SERENITY NOW

Day 1. 10 Oct '23 Like two excited children on Christmas Day morning, we jumped from our bed as the sun came up. There’s an unfamiliar tingle fluttering in my stomach.. an air of anticipation.. What’s the reason for all this excitement? Has Santa been? Did it snow? No… Better than that: We’re going to Australia! We’d prepped the boat yesterday, checked out and provisioned. All that was needed to do this morning was slip the dock lines and glide out of the marina. This was a task made significantly easier as a couple of days ago Capt. Chez had decided to turn the boat around to be facing bow out. We’re away from the marina before 6am and on our way to Bundaberg. Within the first ten minutes, we had a visit from two dolphins - surely a good omen for our last passage (… again I must stress: I’m not one for omens and portents… I do however seem to keep mentioning them. Funny that). The dolphins sedately circled the boat then headed on their merry way. We made our way through the pass ...

  Having spent an interesting week on the water getting here, we were very glad to grab a mooring buoy next to a small island resort (Ilot Maître) and flop on our flat calm bed for a good 12 hours of solid sleep. Having recovered somewhat, the next morning we raised the yellow flag and headed across to the marina at Noumea. The usual frantic marina entry ensued: confusing radio comms, angst over getting into the berth, rising wind, tight turns.. it’s still not my preferred method to stay somewhere: far too many hard surfaces - I’d much rather drop the anchor. That said, there’s a lot to like about plugging in to ‘free’ electricity, water and wifi. Immigration was a short walk away, a couple of forms and stamp stamp we’re in. Next up, the biosecurity team visit the boat. Two young guys, who inspect our food stores, and take away various bits: corn kernels, and egg shells out of the bin amongst other things. The local supermarket (Johnstons) had us gawking like slack jawed yokels at ...

  I’m writing this with a belly full of excellent Mexican food. After checking out of Fiji at Denarau, we splashed out on a chilli infused goodbye feast at a nice dockside restaurant. Now back on the boat with lips still burning, we’re saying a very fond farewell to somewhere we’ve been repeatedly delighted by over the last few weeks. I feel like I’ve been saying ‘The people here are lovely’ at every stop along the way since we left the Caribbean - the Fijians however trump all previously mentioned lovely people! Never before have I met such honestly friendly and welcoming souls: a truly happy smile and a ‘Bula’ from everyone you meet. Be that from rough looking randoms at a rundown bus station, to… well.. to literally everyone here! Anyone Fijian reading this (unlikely I know) you are a credit to the island paradise you are lucky enough to call home. Day 1. Weds 27 Sept 2023 We left there this morning, upping anchor as soon as we were both awake. Our destination; Noumea in New Cal...

  Bula Bula!! We’re still in Fiji… and it’s pretty lovely. The sailing is good, the islands and anchorages so far have been beautiful, spacious and close to empty. We’re both quite enjoying boat life for the moment. Our only concern is what the hell we’re going to do next… but read on and we’ll all find out together! On the way to our current anchorage we passed an island. Treasure Island; palm trees, sandy shore.. like any other round here really. This one however was special for us, as it was the place where we’d holidayed with my mum, dad and Charlie some 15 or so years ago… blimey is that right??!! Time really is flying. Anyway - bypassed that little patch of memories and came here - to another notable island in our lives.. Mana Island. We’ve never been here before, but have sat glued to a TV every time it has appeared. It’s the set of our favourite TV show ‘Survivor’. Arriving here, we came through the dogleg pass winding our way through an initially confusing line of marker b...

  I’m writing this one as we leave the location I’m about to describe: Nawi Island Marina. Having arrived there on the 23rd August, planning to stay just a few days, we are now tearing ourselves away some 10 days later. I’ve taken a break from the diary - this coinciding with me getting a cheap sim for the phone with 250G of data and gorging myself on all the delights the internet has to offer! Let’s rewind a bit though. One of the reasons we’d chosen this marina was that the ‘Pacific Posse’ rally were having a party here. That turned out to be a great evening: the free rum cocktails helped! Nice to catch up with a few of the boats we’d missed along the way over a couple of excellent mojitos. The Salty Gingers arrived, always good to see those two, and we enjoyed a couple of sundowner sessions with them. A notable one being atop the hill that overlooks the bay here. We were joined by (among others) Ellie and Omar from a Cinnamon and Zoe and Angus from Mowzer - both couples I wish w...

  Day 1. 12 Aug ‘23 Started the day the right way: with a rainbow and a short dolphin visit as we exited the pass at Suwarrow. It’s been pretty special here.. the usual melancholy feeling at leaving an anchorage is magnified for this particular departure. Suwarrow is a truly wonderful place which we’re leaving with very fond memories and we count ourselves very lucky to have been able to visit. …but move on we must. Once through the pass, we turned Westish (260 degrees) set up a wing on wing config, and as I write this we’re heading along nicely just shy of 5 knots. Chez’s back (coccyx) isn’t too good today - we went from: “This is actually alright” as we exited the pass, to: “I can’t f**king stand this! It’s physical and mental torture!” within the space of a few short hours. The side on swell, plus the usual whip crack of the sails in light wind is, I have to agree, somewhat torturous.. and my back doesn’t even hurt! Hopefully she can get some relief over the next few days. The w...