We have been motoring nearly every day for the last three weeks, all the way from Raja Ampat to Papua New Guinea, crossing the width of West Papua along the north coast. We have had nearly no wind, for most of the time. Maybe a slight breeze from behind, causing no air moving across the […]
River rafting the Vaka Hop’e
Have you ever been river rafting? I did one time long ago. We started in our rubber rafts in a wide and placid part of the river, but as we slowly drifted down, the river became narrower, the rocks on our sides taller and the rapid stronger. We were in a gully with no way […]
Raja Ampat
Going to Raja Ampat is on the top of the bucket list for many. Especially if you are into scuba diving, snorkling or spectacular landscapes and nature. Going here requires a lot of planning and arranging since it is so far remote from the society and you may want to be planning far in advance […]
The real test of our new rudders
It was in the middle of the night (again) and I was trying my best to sleep in my cabin. So far I had been unsuccessful and gone up on deck several times to help out with the sails. The wind has been picking up more than expected and we had to put a reef […]
Crossing the equator
It is a big day in every sailor’s life when they cross the equator for the first time. Then they go from being a pollywog to being a shellback. Traditionally there’s a whole ceremony around it where they have to ask King Neptune to cross and offer rites as thanks. We skipped all that as […]
How we got new rudders
Both our rudders broke on our crossing from Sulawesi to Halamahera and we had to navigate in through a reef on a remote island in the middle of the Moluccan Sea. If you haven’t read that crazy story, you should. Check it out here: We lost both rudders. My plan was to build some emergency […]
We lost both rudders
It was in the middle of the night. We were on our way from Bitung to Tifure Island, crossing the Moluccan Sea, around 70 nautical miles. Darkness pressed in around us, with thunderclouds in the horizon, but above us we could see the stars clearly. So far we had great conditions for our crossing. A […]
Why we are doing this
For those who have recently joined me on this voyage, you may wonder: Why on earth are you doing this? Sailing a sailboat from the Philippines to the Solomon Islands? Who owns the boat? Why is it bought in the Philippines instead of just buying one locally? And who is the crew and why are […]
We are doing it!
It takes some guts to say that you are going to sail from the Philippines to the Solomon Islands in a Polynesian sailing canoe, but actually doing it requires something completely different.. It requires faith! Faith and confirmation often goes hand in hand if you are walking in the right direction, and I have seen […]
The dreaded check in
Out of everything in our whole voyage, the check-in process to Indonesia was the part I dreaded most. I had read early on that Indonesian bureaucracy was something that should be respected (if not feared). Sailors had told many tales of bad clashes with immigration and customs. In that process I learnt two vital things: […]