An update from Field Trip. We?ve settled into Guam rather easily. Gotten plugged into the local community, and are enjoying some comfort food from the many different options that remind us of home. Sad news is one of our good friends that sailed with us around Borneo and through Sulawesi passed away over the weekend. We are in shock. We became fast friends on the rally, and it is just terrible to hear the news. We?re waiting for Volvo to approve the costs for engine replacement. It?s expensive here?so I am expecting some pushback from the local dealer as the costs seem extremely high. We expect to have the engine replacement start this week?...

We are a day late on our update. We arrived safely to Guam. We had a great last 18 hours of beam reaching in 10-13kts of wind. It was a very good sail overall, and we made it here with 1 tack, and no close reaching. Seas were a bit rough, but very glad we took this window and are now here. Engines should arrive on Mon/Tue and we will hopefully be getting them replaced late this week or early next week. That the is plan.

We had three reefs last night to keep the boat slowed down as the rough seas made for uncomfortable ?fast? sailing. Today we pulled to all but one reef and are moving along nicely with a better sea state. Our max speed yesterday was 17.3 kts on a large swell?too fast and too uncomfortable and too ?shaky? for us. :) We won?t make a daylight arrival so our plans are to anchor in the harbor upon arrival around 9pm tonight. All is going much better as the sea state is a lot better and less confused.

Overall we?ve been having good sail. Seas are large and somewhat confused as expected from the tropical storm, but otherwise, we are making good progress. We will be arriving to Guam tomorrow.

We left around noon for Guam. It was to messy at anchor and much more comfortable sailing. All is going well. We should arrive on Saturday.

Let?s just say it is howling here. We?ve have a very bumpy night at anchor here in the lagoon. The winds have been howling during this tropical storm. We?ve seen consistent winds of mid 30?s with gusts in low 40?s. It made for a slightly stressful night making sure we don?t drag or have any equipment failures. Our secondary anchor rode broke in 40 knots. I wasn?t surprised as the one we used was smaller than our primary, but needed to use it for 100m of scope. Primary anchor has not budged, so our concern has been chafe, and making sure the bridle remains intact. Fortunately it is a new bridle I just put on several weeks ago. We?ll wait out the weather a bit more, but getting antsy to run with this wind vs. sit here on the hook getting smashed. ;)

We had a great day. The village had a small ?going away? party for us, with large baskets of food, which included fish, coconut crabs, and local tarro. They sang songs and wished us well. Of course, we?ve been delaying our departure as this storm is going a bit slower than originally thought and we will end up waiting until Thur or Fri before we leave for Guam. The winds have clocked here as well to the N, and will continue to clock around as the low passes. We also had a dive yesterday.

The winds have died down here, which makes it very nice in the lagoon. The howling 18-22kts for the past several days made the entry/exit to the beach rough and wet. Now it is much better. We plan on leaving tomorrow for a direct run to Guam. We?ve really enjoyed our time here, and will probably stop back here after the engines are replaced on our way to the Philippines.

We had some kids come up and ask us if they could play on the boat. They did not make it with the other group?so?we said sure. It turned out to be another two loads of kids, about 20 more, who played on our boat until lunch. It was fun to see them going crazy, but it was loud and we were a bit tired. We hope to catch this window mid week after the low passes to Guam. Weather models have been mixed, with another low behind this one?so we will see, but really would like to make this window work.

The chief asked us to have another movie night, so we did. It was a big rough out on the trip to shore, but worth the effort as everyone showed up again and had a lot of fun. We also had the kids over to the boat for about two hours to play in the water. It was about 25 kids onboard playing, screaming and having fun. Needless to say we were tired by the end of the day. Church today with the village and hopefully some rest.

Another fun day with the village. Sarah and kids went to the elementary school to teach, and I stayed with the guys. We put on a movie night last night for the village. We have a small projector and speakers, so we had a movie night. Sarah made lots and lots of popcorn and Elizabeth made about 80 cookies. It was a blast. Today will be more low key, maybe even some diving.

