The Travel Diary

Back on the High Seas!

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:28:43 +0000

Well we never thought we’d see the day but we finally finished the work on Shellette and she is back in the water!….and she looks fabulous! We went back in the water early April and sailed to an island off of Brisbane where we anchored for the night. It was strange getting back into the routine of sailing, provisioning, anchoring etc…but it sure felt great! Back to watching the sunsets, watching dolphins and sea turtles. We then headed further up the coast (North) to Maloolaba. Picture Ft. Lauderdale only smaller, cleaner and more beautiful. It’s a resort area with beaches, boutiques and lots of cafes…..a welcome change from the city. The only downside to Maloolaba is that the entrance from the ocean to the River where the Marina is, is quite treacherous….there are massive waves beating you into the jetty….so big this is where the Surfers choose to surf. This makes dodging the waves and surfers and jetty quite an ordeal. One surfer was killed by a boat trying to get in when we were there…..Aussies have no fear!

Although we haven’t seen very much of the very big Australia we can tell you it is beautiful, but costly. Absolutely everything in Australia is expensive. (A pack of cigarettes is $20-$25…no kidding)…and everybody there smokes! Many people have taken to rolling there own filterless butts…yuk! The beaches in Australia are beautiful however, quite dangerous. It is nothing for the lifeguards to make 40 rescues in one day on one beach. The rip tides come in quick and many get saved…some not. Another 14 year old drowned last month during a surfing competition….apparently this happens too often. Just goes to show you, even with all the life savers that were there in the water for the competition, they still lost him. Very sad. Also, the Rivers that flow into the Pacific have very dangerous currents….they are dragging the rivers weekly for bodies….it’s just a way of life here. And YES they have their fair share of shark attacks!..Mike was ready to jump in the water one day until he saw several Hammer Head Sharks around the boat…he opted for the boat!

My favorite part of Australia is the wildlife…..they really do have Kangaroos everywhere! They are like deer in the USA…and people unfortunately hit them with the cars often! I had the pleasure of going to the Steve Irwin Park where is family still works…what a great place. Most animals roam free and you can interact with them. I’ve posted lot’s more pics for you to see. I actually got to hold a Koala Bear…..and yes, you will see Bindy(Steve Irwin’s 13 yr. old daughter) feeding a croc….apparently she is as fearless as her father was! The Roos come right up to you and eat out of your hand.

Mike and I have returned to the States so Mike could have his scheduled rotator cuff surgery. All went well on Tuesday and he is now resting, recouping and I’m happy to say feeling good enough to call me Nurse Ratchet! He has several weeks of PT before we return to OZ so enjoy the newest pics in the Gallery for now! Thank you to all for your Get Well wishes too! Stay tuned….Life is Good!

Brisbane

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:36:09 +0000

Brisbane

We are still in Brisbane as we are working on Shellette. She is getting quite a bit of work done and a full paint job. It is very hard work but will be worth it in the end. While we are doing much work ourselves we do have lots of help to do other things too. Mike is really working hard trying to get things done while also managing everyone involved….it is quite the task. The weather has not been cooperative with lots of rain so we demasted Shellette and moved her inside the shed. (Pics in the Gallery)

Brisbane, which is in the State of Queensland has suffered many floods, cyclones and monsoons over the last year. Many deaths and thousands of homes have been lost. This January we’ve had nearly 14 inches of rain. When the sun does come out it is hot…in the 90’s….

They definately talk funny and have funny words for everything….hard to keep up sometimes. Breaky, Snowie, Icy, Rocket, Pisser…..That means…Breakfast, Snowcone, Icecream, Salad, Party…. The Australian dollar is quite strong now, higher than the USD. We can not tell you how expensive it is here….to get an idea…they Payless Shoe Store here as well….a pair of shoes costs $59.99AUD….$63USD YIKES!!!!

