FRANCES LOG GIRIZ II 2008

This year was unbelievably busy for us, starting in Palma Mallorca doing yet more work on Giriz II for the owner Simon, who wanted his boat in Australia for Christmas 2008. From Palma we took it to Gibraltar where we were able to meet up with Michelle and Michael and pick up some electronic gear that we had ordered for the boat, then across the Atlantic to Rio.We had good weather, it was so calm that when we crossed the equator the crew and I swam across which was good fun, we stopped at Rio where we spent 4 days checking in and out, filled up with fuel and food, then crossed the Atlantic again to Cape Town.Both trips were relatively trouble free and we arrived in fairly good shape.From Cape Town I flew to the U.K. to visit Danielle as she was due to have her first baby, which duly arrived a bit late of course , a boy and they have called him Alexander so we now have Alice and Alexander.It was good to see everyone I drove to Bristol to see my parents my sister and her family before going to Ipswich wherethe girls are.

While I was away Peter (and a crew of 2) took Giriz around to Durban which is where I flew back to, we caught up with a few more jobs in Durban then sailed up to Mauritius.

When checking in to Mauritius we got caught up in a bit of a customs duty fiddle that went a bit wrong for them, it is a little scam which they obviously pull on yachties when they clear in, they basically tell you how to fill in the forms, ask you a few questions all very nice, get you to sign then raid the boat.If you have anything that you have not declared on the form, even though you were told not to by the officer, they confiscate it.This is mostly booze and normally it will be just a few bottles which they take away and they are happy, this time however there was 400 bottles of the owners best wine and spirits on board, of course Peter made a big fuss, the Australian high commission was called, there was a hearing which Simon, Peter and a representative from the high commission attended. Us and the boat were technically under arrest for 10 days, but we finally got everything back and they bonded it (locked it up in one of my under floor stores) which is what they should have done in the first place.Other than these problems we found the island to be pretty and with an interesting mix of culture apparently living in harmony, a mixture of foods available from very English stuff like tinned corned beef to halal meat, and Indian spices, also a large china town. The vegetable market in the main town was really good but the fish and meat market was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen, yes even worse than morocco and Jamaica. Luckily my freezer was well stocked and there was a good French supermarket a short taxi ride away.Simon and his daughter came and stayed for 10 days then 4 of his friends came to visit on their own for a week after which we were on our own again.

Moving on to Madagascar, where Simon wanted to meet us, the top left hand side to check in then down the west coast to a place called Nosey Bee a beautiful country quite unspoilt. Simon arrived with 2 friends and stayed 4 days, we did some swimming and snorkelling in the beautiful clear clean waters just off the island.Whilst at anchor off Nosey Bee Giriz attracted too much attention and we spent all our time trying to stop people stealing everything, they even sat around us all night throwing fishing lines and hooks onto the deck (from their dugout canoes) trying to drag things off. The first night we were anchored off Nosey Bee the dinghy was stolen, our fault really, we had been used to being able to leave it hanging over the stern, Simon was on board and it is a big boat so a big fuss to lift it. Anyway it was gone in the morning making it very awkward to get the boss ashore for his flight back!! We put a reward out of 1,000 us dollars and it was brought back the same evening, minus fuel tanks, battery, paddles and anything else they could easily remove, luckily they hadn't managed to remove the 60hp motor so everything else was easily replaced.

