to replant sites which has made a huge improvement.
We had an easy sail down from the Loyalties with Monika and Issi, overnight to le Grande Terre and came in to a friendly little place called Thio. a family of locals were amazing and took us in the car up to the mkt and local vege stall, gave us homekill deer that one of the family had shot in the mountains and jars of jam. really, really lovely friendly people and i particularly think the kanak people are marvellous coz all of them so far have made a great effort to understand my appalling french. we do actually manage to communicate 90% of what we are trying to say, i think....
set the tent up on a classic little beach with pandanus and coconut palms, cooked on an open fire and had a very pleasant couple of days on our own little island. bruce and ella very enthusiastically climbed to the top of the island and we managed to get issi back in the water for 5 minutes. she wouldnt let go of the aft ladder but at least she got in! the sharks en masse at Ouvea had definately made a major imprint on all of us. monika got in for a snorkel off the beach with her new underwater camera, wasnt as good as the sharkey D Island spot but still ok enough for some good pictures.
then a totally magic sail along the north east coast overnight with the wind tracking around at the exact right times for us to maintain a broad reach on a flat sea. wish they could all be like that.
we intend to head off to Oz next thursday with a couple of americans to crew the 800 mile passage. should be a doddle with 4 to hand steer, we're looking forward to getting to Bundaberg to catch up with some friends and then down to Mooloolaba to meet Bruces sister Lee late Nov.
nic (ella had written lots which was lost when she tried to publish it so she has given up in disgust for the moment) LOVE TO ALL xx

Nouvelle Caledonie

2009-10-24T08:23:00.008+12:00

Well,safe and sound in New Caledonia.We have been here now for exactly 25 days in which we have survived 2 tsunami scares and had Monica and Izzy come to stay. Starting at the beginning...

We got in to Ouvea with the ICA rally on about the 29th.

2 or 3 days aftter we arrived in Ouvea lagoon,we woke up to the sound of a insistent horn tooting,i stuck my head up the hatch and noticed that about 10 of the 30 rally boats had left the harbour and 10 more were in the process of pulling in their anchors.Iwondered what on earth was going on ...On the VHF dad was listening in to John's tsunami warning.It was expected in about an hour -9.16.As it happens we were the last boat to get out of the bay, even though some people had to wait for their crrew who were onshore!After about an hour milling about in deeper water the fleet started heading back in.It must have looked odd from shore,30 boats suddenly all up anchor and leave and then an hour later the 30 boats all flood back in and drop anchor again.

On the 7th of October Monica and Izzy arrived.On the 8th tried to sail to an uninhabited island called Deguala,3/4 of the way there it was realised that the conditions werent ideal for enteering the anchorage.We turned back and are glad we did as about 20 min later we got back into radio range and overheard someone disscussing another tsunami forecasted for ............8 minutes ago!

To be on the safe side we stayed out for awhille before heading back in to ouvea.After a couple of days we finally made it to Deguala,getting in there was so shallow -only about .4 of a metere ander our hull!-.Mum and i tied up a stern anchor to an old mooring bouy as everyone was scared of swing and hittin something.We both saw a turtle and then got out .Dad got in and claimed he saw a shark although i didnt see it.That afternoon we decided to explore the islands looking for a suitable place to set up tent.Izzy and mum were holding on to the back of the dinghy snorkelling while i rowed towards the shore.Izzy was making a bit of a commotion with her flippers and i jokingly said to Monica "do you think we should tell her splashing attracts sharks?"The next minute mum calmly notioned to Isabelle"oh look to your right" Izzy thinking she was pointing out another of the numerous tropical fish, turned her head.Suddenly with a magnificent flying leap over the back of the dinghy izzy was in the boat .With her flippered feet flailing in the air and her face flatenned on the floor ,she was stuck.

Round the Island

2009-09-25T13:36:00.002+12:00

Yesterday we hired a car and drove round the island with nan,brock,mum,dad,poppy ,jaryd and i .

the kids got to sit in the open part of the ute which was fun and very bumpy!
we also got to feed sharks and giant trevally,swim with turtles and wave at people.....

tomorrow were leaving for New Caledonia, a 250 mile passage.lets all cross our fingers that we wont be siick the whole way!

ella

holding the Pacific Boas

2009-09-25T13:29:00.001+12:00

this is me (obviosly) holding the pacific boas at the Secret Garden!

photos

2009-09-21T13:05:00.003+12:00

This is at the Secret Garden,we all held these iguanas, the banded one is a male and the plain green is a female.he enjoyed a feast on nans hibiscus flower!Then we all got to hold 2 pacific boas-snakes.they felt amazing but it was a bit scary when they coiled around my neck!

photos

2009-09-21T12:52:00.006+12:00

This is Mt Yasur....
in one of its explosions that grew as the nnight got darker...

this is Poppy drinking a coconut at moso island,after the scratchy walk.the man behind her was one of our guides,he scaled the tree and got us all a nice ,fresh drink!

up the volcano-abit unpleasant and surprisingly cold for the proximity to the lava??!!

photos

2009-09-21T12:31:00.005+12:00

This is one of the typical styles of thatched roof houses in the village.

this is at port resolution,showing just how relaxed everyone is about knives,bows and arrows and machetes.

photos

2009-09-21T12:11:00.003+12:00

Port Resolution Yacht Club on Tanna,where we arrived in Vanuatu.