We haven’t had time to really see much of Australia yet but we took some time to take a boat ride down the Brisbane River yesterday and took lots of pics. We also were able to watch the Superbowl this morning at 9:30am Aussie time….very wierd having coffee and donuts while watching football!!!

That is it for now but check out the picture gallery for recent pics….stay tuned…Life is Good (even in the boatyard)

G’day Mates!!

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:40:32 +0000

A warm welcome from Down Under! We hope you had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We enjoyed our time back in the States. We visited lots of family and friends and are refreshed and ready to get back to Shellette.
We arrived in Australia Jan. 6th. We stopped by to see Shellette where she is in the midst of getting a new paint job. She missed us and is eager to return to the water….we have lots of work to do on her yet but will keep you posted as we will be touring Australia by land for a bit. One day and we’ve already got sunburns as it is summer here and the sun is VERY strong!
More later…stay tuned…Life is Good….

We’ve arrived

Shellette in Australia

admin — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:21:10 +0000

Hi All. Just an update to let you know what is going on. I am currently in Denver taking care of the parasite I picked up. Glad to say I am finally starting to feel better. Thanks for all the well wishes.

After sailing to Australia, Mike and Shellette made their way down to Brisbane where they remain in the boat yard. Shellette was hauled out and sits on the hard (pics in Gallery). She has some structural issues that stem from her not being properly repaired and painted three years ago. This is what happens when you are not able to manage the work done on your own boat firsthand. Anyway, Mike is working very hard but it will take time. She is getting a brand new paint job, which is costly but worth doing right. She will literally be good as new when she is done! We will spend some time with family for the holidays and return to Australia to finish working on Shellette. Then we will spend some time touring Australia, finally.

Best wishes to all for a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving….Life is Good…..Stay tuned…