On then to Mayotte a French Island in between Madagascar and Mozambique which was quite spectacular almost fully enclosed in reef, very pacific island ish, fantastic snorkelling and apparently even better diving.The local people seemed very nice again quite a mix of cultures making it very colourful.Unfortunately Simon could not join us there and asked us if we could come down to Maputo (Mozambique) to join him there. The night before our planned departure we decided to move from our normal anchorage and have a look around the corner anchoring closer to where we would exit the reef, not a good idea it seems as the locals took it as an opportunity to steal the dinghy again, this time we had it hoisted up the side of the boat as far as the hand rails and tied down very securely, even so 0100 hrs that night they came on board and cut the thing down, we heard it drop into the water.On hearing the noise of course we were on deck in a shot, in time to see him jump into the water after it, he was swimming away with it so I held up a large search light while Peter shot flares at him and in the air, we also set off the horn put all the lights on and generally made a noise, eventually he gave up and we were left with the task of retrieving the dinghy with Giriz whilst trying to avoid the reef (a very dark night).By the time we had sorted ourselves out again the local water police arrived, having been alerted by our flares, they arrived sporting night sights machine pistols etc and went off to try and find the thieves, they told us we should not stay at the anchorage but should go to the town, a long way out of our way.We decided that the night was lost so we might just as well leave as go back to town, so we came through the reef 0300hrs and with great relief out into the ocean again.

Unfortunately on the way to Maputo we ran into some bad weather and could not get into port in time for Simon.Fortunately for us though ,because the anchorage we stopped in to hide from the weather was full of whales displaying their tails and generally showing off, mating season,? and during the night we could hear them calling to each other, it was all quite awesome. When we finally arrived in Maputo Simon was gone and we found it very disappointing, grubby with no berths so we had to sit out in a dirty river which had a 4-5 knot tide running all the time. Again the thieving was so bad that we had to arrange for a guard to stay on board all night while we slept, we left there a.s.a.p.

We carried on down the coast to Richards Bay in South Africa where we thought we would be able to do the jobs we needed to do, but unfortunately they did not have the skills available locally everyone having to come up from Durban so we ended up taking the boat to Durban, a shame because Richards Bay was much quieter and felt very comfortable compared to Durban. Durban is noisy, dirty and not safe to walk around so we were literally locked into the Marina especially at night. The only way I was allowed to go shopping was to get in a taxi at the gate, go to a shopping mall then taxi back, not exactly seeing the local colour!

The day we came into Durban we anchored in the harbour just off the Marina as it was low tide and too shallow to go in, we had a terrific thunder storm that night, several days later we realized that we had been struck and had to have most of our electronics replaced. Then we had a serious problem with a gearbox so we were quite a lot later leaving than we had originally anticipated, this did not matter as far as the weather patterns were concerned but we had hoped to get back to Europe for Christmas.

The trip across the Indian Ocean (4,200) miles was uneventful no bad weather but no really good sailing weather either, we spoke to other ships on route and they were reporting the same thing, the normal winds were just not there.

Our arrival in Fremantle was again uneventful other than the usual customs and emigration officials who are very keen here, so they took away a lot of our stores but were very nice about it.Simon met us on the quay of course, he was very happy to see his boat looking in such good condition (we had spent the last 3 days having a cleanup) after crossing the ocean.We stayed in Australia for December and January so that Simon could have his Christmas holidays on board, we did a trip down to Eagle bay, a hundred miles or so south of Perth and spent some time anchored off Rottnest Island which is only an hour away from Perth, all very nice but we were keen to get away as Michelle was expecting her first baby.Before we left we had Giriz lifted and put on the hard in the local boatyard with a long list of jobs for them to do.

Australia feels good to be in especially after the summer we had had, it is exceptionally clean, very safe, good food, shopping, and generally feels like a nice place to be.This could all be changed by the time we leave of course, time will tell!

We finally got away on the 28th January for a month's holiday, Michelle had her baby on the 25th December they have called her Charlotte Rose, and so we now have 3 grandchildren to visit!!

When we arrived back in Perth Giriz was still on the hard and we have to stay at Simon's house, but we hope to get launched within the next few days when we will be on the move again.The plan is to sail up the west coast of Australia to the Abrolhos Islands, Shark bay, Exmouth, Broome and the Kimberley's then Asia leaving Australia approximately mid July.Sounds like 2009 is going to be yet another busy year!

JANUARY 2009

New Year 2009 found us still in Australia, the original plan was that we would have the whole of December 2008 as leave but a late start from Durban in South Africa, due to a lightning strike and gearbox problems, found us not arriving until just before Christmas, so we agreed to stay in Australia for the owner's holidays which meant until the end of January 2009. During January we sailed further south to Eagle Bay for the "holidays" we also called into Rottnest Island before going back to Fremantle.