Havannah harbour to Hideaway

2009-09-19T17:18:00.002+12:00

We are now in Mele bay.
After 3 nights in Havannah harbour ,we went on another walk that wasnt nearly as bad as the one at Blue Lagoon,but it was abit scratchy!
Luckily we had guides and friends with us so we managed t o not get comepletely lost!
Now were near Hideaway island, which hosts the only underwater post office in the world! along with the only volcano post at Mt Yasur!
this morning i went and posted a postcard underwater ,it was pretty cool!
At 11.30 this morning Fances and Brock arrived and theyll be stauing at a hotel near our boat.

Thank you ,room 3 and everyone wwho signed the T-shirt!
thank you cinta for doing that and thank you sophie and emma for the photos!

still going to upload the photos
ella

Now in Vanuatu

2009-09-11T17:40:00.004+12:00

Hello,hello,hello

Well we are now safe and sound in Port Vila.
The passage from Fiji to Port Resolution (vanuatu) took us 4 1/2 days .It was around 450 miles in total i think...
I am pretty confident in saying that those 4 days were some of the worst in my life!
The first 2 days we spent rolling from side to side and hardly making any progress ,
every 10 minutes one of us would be spewing over the side...all was miserable!
the last couple of days all of us had recovered enough that our insides managed to stay intact.
at arrival in Port Resolution we were all glad to be alive!
We set off from Fiji with 'Tin Soldier' and kept in contact with them wchich made us all feel abit comforted...
On Tanna we went up the live volcano ,Mt Yasur which was an amazing experience!
The volume and power of each of its mini explosions was enough to keep you stepping backwards every time!
we went in to the port resolution school and looked at all the classes abit to nervous to talk to the students about where we had come from!
the villagers here were nice in particular a man named Stanley and his family,they weaved us baskets and we had lunch with them.
there was a nice surf beach on the other side of the is land and it was very good swimming ,,,crystal clear and azure blue- with coral and waves! After spending a week oon Tanna we sailed th 55 miles to Erromanga again with Tin Soldier, in Dillions bay there is a fresh water swimming hole and that was nice.
We left there at 5pm last night and arrived in at Port Vila today at around 10;30 am.
The markets here are cool and tommorrow we might be heading off to hideaway island...

i will try to post some photos soon

ella

to vanuatu and beyond

2009-08-26T09:39:00.001+12:00

Tomorrow we are hopefully leaving for Vanuatu .......
we will probably spend about 3 weeks there then to new cal and auzzie.

photos

2009-08-22T21:02:00.002+12:00

This is again at Blue Lagoon .
With our new friends Va , Peter and Una .
they are preparing oranges to make mamarlade and our friendship with them made this place really cool and they were the highlight of our stay at blue lagoon ...

photos

2009-08-22T20:50:00.000+12:00

This is at Manta ray resort with the damerells and staff...
fun times ...

photos

2009-08-22T20:38:00.002+12:00

This is at Malolo island bar for jaryds birthday at dinner.
clockwise from far back left: marylin,jaryd.grant,ella ME,maddie,grace,poppy,sophie.
dad is the one with the elbow interfering.
pizza for dinner than a movie on tin soldier.
fun day and evening..

photos

2009-08-22T20:31:00.001+12:00

This is Peter,our little friend at blue lagoon...our little helper .we have no idea what hes doing to our dinghy but he really enjoyed playing in it or as we were rowing in he would jump up onto the bow as we neared the beach and tieing it up to a tree.
he is soo friendly but theres a bit of a language glitch..

photos

2009-08-22T20:24:00.003+12:00

This is a photo of when midway through the wacking walk dads feet were shredded into pieces so we made him some state of the art fashionwear..... towwel shoes ......
and even better they nearly worked!

photos

2009-08-22T20:14:00.002+12:00

This photo was taken aat Blue lagoon -a picture perfect beach- right before the bush wacking expedition when all was fine and dandy...

photos

2009-08-22T20:09:00.002+12:00

This is a photo of mum whilst we were having our grass whacking expitdition at blue lagoon!
can any body see the track...
no there wasnt one of course!!!

