Once again the forecast was completely wrong. Predicted wind never arrived, which made for a calm passage but we HATE wasting all out petrol! So much appreciation being back on these Tropical islands after being stuck in Padang in a smelly slimy harbour for a week. It’s good to be back. We forgot to buy new country flags ….

Beautiful moon lighting up the night. Unfortunately no wind, once again totally different than predicted but we were happy to avoid any bad weather this time. All the squalls just missed us. Padang City here we come. After the remote islands we are really looking forward to some city time.

Horrible Passage in rough conditions. Non stop squalls and difficult downwind sailing with gusting up to 30, swell and constant rain. Why do we even look at the forecast? Got approached by fishing boat but did our usual manoeuvre and just put both engines down and left them in our wake. Glad it’s time for a drink!

We can add another worst ever to the list. From the worst anchorage ( we all got seasick on anchor! First time for me getting seasick and we didn’t even move) to getting hit full force by strorm which arrived a day earlier than predicted. It was absolutely terrifying. 2 meter swell didn’t help. For a while we were just beating into it but then decided to turn around and go with the wind. Much less force on the boat but wrong direction for us. Good decisions and less scary apart from the worry that a wave might break on us. It was now more of a surfing feeling and much easier to handle. I am glad we got that experience under our belt. Also good to know that the captain and boat can handle it. Very relieved and exhausted arrival to another remote paradise found.

Beating into wind, waves and currents which slowed us down to 2 knots wasn’t pleasant but we just wanted to get there.

We are so happy we are finally here after months of boat work and hectic prepping to make one of the last weather windows across. Had a great sail and can’t wait to find some good waves

We thought we had couple of chill days up our sleeves but the wind only looked good one day this week so we just packed up and left straight away. Racing back to Phuket to collect some items before we head over to Indonesia before the season changes. The race is on.

The day has finally come to go back in the water. For some reason our wind Instruments didn’t work this morning but we were too desperate to splash, we decided to deal with it later. Plus it’s good practise to sail without instruments. Quick stop at Telaga Harbour to stock up, fuel up and check out of country. Next stop Koh Lipe.

No one other then my family is going to read this.

Just a quick update (we took the boat out of the water) 💧