Before leaving for the U.K. we had to set Giriz up ready to have work done in the shipyard in Fremantle and see her comfortably up on the hard, this done we were off to the airport.

FEBRUARY

U.K. weather came as bit of a shock as usual but we were happy to see the family there, unfortunately it is always difficult to see enough of everyone and we wanted to visit Michelle and Michael who are in Gibraltar.Gibraltar weather was hardly any better than the U.K. but the new baby, Charlotte Rose is a little gem.We also drove to Cartagena and visited our own boat having just about enough time to give her a clean up before starting on our way back to the U.K. to spend my birthday with the girls there.

Sadly we did not have time to visit any of our friends in the U.K. and we felt that all our family visits were far too short, but we did the best we could.

MARCH

Back in Oz we had plenty of work to do on board even before launching then more after that, but time was short and we needed to be on our way as winter was setting in. Whilst in the yard we did a lot of work on the steering pumps, stabilizers, hull damage and lots of other jobs that had been in waiting, I managed to go to the hairdresser as it was already 4-5 weeks since Michelle cut it for me in Gibraltar, and have my hair cut and some colors put in it, I was very pleased with the result short and funky, 3 different colors, red, pink and a sort of dark ginger in streaks, looked better than it sounds!

APRIL

Up the west coast then to the Abrolhos Islands, we had a lot of noise from the port engine on the way so we had to shut it down, which of course slowed us down considerably, we were down to 6-7knots, also on this trip the fors'l roller jammed and something broke on the mains'l traveler so we were limping quite badly by the time we arrived. Simon joined us with his children for a few days.We stayed there for a while as Simon came back for another visit and to spend Anzac day there, Anzac is the Australian Remembrance Day, this involves a lot of drinking, betting and more drinking, very Australian.Peter did a lot of work on the engines as we had had that bit of trouble on the way, so we were there for a month.The Abrolhos islands are quite desolate, low lying, very windy with no shelter, they do not have any shops and there are no permanent houses, fishermen and their families live there for about six months of the year, to harvest the crayfish, tons and tons of them.We ate fish and crayfish almost every day we even had pickled crayfish, very nice but we were glad to leave in the end. I did some snorkeling on a wreck site here which was good, lots of fish and coral. I also caught a shark whilst fishing off the side of the boat it was only small about 2ft long but it tasted good cooked.While we were here Peter also welded up the broken mains'l traveler but we were still not able to use the fors'l.

MAY

Further up the west coast the weather became warmer (not that we had actually been cold) we stopped in a few anchorages,Shark Bay, then a small town called Carnarvon which was very nice, all the towns we have seen so far have been very clean and tidy, relatively crime free and generally nice to walk around.Carnarvon was our first opportunity to shop since Fremantle, amazing how exciting it is to see a supermarket with fresh veg and people to talk to, too short a stop there.

We continued on up the west coast calling into little anchorages on the way, which often are just an outcrop of coral to hide behind, so that it looks and feels as if you are sat in the middle of the ocean.

Ningaloo reef runs up this coast and is quite famous so we did a snorkel here too, the fish were smaller and more brightly colored and the coral more colorful too, we did not feel too comfortable swimming here as there are sometimes sharks.A couple of days later I felt glad that we had used Simons "Shark shield" contraptions whilst swimming, because we saw a tiger shark trying to eat quite a large turtle whole!!We also saw dolphins, turtles, sharks and millions of jelly fish, so many jelly fish in fact that they kept bunging up the water inlet for the generator and Peter had to keep clearing them out, not a job that he was very keen on.Peter has managed to make the fors'l roller reefing usable but we still do not feel that it is fully reliable.

