Day 2 - Darwin, Australia to Banda, Indonesia
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Mon 26 Jul 2010 10:52
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6:12.762S 130:05.019E
Wow. What a difference a day makes.
Last night I had to struggle to keep dinner down while typing the blog
update. Tonight is a whole different story. The wind died down to a
pleasant 15-20 knots overnight and the ugly seas dissipated. Now we are
sailing nicely with 20 knots of wind just aft of the starboard beam
and waves no bigger than four or five feet. A nice change from the steep
9-12 foot monsters we were dealing with yesterday that were hitting us broadside
and causing havoc.
Not only did the generator quit because we were
heeled too far to port for water to come in through the water intake on the
starboard side bottom, but one of its motor mounts broke as well, so the whole
generator was swaying precariously in the engine room when Don pulled up the
cockpit floor and we both peered into the engine room to see what the problem
was. As the Aussies would say, not too flash. Nothing Don
couldn't fix with a sturdy piece of line though. The generator is
snug as a bug at the moment as it sits all lashed up to the main
engine. We had a spare generator water pump, so after the lashing was
taken care of, Don changed out the water pump and all was well in our
generator's world. The pump Don removed will be good as new as soon as he
replaces the impeller and a gasket, so all in all, not too bad as far as repairs
while underway go. Of course, Don didn't necessarily enjoy the 45 minutes
he spent in the engine room trying to hang on and work with tools all at the
same time while the boat was bashed from side to side, but what's life on a boat
without a little excitement?
Right now it's 8pm in the evening of our 3rd night
at sea, and we expect to arrive in Banda tomorrow around noon. The rest of
the trip should be smooth as the weather forecast calls for more of
the same. We entered Indonesian waters earlier today and have passed a few
outlying islands and a couple of volcanoes (nope, non active), but other than
that haven't seen much yet. Our arrival in Banda should be
interesting because the local Indonesian government has put together a
schedule of events to welcome us boaters. The word 'schedule' is used
loosely here - we've been warned many times that we should throw away our
watches upon entry into Indonesia - we are looking forward to a very
spontaneous and potentially chaotic welcome.
We'll send an update to the blog after our arrival
tomorrow.
Anne
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