Ambon - Bitung, Indonesia - August 2009

We have entered our first ever yacht race. The starting gun went off at precisely 10am from Ambon. It was a great sight to see all the yachts leaving to sail up the harbour. That’s about where our commitment to serious racing finished. There was a recommended dive site 25 miles from the anchorage which we wanted to stop at and did. So two dives and a few games of cards later we were all tucked up in bed. Also guiding our decision was that we wanted to ensure that we arrived in Bitung in daylight, which meant an early start. We weren’t the only ones to stop so we had some company for the crossing.




Crossing the Equator



We have had a few whale sightings, even breaching whales but nothing very close. Seeing dolphins is always a treat during a crossing.
With four aboard the night shifts are pretty cushy – 2hrs on and 6hrs off. At about 7pm on the second night we crossed the equator into the northern hemisphere. The nights were kept busy with boats calling in having sighted things in the water. It seems the fishing boats had huge mooring drums which would have had to have had two to three kilometers of rope to attach them to the bottom??? Other yachts saw big fishing traps floating. The thing was that the drums, traps and some of their boats weren’t lit at night. Thank goodness for a full moon and luck on our side.