Written by:
7/8/2011 3:25 PM 

For better than 12,000 sea miles and almost three years I’ve had the relative luxuries of a refrigerator/freezer and a satellite phone for regular weather updates and the occasional email contact at sea.  The fridge unit has packed up and the cost of replacing the unit in the French Island of New Caledonia is too much for the cruising kitty to bare.  The sat phone has been a safety line for weather, but my old HAM Radio rig is online and I’ve been able to pull down weather fax updates from stations over 1000 miles away.  That technological advance on board means I no longer need to spend the money on prepaid minutes for the phone, but I also loose the ability to blog and tweet from sea.

The next leg is a little over 2200 nautical miles from Noumea, New Caledonia to Darwin, Australia in the Northern Territory.  The route includes a stop at the Chesterfield Reef Complex before continuing on to the Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinnea.  Both regions require diligent navigation and lookout to avoid the many coral hazards along the way.  The Torres Strait has the additional challenge of being one of the busiest shipping lanes in the Pacific.  Luckily, s/v Artic with my Swedish friend Per is following the same route.  With a little luck we’ll squeeze in some scuba diving at Chesterfield and a little surfing wherever we can find a moderate break.

For a former software salesman who still relies on his computer to stay in touch with the world, facing four weeks of internet isolation seems daunting.  I must admit that I am looking forward to the isolation as well.  All to often we loose the connection to the immediate environment and people around us for the electronic, less tangible connections we keep via Facebook and email.  I know I’ll keep writing underway, but perhaps knowing that those updates will not be live I can shift focus from blog updates to a longer form. 

Darwin, Australia is the gateway to SE Asia for most cruising boats and I am anxious to find a new culture.  The Pacific Islands have been a wonderful experience, but after six months in the Westernized world of New Zealand it is time for something completely different. 

s/v Jargo, signing off.

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