JUNE

On the way around North Cape I put a line out to do some fishing and caught some Tuna one of which was 5kg. (11lb). We are now in Exmouth Bay, the town of Exmouth is where Simon is going to meet us next, before we move on across the top of Australia towards Broome where there used to be a huge pearling industry, there is still some going on but on a much smaller scale.We hope we may find some shops here in Exmouth but it doesn't look very promising. We have not been ashore yet as the weather has been quite rough and windy, so we came down to an anchorage deeper into the bay this is where I caught a 6kg Tuna.Today which is a Sunday the weather is calm and sunny so as nothing would be open in town anyway we went for a ride in the rib and had a look at the island (Simpson Island) that we are anchored close to, nothing there except mangroves and a few birds, we did see a turtle, some small fish, jelly fish and snakes in the water, so we definitelywill not be swimming here.We were back and forth around North Cape picking the best anchorage for the wind for a couple of weeks on one of these little trips around the cape we saw humpback whales breaching and blowing absolutely amazing, I took some pictures but nothing spectacular.Whilst we were anchored on the west side, a place called Tantabiddiwe had to move due to wind and swell one morning so the usual thing up with the anchor and away we go around the cape, only this time when I had the anchor almost up it "fell off"! The broken link popped up through the horse pipe onto the deck, can't tell you how pissed off I was. (Lucky we have 2 anchors) Luckily Peter had the presence of mind to press the M.O.B. button so that we could come back and get it later. Several days later after attempts by 2 different sets of divers we found it again, exactly where we thought it would be, Peter cut off a few links of the chain and reattached it.

Exmouth revealed more shopping than expected so we were able to stock up with good food and even buy a new t.v. so that we can catch up with the world news.Whilst walking along the main road we spotted Emu's crossing the road, quite funny as they appeared to be going to the visitors centre!

Simon could not join us in Exmouth but has promised he will meet us in Dampier.

From Exmouth then on to Dampier, our first stop on the way was Serrurier Island (named for French general) but locally known as Long Island?Seems this island is a favorite spot for fishermen to holiday, bringing all the comforts of home and camping on the beach, one we spoke to even brought the bread maker, along with a 3kva generator of course.The sea is crystal clear we could see the anchor sitting on the bottom 6m down.Lucky as we lost the anchor again, this time it wasn't even rough, one of the fishermen went down for us and we re-attached it stowed it and decided not to use it again.

Next stop Direction Island just for 1 night before going on to Dampier.

A book worth reading is "A Pirate of Exquisite Mind" the life of William Dampier, by Diana & Michael Preston.

Dropped our anchor close to Dampier in calm water in preparation for going into the harbor in the morning, decided to stay outside for a day just to tidy up and wash the salt off the boat, next day "rain" so we actually went into Dampier in damp and misty conditions, cannot remember when we last had rain must have been in Perth.

Anchored off Hampton Harbor Sailing and Boating club, which is quite nice, we can barely get the dinghy into the harbor at low tide, but it is all very calm and relaxing.

Here we will wait until Simon comes to visit or he lets us know where he would like to meet us.

Simon met us in Dampier and travelled with us to Broome, as usual when Simon is with us the weather was fantastic so we had a very nice 3 day trip.

JULY

Broome was quite Famous for its pearling industry but even though it has recently had a new hotel complex built it is a small town, we cannot see any of it from the anchorage, there are 9m tides here so we are anchored quite a way offshore and although we have been here a month already I still have not had a chance to walk around the town, I have been to the supermarket and back (taxi) and Peter has been to the industrial estate tormenting himself with the hope of buying pipe fittings and spares, no luck so we are now having to order stuff from the u.k.!!

We ordered new chain whilst we were in Exmouth, it arrived in Broome around 20th July.We had them delivered to the beach at low tide (springs) then picked them up at high tide , quite an operation as we had to put anchors in the dinghy, drop the old chains over the side, pick up new chain attach the anchors before the tide went out again.Peter hired a pickup (Ute) and collected the old chains off the beach at low tide and took them to the yard where the new ones came from, a long day.

We are looking into ordering a new reefing system for the fors'l so that should be interesting trying to fit that at anchor!

