Saturday, August 23, 2014
Arrived in Cocos
We are here on Cocos tucked up out of the swell off Direction Island on the north east corner of the Cocos group and its still blowing like mad. Quite comfortable in the anchorage, though. The water is crystal clear and there are lots of coral and fish. We had a visit from the Oz customs and immigration yesterday and apart from a lot of forms there were no problems. We are having a nice rest here. I don't know if there is any wifi here but we are going on a ferry ride today to home island and then to West island to do so looking around and perhaps some shopping. The supply boat allegedly came in yesterday so there should be something to buy.
18 August 2014
Callisto and crew left Singapore 7 days ago.
The weather began with little wind and isolated squalls .After crossing the equator they pulled into the commercial port of Pangalpenang on the west side of Banka island where they managed to buy 250 liters of diesel fuel from a tug boat . This entailed inflating the dingy and ferrying it across.
There was a period of time with headwinds that slowed them down and a a few downpours of rain. They have now picked up the trade winds and the sky is blue again.Last night they passed through the Sunda straits( that's is between Sumatra and Java ).
Presently enjoying a speed of 8.8 knts. So far no fish,they will continue to try.
The weather began with little wind and isolated squalls .After crossing the equator they pulled into the commercial port of Pangalpenang on the west side of Banka island where they managed to buy 250 liters of diesel fuel from a tug boat . This entailed inflating the dingy and ferrying it across.
There was a period of time with headwinds that slowed them down and a a few downpours of rain. They have now picked up the trade winds and the sky is blue again.Last night they passed through the Sunda straits( that's is between Sumatra and Java ).
Presently enjoying a speed of 8.8 knts. So far no fish,they will continue to try.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
One15 Marina, Singapore
Where to begin.
This has been a very difficult week. The trek started before noon on July 31 leaving San Diego and stopping to meet with Ron and Myrna in Long Beach. We had a nice dinner and they dropped me off at LAX for the twenty hour flight to Singapore, via Manila. All flights were on time but jam packed so not so comfortable in the back of the bus.
I took a taxi from Changi across the bridge to Puteri Harbour in Malaysia.
The boat seemed to be in good shape, the batteries held their charge and the chargers came on line without problem.
The interior of the boat was as we left it with no mould whatsoever. Exterior was dirty but to be expected after three months.
I spent a few hours putting stuff away and Ted arrived about 1800H.
We had a quick tour of the boat, a bite to eat and then bedtime.
Next day, work started with a boat clean and we removed the protective canvas awnings.
I asked Jamie from Totem to check the rig, replace the tricolor lights and fit a new alternator to battery charger that I had brought from the USA. The first two jobs got done but the charger would not function, despite hours of work.
It was disconnected and I went back to the original system.
Day three was boat diving day in the filthy marina but there was no choice. A plastic bag had been placed on the prop to delay marine growth but this has fallen off and the prop, keel, rudder and waterline were very badly fouled.
Three to four hours under the boat with a scraper took off most of the marine growth and the engine a transmission ran well.
I switched out the main engine raw water impeller and replaced the raw water sensor on the gen. set. Despite plenty of water running through I still got a low water alarm so I had to disconnect the sensor again.
An electronics check was disappointing. All the wind instruments and radios worked fine but I could not get a GPS fix on either chart plotter, even using an external antenna. It seems very odd that both would have gone bad at the same time and see the same fault on both units. The chart plotter and radar work but no GPS fix.
We did a lot of shopping to provisoning the boat for the Indian Ocean.
Ted and I left Puteri Harbour on Friday for One15 Marina on Sentosa Island, Singapore navigating by IPad. It works surprisingly well and all went well. We met the immigration guy in a pilot boat outside the marina and cleared in. This marina is truly exceptional, probably the best I have ever seen and we were shown to our berth by very courteous staff who allowed is to stay two days longer than we had booked for.
This weekend is Singapore's 49th Independence Day and all government offices are closed.
We visited a massive shopping mall called Vivo City which was teeming
I am waiting for Ray, the third member of our crew who should arrive any minute.
Tomorrow, will again be jam packed. The Furuno service guy is coming by to see to the chart plotters and if they are not repairable, I will buy a new hand held GPS to hook up to my computer. Ray is also bringing a GPS/computer and we also have two iPads so we should be able to find our way without having to resort to the sextant.
Then it's off to immigration to clear out and if all goes well we will leave on Tuesday.
This has been a very difficult week. The trek started before noon on July 31 leaving San Diego and stopping to meet with Ron and Myrna in Long Beach. We had a nice dinner and they dropped me off at LAX for the twenty hour flight to Singapore, via Manila. All flights were on time but jam packed so not so comfortable in the back of the bus.
I took a taxi from Changi across the bridge to Puteri Harbour in Malaysia.
The boat seemed to be in good shape, the batteries held their charge and the chargers came on line without problem.
The interior of the boat was as we left it with no mould whatsoever. Exterior was dirty but to be expected after three months.
I spent a few hours putting stuff away and Ted arrived about 1800H.
We had a quick tour of the boat, a bite to eat and then bedtime.
Next day, work started with a boat clean and we removed the protective canvas awnings.
I asked Jamie from Totem to check the rig, replace the tricolor lights and fit a new alternator to battery charger that I had brought from the USA. The first two jobs got done but the charger would not function, despite hours of work.
It was disconnected and I went back to the original system.
Day three was boat diving day in the filthy marina but there was no choice. A plastic bag had been placed on the prop to delay marine growth but this has fallen off and the prop, keel, rudder and waterline were very badly fouled.
Three to four hours under the boat with a scraper took off most of the marine growth and the engine a transmission ran well.
I switched out the main engine raw water impeller and replaced the raw water sensor on the gen. set. Despite plenty of water running through I still got a low water alarm so I had to disconnect the sensor again.
An electronics check was disappointing. All the wind instruments and radios worked fine but I could not get a GPS fix on either chart plotter, even using an external antenna. It seems very odd that both would have gone bad at the same time and see the same fault on both units. The chart plotter and radar work but no GPS fix.
We did a lot of shopping to provisoning the boat for the Indian Ocean.
Ted and I left Puteri Harbour on Friday for One15 Marina on Sentosa Island, Singapore navigating by IPad. It works surprisingly well and all went well. We met the immigration guy in a pilot boat outside the marina and cleared in. This marina is truly exceptional, probably the best I have ever seen and we were shown to our berth by very courteous staff who allowed is to stay two days longer than we had booked for.
This weekend is Singapore's 49th Independence Day and all government offices are closed.
We visited a massive shopping mall called Vivo City which was teeming
I am waiting for Ray, the third member of our crew who should arrive any minute.
Tomorrow, will again be jam packed. The Furuno service guy is coming by to see to the chart plotters and if they are not repairable, I will buy a new hand held GPS to hook up to my computer. Ray is also bringing a GPS/computer and we also have two iPads so we should be able to find our way without having to resort to the sextant.
Then it's off to immigration to clear out and if all goes well we will leave on Tuesday.
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