New Pictures Have Been Updated in the Gallery

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:37:27 +0000

Vanuatu to Australia….by Mike Dawson

admin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:33:08 +0000

Day one of our journey to OZ land.
First off, the day before I am making ready all the final preparations to get off on time. Roger, my savior of sailing has committed to help me sail Shellette to the OZ land. I am making French Toast. I need to make sure I take extra care of Roger since I was at his mercy and he is a great friend. As I was making ready waiting until 5pm when Roger arrives, doing my stuff, I walk out of the salon and was surprised when I walked into Roger. Some other kind boater brought him out when he arrived hours earlier then thought.
We go to the town by dinghy once Roger was settled to make sure we have all that we need for our 7 day journey. Most of the town is closed because of a government holiday. Surely not much to buy when things are closed. Anyway we have a last supper and head to the boat for rest and the start of the trip.
The next morning at 5am we are off, moorings away with the start of the engines. We get to the way point that was set up earlier with the help of Marine and we are off. The miles begin clicking as we make way with all the sails in the air and the wind blowing kindly for us. As land begins to slowly fade behind us and the open blue sea all around you then know you’re the only one out there seeing the beauty as only one can see from being here on Shellette . Roger and I look at each other and decide it’s time to fly the kite (spinnaker). Not just any kite, THE BIG ONE. We dig her out of the depths of the hole dust her off and send her into the air. She catches the wind and with a loud POP she’s full of wind. Shellette is off to the races doing 10 kts and looking good.
Night time falls and we either have the great stew Marine made or cook outside on the grill. Since its descent weather we choose outside and had a great dinner thereby saving the stew for another night. As we progress west to OZ Roger goes down for a rest and I am at the helm. Since Marine is gone who usually gets the freak storms on her watch I guess I took that place. Not just one squall but two in the same watch. Oh was I blessed for that. Winds from all circling directions, the sails full of air and the see night dark and dreary. The winds seem to be coming from all directions which is not a good thing in case you jibe the sails. That is bad for the rigging!!!. Too late to do much but turn into the wind which is blowing 30 kts . After 20 minutes of the SEA GODS saying we are in charge they choose to let Shellette go and sail on her way. From many other events at sea on this journey I had great respect for these GODS and bid them farewell until next time I need a lesson. That first 24 hours took us 169 miles with only 900 to go.
Day Two.
Another great day at sea. No freak squalls seeking us out . NO images of things gone bad just peace at sea with the wind kindly blowing 15kts to the beam and we steadily cruising 8 kts eating up the mileage with 167 miles more clicked off the passage. We passed our first way point at 3am in the morning heading to the next. Good sailing, good sharing of two people helping each other out in life.
Day Three
Our mornings start off the same just with a different person at the helm each bright new beginning. We rotate shifts with during the day 4 hours each then at night we shift to 3 hour shifts. Thus rotates us at different times as the days pass. Today we just get cereal and toast. Mike got lazy and didn’t make Roger anything special. What the heck he is on board after helping me out and now stuck at sea. Nowhere for him to go. That’s what we mates do!!
As the day goes the winds pick up from a beam reach at 15 to 20 kts. That is GOOOOD stuff. No kite today the winds at a different angle but so good to sail with both the MAIN sail and the Genoa. We are cursing 8 to 10 kts knocking off the miles and just loving the passing sea. The waves with white caps and the rollers passing by with the slight nudge or smacking that they do when the winds are stronger. As the day passes into the dusk the seas slacken and winds subside and we are doing 7 kts slithering through the seas with ease. The Captain/chef prepares a home style meal of barbeque chicken, green beans and baked potatoes. Roger is just loving my cooking and looking forward to Rose doing it for him when he returns home.
As we settle in for the night shift we pick up some fisherman. First only one then his buddies decide what a cool place to hang for the night. So they all perch themselves on the bow pulpit and prune and clean each other as the night passes. By now you realize we have sea birds making Shellette there home for the night resting. We don’t mind sharing the hotel its God’s creatures and they share the sea with us. Who knows maybe we get some fishing tips.
As we ease through the calm seas the winds subside to nil and we have to motor doing 5.5 kts for the rest of the night. As we do this we get to take a break and look at the greatness of the sky and see the stars that are only visible in this part of the world. There are millions of them staring down at you. What a smidgen of a thing we are in the great universe. 166 more miles ticked off!!!
Day Four and Five
As the days pass you begin to lose track of time . Shift after shift you just make do with the rest whenever you can get it. An hour or two here and ther. Sometimes you get a whole three and you feel like new or it’s just that you are so wore out and don’t know any better. I am a stickler on shifts and set an alarm to make sure I am on time . My buddy Roger was pretty good but a few times I had to reprimand him and he had to do dishes. Just kidding he was such a great help. As we passed the days with talking about life and laughing, the miles went slow with very little winds. As a matter of fact, we had to motor a good part of the day. As we approached waypoint three we get a call on the radio VHF “ hey is that Shellette”. It’s our friends from “Paseafique” that left Port Vila the day before us in a monohaul. They are moving at 3.5 kts with no wind and we are, as stated earlier, with the engines pushing forward. After all Roger is a working man and needs to get back to the grind.
Not too many places in the world on the same day can you watch the sun rise and see it set in the dusk as a fire ball and watch the full moon reach for the sky and watch it fall into the darkness as out at sea. It is a sight to behold and put in the memory banks of your mind. Day four we only did 144 miles and day five we did 197 miles as the winds GODS blessed us with a beam reach and 20 kts of wind again allowing Shellette to lunge forward and take off on her path. She is a great boat and handled like a Jaguar in the wild.
Day Six plus two hours.
The race is on. Its only Shellette racing against herself. We can smell the land against the salt breeze and push hard toward our goal. Get there as fast as we can. The wind was being a bit testy and blowing on our nose. That makes it a little difficult to sail and motor fighting the wind against you. After a bit the winds slides more in our favor. Roger being the racer he is begins to readjust the rigging of the sails and does magic by adding new lines and sheathing then to a different wench so we can sail tighter to the wind and Shellette is off again. She seeks her path and allows the wind to freely take her forward cruising 9 plus kts. What a breath of fresh air.
As you watch the electronic charts and the miles left to go and the estimated time it will take, it is agonizing in its own right. As the wind changes with the wind speed higher the hours are less and when she goes down you feel like you’re going backwards. Shift after shift you get more inpatient about getting there. It just seems to take forever and then you see land. It’s a sense of inner joy knowing you are about to make another crossing of a huge ocean and you made it. As many people that do this and live there dream or goal or bucket list it is a huge accomplishment to do what we are doing. It’s no small task by any means.
Day six is over and just two more hours and we are in Port. We line ourselves up on the channel makers and glide our way through flat waters to make our way to the Quarantine area where we will await further orders from Customs to enter Australia. The land of OZ. We are now in Bundaberg Australia with a journey that went as good as they can get. Peace with the sea and wind and safe at land.
Thanks to my great friend Roger this journey was one of my best . He gave up a t a moment’s notice to come and share this adventure because I needed help and he stepped up to the plate and this I will remember for life. Thanks my friend for being so kind. Thank to Rose for sharing her man.
Mike