We have had one set of "guests" so far whilst in Broome, Simons goddaughter and two friends all in their early 20's they were fairly high maintenance as they couldn't decide what they wanted to do, kept changing their minds Peter having to ferry them to shore and back several times a day etc. One of their days we took them out fishing, just a few miles offshore, unfortunately we didn't catch anything but we did see a small pod of whales again, this time we were even closer, even more spectacular than last time.On another evening we saw squid in the water over the stern so we put out a jig and they caught 4 so I had to clean them and cook them for a starter, they were quite excited about catching and eating their squid.

So although we have had only one rain storm since we have been here in Broome, the sky is blue all day, the sea is crystal clear, the clean golden sand seems to go on forever, we see dolphins, turtles, whales and all sorts of fish, we don't swim as there are also snakes, sharks, and even crocks, we get just a tiny bit bored, luckily we have plenty of maintenance work to keep us busy.Close by just across the sand dunes is the local race course and we often see the horses on the beach with their trainers going for a paddle and running along Gantheon beach 5k.

We are in a similar situation as we were in Exmouth in that we can change anchorages depending on the wind we are either off Gantheon beach or in Roebuck bay, neither are what you would call a cozy anchorage. Roebuck bay is where the pearling luggers used to anchor so it is a bit closer to town, once you get ashore that is. There is an area of mangroves on this side so it gives it a different feel and there is a sign up on the beach to say that there is a possibility of Crocodiles.

AUGUST

Still in Broome.

We expect to be travelling a bit further north through the Kimberley's in September then up to Indonesia in October. The paperwork involved in taking us and the boat to Indonesia and such places is quite staggering especially as Simon finds it impossible to keep to a schedule.

One morning we woke up to find we had a new neighbor, a large motor yacht, we were told later that "Tom Cruise "was on board. I can't say that I saw Tom Cruise but there certainly looked as though they may have been some sort of celebrity on board.

We have had a major problem with the water maker and have had to order parts from the u.k. Peter got it fixed just hours before we ran out, thank goodness as it would have been quite a big deal to have to fill our tanks from the shore, the only place being the commercial quay which designed for cattle transporters!

There has been bush fires burning locally for 10 days or so and apparently if there is no danger to life or property they are allowed to burn as they don't have the resources to deal with it. No worries with global warming then!! Boat quite often covered in ash.

Whilst investigating the mangroves we found thousands of fruit bats hanging around screeching and making a fuss, I find them quite creepy; the eagles find them quite tasty though.

I went to the hairdressers again not such a good result as last time but not too bad. Also had to go to the optician and get new lenses for my glasses.

I organized the Indonesian Visa for the boat and for us to go to Darwin to get visas for the 2 of us, we had to arrange for someone to boat sit for us while we were gone.Our flight to Darwin was interesting as we dropped down in Kunnanarra airport which was about half way, no mention of this on our itinery , we all had to get off the plane and those of us going on to Darwin went through security again then back on the plane.Hotel was o.k. if a bit worn out, we went out for meals except breakfast, didn't find anything special.There is a good marina and a big harbor which would have been far more suitable for us to have spent the last 60days.The Indonesian embassy the first morning filled in the forms, in duplicate, provided photographs and left our passports, being assured that we would be able to pick them up again the next morning.True to their word next morning our passports were waiting complete with visas, so on payment of 60 A.U. dollars each we are all set to go. We managed to fit in a walk around the botanical gardens in Darwin which was really lovely, quiet away from the town noise and hardly any people, we also did the pearling museum but that was quite disappointing.

We flew back to Broome, via Kunnanarra of course, arriving in time to get back on board before dark, all well, Rob had done a good job looking after everything very nicely for us.While we were away Peter lost his credit card so I had to cancel it and arrange for a new one to be sent.

Organizing the new set of roller reefing on the Genoa has taken up a great deal of our time but seems to be coming together; hopefully it will all arrive next month before we leave for Indonesia.

SEPTEMBER

Still in Broome.