The boat is fixed, top and bottom, and we used up all the resin. We are keenly watching the weather models. GFS shows a strong depression moving this way, the other models not so much?so we are in a holding patter for sure until we get into mid week next week. Kids are going ashore with Sarah to help at the local school. All well

We had a great day yesterday with the village. I?ve been working on fiberglass boat repair and the kids after school played with the local kids. We are closely watching the weather, as a potential low may drop over the top of us next week. We want a low to pass so we can have a change in winds?but we don?t want a big one on top of us either. Otherwise, more work in the village today, and hopefully later this week or weekend some diving.

We arrived to Ulithi - Magnog island - yesterday around 2pm. It was an OK motor/sail most of the way. We received a warm welcome as we arrived. The chief had a VHF radio, and called us upon arrival. We were not sure if it was going to be a good welcome at first as we have already cleared out of the country. It was no problem. He was happy to have us and told us we could stay as long as we wanted. They are a traditional village here, like others in Micronesia. No cellular, no wifi, just SSB radio for weather and communication. Everyone wears the traditional outfits, bottoms only, men and women. We will be here waiting out the next low, to see what happens. Hopefully it will be a miss (and we don?t have to sail back to Yap), and we can ride the back up to Guam. That is our plan, we?ll keep YIT updated.

We left Yap yesterday during this small window to sail to Ulithi, about 100NM NE. We needed to get some miles under the boat and this will break up the trip to Guam. We will wait there until a window appears for the 350 mile hop. If a typhoon heads our way, we will jump back down to Yap. We expect to arrive in about 5 hours.

We had a ?Hippy Jam Session? last night aboard Field Trip. Our neighbors, self proclaimed hippies, came over toting a bunch of instruments, and we spent hours last night playing and singing aboard Field Trip. It was a blast?even though I am not musically inclined. Logged two dives yesterday, and spearfishing. Diving here is average, but we have not been to any of the ?good? sights just yet.

Yap is very low key, and that makes it nice. There is another boat here that arrived from PNG. Three POBs, all young, from Italy, France and China. They all met in NZ and started from there. We are having them over for dinner tonight. We?ll be staying here until the low passes early next week and then we will probably head over to Ulithi Atoll, and wait there for a window to Guam. We start diving today! My ears are better and we should be good to go.

We arrived to Yap with no issues, and have cleared into the country, with the exception of Immigration. We will meet them tomorrow at their offices. They are having a Dengue outbreak, mainly on the outer islands, and some areas have been quarantined, and this villages are not allowed to travel to other islands. They seem to be taking it very seriously. Three deaths of children so far...

We had a good night of sailing, and then the winds dropped to about 5kts. We?ve had the engine on ever since, as the winds are very light out of the west. Sea calm with a slight swell. Our engines are not shipping until this week, so we will stop over in Yap for several weeks to a month or so, waiting for the next weather window to Guam and enjoy Yap. We still plan on returning to Yap from Guam on our sail back to Malaysia. All is well onboard, and we expect to arrive in the afternoon.

Having a good sail today. Comfortable seas, light winds, mostly sunny skies. We expect the wind to start falling behind us soon?so that will slow us down a bit. We heard from Volvo our engines have not shipped yet?so we may stop at Yap for a month or so before heading up to Guam. More later.

This is a correction to our Lat. Thanks Lanny from Swiftsure in letting my know I screwed up the N/S component?.We?ve had a decent trip so far. Less wind than expected. We were hoping for a bit more wind, but we?ve averaged less than 10 kts most of the way. The wind has been wobbly as we near the center of the low, so hopefully it will pick up a bit. Otherwise, all is well aboard as we head NE.

We?ve had a decent trip so far. Less wind than expected. We were hoping for a bit more wind, but we?ve averaged less than 10 kts most of the way. The wind has been wobbly as we near the center of the low, so hopefully it will pick up a bit. Otherwise, all is well aboard as we head NE.

We?ve just left the pass in Palau and are heading NE to either YAP or Guam. We are waiting to hear back from Volvo if our engines are delayed?and if so, we?ll stop in Yap, otherwise we will continue on to Guam with this good weather window. Surprisingly we have only 5-7kts of wind out here. Yesterday at the same time around the corner we had 22-27kts of wind. We are in the lee, but we should be seeing more wind than this?hope it picks up! :)

We are still at Sam?s location, and will be here for another day or two?.we are seriously considering taking this weather window and heading direct to Guam. More later, but that is our plan at the moment. Very messy we weather?but winds are favorable for a NE sail?...

