The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.
[password]waiknot
[position]15 22.334S 167 11.385E
[status]
Safely tucked into the lagoon behind Oyster Island. Warm day and pleasant evening, rain is forecast for tomorrow, but wait and see. Previous forecasts of rain have only resulted in a few dry showers!
With a tropical cyclone lingering in the north, this anchorage gives us protection from all sides, just in case we need it! We are watching the progress of the cyclone brewing in the Solomons, it does not seem to be heading our way, but we still might have some strong winds as it passes by. It was s bit tricky getting in to the lagoon, we touched the bottom on the first attempt and had to reverse off the shallow patch in the channel. Had to wait until almost full tide to get enough depth of water in the passage, but inside the lagoon there is plenty of room and we are anchored in 12m of water. Sharing the lagoon with Trigger, Mawari and 3 other yachts, but plenty of room for several more. As we anchored a dugong surfaced behind us to welcome us into the bay.
The lagoon is behind Oyster island, which is behind a reef, which in turn is behind another chain of little islands protecting us from the sea. There is almost no wind at all in the anchorage and no swell. The entrance is marked by channel markers and the passage at high tide is clear of obstacles, but nothing like the charts! The track we made on our electronic charts (Navionics) coming in shows us travelling over reefs and land to get in, but the charts do not resemble reality! There is a river running from the lagoon up to the Blue Holes swimming spot which we will explore one day soon, plus there is a resort with a nice restaurant on Oyster Island which will beckon us over for sure. An idyllic spot, with easy access to the main road and buses into town if we happen to run out of paw paws. We do have a wonderful life!
[p]n2866f
[pos]08 35s 148 28w
[sp]4
[h]010t
[w]Wind ENE 08, Sea E 0.5M, sky clr
[s]Lovely day. Not a cloud in the sky. Shower Day!
[END]
[password] s0pacmac or FY4za62u
[position] 22 10.77s 166 13.79e
[status] Motoring for Baie des Moustiques to stage for passage Torres Straight/Indonesia. Rethinking early departure due being able to hear David this morning away from Noumea interference with update on TC Raquel. Think first password is correct as updated using one time second password, but message from 24/6 didn't seem to get through. Are password and format OK?
[speed] 5.2
[heading] 288T
[weather] 4knts E .3m swell from the S 70% cloud cover.
[END]
[password] cloud&sun
[position] 22 16.00s 167 49.42w
[status] As of 2100 2015-07-01 UTC: Sailing nicely in SE winds. Several flying fish landed on deck (may be the only way we'll catch any).
[speed] 7.8
[heading] 357T
[weather] 15-20knts SE. 2m swell from the S. 20% cloud cover.[END]
[password] 0202mqpl
[position] 15 37S 167 11E
[speed] at anchor
[heading]
[weather] 20-25kn ESE (protected), 100% cloud cover, baro 1012
[status] Ratua Island. Yesterday sunshine and less wind, this morning wind picked up again[END]
[password] 0202mqpl
[position] 15 37S 167 11E
[speed] at anchor
[heading]
[weather] 20-25kn ESE (protected), 80% cloud cover, baro 1012
[status] Ratua Island. Yesterday sunshine and less wind, this morning wind picked up again[END]
