Domini

Hello again Boatbloggers® and welcome to this action packed edition of The Boatblog®

We left you and Joe in glorious Lombok, and headed past Bawean and on towards Borneo. It was just as we appoached the south west coast and were heading up the river to the anchorage at Kumai that disaster struck. A massive electrical storm came across. We know that Ju has sometimes been accused of exaggerating a little to improve a story, a monstrous slander which he strenuously denies, so this time we will let the pictures do the talking.

Ok, so maybe that wasn’t our actual storm, but it was very like the one we had. Besides, we were too busy putting all the phones and iPads into the microwave to be able to take photos. And you can’t take a photo when your phone’s in the oven. (For those landlubbers amongst our readers, a microwave acts as a Faraday Cage and protects things from being zapped by lightning. Here at The Boatblog® we seek to educate as well as entertain.)

It is unfortunate that the good ship Domini is too big to get in a microwave. After a couple of near misses, a particularly loud and spiteful fork hit the top of our mast. Ju felt it go through him which was a bit of a shock (boom boom!). He’s absolutely fine though his hair’s a bit more frizzy. And even now if mosquitoes land on him they get zapped. But unfortunately all the electronics on the boat went out. We lost our chart plotter, the autopilot, the depth sounder, the radio – everything electric. And the rain was so heavy we couldn’t even see the end of the boat. We had to start sailing in the way they used to before electronic navigation made it all so easy. With a compass, charts and actually hand steering the boat. 

It had come to that.

Eventually the storm passed and we made our way along the river to the anchorage – where we were very glad to see our friends from the rally who really er…rallied round. (You’re going to have to do better than this – Ed)

What a way to spend your 28th wedding anniversary!

But at this point there was not much to be done, so we thought we’ve come all this way to see the legendary Borneo orang-utan’s and we’re not going to let a little thing like a storm stop us.

So we booked a berth on a luxury river cruise that plied deep into the  Borneo jungle.

Further and further up the river we went, beyond the traditional village outposts.

It was all very remote, but all very pleasant.

(His hair is frizzy – Ed)

Deeper and deeper into the virgin forest, as yet untouched by the hand of civilisation.

Till eventually we arrived at the secret place which is the habitat of the Borneo orang-utan, known only to a few hundred tourist boats.

But the orang-utan’s put on a good show.

There were literally hundreds of them (is that him exaggerating again? – Ed)

There was quite a lot of mating action going on as well, but we can’t include those photos because of orang-utan privacy issues – and we would lose our PG rating.

There were plenty of carnivorous plants which we had previously thought only existed in Kew Gardens. Here we have the pitcher plant and the flytrap.

Which are good things, because the spiders are pretty scary.

But we couldn’t stay up the river too much longer. We had to get back to Domini to assess the damage and see what could be done to get us going again. The cruise boat would take too long to get us back to the anchorage, so we hired a speedboat.

This was FAST! It was like being James Bond zooming along the tiny river, dodging crocodiles and dead trees. But being seasoned sailors we took it all in our stride.

And after just a couple of hours we were back on board Domini, where we were just inundated with help from the other yachties on the rally. They came with spare equipment, expertise, friendship – and even lunch. They spent hours getting a rudimentary chart plotter working, swapped batteries, loaned us navigation lights, a depth sounder, got the engines working. The list goes on.

Till eventually we had a boat that was seaworthy enough to sail the 600 nautical miles to Singapore, where it was decided we should put in for repairs.

So we set off, with Muskoka and Anima shadowing us – just in case. We still had no autopilot so it was alternating 2 hour watches at the helm, 24 hours a day.

There were a few island stops on the way to break up the journey, but the batteries weren’t charging so were in a race against time before they gave up the ghost completely. And then we wouldn’t have even been able to anchor and Domini would go completely dark.

And we still had to dodge the fishing boats.

But at least there was a full moon so it didn’t matter so much that none of them had lights.

It was at Belitung that we met up again with Memo and Captain Bob offered to lend us his crew, Mark for the rest of the voyage. This was a blessing because it meant that now there were three of us helming, so we could do two hours on, four hours off which after the two hours on, two hours off we’d got used to, felt almost humane. 

And eventually, just over two weeks after the lightning strike, we pulled into Raffles Marina in Singapore.

(His hair’s still frizzy – Ed)

Now the work can begin.

Ju & Lyn

PS That was a tricky passage, and we couldn’t have done it without our friends who all came to help. This was what we wrote at the time to our Indonesia Rally WhatsApp group…

“Armed with just an iPad, dozens of work-arounds, a little bit of luck and lots of wonderful friends, Domini has finally made it to Batam. 