We had a GREAT time in Peleliu, exploring the WWII relics and sites. We left yesterday for Koror, and had a nice sail with 15kts on the beam most of the 30NM to here. We?ll be here until later this week before checking out and heading to Yap. All is well.

Yesterday was epic diving. Everyone was happy, especially Elizabeth and Sarah. They both said it was one of their best dives ever. 40+m water visibility, large manta rays swimming overhead, lots of sharks and schools of fish. We hated to leave, but the park pass was expiring and we needed to get going down to Peleliu. We are now anchored in the small harbor that was created during WWII. It?s very serene here, and we are looking forward to touring this historical island.

We moved over to Long Beach for the day/night to spend some time on the beach with the kids for Halloween. It was a fun night of costumes and trick or treat onboard. We?ll have one more dive this morning on German Wall, and then head down to Pelilieu and explore the WWII history.

We are anchored off the German Channel, and did a dive yesterday. To summarize the diving so far, we?ve been spoiled over the years. The diving here is good. The diving in other places so far is better, namely Indonesia, PNG and Solomon Islands. There are some dives we are not able to do that are known to be outstanding?like Blue Corner. We?re close to Blue Corner, but it?s a tricky current dive so we will pass on this dive for now.

This is called I believe Seven Islands. It is a nice spot with three beaches. Kids had fun playing in the afternoon. We are moving today since we want to dive and will be heading to German Channel for a couple of days. It is supposed to be great diving there.

More good diving yesterday. This is a really nice spot, and we had some good rain last night to fill up the tanks. We?ll be moving this morning to what is called seven islands, and stay there for a couple of days, diving the wall and the kids playing on the beach. All is well.

Sarah and E had a good dive yesterday in the Ulong Channel. My ears are still messed up so no diving for at least a week or two. Michael and I snorkeled the pass. It was similar to passes we?ve dived in PNG and Solomons. Nice pass, lots of fish, relatively clear water. More diving today and tomorrow here before we head south to German Channel for more diving.

We moved over to ?Cemetery Cove?, a nice place near a good snorkeling spot. We?ll be here for a night or two before moving over to our next spot. It?s been rainy and cloudy, as forecast. Nice because it is cooler, but not so nice for snorkeling and diving as the light is not great.

We had a decent night last night. It was a little rolly in here given the entrance and tide changes, but very mild, and overall OK. We will be moving today to another location and continue to explore this area. This whole area is very similar to Raja Ampat, Indonesia. There are also similarities to Fulanga, Fiji. All beautiful with similar landscape.

We finally left Sam?s Place and moved out to a nice spot as we start to explore the Rock Islands in Palau. It is beautiful here, and right behind the boat is a nice dive site and snorkeling spot.

We arrived no problems to Palau. I'm late on this entry. Officials were easy, and we cleared in about 15 minutes with all authorities. The biggest issue is price. It cost a total of $700 USD to clear, including the vessel tax, and everything else. Needless to say, very expensive to visit Palau, and it is only getting more expensive as the years click by. Next year it will cost $950 USD for us to clear...if we were to come back. That's not going to happen anytime soon. Too bad, as this place is pristine. The Discovery channel was here the past several days filming the red snapper spawing. It was supposed to be amazing...but we've not had a chance yet to jump in the water. We'll be here for about a month before heading north to Yap. All is well.

We hoved to last night to stop the boat as we were going too fast and didn't want to arrive at night to Palau. We are now sailing again and should arrive around 8am tomorrow morning. We have 130NM left to sail, so we will still need to slow down a bit, but at least we will be arriving in the morning.

IWe are still sailing, and have found the current to finally slow down and can now make better progress without the 1.5kts against us. We expect to arrive Thur AM, early. All is well.

IWe finally have the motors off, and are now sailing. It's been hit and miss with the winds, more miss than a hit. We hope to be able to arrive by Friday at the latest saiing around 3-4kts with the winds behind us most of the way. Spinnaker was up yesterday and it was decent, but still only 6-8kts of wind.