The weather here is becoming a little bit hotter and quite a lot more humid, not so comfortable but probably what we should expect in Indonesia will have to make sure the aircon keeps working.

Had more guests just for a day one Saturday, Tony Farrells (Simons brother) daughter Jessica and 3 of her friends, quite a lot older than the last lotall married except Jess and she is about to be.They were here to do a triathlon but came to the boat in between and stayed for a long lunch, good company and made a nice change for us.

We have been having problems with sea eagles they sit on the top of the mast and the radar, presumably they are looking for fish but they sit and poop all over our awnings and deck, which is quite disgusting. Eagles don't care when you bash the rigging nothing you do worries them so we will be looking for a catapult/slingshot next!One eagle did sit on the radar scanner and was so stubborn that we ended up starting the radar up so that it started to go round, it was quite funny!!

On the spring tides here the sea comes so far up the beach it sometimes washes up past the sand and onto to the red earth which then in turn makes the sea red which looks really quite spooky.We have managed to go and visit the local museum which was very interesting and much better value than the one in Darwin, lots of artifacts and info about the history of the area.

Peter and I have both had checkups and blood tests before we go to Indonesia, it seems we are reasonably healthy, my blood sugar and cholesterol are a bit border line, and Peter's blood pressure and blood sugar are up a bit but no big worries. Peter has had an infection in his prostate but has had antibiotics to clear that up.

Simon, his daughter and 6 of her friends arrived on the 20th so they were here for Peter's birthday on the 22nd, they were very nice to him, baked him a cake and sang happy birthday to him. He also had texts and phone calls from all our girls so quite a nice day considering.

27th they all went home! We had quite a good week nowhere near as bad as expected, no major tantrums but huge amounts of suntan lotion EVERYWHERE it will take us forever to clear up the mess.10 bags of laundry to take ashore so we kept Simons hire car for a couple of extra days.We took ourselves out to lunch and had a little drive out of town but we ran out of tarmac and the car was only 2wheel drive so we didn't get far and all we saw was red sand and bush, no wildlife.

We made some friends while we were on the anchorage a couple called Murray and Marilynwho we had drinks with and dinner a few times we also went out for the day with them,to the pearl farm and crock farm a very nice day really good to be off the boat and in good company.

We had to have both outboards serviced after Simon left both packed in on us, the main outboard (60hp) is attached to the rib and not easily taken off so the whole thing had to be trailered to the workshop, they let us borrow one of their boats, an aluminum one which was a nightmare trying to keep it away from Giriz and knocking all the paint off, as it was we found quite a few scratches after it went back.

OCTOBER

Still in Broome.

Murray and Marilyn still here too but they are off soon on their way back to Perth where they came from they are just waiting for the weather there to warm up a bit before they rush down there.We finally managed to get all the box's of parts that Peter had been waiting for and load them on board, we also sent a couple of box's of our personal possessions back to the U.K. as we were getting very over crowded in our accommodation.By the 15th we had filled up with stores and packed everything away that we could so we started the customs procedure to check out of Australia 17th October AND WE FINALLY GET AWAY on our way to Kupang, (West Timor, Indonesia). Two and a half days later we arrive after a very quiet trip hardly any wind no big seas just very hot.In Kupang of course we had to go through customs and immigration all over again , this time we had an agent who was actually quite efficient and did all the rushing around visiting different offices for us, we had to have a customs man on board to check us out but it was all very friendly and no hassle.We went ashore, but just as it was in Broome there is no landing place except the beach which unlike Broome is not very clean, we had a walk around the town, everything very dusty and run down but the people very friendly and seem clean even if their living areas are very basic. The next evening we went ashore again to say goodbye to Napa (our agent) and collect our papers allowing us to leave, the evenings bring the people out and there is a food market where the stall holders set up their little b.b.q's up and cook you fresh fish, chicken, etc accompanied by rice of course. We sat with Napa and had some little bbq'd kebabs which was really quite nice. Next day we set off again, we are on our way to Bali but will call in to some other islands on the way hopefully we will stop each night.