S/V Indian Summer 1

Sailing for many days non-stop can be either good or bad depending mainly on the weather.  This trip to Cape Leveque was really great with strong southerlies which propelled us along at around 7 knots.  There was not a big swell which made the journey comfortable and we kept down all our meals!  We caught a huge mackerel which lasted us for days – we were glad to eventually finish it and get back to meat.  I knew when we started this journey we would miss out on many celebrations and even after such a short time,  we are already missing out on a very special one.   One of the gang – my friend Margy is having her 60th birthday in  Bali tomorrow and of course I cannot be there to celebrate it with her.   She has taken a blown up pic of me to include in some of the photos so I will be there is essence but it is one of the downsides of cruising and one I will probably never get used to.  Happy birthday Margy xxx

We passed a prawn trawler one night which was a magnificent  site – she was lit up from stern to bow and we could see them pulling in their nets and emptying all the prawns onto the deck.  We have spent many nights sailing and we are getting used to the lack of sleep.  Some people have a specific time roster, two hours on/off etc, but we find that we work best splitting the night only once.  I stay up until about 2am, then Ian takes over until about 6.30.  He has always been a morning guy so it seemed right.   I tend to have a nap mid afternoon and Ian has one late morning.   This means that we both get a good rest.   Obviously we are always sleeping with one ear open in case two people are needed, but up till now that emergency hasn’t arisen – watch this space.   Night sailing is awesome – it can be pitch black or so light you can read a newspaper.   The stars seem to be much brighter than on land and it is easy to pick out the constellations,  I love watching for shooting stars and satellites.

We pulled into Cape Leveque about 6am and saw our friends on Site in the distance.  They were leaving as we came in!  We had a sleep, showered and heading into shore.  Hitting land after many days out is always exciting though people think you are drunk because you keep swaying..  We had a fantastic lunch there – we had eaten there before and knew the chef was good so we were happy he was still running the restaurant.

India at anchor while we have lunch..