We couldn’t have done it without you. 

Thank you – Manuel for everything – you’ve done too much to be able to describe in a WhatsApp message. Muskoka, not only for Scott’s electrical genius but for shadowing us with Kat (way too quickly!) to Belitung. Wild Thing for giving us access to their mobile chandlery (you have more stuff than Bunnings) for the alternator, VHF, starter motor and AIS and of course Russell for fitting it. Colin on Splashdown for getting the engine going against all the odds, Sabbatical for the nav lights, Serenity for the box of bits, Seahorse for the plotter, Mannervai for the depth sounder, Marathon Lady for the world’s heaviest battery – hope you’re going a bit faster now Russell – Fizili for lunch, Brian, Alison and Jeff for turning up straight away and trying to get us started, Andy on Somerset for the electronics advice, Simon on Rihanna for the support, everyone in Kumai and everyone in Belitung. Tony and Shelley for their Beyond Outrageous help from afar, Ross on Akushnet for his Singapore research and of course Bob and Janet on Memo for allowing us to steal their fabulous crew. 

And what can we say about Mark? You are amazing. Thank you for helping to hand steer and for being such a great person to have on board. 

And thank you for all the messages of support. Even Peter on Sabu who when he heard how much stuff wasn’t working any more just said, “Welcome to my world!” 🤣 

And Vickie for reminding us that Captain Cook did the same voyage with far less equipment than we have. Which would have been more reassuring if he hadn’t died on the way round. 

It brings a lump to my throat when I think of how many of you have offered your time, your expertise and your precious spares for no other reason than a desire to help. 

Terima Kasih Indo Rally

Ju & Lyn

Artist’s Impression

Pagi pagi again Boatbloggers®

We’re sorry for the long radio silence, but with one thing and another we have been pretty busy in the last few weeks – more about that in a future edition. We’re actually in Singapore as we write this, which means we’ve put in quite a few sea miles since we last met.

Lombok was one of our favourite places in Indonesia – mainly because Joe came to visit.

Joe has just passed his Advanced PADI diving certificate, so we did a lot of diving while he was here. But it wasn’t all the usual, let’s-go-down-and-see-some-pretty-fishes type of diving – though we did do some of that. 

We helped to rebuild the reef.

You start off by going down and collecting some of the broken coral. Not the pieces that have actually died,  the ones that have just broken off but are still showing signs of life. You bring them up to the surface, and then you concrete them into these weird looking pots that some unsuspecting tourists have been persuaded to make as part of a traditional Indonesian Pottery Class.

Then you take them back down.

And plant them in a sort of underwater fairy grotto.

And in about ten years time this will – hopefully – have turned into a proper coral reef.

The bigger pieces get cable tied on to metal frames called spiders

..and in just a few years time they start looking like this.

Even the turtles can’t tell the difference between the real reef and the artificial one.

But we didn’t spend the whole time underwater. 

We went round the famous backpacker paradise of Gili Aire in a traditional horse and cart.

Which is about the only way to get around. Cars are banned, and the potholes are worse than Brentford.

We met some of the locals.

Yes – before you say anything – we’ve already done the jokes about that’s Ju on the left. Ho ho.

And at the Lombok Wildlife Sanctuary they have some pretty big birds.

The elephant wasn’t camera shy.

How Ju got talked into this he doesn’t know.

But back to the boat.

It’s always good when we have crew come to join us, to help with the sailing and all the boat jobs.

The local village arranged a picnic for us which was nice.

But all too soon, we had to have a farewell toast with Joe as he made his way back to Thailand where he’s now living.

This is called “fun drink.” It’s condensed milk which sinks to the bottom topped with a delicious cherry aid type thing on the top, so it’s definitely fun. And I guess technically it’s drink. Hmmm. I can see why it’s not gone global.

But sadly we had to bid sampa jumpa to Lombok as we headed north to catch up with the rest of the Indonesian rally fleet.

Is that it? No sunsets – Ed)

Ok – one quick sunset.

Cheers

Ju & Lyn

Pagi once again Boatbloggers®

Apologies if the Boatblogs® seem to be coming at you fast and furious right now, but Indonesia is such an amazing place we can’t help ourselves.

Our next stop was Badas. The anchorage was quite small, so we had to raft up together to all fit in.

Badas is a place that lives up to it’s name. The people here spend their leisure time racing buffaloes through the swamps.

Without even a nod to the concept of Health & Safety, they let members of the yacht rally have a go. This was our friend Mark on Memo, who much to our surprise made it to the end in one piece.