Off To OZ….

admin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:32:06 +0000

Off to OZ

Our friend Roger is returning to Vanuatu to sail to Australia with Mike. I am returning to the states to get to the Dr. as I’ve picked up a bug along the way…nothing serious…..besides, I’m also over the passages….

Mike and Roger have a 1,050 sail ahead of them from Port Vila, Vanuatu to Bundeburg, Australia. Although we had planned to sail to New Caledonia from Vanuatu we have found that they are not able to haul our boat our and to the necessary repairs as they previously stated they could….as it goes in the islands……

SHARKS…

admin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:31:15 +0000

We sailed to the island of Malakula and anchored in a bay known as Port Sandwich.
Luckily we had a good cruising guide book because as tempting as this bay was to take a swim….it is known as quite the shark haven. Years ago they started to discard cattle carcass’ here and all the sharks came. Several people (yachties) have been killed here…only a few years ago, sadly a 9 year old girl…. The locals tease that the sharks only like the white people…they are sweeter!

While in Port Sandwich, we were invited to a very small village of only 20 people. They showed us there beautiful garden on the mountainside and enjoyed laughing at us as we broke out into a sweat climbing said mountainside! They shared their many fruits and veggies with us and even cracked open the coconuts and passed them around….and I wonder why I’m having intestinal issues?:)

The children played with and braided my hair as we sat in one of the huts…the blonde things is unique to them. We gave them some clothing, a cooking pot, fish hooks etc…boy were they excited. They have no electricity but when we returned to the main land Mike donated a solar panel and batteries to them….

We also made friends with a women named Mary. Mary came for tea on the boat one day. She traded fruits, veggies and mud crabs for 500 vatus ($5) and some drinking cups…they didn’t have anything to drink from.

THEY WORE NOTHING BUT LEAVES!!!!!!

admin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:30:42 +0000

As we traveled around Vanuatu we encountered wonderful people, rough seas and once in a life time experiences.

While anchored off of the Meskalyn Islands, we were approached again by a local dugout canoe. We were told the Chief extended an invitation to us to visit the village that afternoon. At the time were were buddy boating with our friends on “Northfork”…Mark and Roberta.

We were anchored a good distance from the village and the seas were very rough as the winds were picking up. It was tough navigating the very shallow waters to get to the island of Avokh. One of the local men came out in his canoe to lead us through the waters. Were were greeted by the entire village…men, women, children. They played music for us and presented us with homemade leis. They were beautiful! As we took pictures Mike would show the children a picture of themselves on the camera screen. Well, they just loved to see themselves as they don’t come across any mirrors very often. Mike was surrounded by kids.

