We are sitting at anchor in Trinity Inlet at Cairns. We are recouperating
after a very rough (for us) passage from Bramble Haven in the Louisides, PNG
to Cairns arriving last weekend. We had been having intermittant problems
with the main outboard that drives Blue Moon while in the Solomons but after
clearing customs at Noro in the Solomons it died and would not restart, It
would turn over but no ignition spark. Unable to fix it, we decided to sail
back from the Solomons to Cairns but then alas we were first becalmed and
then hit by the next front coming from Australia and sailed into Bramble
Haven, an anchorage we knew well from our 2006 trip to the Louisiades and
sailed through the Jomard passage and sailed to anchor and waited......
We arrived on the 8th June and after that the winds just blew and blew... We
kept looking at the weather with Steve (iridium king!) and eventually
consulted Bob McDavitt (New Zealand weather man) for confirmation of a break
in the weather. The weather definitely had eased over the three weeks at
Bramble Haven but we still encounted nothing under 20knots mostly ESE
sometimes SE and the seas were 2-3m occaisional 4m. We basically put George
the autopilot on and he steered us home. We didn't eat a lot as too
uncomfortable. Tried to sleep/rest and hang in there. The kids were both sea
sick several times and we all were very glad to arrive in Cairns 84hrs later
having only used half to third of a headsail the whole way back.
Bramble Haven was a lovely place to spend three weeks but being low on gas
and food supplies was nerve racking. 3 yachts arrived in the strong winds
from Australia and gave us rescue packages of food and gas which was really
appreciated. We ate things we had not seen since leaving Jayapura in October
2009. The 2 families living on Bramble Haven were generous with their food
too and we dined on so much fish and lobster the kids were saying "Not
lobster again!" Must have had at least 30 lobsters all 1kg plus, 5 mackeral
and a coconut crab while there.
Well Cairns has all the delights we have missed but comes at a price! We are
going to stay here for a month or two and wait for more northerly winds to
start. May even visit Lizard Island again. Looking at jobs and schoolling
here too as we have always liked Cairns and have now lived in the tropics
for three years overseas so are used to the heat.
Also considering other locations - sunshine coast, Brisbane, Gold Coast,
Northern NSW and back to Sydney. Our tenants in Sydney have signed for
another year.He is a builder and apparently doing a good job looking after
the property so what ever we decide will involve living on Blue Moon for at
least another year.
Well probably be a while before our next update as we sort out things, but
would love to hear from everyone, so email us or call. The iridium will be inactive until we head to Lizard or sail out of Cairns.
Please keep in touch.
Sarah & crew