Ju was going to have a go, but decided he rather likes his arms and legs where they are now. Besides, that swamp they’re running through isn’t just mud…

But nevertheless, not wanting to appear a wimp, he bravely got very close to some of the more aggressive beasts that were too wild to race.

When Badas people aren’t racing buffaloes, they’re making machetes out of old car springs.

Lethal stuff.

But not as lethal as the chillis, which are properly Badas. (Ok – enough with the Badass jokes – Ed)

This may look small, but these are apparently the hottest chillis that grow in Indonesia. And that is a very high bar.  What makes it worse is that the heat doesn’t kick in for about two minutes after you’ve eaten it. It’s like eating a parachute flare. Apparently some of the more reckless visitors bite just a little bit off at first, and then when they can’t see what all the fuss is about they show off to the locals by chewing the whole thing. Ha ha ha. Glad Ju’s not that stupid. 

We went to the coffee plantation and watched as they roasted the beans.

And then taught us how to grind them.

All very delicious, but I think we’ll stick with the Nespresso capsules.

They showed us how to make a traditional flute out of long pieces of reed.

It takes many hours of carving and shaping to get the perfect flute.

Unfortunately, it sounds like a cross between a dying recorder and a punctured bagpipe, but at least they look good.

Lyn got a tattoo!

Very nice.

But all too soon we had to bid a fond farewell to the people of Badas.

Next stop – Lombok.

Sampa Jumpa for now

Ju & Lyn

Hello again Boatbloggers® and welcome to another action packed edition of The Boatblog® brought to you direct from darkest Indonesia.

In the last few weeks we have seen whale sharks…

Mantas…

And that’s a black manta too – very rare.

Dragons…

Komodo dragons of course. Not the ones with wings that breathe fire.

And even a fish riding a bicycle.

But strangest of all is this rare and unusual creature.

The visitor! 

We have been so far away from home that it’s been a long time since anyone has been able to come and join us, so it was great to welcome Nick as our new crew, even if it was only for a week.

In the last blog we were in Wakatobi, and we were sorry to have to finally say “Sampai Jumpa,” and move on, but we were given a great leaving present by Gita & Nazma who had been our guides during our stay.

Not a bad likeness I reckon.

It was just a short gentle day sail to our next stop of Pasar Wajo.

Once again when we arrived we were given the most fantastic welcome, with music, dancing and speeches by the Regent and other dignitaries.

It wasn’t long before Ju was volunteered to play with the band in a traditional hat. 

On the island, “Terima Kasih Pasar Wajo,” has become quite a hit. 

Balloon animals seem to go down well too.

All those years as the better half of Mr Ree & Sir Prize have finally paid off.

We went on a tour of the island.

Which had to include the fort at Baubau, which remarkably is the biggest in the world. The centrepiece is a giant stone pineapple which we’re told represents the character of the islanders. A hard skin, but soft and sweet on the inside.

One of the local specialities is Coffee Beer.

Apparently it gets you drunk and wakes you up all at the same time. Genius.

Our next port of call was Gili Bodo which is about 260 nautical miles south. So to break up the journey we stopped for a couple of days at a beautiful little atoll called Taka Lamungen. The reef is almost totally submerged, so it feel like you are anchoring right in the middle of the ocean.

Gili Bodo was spectacular.

Which is more than can be said of Ju’s photograph of the monkeys on the beach.

You’ll have to trust us here, but that little dot right in the middle on the shoreline is a monkey. 

The snorkelling was amazing – it was so clear that it was like swimming in gin, which is something that Ju used to do a lot of.

Ju saw some unusual coral just off the boat, so mindful of capturing a unique picture for our readers he dived down to see what it was.

Not some new species of fish after all. Looks like Lyn’s bikini had got blown overboard.

But alas we couldn’t stay for ever as we had to rush to Labuan Bajo where we were meeting Nick who was flying in from Cape Town.

We asked him what he wanted to do while he was with us and as we were just of Komodo National Park he said, “Dragons, mantas and whale sharks.” On the good ship Domini your wish is our command. So at first light the following day we set off to find the Komodo dragons.

They are about three metres long, and we were warned that they are very dangerous. Apart from them being massive, with claws that can shred your skin with one blow, their bite is deadly poisonous. They can kill and eat a buffalo, so they’re not to be tangled with lightly.

Hmmm. Doesn’t look so terrifying. As Homer Simpson said when he was looking at a sleeping crocodile at the zoo, “I’ve seen plays more interesting than this. Plays, I tell you.”