It's been motoring for the past 24 hours. Light winds, but beautiful weather. So far as expected. We'll get some building of winds soon as this low up north passes. We're tracking the low as it could form a typhoon and we are/will be in the middle of the passage to Palau with not much out here but space and lots of sea. So far no issues but we are watching closely. We expect to arrive to Palau late Thur or Friday AM sailing dependent...that is why we are motoring to get close enough to Palau so we can jump in and get shelfter if needed....

We've had an intersteing couple of days. Friends of ours have engine problems on the monohull. The blew 2 impellers, and have some seawater cooling issues...so...we are currently towing them to Tobelo, about 50NM south to a port where they can fly out for spare parts to Singapore. Needless to say, they are stressed, but all is well. We've never towed a boat before with Field Trip, and she is doing fairly well. We are delayed in our departure to Palau. More later....

We are at anchore here at Pulau Doi. It is beautiful here...no village, just fisherman and very nice clear water. We'll be here for another day or two waiting for the weather to pick up for our 500NM sail to Palau.

We are almost to this small island where we will anchor for a couple of days waiting for weather. A cracking good sail for most of the way and then wind dropped to 0-5kts so motoring now

We are finally leaving the Lembeh Strait. It?s been fantastic here...with some of the best muck diving in the world. Incredible. We are now sailing to Palau via maybe one or two stops. Depends on weather...but for now we plan to arrive next week. All is well.

We are anchored here at Manado, and it is a beautiful location. Good amenities on shore and overall calm. Only ding is the anchorage is DEEP. We are in 30m, and it drops of to 100m about 30m from our anchor. We have 110M out, and under the boat we are sitting at 40m as we swing off the shelf. The good news is the prevailing winds blow us off shore, so if we were to somehow drag (we would be drifting at sea with no issues.

We are about 8 NM from anchoring. We had a great night last night with good winds and a crisp sail. We should be anchoring in about two hours and get ready to check out this area for provisions and diving. The anchorage is steep and deep here, but should be OK for a night or two.

The sailing has been going well, even is a bit slow. It?s been beautiful weather, and we are enjoying the trip. We should arrive tomorrow at some point, depending on wind. Currently slow sailing at 2.5 - 3kts with 5-6kts of wind. All is well.

We left Maratha yesterday around noon, and so far have had a great sail. We?ve had to motor in small increments due to the wind dying out, but overall we?ve sailed most of the way so far to the NE corner of Sulawesi. We have about 280NM left, and should arrive in the AM on the 11th.

We?re still here at this atoll/island. It is beautiful here, with good diving and excellent scenery. This is a place you could easily spend a month. However, it will soon be time to move on, in the next day or two, to the next atoll about 30NM south of here.

We arrived safely yesterday morning to the atoll. It is beautiful here, and we are glad we had a great trip. We?ll probably be here for a week or maybe a bit more, as we explore this area, do some diving and then wait for a good window to head direct to Manado Sulawesi. There are about 20 boats here, most from the rally, using this as a stop enroute to their next stop. We are glad to be over with the rally...and hope they leave soon to give us some space. ;)

We just picked up anchor here at Nunikan Island Indonesia. This was our first port to clear into the country and we are now officially ?not? with the rally. We are happy to be parting ways with the rally. It was not our deal, but we needed to do it to stay safe, so no complaints from there. We have about 135NM run to a beautiful atoll that is good for diving and relaxing. We will be there in about 24hrs, give or take depending on wind.

We are anchored here in a marine park, with the rest of the boats. The diving has been OK, but not great. However, we are seeing some amazing new nudibranchs, so that is good. We will be diving Sipidan tomorrow, for a total of three dives with the local dive operation. That should be good assuming the weather holds.

We are underway with 27 other boats, to our next stop in the ?ESSZONE? as it is called up here. Lots of security. We counted a total of 5 escort boats this morning as we sailed past the small village. All good, and looking forward to safer waters.... :)

We are sailing to our first ?high risk? anchorage with the 27 other yachts. The military and police are escorting with three black gun boats and one large cutter. We will anchor for the night and depart at 0500 for the highest risk area on the NE corner of Borneo. We?ll be in tight formation and should be fine. Otherwise, all is well.

