🇦🇺⛵️ The sky is pink, with smooth brush strokes of pastel orange, and darker purple puffs – the bigger clouds. The sun set 30 minutes ago and we’re sailing towards our mooring for the night, a tiny island – with barely any elevation – that we hope will still provide enough shelter from the swell for a good night of sleep. Tim is steering the wheel and we’re listening to my « bangers » playlist. It’s been a long day of sailing, we started at 5 in pitch dark and by the time we anchor it will be pitch dark again and we will have been sailing for 15 hours! We had a slow start to the day but eventually the wind picked up and we have been sailing a consistent average of 7 knots and covered 80 nautical miles (150km).
Our daily routine is well oiled now. Early mornings (yes, I have proven able to wake up and be operational at 4AM!), a couple of hours in the dark, with the rising sliver of moon and millions of stars for companions. The horizon starts to lighten which never fails to spark excitment in me – soon the show will be on. The colours on the horizon take a brighter shade of pink and warmth, the ocean becomes a myriad of golden droplets and finally, in a matter of instants, the firy disc is up, its lights bringing me warmth and comfort.
A couple of weetbix and a cuppa later, the day continues on. We set, trim and retrim the sails. Feel the wind direction by turning our face to it. Take guesses – is it shifting? The music plays along. We detect fishing boats and cargo ships in the distance, and increasingly rare fellow sailing boats – are they also going to Indonesia?, we wonder. We take turns steering, practicing navigating and surfing the waves. We spend a lot of time reading and contemplating.
The coast is increasingly wild and our feeling of being remote increases by the day. The landscape looks drier up here, and tropical forests alternate with bush-blanketed sand dunes and rocky outcrops. From time to time, we come up to a small island, or a reef. Sand banks with a few trees at most. Other times they are bigger, mountainous islands. Whenever we’ve stopped early enough, we’ve explored the islands above and under water. The submarine vistas are quite a spectacle too. Corals of all shapes and textures, pastel and vivid colours, small and less small fish, even a shark. We keep being astonished at the giant clams: « what sublime creature » marvelled Tim with a non-less giant smile on his face.
We’ve been rewarded with splendid sunsets, always followed by a yummy dinner (yes eating well is important!) chatting away with Steve. Some more time painting, writing or reading, and an early night.
Voilà, a snapshot of our life on board! We just made it to Cape York, the northernmost point on the Australian continent! A few days in Thursday Island prepping the crossing and we will say fatewell to Australia for now!
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