Apparently they way they kill their prey is that they give it a bite, and then wait for the poison in their mouths to go to work. Then they follow the dying animal for up to a week waiting for it to keel over and then it’s dinner time. Not a nice way to go, but it’s a technique that has recently been adopted by the KGB.

Next up – mantas. 

No sooner said than done.

Only one more for the bucket list – whale sharks. Unfortunately they were a couple of days sail away on an island called Sumbawa. But we weren’t going to let a little thing like that stop the intrepid crew of Domini, so we weighed anchor and headed west.

We anchored at a secret location and were picked up before dawn by a local fisherman who took us to one of the squid boats where the whale sharks had been seen for the last few days.

These fish – apparently they are neither whales nor sharks, but it’s still a good name – are incredible. The sheer size of them is hard to imagine.

There must have been about twenty of them, and they come right up next to you. This one looks like Lyn’s walking on it.

We hope you appreciate the restraint that the editor is showing here. That’s only three photos so far. We could have put literally hundreds of pictures of these amazing animals.

The pictures are a bit fuzzy because of all the plankton in the water, which is of course why the whale sharks are there because that’s what they eat.

Wow!

And now it’s time for a new feature – The Boatblog® competition. It’s called Spot the Fish. What follows are a series of pictures of various fish that are all experts at camouflage. All you have to do is spot them.

Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

And finally number 4

Pretty tricky eh?  – answers at the bottom.

And there is just time for the arty farty prize. First is Ju’s “Whaleshark.”

Ok – so that one’s not really arty farty. It’s just an excuse to have another picture of a whale shark. 

How about this then? Called simply, “Baitball.”

Not bad. But this one’s a real winner, taken by Rob on Our Dreamtime.

Classy.

So now it is time to say Sampai Jumpa from all of us at the Boatblog®

Ju, Lyn & Nick

X

Oh – we nearly forgot – here’s the answers to Spot The Fish.

Number 1 – The Scorpion Fish

Number 2 – The Leaf Fish

Number 3 – The Crocodile Fish

And number 4 was a trick one. There was nothing hiding there. Ha ha ha. But it was a nice picture. 

But to make up for the disappointment here’s another whale shark.

Selamat Pagi Boatbloggers® and welcome to the latest edition of the Boatblog® brought to you direct from Wonderful Indonesia.

It was a two day sail from the Lei anchorage to the island of Pulau Buru,

… where we dropped the hook in the delightful village of Tifu.

Once again we had the most fantastic welcome from the village. We were greeted by the village elders as we came ashore.

There was a marching band,

And a concert by the Tifu Ukulele Orchestra.

All the villagers went to such an effort to make it a really big day, and what they lack in ‘stuff,’ they make up for in ingenuity – if you look closely you can see that all the bunting is made out of plastic bags.

In the evening Ju & the Tiffuettes got to play the Tifu Festival.

Everyone here really loves music. The kids all play the ukulele and the next day followed us back to one of the boats for a jam. One piano, 42 ukuleles, 2 guitars and a pair of maracas.

Sadly we couldn’t stay in Tifu for ever, and all to soon it was time to head for our next stop – Waketobi. 

And once again we were given the warmest of welcomes. As luck would have it, our visit coincided with Independence Day. For once Independence Day wasn’t a release from British rule which was a relief – it’s the Dutch who are the villains of this particular story. We swapped our flag with one of our new friend’s Indonesian flag and went on a procession through the main town.

We ended up in the parade ground where we were guests of honour.

A word about this strange hand signal that we are all doing.

It’s actually a “W” for Waketobi. I’ve got lots of pictures of us doing it, but you have to be careful because if you get the angle wrong and can’t see your thumb it sends a very different message. And you have to be very careful how you do the sign for Indonesia.

Then there was a lot of Independence Day marching,

And plenty of pomp and ceremony.

And like everywhere else in the world, the Indonesian kids were bored stiff being made to sit around for so long in their fancy costumes while the grown ups messed around. But they made a brave face of it and managed to smile for the camera.

Until finally the flag was raised.

It’s quite weird being such celebrities. The paparazzi just won’t leave us alone.

All those years in showbiz trying to get a bit of attention when all we had to do was come to Indonesia. 

But it’s not all functions. There’s still time for scuba diving. Even if there are sea snakes down there.

Apparently ten times more poisonous than a cobra. Still quite cute. As deadly venomous creatures go.

We went round a Bajo village. In the past the Bajo were a nomadic seafaring people, but now they live in houses built on stilts so that they can remain connected to the sea. 

Their way of life is under threat worldwide, but they seem to be thriving here in Waketobi.

One of the Bajo delicacies is dried puffer fish skin.