We are still in Sandakan, on the northern tip of Borneo. We'll be leaving this morning (hurray) to head up to the Kinabantangan River to hopefully see the pygmy elephants, and other jungle animals. It is about 35NM from here, so should be an easy arrival with the group. We've really enjoyed Borneo...but not so mucn the rally. Ugh. Nothing worse than 28 boats being herded around to the same anchroages, under tight 2NMx4NM sailing box. Oh well, security is necessary, so it is what it is.

We are at anchor, and have not officially started the ESCOM (military) escort around the top of Borneo. We are with 29 other yachts, and making this trip. It will take three weeks and we will have various stops along the way. I?m on the 4-6am night watch here in the anchorage. We have a coast guard vessel anchored on our SB side. There are also black military inflatables patrolling the water. So far so good. If not tune into CNN for an update. :)

We are on the move again from Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia up to Kudat Malaysia. We were in an outstanding marina for the past 5 days. Fully equipped with 2 large swimming pools, covered tennis course, full gym, golf course, billiard hall, Brunswick bowling lanes, 4 proper restaurants. It?s the nicest marina we?ve ever been too. Hard to believe it was in Borneo!!!

We are underway from Labuan, Malaysia to the small islands called Pulau Tiga. It is here that the first Survivor series was filmed, and is supposed to be beautiful...with some good diving. We should arrive around 4pm today.

We are leaving Brunei this morning and sailing over to Labuan. We hope to arrive in Labuan by lunchtime, as it?s only 20 miles. We just haven?t really clicked with Brunei. Lots of reasons, none relating to the news about Sharia over the past couple of months. Regardless, we wouldn?t recommend this stop in the future assuming you spent time in Miri, Malaysia - which is GREAT.

We?ve been getting a weird vibe here in Brunei. Not sure how to describe it, but it?s very laid back, lots of the local women are obese, and while friendly, I would not call it warm as in Indonesia or Sarawak. For being a ?wealthy? country, the roads are fairly dilapidated compared to Malaysia.

We had a great time in Miri, Malaysia, and are now in Brunei. We arrived yesterday afternoon after a great trip up here from Miri. We?ll be here for maybe a week or less, before heading to Labuan, Malaysia.

We are still here at the marina, and enjoying our time getting things done. We fly out this morning and will be going to Mulu National Park, an UNESCO world heritage site for 4 days. It is in the middle of the jungle, and has some amazing caves and things to do with the kids. We return back to Field Trip on July 2nd.

We are in the Miri Marina. We arrived yesterday morning after a night on the hook near the entrance. It is a decent Marina with easy access to town via Grab. There are lots of boats here that are part of the Borneo rally, probably 25 so far. About 40 in total are going around the top with military escort. All is well and we will get on boat projects this morning....

The past 24hours we?ve been able to sail. Last night was a decent night, but we went through a large area of offshore oil platforms that were full of supply barges, over 20 in total, out pulling their loads. It was a little bit of dodging the barges last night, and the squalls. Fortunately all the action was during my 12-6am watch, so Sarah slept well. :)

We?ve had a good motor sail...but over the past 12 hours, only enough wind to barely sail with 4-7kts from directly behind...so we chose to run the engine to make some progress. Now we are sailing with 8kts at 120 AWA with our big sail up. We plan to arrive Monday morning early if all goes well. :)

This is about stopover anchorage for the next four hours as we wait until this evening before heading out for a direct sail to Miri, Malaysi. This sail is about 350NM and will take us two days.

We spent yesterday being tourists, and went to the national park to see some Orangutans, and then to a cultural village that highlighted how the local tribes of Borneo once lived in the jungle. It was very interesting and the kids had a great time.

Yesterday we explored downtown Kuching with the family and had a great time. This morning we are off to visit the Orangutans in the jungle along with a cultural village that show how the jungle ?tribes? of Borneo live and survive off the land. Kids are excited!

We arrived no issues to Kuching, Malaysia. Yesterday we checked into the country and explored the town. This is a beautiful place, tucked into the jungle do Borneo. This morning we are off to see the Orangutans, and explore the city river walk. We?ll be here for another several days as we explore the area before heading to a national park via the boat.