We toured the village and then walked further into the jungle….Mike joked that perhaps we were going to be dinner…not just guests. We all sat on a log and were entertained with a customary “small namabas” dance. When I tell you that these men wore only leaves….I kid you not! It truly was something straight out of Nat’l Geographic Magazine! Their bodies were painted with mud and pigs blood. There private parts were wrapped in a leaf attached to a piece of straw that wrapped around their hips. In Vanuatu they have different tribes…”The Big Nambas and The Small Nambas”. The size of the piece of straw is how they determine…get your minds out of the gutter!

As funny as this may sound, it was actually quite moving, spiritual and emotional to watch these men perform. We really were taken back in time. The people of Vanuatu still believe in Black Magic. They still rely on “rain dancing” etc….

After the dancing we returned to the village for snacks that the women and children prepared…fresh nuts, coconut and some other things we weren’t too sure of. Also to drink Kava…..boy is the Kava in Vanuatu strong….lot’s stronger than Fiji. It was really a special experience.

More on Tanna and Efate in Vanuatu

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:47:58 +0000

Island of Tanna….a few stories before we move off Tanna. We had to check in to Vanuatu, as is customary with every country we enter. When we arrived, we anchored at Port Resolution. While this is the preferred and closer anchorage on Tanna, we had to, at some point, make our way to the other side to the capital of Lenekal. This involves the chief arranging for our transportation in an SUV. We were warned it is not an easy or quick ride as all roads here are dirt/lava rock and very bumpy. Well they weren’t kidding. It was a 2.5 hour trip doing hard core four wheel driving. Very bumpy and very steep in places. It was an amazing way to see the island though as we passed many villages and picked up and dropped off many villagers along the way to take them to wherever they had to go.
When we arrived in Lenakal we clearly stuck out like a sore thumb as we were nearly the only white people there. They all seemed to know us and where our boat was anchored. Along the way we saw two schoolgirls, about 8-9 years old walking home, each with a leg of a cow slung over there shoulder. Complete with hoof and dangling flesh and blood. When we tell you that we are in such a remote part of the world…we are not kidding.
Mike sat in the back of the Pickup truck along with other and Stanley (chief). As the chief got to know Mike he asked if he could take a look at one of the local boats as it was on the beach with some leaks in the hull. Well, that turned into Mike fiberglassing, sanding etc… the hull and making it like new! Those of you that know Mike know that no job is left half done and no job is a small job.
We left the island of Tanna and headed for the main island here, Port Vila. We hit some rough seas and high winds as the volcano actually plays a big part in altering the weather when sailing this area. We ended up anchoring at the island of Erromango for the night. A little tough pulling into an unfamiliar anchorage in the dark but we managed and thank goodness for night vision goggles. We rose at 4:30am and headed out for the remaining 80 nm journey to Vila…stil big seas and winds but not as rough as the previous day. There was so much haze and smoke from the volcano in the air that we could not see land until we were only 3nm from it….scary…we had to double check our navigation to be sure we did not head the wrong way in the dark 
Port Vila is on the island of Efate and is also quite lovely. Most of Vanuatu is very lush, thick, green rainforest. Vila is the main city here and offers many stores and supplies along with a 24 hour local open food market. The fruits and vegetables here are amazing. So much better than Fiji offers, and a larger variety. It is a decent size small island city with lots of cars as tourism is high here. You will not find a McDonald’s or the like here though. While Vila has resorts and a city the remainder of Vanuatu remains extremely remote. The few “resorts” they have in the outer islands are nothing more than “bungalows” where you are basically living in a village. The people here are exceptional in that they are genuine, warm and friendly. Vanuatu has actually been voted “The Happiest Place on Earth” in the past.
One thing we have been warned about from the cruising guides and locals are that there are lot’s of sharks in Vanuatu. As we are getting closer to Australia there are now Tiger Sharks and Great Whites….(not to mention the size and variety of spiders here, yikes!) We are going to provision here and sail North to some outer islands….we will keep you posted….stay tuned…Life is Good….