Looks delicious, but these ones weren’t quite ready to eat so unfortunately we couldn’t try them. Never mind – next time.

Even for hardened sailors like ourselves used to the gangplank, it’s quite hairy getting from one house to the next.

They now have more modern housebuilding techniques.

Sadly when the tide goes out, you get some idea of the scale of the rubbish and plastic problem that seems to be endemic in Indonesia.

But it’s fascinating to see this traditional way of life.

Even the shops are on stilts.

The Venice of the East.

Another interesting place is called “The Thousand Steps,” which as it sounds is a thousand steps that you climb down. To be honest, it’s probably about two hundred, but it feels like a thousand by the time you get to the bottom.

A long way, but when you get there, there is a natural spa.

You put your feet in the water and all the little fish come out and start nibbling away at the dead skin on your feet like mini piranhas.

You’d pay a fortune for that in Chiswick.

It’s a thousand steps down, and unfortunately a thousand steps up.

So by the time you get to the top, your feet are all covered in dead skin again.

We had a night off the boat at a luxury local resort. It was nice having all the little things that landlubbers take for granted. Flush toilet, unlimited shower, walk around bed and of course air conditioning.

We bought some new goggles so we can fit in with the locals when we go swimming.

Not sure these are going to catch on.

There have been lots and lots of festivals. Each with their own characteristics. This was an Indonesian version of Love Island, where boys and girls meet and attempt to woo each other.

We’re not sure what the fish is all about. 

If love blossoms, the happy couple get to go on the swing together.

All overlooked by a man on a horse.

And to celebrate the romance, they fly the an impressively long kite.

A lot of fun, but what it all means is anyone’s guess.

One day, Ju managed to climb a palm tree.

What a hero!

Just time for the Arty Farty Competition.

The first entry is Ju’s Bajau ladder.

Also by Ju – Starfish

And Lyn’s Almost Sunset.

And the winner is Lyn, with Almost Sunset.

Ok – so we weren’t being exactly truthful with Ju climbing a palm tree. That’s the genius of AI. This is how the photo started – with a horizontal palm tree. 

And then Rory photoshopped it. It was still quite hard holding on though – so you should still be impressed.

It’s not as easy as it looks producing a world class blog like this.

Rory made a few other options we could have used, but they weren’t quite so convincing.

That’s all folks!

Sampai jumpa from all of us here in Indonesia.

Ju & Lyn

Selamat Pagi Boatbloggers®,

The more astute of you may have guessed from the title that we have at last arrived in Indonesia. It was a fairly uneventful five day crossing, and mostly downwind (that’s with the wind behind you for the landlubbers out there). So we were able to get out the two foresails in what we call The Butterfly.

It’s more being blown across the sea than actual sailing, but it gets you there just the same. 

Our fishing skills are definitely improving, and we managed to catch a squid.

Half way across it was Lyn’s Birthday – so we celebrated in style,

…just as she came up to start her 3 hour night watch. Happy Birthday Lyn! Not many people going get to celebrate their birthday in the middle of the night on the deck of a boat somewhere in the Torres Strait hundreds of miles from land.

The only problems came as we approached the Indonesian coast at night. There were literally hundreds of fishing boats, some completely unlit and with nets up to twenty five miles long. The other hazards are called FADs, which stand for Fish Attracting Devices, and basically they are small bungalows anchored to the seabed, often in depths of hundreds of metres so you can find them far out from the land. 

The fish like the shade, so they all swim about underneath, until the fishermen come along and try and catch them. They’re not too bad in daylight, but in the dark they are pretty much invisible, and it would certainly spoil your night  to run into one of these.

Our first stop in Indonesia was at a town called Debut in the Kei Islands.

Where we had the most fantastic welcome. The whole village turned out to say hello.

And walking along the street is like being a movie star. Everyone wants to shake your hand or take a selfie with you, and if you stop to ask directions the chances are you will be invited to back to that person’s house for dinner.

They arranged traditional music and dances for us, like this Boat Dance.

It was all a lot of fun.

And we attended official functions put on by the local dignitaries, who gave welcoming speeches in Indonesian.

Possibly not as much fun as the music and dancing, but it was nice of them all the same.

There was so much to do at Debut it’s hard to compress it all into a single blog. And there’s two more islands to go yet!

We drank fresh coconut on the beach,

We went to the fish market. Ju, not particularly a fish fan at the best of times, was still not tempted.

We could have given them our squid if we’d known.

The fruit and veg market was fresher than Waitrose.

There is a seaweed farm.