We are underway, on the final leg to Kuching, Malaysia. We should arrive before noon tomorrow. We have flat seas and virtually no wind. We are motoring, with the main up...but the wind is mainly behind us at the moment.

We just arrived to this spot for an overnight anchorage. We are not even sure if this island is Indonesia or Malaysia. :) We had a great sail here. It's now dead calm with sunny skies and 4:50pm. We'll be off tomorrow for another anchorage that Elizabeth wants to visit about 14NM from here. All well.

We are underway, heading towards Kuching, Malaysia. We will stop along the way, for a night or two at an outer island. We've have great wind, until now. It has slowed down, and changed direction, making it a bit harder to head ESE. We plan to arrive at the first stop later today. It will be about 170NM from Tarempa.

We arrived back to Tarempa to clear out of Indonesia for Malaysia. We will finish the process tomorrow and then leave for Kuching. All is well...sad to leave the Anambas Islands. It's beautiful here.

We are still here, and sad to say the diving is very poor in this location. It looks nice on the satellite imagery, but the coral is dead, in some cases knocked down by fisherman using explosives. Overall, not good. We plan to leave tomorrow for Tarempa to check out and then sail towards Kuching later this week.

We've moved to a new anchorage. Let's just say it is like the Swiss Family Robinsons here. We met a very nice family, at the recommendation of our friends on Il Sogno, who live here with two kids. They are a French/Dutch couple that are living as 'Hunter Gatherers". In summary, they are subsiting off the land as much as possible, don't cook any food (yes, they eat raw everyting, from pork, to chicken, to whatever they find to eat). It was a fun converstaion yesterday about their lifestyle, and we will spend more time with them over the next several days. The kids hit it off very quickly and are excited to have some new playmates.

We are now anchored at a new place, and unfortunately there are six boats here. Ugh. Most are part of the Indo rally and will be heading off today/tomororw. The diving yesterday was OK, but not great. We hope to find some more spots that will be in the 'great' category. :)

The weather has taken a dive, and we?ve had cloudy days the past two days. Yesterday was rain almost all day, while good for the water tanks, not as good for diving as we generally don?t dive if there are squalls and lightening in the area. So, we got in one dive in the morning, and then spent the rest of the day aboard, reading, working on photos and videos, etc. Today we?ll do one more dive before heading out to another spot.

We are still here at the same spot. It's a bit rolly now as the wind switched to the N with a squall. It should settle down over the next couple of hours. We also did a couple more dives, all good, and some great photos.

We had a another good day of diving and exploring the islands. We'll be here for another couple of days before we have to start moving east. Today will be more diving and some drone footage of the surrounding areas.

We found our spot. This is the best anchorage we have been in in over a year. It's beautiful, stunning coral, lots of fish, sandy bottom for anchor and outstanding scenery. We did a great dive and lots of snorkeling yesteday. The islands around us are deserted, and there is a lot of exploring to do. We'll be here for a while.... :)

We had two days of excellent diving, and are now underway to our next stop about 15nm away. The diving there is supposed to be excellent, so we will see. It?ll be hard to beat the last spot. The weather overall has been great. We had a good squall yesterday afternoon that filled our tanks. Looks like we may get another afternoon squall.

We moved over to here yesterday enroute to one of the top diving areas in this location. I dove our anchor and found some very interesting coral formations I?ve never seen before. Water was not super clear, but still a nice dive. We?ll stay here for another day, explore the outside diving and then head over to our next stop. So far we are loving the Anambas islands and the remote, beautiful cruising grounds.

We logged two dives yesterday and enjoyed the warm, clear water. The coral is pristine...but there are not a lot of fish. Hmmm...hope we find a spot that has both fish and coral. :). We?ll be moving back to the main town this afternoon to finish clearing with the port captain before we find another spot. Nice to be in a secluded anchorage!!

We arrived to the main town at 9am yesterday and was able to checking and do all but the port captain (closed until Monday). The formalities were very easy and everyone was nice. We then moved to our new spot, Turtle Island, for some solitude and diving. We were able to get in one dive yesterday afternoon and check out the anchor. The water is 31 degrees and 40m+ in visibility. More diving today.

