Gizo to Cebu

Saturday February 21st

After posting the last update on the website on Tuesday afternoon I went back to the PT109 (Gizo Yacht Club), spent my last Solomon dollars and went to the boat. Even though it was late in the afternoon, I decided to still leave. I had been waiting so long to leave for the Philippines, it was time to go. And on a long trip it is not like you can time your time of arrival at all. There was enough daylight left to go outside the reef, and that was all that mattered.

There was some good wind early in the evening, and the first shower gave enough rain water to fill up the water tank (that was one problem in Gizo, there was no way to get good drinking water, most people rely on a rain water tank, but it had not rained a lot lately). Later that night the wind disappeared and we just floated wherever the current was pushing us.

Wednesday morning I found we had floated somewhat south of Vella Velllona Island, now I had to decide which way to go around it. Decided to go west, and had good wind for a few hours, but then the wind left us. For the rest of the day it was motor sailing. That night the wind picked up a little bit, actually too much, such that I ended up crossing into the Oldham’s Deep before daylight. But, with the smooth seas there were not any problems anyway.

Next morning we cleared the Oldham’s Deep (the water between Bougainville Island [Papua New Guinea and Choiseul Island [Solomon Islands]) and motored towards open seas. The mountains on Bougainville are quite high (2000 meters) so I exected to be able to see land for a long time. But, a squall hit in the afternoon, taking away all sight of land, and it never cleared before dark.

Ever since that squall the weather has been a coming and going of showers, some pretty strong ones, with in between some light winds. The wind already turned around full circle once, but so far progress has been better than expected. Choosing the course to sail is a bit of a dilemma, I can either sail due North (shortest way to the equator) or steer a course towards the destination in the Philippines. I let the wind angle decide which course it will be, most times it is something in between. Since there are often showers with some stronger wind gusts, I have decided to keep a single reef in the main at all times.

Yesterday I say one Tuna vessel nearby, they stayed around, and in the afternoon they sent their helicopter in the air looking for a school of Tuna. Apparentyl they located some, the Tuna boat came back towards me and then started circling around. Every now there are still some birds around, so it is not comletetely desolated here. In our path there are many atolls ahead, so I keep an eye on those on the chart, to avoid a wake up bump in the middle of the night.

Monday February 23rd

Saturday night after I wrote things became pretty tough: there was a goup of atoll’s to leeward and the wind had shifted to the north. This put my course too close to the atolls (whose charted position might be inaccurate and where no lights are to be expected) for comfort. That meant we had to make a few tacks to gain enough latitude for a save clearance. During the night a number of squalls came over with strong wind gusts. It seemed to last forever. But, by daylight things had settled down and a course could be steered nice and clear of the atolls.

The skies had cleared and I decided to unreef the main sail. Ever since then the wind has been around NE, between 10 and 15 knots. Good conditions making for good progress. Right now we are within a 100 miles of the equator, so if nothing changes, we could be crossing the equator somewhere during the night.

There was another tuna fishing boat in sight yesterday morning, but there has been no sign of any other traffic.

Friday February 27th

Days go by, and luckily miles as well. Monday was the first day I tried to fish, and in the afternoon there was a barracuda on the hook. For such a fierceful looking fish, it does not give much of a fight. Then on Tuesday the equator was crossed, because of light winds during the nights this happened during daylight. A Neptune honoring party was given, with some sparkling wine (of questionably quality) and some good peanuts. The wind has been quite irregular, with extended lulls during the days and then sudden fierceful gusts at night. That makes for many interuptions during the night. Last night I furled in the yankee, that made for a more peaceful night. As it is, daily progress hovers around 120 nautical miles, averaging 5 knots. That is good and I hope to keep it that way. A couple of nights back I crossed a shipping lane, had not seen any freighters since Bougainville. Then suddenly during one night I saw 4, it looks like these were traveling between Japan and the Australian east coast. It was at about 1 N, 152 E, and they were on a more or less North – South course, on their way from/to rounding the eastern tip of Papua New Guinee. The wind is picking up, time to go on deck. That was just another shower, this must be one of my wettest trips, sometimes hours and hours of down pours.

Monday March 2nd

Saturday was an interesting day. Some time later in the morning I hear a splash, normally just two freak waves that collide. But this time it sounded and looked different. So I keep staring in the water, and start to convince myself that there is a blur of something in the water. And, within in a minute, the blur morphs into the back of a whale. It blew once more and slowly disappeared, not to be seen again. Then in the afternoon I suddenly see a boat straight ahead. Looked like a smaller size fishing boat, but not one of the tuna fleet. They were rocking and rolling quite a bit, much so that I think my boat was actually steadier in the water than theirs. We did not get very close, not close enough for a picture where you can see more than a while dot. Then around 4 I am standing on the foredeck, just stretching my legs and looking around, and there is something floating in the water, black and pretty bid, dead ahead. Could not telll what it was, but it looked big enough so that I did not want to hit it. So I ran back to the wheel and hand steered the boat on safe path near it. Turned out to be a big metal buoy, I guess with a fishing line or fish net attached to it. Some birds were sitting on it (there are not that many places they can sit and rest around here). Yesterday no excited, though there was a little sun shine during the day. Had not seen the sun in a few days. I am still hoping that the weather settles a little more, still plenty of showers accompanied by gusty winds, giving me enough to do in (un)reefing and (un)furling of sails. By noon we should be about 1100 miles from the waypoint just outside the Philippine islands, so we are about half way now. That means about two more weeks to go.

Saturday March 7nd

The miles have been ticking away steadilly, averaging about 130 miles a day. The weather has improved, sunny days and less showers to deal with. Until Thursday evening it was all a broad reach, but then the wind shifted furter east and it his been running down wind since. Took the main down, where some of the temporary repairs were starting to come apart. I hope there is a good sail maker in Cebu, because I have a lot of work for him. Actually, there is only one sail that does not need a sailmaker right now. Without the main, we are now goosewinged with yankee and staysail, which appears to run well. Had a visit of some dolphins yesterday, and there are still numerous birds around. Only at night do they come close to the boat. If the wind stays with me, maybe we can be in
Cebu before next weekend.

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