A few interesting facts about Indonesian seaweed. It is used in over 1,500 products including fertiliser, medicines, paint, toothpaste, textiles, make up and animal feed, and their biggest exports are to Belgium. It sells for about US $1.50 a kilo. There’s lot’s more interesting facts about seaweed that I could mention, but you’ll just have to do the tour.

And we can’t not mention the beach.

Now we have done a lot of beaches over the past few years, in some of the most paradisiacal (is that a real word? – Ed) parts of the world. From the Caribbean to the silver sands of the South Pacific so we consider ourselves to be leading beach experts with very high standards. And it is fair to say that this beach has the softest sand ever! It is like walking on flour. Put it on your bucket list.

These ladies insisted we tried the synchronised dancing,

…which was a lot less synchronised after Ju joined in.

The freshwater cave is stunning, and a great way to cool off in the tropical heat. Actually, this was the first swim we’ve had since New Caledonia. We were too frightened to get in the crocodile/shark/jellyfish infested waters in Oz! So it was particularly fab.

Our next stop was at Banda, a little island a day’s sail away. (Don’t worry Boatblog® Fans – only another two islands to go).

The snorkelling here is superb.

Once again, the people were unbelievably welcoming. They put on music and dancing in the nutmeg forest.

And showed us how they harvested and dried the cinnamon,

…and the fish.

You’ll be glad that Apple hasn’t yet developed the iSmell app yet.

This is the volcano that erupted in 1988. The volcanic dust destroyed lots of the nearby islands, and you can still see the lava flow down the side of the mountain.

And after another 24 hour sail, we arrived in Ambon. Again the welcome given to people arriving on small boats couldn’t be more different from the one that we offer back home.

Ju got invited to jam with the local musicians.

You may have noticed the radical haircut.

It seems they only do one style in Indonesia which they learnt from the US Marines, but they make up for it with a fabulous head and shoulder massage.

And then it was round the corner to another little anchorage called Lai. The kids were especially keen to see us,

…and even more keen to see the boat.

So this brings our first Indonesian Boatblog® to a close, but don’t worry Boatbloggers® there’s at least another 15 stops on the Wonderful Sail 2 Indonesia Rally, so we’re not going to be short of material.

Just time for the Arty Farty Competition, and this edition has several entries. First up is Lyn’s Boat on a Beach.

Not bad. Next is Cave Diver – submitted by Ross on Acushnet.

That’s properly Arty Farty. Then Seaweed by Ju.

And Tree Root, by either Ju or Lyn – we lost track.

And the winner is…

Ross, for Cave Diver, which entitles him to take the Captain and crew of Domini out for an all expenses paid slap up dinner.

Terima Kasih for reading.

Sampai Jumpa!

Ju & Lyn

G’day Boatbloggers®

It’s Wednesday morning and we’re anchored on Thursday Island right at the top of Australia, getting ready to sail to Indonesia at the next decent weather opportunity. That’s right dear reader – from now on we are heading back home.

It’s taken a couple of weeks to get here from Cairns. When you’re actually in Cairns it feels like you’re already in the far northernmost reaches of Queensland and it doesn’t look that far on the map to the top – a couple of inches or so. But in fact it’s about 500 nautical miles. And it’s pretty remote. There’s hardly any people living this far north, there’s no phone signal – well not till we got Starlink – and there’s nowhere to provision. 

Which is of course what makes it so special.

First stop was Lizard Island. Captain Cook’s log reads “…the only land animals we saw here were lizards, which occasioned my naming the island Lizard Island.” And here’s a descendant of one of those very lizards.

A great navigator. But perhaps not the most imaginative when it came to naming places.

Quick quiz.

What rank was Captain Cook?

Answer below.

Lizard Island is especially famous for its walk to the top of the mountain which is called Cook’s Lookout, because it was where he climbed to look out and see if there was a break in the reef that he could sail his ship through. He’s still not blowing us away with the names. And today it looks just the same as it would have done when Captain Cook was here all those years ago.

Apart from the airport.

It’s quite a climb.

So we made sure to sign the visitors’ book.

And the views are amazing.

Next stop was Flinders Island, which is famous for its aboriginal rock art. We were the only boat for miles around, and the only people in the anchorage. So it was a bit nerve racking going ashore in the dinghy knowing we were completely on our own. What if the dinghy anchor dragged and the dinghy drifted off? It’s happened before. What if it punctured on a rock? That’s happened before too. What if a big crocodile bit a big chunk out if it. That’s not happened before, but it might. What if, what if.…???

But we didn’t want to come all this way and not see the paintings. So intrepid adventurers that we are, we braved the unknown and off we went.