It was a tough watch last night. Sarah said it was her most stressful ever. Lots of boat traffic, fishing boats dragging nets, squalls, etc. We had 105 AIS targets on the screen at one time. Needless to say, it was not a relaxing night. How things are much better. Sunny skies, calm seas and no boats anywhere. We?ll have to slow down to arrive in the light for tomorrow. Otherwise, all is going well.

We?ve just passed Singapore, and are now getting close to a course change for a direct run to the Anambas Islands, Indonesia. It has been very uneventful, while a lot of traffic, still all good. Our friends on another boat were struck by lightening yesterday in Singapore, and will not be making the Anambas islands with us. We expect to arrive early Saturday morning.

We are underway to Anambas Islands. We are just south of Singapore and heading across the straight. It?s early morning and VERY busy with traffics. All is well..

We just anchored. 12 hours of motorsailing and we chewed off 88NM! We were ripping today and had some good current. We?ll overnight here and then get off early in the morning for Port Dickson.

It?s been a long time since our last update. In short we were on the hard and getting our new coppercoat applied at Pangkor Marina in Malaysia. We had time with old friends, some we had not seen in years. Scotia, Perry, Gai and others were all at the marina. It was fun to catch up. Now we are on the way south to Ananbas Isalnds Indonesia. It will take a while as we have to transit the Malacca Straight, and that is tricky and can?t be done easily at night given the fishing nets, and general crap in the water.

We are checking into Malaysia, and are now in the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club. We'll be here for a day or two before moving forward to Penang. All is well...and it is hot!.

We made it to Koh Lipe Thailand. We had about 2-3 hours to spare on the port engine...so all it good. We bought overpriced diesel last night onshore ($5 USD gallon), and then had Thai food for dinner, a good nights rest and now we are motoring on to Langkawi. We expect to arrive in about 5 hours, and will top up with fuel and clear into Malaysia.

We are still motor sailing. The wind has been little at best. We found out this afternoon that our fuel levels on the SB side were lower by 80L than expected. :-) In other words, we ran out of fuel on that side. Not a huge problem, but we are fighting more current and having to motor more than expected when we left Thailand...so our fuel consumption has been a lot higher. We did not wait for wind, as the forecast was showing similar conditions for the next week, and we had to leave due to visas. So, we are cutting it close of fuel and hope to find some in Koh Lipe, a small island about 30NM from Langkawi. If not, we'll end up slowly sailing the rest of the way if we get low on fuel on the SB side. Otherwise, all is well.

We've had a good 24hrs. Unfortunately, it's been all motor, but we expected that given the forecast. The biggest challenge has been countercurrent, knocking us down a knot over the past 20 hours. Now the current has subsided, so we are back on at 5kt+ motor. We are now planning to stop at Koh Lipe, Thailand on the way to Langkawi. We will arrive tomorrow around noon, grab some good Thai food and a massage...before continuing to Langkawi in the morning. Koh Lipe is only about 40NM from Kua, our port of clearance, so this gives us a nice stop for the night before getting to Langkawi.

We've had a good 24hrs. Unfortunately, it's been all motor, but we expected that given the forecast. The biggest challenge has been countercurrent, knocking us down a knot over the past 20 hours. Now the current has subsided, so we are back on at 5kt+ motor. We are now planning to stop at Koh Lipe, Thailand on the way to Langkawi. We will arrive tomorrow around noon, grab some good Thai food and a massage...before continuing to Langkawi in the morning. Koh Lipe is only about 40NM from Kua, our port of clearance, so this gives us a nice stop for the night before getting to Langkawi.

We are finally underway from Sabang, and now heading to Langkawi. It was a wonderful 3 weeks here, and we are VERY sad to be leaving. We expect almost no wind, and will have to motor, but it is what it is, and we are now underway.

