Author: richwest3

Posted on April 20, 2024
about September 21, 2022

Once we pulled our dinghy ashore, we got our first good look at the area. The beach was huge, not so much in its length as its width. Wanting to read a sign near the trees behind the beach, we trekked across, turning our stroll into an unintentional hike! Meanwhile another yachtie couple had arrived and set up an awning to sit under. I couldn’t believe how far away they seemed, looking like mere ants from our vantage point.

Walking back towards shore, I noticed the beach had a particularly ethereal quality. The air had that almost misty look so unique to these islands, softening the afternoon sunlight which bathed everything in a gentle glow. The whitish-gold hue of the sand and the light blue water near shore gave the scene an added warmth.

This beach was quite flat, and the low tide left shallow pools of water scattered near the shore. These pools mirrored the clouds and blue sky above, creating a striking effect. Nearby Lindeman Island, and the Whitsunday Islands further north, filled the horizon with their dramatic hilly landscapes.

Below, some photos from this lovely beach.

We walked along the beach to a copse of mangrove-type trees near the headland. At high tide, these trees sit in water, but for now, the sand from which they grew was dry. We walked among them and wow, the temperature suddenly seemed to soar. We retreated, deciding it was time to cool off by sitting in the water along the shore.

As we looked for a good spot to sit, we noticed numerous small pointed shells that initially seemed to contain hermit crabs. But Rich pointed out they had a proboscis and cautioned me not to touch them. When we realized they were also in the pools on shore, we were thankful we hadn’t stepped on any because these critters can sting–some species even fatally. These didn’t appear to be the fatal sort, but that didn’t mean a sting wouldn’t hurt. Below, a photo of the cone shell.

We chose a shell-free spot in the water and enjoyed sitting there. (For anyone wondering why we didn’t swim, these waters are home to several species of dangerous sharks, not worth the risk in our opinion.) As it was, Rich felt a small sting, likely from a cone shell, and with that, we decided it was time to head back to the boat. Below, a couple of photos from our dinghy ride.

After taking showers, we opened a bottle of wine. It had been a trying day, and I was glad we had plenty of our “feel-better” liquid friend on board. I took the time to make chicken breasts with lemon and dill, which paired wonderfully with the feel-better friend.

We could hear what sounded like howler monkeys outside, but I soon realized they were what I call whoop-whoop birds (whose proper name is pheasant coucals). Their haunting cry suits this area well–not quite the actual tropics but close enough to share many of its characteristics.

Later, I heard a sound I associate with New Zealand, the hooting of a small owl known as a morepork. It turns out there’s a similar owl here in Queensland with an identical cry. I momentarily felt wistful for New Zealand, a place we consider one of our homes. But the time had come to move on and step towards the future, whatever that may hold. Still, I’ll always pause to experience the nostalgia that washes over me when I hear a moorpork, recalling the feeling of wonder we felt while cruising the islands around New Zealand. –Cyndi

April 8, 2024

I much prefer this to the snake in the last post. These little cuties were so gentle. They really seemed to like my hair. Lice maybe? I’ll have to check.

We’re in Kuala Lumpur, near the end of a trip (by airplane) to renew our Indonesian visas. This Lorikeet was a resident in a massive aviary in town.

-Rich

March 24, 2024

During the night, something touched my arm. “It must be a moth or a flying termite thing?” I thought. Back to sleep. Then I heard dishes rattling. “Must be something settling?” I thought. Back to sleep. Then more rattling. Nope. Something’s up. And it’s 2AM, naturally!

Thinking a bird had flown into the cabin, I grabbed the flashlight and cautiously crept toward the galley. I wasn’t prepared for what I found! Here’s a quick video for more slithery goodness…

In some of the images, it looks like there were two snakes. Nope, just one really long one curled around several times. I used the above photo as a reference to measure the length of this Amethystine Python and it came out to 10.9 feet or 3.3 meters. It was as big around as my wrist at its widest.

Cyndi is sleeping right now. She’s not going to be happy when she wakes up and sees this blog post as we were both hoping that we’d find it was just a bad, mutually shared dream.

Why does all the bad stuff happen at 2 AM?! The other day we heard a “knock, knock, knock” at 2 AM. It was the Ternate harbor pilot telling us we had to pull anchor and move further away from the big ship wharf. We came over here to Halmahara for peace and quiet. Look how that worked out!

We used a 2 meter long piece of angle aluminum to gently lift parts of Snakey McSnakeface and persuade it to move into the cockpit, then overboard, into the water. He swam away looking perturbed. (Not nearly as perturbed as we were!) It took us hours to get back to sleep.