It’s very pretty. And very hot and humid. As our entry for the Mr Wet T-Shirt competition goes to show.

Not bad eh?

The paintings are worth the trek.

We were surprised to see one of Domini.

And though the temptation to spray paint “Ju & Lyn Woz Here!” was quite strong, we decided we’d better not.

Do you remember Liz Truss and the lettuce? We didn’t expect to find evidence that the Indigenous People of the island ran a similar competition with a coconut.

The coconut won.

Next stop was Pelican island which was stunning and not normally on the route for most cruisers.

We went past Sunday Island on Thursday. (Don’t worry, we’ve got Wednesday and Friday Islands to go yet, so this joke has got lots more fuel in the tank.)

It’s famous because this is where Captain Bligh landed, having travelling thousands of miles in an open boat after he and some of his crew were cast adrift  from HMS Bounty.

Apparently his first words as he stepped ashore were, “Keep your spirits up men. One day they’ll make a film out of this and we’ll all be heroes. And that mutinous pirate Fletcher Christian will be revealed for the scurrilous knave that he is.”

True story. He probably didn’t expect it to be a musical as well.

All we had to do now to get to Thursday was Round the Horn. And this is us doing just that.

It’s not actually THE Horn that we rounded. In actual fact, it’s Horn Island, but that’s good enough for us.

So here we are on Thursday Island, at the Top Pub In Australia.

I think they mean it’s the most northerly – it’s probably not the top in any other sense.

And so this brings to an end our travels in Australia. We have had the most fabulous time, the Australians have been great fun and incredibly welcoming. The land and scenery is beyond spectacular. We’re really going to miss it.

Just time for a few Arty Farty shots. Both from Flinders Island, and both by Ju.

This one he calls “Flower.”

And this one he calls “Rock.”

(And you call Captain Cook unimaginative with the names – Ed)

Next time we see you, we shall hopefully be in Indonesia.

G’day for now.

Ju & Lyn

Answer to Quick Quiz.

Captain Cook was a lieutenant when he discovered Australia. He was never a Captain, but in those days whoever was in command of the ship was called captain anyway (with a small c). So now you know. Here at The Boatblog® we don’t just seek to entertain, but to inform as well.

G’day Boatbloggies, 

And welcome to another action packed edition of The Boatblog®

We’ve been Carrying on up the Queensland Coast, through The Whitsundays, and very nice it is too.

They are all little bits of paradise in their own ways.

We had some pretty good winds and found that – like the best guitar amps – our boat goes up to ELEVEN!

We anchored off Hummocky Island, Hunter Island, Pearl Island, Naked Lady Bay (well we couldn’t not stop there) and Airlie Beach. Ju came here nearly forty years ago (doesn’t that make you feel old) and he’s glad that they seem to have remembered.

One of our favourites was Magnetic Island.

Where we went Koala hunting.

And actually saw some.

They are particularly cute, and one of the few animals in Australia that is unlikely to kill you. 

Though the Aussies call them Drop Bears. Apparently they get so stoned on eucalyptus leaves that they drop out of the tree, and if they land on your head can kill you. Unless they’ve just made that up to wind up the Poms.

There was parrot feeding in one of the parks which Lyn especially enjoyed.

And great views from the top of the mountain.

By now we were well and truly in The Land of the Crocodile.

And we wanted to see some. So we went up the Hinchinbrooke Channel which is famous for croc sightings with our friends Pelles and Ullas on Loupan.

We looked all night with searchlights, but didn’t see a single one. Though we’re pretty certain they saw us. 

The next day, Pelles said there was one under our boat.

Hmmm. Not convinced. This AI isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

But by now, our appetite was well and truly whetted. We wanted to see crocs, and our next stop – Cairns – was the place to do it.

If there’s two things that we really don’t want to get too close to, it’s jet skis and crocodiles. How often have we sat in an anchorage fuming as jet skis come bombing past, wondering why anyone would want to go to nowhere so quickly. And why we don’t want to be near crocodiles seems to be pretty obvious. So in theory a jet ski crocodile safari should be about one of the worst things we could do.

Well…adventure before dementia, Ju and Ross from Acushnet decided to give it a go.

It turns out that zooming along on a jet ski is brilliant! We were getting up to 40mph and it’s very exciting. And strangely, the urge to go and buzz an anchored yacht is almost overwhelming. (We didn’t! – no need to write in and complain to the editor.)

And you can get pretty close to the crocs. These are the salt water version. The Aussies call them salties, or swamp lizards. And as they say down under, they’re pretty bloody lethal mate.