We are at anchor, arriving yesterday to Sabang around noon. We had a great checkin experience, with all the officials arriving at one time to the boat. We literally had 10 officials onboard doing the checkin process. For Indonesia, that was REALLY efficient. I was shocked. We even did a time lapse video for fun...showing all the commotion with the folks on and off Field Trip. We are just getting settled into the anchorage and are VERY happy to be back. I did my first dive in the afternoon, all is great!! :)

We've been having a smashing good sail. Using our Parasailor and 10-15kts out of the east with sunny skies and following seas. All is going well and we are actually ahead of schedule. We have spaghetti for dinner and everyone is comfortable and happy. :-)

We are on a rhumb line at the moment for Sabang. We just flicked on the engines as the wind is around 6kts out of the NNE and giving us a slow broad reach. It is calm and beautiful out here tonight. All is well.

Finally, we are leaving Thailand!!!!!. We are heading out for Sabang Indonesia, one of our favorite spots in Sumatra. We will be there for about two weeks, and then continue our sail towards Malaysia. The BIG news for Field Trip is this journey begins our sail to Guam. Yep, we are heading to Guam to get new Volvo engines installed...for free...as part of the US emissions recall. So, our plans have changed dramatically, and we are now beginning a 6,000NM round trip from SE Asia to Guam and then back.

We logged three more dives yesterday here in the Similans. One of the dives in particular was very unique and beautiful with large boulders and lots of fish. We got some good photos. We are now at the next island north - Ko Bon - and will be here until tomorrow AM, when we need to head back towards Phuket for boat projects. Bummed, as we would like to spend another week up here diving, but must get back to reality of getting items fixed while we have good vendor options in the marina. The weather by the way has been outstanding. Sunny skies every day, 0-5kts and perfect diving conditions!

For most of the last month we've been in boat project mode, with some guests aboard for a week for diving and exploring. We are now on the move, currently in the Similan Islands diving with another boat. We've been logging three dives a day up here for the past two days. The diving is only 'OK', but any diving for us is good diving. We did have one of the better dives yesterday in the area. It was very good, but still nothing compared to Indonesia or PNG or the Solomons. So far, in all of Thailand the best diving has been in Ko Haa, an island group between Langkawi and Phuket. More updates this week as we move around and explore this island chain.

We are anchored at Ko Rok, and had two good dives today. Our friends Laura and James are aboard, and we've been diving every day for the past two days. We are moving up tomorrow morning to Ko Haa, and will spend probably two days there diving, before we set sail for Ao Chalong to check into Thailand.

We are anchored at Ko Rok, and had two good dives today. Our friends Laura and James are aboard, and we've been diving every day for the past two days. We are moving up tomorrow morning to Ko Haa, and will spend probably two days there diving, before we set sail for Ao Chalong to check into Thailand.

For most of the last month we've been in boat project mode, with some guests aboard for a week for diving and exploring. We are now on the move, currently in the Similan Islands diving with another boat. We've been logging three dives a day up here for the past two days. The diving is only 'OK', but any diving for us is good diving. We did have one of the better dives yesterday in the area. It was very good, but still nothing compared to Indonesia or PNG or the Solomons. So far, in all of Thailand the best diving has been in Ko Haa, an island group between Langkawi and Phuket. More updates this week as we move around and explore this island chain.

We moved to the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club to get some more boat projects done. The new sails are on the boat, autopilot is fixed and we are working on other projects before our friends arrive Friday afternoon and we head back to Thailand.

We arrived to Langkawi this afternoon after a two day 'hop' from Phuket. It was an overall uneventful sail outside of the wind gusts we got towards Langkawi. Our autopilot parts arrived today here at the marina, so I'll be repairing the autopilot tomorrow. There are a lot of boats here for sure...and we met a nice family with two teenagers who just bought a boat and are starting their journey.

The good news is the tropical storm was a dud. We never saw wind over 16kts, and it drizzled. We could get more rain today as the storm continues to pass, and the winds turn, but it's been very very calm. We actually are hoping for some rain as we would like to fill our tanks. Maybe later today....

We moved back to Ao Chalong to get into a better position for the tropical storm. This is the first storm like this to hit this area of Thailand in over 50 years. We are in a good position assuming the storm eye stays north of us. If it moves south, we will need to move a bit to get protected from easterly winds. Here is a link to a 360 Panorama that I took this morning with our drone: https://kuula.co/post/7YvTd .