Robinson Crusoe Island to Suva to Malolo and back again to Vuda

2009-08-22T19:53:00.004+12:00

hello, the photo is from manta ray with the damerells ( miss you guys)

we are now back in Vuda after leaving and going to RCI,malolo and saweni...

at robinson crusoe we had a very nice lovo and a spectacular fire dancing show.

dad ,poppy and i caught a bus in to suva (4 hours) where we went to the museum and picked up some mail. after 2 days we sailed back to malolo for jaryds birthday.it was fun there was 8 kids.

last night we were n saweni beach and now were in vuda.mum and i went into lautoka today and poppy stayed the night on winddancer with grace.

just a breif summary of the last week or so...

back to vuda

2009-08-09T21:54:00.001+12:00

now we are back in vuda.
from blue lagoon to waya to wayasewa to here.
today we saw 16 dalphins and one of them jummped right out of the water and splashed me!
fuller detail later

ella

still yasawas

2009-07-31T18:28:00.002+12:00

we have had a great time tiki touring up thru the Yasawas, swimming with giant mantarays, avoiding the sea snakes , lots of corresp sch work.... and met some lovely fijians, all so relaxed and happy with their lot.
we have been waiting for the easterlies to sit back to the south but after 6 days have decided to bite the bullet and change plans to keep heading north in the yasawas for a while instead and HOPE to be able to get over to Yadua and Vanua Levu by next week. this is a lovely spot to chill, good snorkelling, fresh fruit and vege available and tomorrow night we have a lovo with a local family, we'll go in the afternoon to help prepare the food so we can learn what to do with all the weird and wonderful ingredients we get offered.
hi to everybody from ella. and the rest of us!
the manta rays were truly amazing, phenomenal and ella even got to touch one. they are huge, easy the size of a double bed and look almost prehistoric. a huge slow moving monster but apparently very gentle, or at least unconcerned with us.
at one anchorage we took a hike across the island to snorkel in a lagoon with a sunken wwII plane which was pretty well in tact, took a hike on this island the other day and got a bit lost. ended up crashing thru the 2m high dense grass/bamboo and were all starting to feel just a little concerned when we finally located a big mango tree which, of course, turned out to be the same one we had crashed past an hour before..... yes kimina, you came up in conversation a lot coz we were all sure you would have just LOVED it. bruce ended up with towels wrapped round his feet as they were getting shredded, luckily the rest of us had shoes, just got our arms and legs shredded. the girls have decided they are never going on another nic inspired walk.
ella is now a qualified clown fish whisperer. we want to get her to move onto something more edible next ...
xxx

In yasawa group at blue lagoon (film location )

2009-07-28T15:39:00.002+12:00

cant load blog yet so will update when in savusavu in 10 days
having a great time
despite mums expidition today bush wacking
kimina you came up in conversation a lot x x x
bye for now

Musket cove with the Damerells

2009-07-12T16:41:00.000+12:00

malololailai island, mamanuca group.we've been here a week now, lovely place with a well marked entrance in thru the reef and moorings to pick up. the resort facilities are avail for our use so we have swimming pool, diveshop, restaurants, equipment hire etc. can snorkel on the reef either side of our mooring but it isnt very stunning. this island has three or four resorts on it tho so fairly heavily hammered with people.ella and cin tried their luck at windsurfing, a few more days and i think they'd both be whizzing around the harbour.cin has stayed with us and the rest of the damerells have gone on to the next resort in the yasawas. we were sposed to begiving them all a ride up but true to form the weather packed a sad so they had to use the ferry system. we hope to get upto join them tomorrow but we've been getting some pretty strong weather the last couple of days so will have to see...should just be a one day sail altho there is a little uninhabited island along the way that we'd like to overnight in.
managed to get the correspondence school work from the post office last week and the girls are loving it. took three attempts pick it up from the post office over a week and the last time i refused to leave til they found it... sure enough 15 minslater they brought it out. good lesson to learn, never take the first no as an answer!
typical tropical weather, pop managed to collect over 30 litres of water this morning off the 2 square metre sunshade in no time at all. xxx nic
POP here:i am haveing lots of fun. I say hi to all my friends i am really missing you Poppy ...
Ella here:this is soo cool and i like windsurfing...Cinta and I have gone snorkeling a few times with bruce and tim, there is lots of colourful fish so we were having lots of fun with Avis underwater camera taking photos.they were staying in Plantation Island Resort .IT was really cool and we went swimming in the pool LOTS.last night we had lots of rain and thunder and lightning.today we went on a walk over the island and we went to the beach, i found some really cool shells and we saw lots of toads and we nearly stood on them!Then we got innvited to play volleyball with some people.Cinta hit the lady that invited us to play inn the back of the head and i did a spectacular dive into the sand to save the ball.now were making up codes,,, for exaample ... chillie=attackwe will use them to attack poppy and aimeewwe have also opened and dehusked a few coconutsa very satisfactory job but dirtynow we are trying to give ourselves afros...hi izzywas there really tornadoes???hi sophie and emmashame about the weather its nice here you should come and visit!!!!ella...hope to update soon ella...ella...
Cinta here:kia ora kia ora...haha I'm in fiji!!Over and out!