This one is over 4 metres.

They are like prehistoric monsters, and really quite magnificent, though Ju was quite glad he could zoom off at 40mph when the croc came for him.

The freshwater ones apparently are more frightened of you then we are of them. Though maybe the person who said that doesn’t know quite how frightened we are of them. Besides, they’re virtually invisible. Can you see this one? (Answer below.)

We won’t be going swimming anytime soon.

With so many animals that can kill you it seemed sensible to learn how to protect ourselves. So Ju went down to the rifle range.

Not bad for a beginner. 

Mind you it helps having a laser sight.

We also went up the old Kuranda Railway into the mountains.

Which was all very pleasant.

Then to Port Douglas and The Mossman Gorge.

And of course we couldn’t miss the opportunity to go SCUBA diving on the Great Barrier Reef.

Ju was very pleased with his new underwater camera light, which made the colours of the coral even more spectacular.

So look out for LOTS more underwater photos in coming blogs. Yippee.

This is a huge nudibranch. They’re normally tiny, but this was about six inches. 

There’s a joke there somewhere.

Australia can be a quite dangerous place. We’re often surprised how anyone actually survives at all. We all know about the sharks, the crocs, the funnel webs and the snakes. But there’s plenty of other things to trap the unwary, and in case you aren’t nervous enough already, there’s plenty of signs to remind you.

Stingers…

Waterfalls…

Jellyfish..

Submerged boulders and “People have died here…”

Cassowaries…

And even the museums all have their dangers.

You don’t see that at the Imperial War Museum.

But now it’s time to leave Cairns and head towards Thursday Island, which is halfway between Wedesday Island and Friday Island. We kid you not. Captain Cook was obviously running out of ideas by the time he got this far north.

So just time for a gratuitous sunset.

…and an arty party photograph called “Rocks.”

And for those of you without the David Attenborough gene, here is where the crocodile was hiding.

G’day for now cobbers.

Ju & Lyn

Welcome back Boatbloggers®,

Finally the cyclone season is over and it’s time to raise a glass as we are back on the good ship Domini and sailing up the Queensland coast.

It was Ju’s birthday, so Lyn treated him to a special day out on Fraser Island with the 4X4 Explorer Bus.

We’re not going to tell you how old Ju is, but we will give you a clue. 

So young looking and handsome

For his years on this earth,

But he’s just one year younger 

Than the year of his birth.

See if you can figure that one out. And if you can – keep it to yourself.

We went all over the island – including the fabulous seaside lake.

Believe it or not, it’s a freshwater lake in the middle of the island. And it’s the first water we’ve seen since we’ve been here that is guaranteed shark- and crocodile-free. So we went for our first Down Under swim.

We saw the big satinay trees. 

The old wreck.

(We set ‘em up for you, we really do)

And we went up the creek. No paddle, but with coffee.

The highlight of the day has to be the ride in the little plane. It actually took off and landed on the beach.

It was a real adrenaline buzz.

We think we might have found another hobby that we can’t afford.

But unfortunately, having just got back on the water, our Australian visas needed to be recharged. Australia is now like Europe (Grrrr!) and you have to leave the country after 90 days – even if it’s only for a few hours.

So we had to go to Bali for a week.

Which is not so terrible.

We took a Balinese cookery course,

…and learned how to make the famous Indonesian delicacy Bebek Goreng – or as we say in English, herby duck.

You bash up a load of fresh herbs and spices and rub it into the skin,

…and then finish it off using Ju’s favourite cooking technique.

Delicious.

We even had the good fortune to meet Raymond, who happens to live in Bali and is the organiser of our next rally – Sail 2 Indonesia.

Thanks to you and your wife for a fabulous lunch Raymond.

It’s a beautiful country and we’re looking forward to getting back here later in the year. 

But next time on a boat!

For now, it was back to the bright lights of Brisbane,

…and then Bundaberg on the Tilt Train (so called because it…er…tilts). 

We’re back on Domini now and heading up the Queensland coast. We have just arrived at Great Keppel Island which is a little bit of paradise.

If it makes you feel any better, we’ve been stuck here for a few days waiting for decent weather. It’s actually raining!

It doesn’t look too bad in the photo – but it is pouring down.

So that’s all for now Boatblog® fans. Just time for the Arty Farty Competition, and we have two entries. The first from Lyn called Rust.

And Ju’s entry called Reach For The Sky.

And the winner is….

Rust!

Good on yer mate.

See you soon.

Ju & Lyn

We regret that due to an editorial oversight this edition does not contain the usual gratuitous sunset. But we can do a rainbow.