We sealed all the hatches despite the warmth. I’d rather face a bit of stuffiness from limited airflow than risk compression asphyxia from an encounter with this snake’s even larger sibling. (Truthfully, this snake could probably do the job just fine and let his big brother sleep in.)

By the way, the music on this video is AI generated by Suno.ai. I can’t stop singing the song!

-Rich

Posted March 22, 2024  about
September 21, 2022

Our next destination would now be Lindeman Islands National Park, consisting of two large islands, Lindeman and Shaw, surrounded by a few smaller islands. (Thomas Island, mentioned in my last post, sits outside the group to the south.) Below, a map of the area . . .

Shaw and Lindeman Islands are in close proximity to each other. Shaw Island’s long slim curve of land lies in a north-south direction, while Lindeman’s rounder form nestles just inside Shaw’s northern tip. The islands are less than a mile apart at their nearest point, creating a natural harbor-like space between them.

Our plan was to anchor between them, close to Shaw’s southern end. Below is a map of Shaw and Lindeman Islands.

As we approached Shaw Island, its south shore came clearly into view and didn’t look especially interesting.

But as we motored around the island, an amazing view unfolded to the north: a wonderland of peaky mountains, rolling hills, and scattered islands as far as the eye could see!

We were now very close to Whitsunday Island National Park, and it was exciting to get a glimpse of it. From here on, not only would the islands be more mountainous, they’d also be much closer to mainland Australia. All this land around gave the area a much different feeling.

For now, Shaw Island’s silhouette was impressive as its rounded hills were divided by low saddles and fringed by beaches. This was accented by a singular high mountain rising prominently in the middle of the island.

Shaw was forested by Australian bush made up of leafy trees, wispy pines, and dense underbrush. The tropical water’s hues ranged from bright royal blue to turquoise and green near the shore. It was actually quite beautiful for the easily impressed (apparently me). But even the less easily impressed (Rich) had to say it was nice.

We anchored off a large, wide beach, divided from a neighboring beach by a rocky shelf. It was still early enough that we could go ashore to explore.

And now let’s delve into another challenge of cruising. Well, not just cruising but travel and, for that matter, life:

Pop Quiz: You have the immediate opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, a moment you won’t encounter again. Yet you aren’t in a good place emotionally (upset, sad, or sulking) or maybe just simply tired. What do you do, what do you do?  Your body and soul are telling you that you don’t feel like partaking, but a small part of your brain is saying, “Hey, snap out of it, or you’ll miss this. And if you miss this, you’ll regret it later.”

The larger part of you doesn’t care, but hopefully that small voice can help you see the golden thread to something better. To follow this thread, you will have to stand up, get moving, and go through the motions of actually wanting to do this thing (whatever it may be). Going through the motions will actually give the happier part of you a chance to catch up to the moment. Before you know it, you’ve overcome the mood and reconnected with the world. At least this is usually my process.

Neither one of us was feeling motivated go ashore, but it was now or never; so I prodded us to get going. Soon, sunscreen was re-applied, cameras were in my backpack, sandals were dug out, and we were in the dinghy headed towards shore.

The area off the beach was quite shallow; so I jumped out of the dinghy and walked us in. The water was clear and quite pretty, looking like a great place to sit and bask while taking in the scenery. The beach was even bigger than it had looked from the boat. I was suddenly looking forward to this outing! –Cyndi

March 19, 2024

Cruising the Misool area was a life-highlight and snorkeling with millions of drifting, stingless jellyfish was one of the highlights of cruising Misool.

Here’s where this is:

We dropped our anchor at: 01° 58.9828′ S, 130° 30.8417′ E. There was enough swing room during the two nights we spent there. We were anchored in about 60 feet as I recall.

We had a local who said he represented the local chief ask us for 3 million rupiah. We told him we had Raja Ampat cards from the government but he said there were different rules at these islands. I showed him my almost empty wallet and he settled for 500,000 (about $30USD). He probably would have taken a lot less but he told us there were trying to raise money to build a ranger station. We thought that a worthy cause.

There was also a 75,000 Rupiah charge per person to go in the lake. (About 10 USD for the two of us.) The climb up and over the sharp rocks into the lake was hard. I wish I’d brought better shoes and not my sandals. While the climb is hard, it doesn’t take very long. Be careful of the very sharp rocks.

Many years ago I had a chance to swim with jellyfish in Palau. I’m not sure I’m remembering accurately, but I don’t think there were this many jellyfish there.

Note: The music on the video was AI generated by Suno. You give it a text prompt and it gives you music. I’m happy with it and can’t wait to see what it can do as it develops and some of the bugs are squished.

-Rich