Vuda Point Marina

2009-06-30T16:53:00.001+12:00

We are now in the Vuda Point marina and the four of us are reunited with Bob.
The trip up on Bob didnt go to well for the crew as it wasnt ideal conditions to say the least.
Dad and Max were totally exhausted and thoroughly enjoyed their first hot shower. Max out shone all expectations as blue water crew and we would happily have him on board again.
But we are all here now and safe and sound.
There is a pool in the resort next door that we go to often to cool off, the weather here is extremely hot but there’s has been rain one night and it’s also raining now. I haven’t seen a marina like this before, its round and everyone noses up to the footpath. Today we are just mucking around and doing some drawing. It’s raining again. Lots of Mosquitoes and sand flies but not too bad.
For the last few days mum and dad have been between maintaining the boat and lounging or swimming in the pool. Poppy spends 99% of her time in the pool and has already made a new friend. I got sick on Saturday night but not too badly and I’m feeling much better now. Im finding the best way to deal with the heat is to alternate between pool and boat either reading or swimming. Yesterday we went back in to Lautoka to get a cruising permit for the Yasawas and the Mamanucas and to do some shopping at the market. Poppy stayed here on her friend Grace's boat (Wind dancer) while we were gone.
We’ve got a couple of fold up bikes that are fun to whizz around the marina on.
The food is Good with a capital G. Its varies from curries to chinese and indian to fish or fresh fruit.
As I said it’s very hot, so the pool is welcome though it is still a cold shock getting in the water.
On Sunday we went to listen to some live music at the yacht club and for the rest of the day we just mucked around.
Avi, Tim, Cinta and Aimee, I can’t wait for you guys to arrive.
We all got our hair cut except for dad. And Bob, we think you are the best hairdresser in the whole entire world!
We are thinking of sailing to the Mamanucas in a couple of days.
The correspondence work should be coming through next week so then we’ll be working hard like the rest of you.
Missing everyone already but i cant say id rather be there with you because this is awesome here on the boat ( and warm).
Well that’s all i really have to say.

hope to update soon
please leave comments

ella

Here

2009-06-25T08:31:00.002+12:00

finally here, great temprature, lovely hotel ,really happy

We are GONE

2009-06-24T08:10:00.002+12:00

Yay ,we are leaving on the plane at 3 o clock today!
Bob should arrive in fiji on thursday (tomorrow) and well beat her there.

YAY YAY YAY YAY

Tonights positions

2009-06-22T20:25:00.001+12:00

Position tonight at 1908 hrs

Lat 22 44 S Long 175 32 E
course 020 @ 4.3 knots
winds SE at 35 kn
320 miles to Latoka

Bobs Co-ordinates

2009-06-22T11:18:00.004+12:00

Position at 18:37 hours on the 17th of June '09 ;
Lat 33.01 S Long 175.29 E
On a course of 348 (M) @ 4.7 knots
Position at 18:42 hours on the 18th of June '09 ;
Lat 30.51 S Long 175.41 E
On a course of 312 (M) @ 7 knots
Position at 18:20 hours on the 19th of June '09 ;
Lat 28.27 S Long 176.24 E
On a course of 345 (M) @ 6.5 knots
Position at 18:14 hours on the 20th of June '09 ;
Lat 25.59 S Long 176.47 E
On a course of 350 (M) @ 7.5 knots
Position at 18:08 hours on the 21st of June '09 ;
Lat 26.13 S Long 175.59 E
On a course of 350 (M) @ 4 knots

They're finally nearly there, past halfway by my reckoning!
The plane with Poppy Mum and I on it will get there in 2 days so we will definately arrive before Bob and her crew members.

To the Warmth

2009-06-21T16:05:00.001+12:00

Yay only 3 days till the plane leaves!
And we will be in the hot sun in Fiji!

Up and Away

2009-06-17T11:04:00.002+12:00

Yay, they're finally gone! 'Bob' left marsden at around 12:00 yesterday. So lets hope they get wonderful weather!

Still here!

2009-06-16T10:58:00.002+12:00

Due to adverse weather conditions 'Bob' is still in port at Marsden Point.Not sure when they will be leaving but hopefully they will get there before we arrive on the plane on the 24th.If not .........
We will keep you posted.

Or Not...

2009-06-12T14:00:00.000+12:00

Turned out that the weather is too bad for them to sail up to Opua .Instead they will go to Marsden.