Gary's Deliveries

 Monday 29th Dec '25 Arrived at the entrance to Nongsa Point Marina, Batam Island, Indonesia at 09:00, waited till we got the all clear to go in.  Put the boat on to berth number B6 with 1/2 a metre either space either side between a dock and an 80ft boat which was very tight, just as well we have bow and stern thrusters and they were working overtime for this docking.   Then it was off to the office to do the paperwork and pay the silly money to berth for 1 night and clear in/out.  NZ$650 was the total for those 2 things! An hour or so later we had a visit from a Customs guy to come onboard to take photos of the main engine, the auxiliary engine, VF radio which showed our unique MMSI number, if you don't know what that is, don't ask :-) then he went up to the fly bridge and took photos of both radar units.  That was it - very strange.  12:45 now and waiting for all our paperwork to come back from the marina office, including our passports then it will...

Sunday 28th Dec'25 We arrived at a bay on a little island at 14:30 but there was way too much swell on the eastern side so we went round to the western side with happened to be between 2 islands so was really sheltered.  Dropped the anchor at 15:30 and had a beer.  The guys got to work cleaning the boat as it was covered in salt from the last 7 days rodeo ride.  They started at the top with the chimney and worked their way down.  When they had finished we all went for a snooze and locked all the doors.  There have been know to be a bit of thievery in the area which people call "pirate" attacks so better to be safe than sorry.  I also made sure we not only had the anchor light on but all the deck lights to make sure we get seen by any other boat, ship or tug that passes through this channel.  Now a bit of shut eye till midnight when we got get going.  23:00 I woke up after a decent sleep and started getting the boat ready for departure.  Start...

Saturday 27th Dec '25 and my BIRTHDAY!!!!! It's not everyday you celebrate your birthday at sea, well, for most people anyway.  This happens to be the 2nd year in a row for me but this time it's the BIG one - 65!  Whoop whoop. It has been a quite, chilled out day with not a lot of traffic to worry about and not a lot happening.  In the late afternoon the guys put a nice dinner on.  We had really nice steaks along with a rack of spare rib, also very nice, all washed down with a couple of beers.  Super chef know as Alex cause I can't pronounce his Estonian name!   Where the magic happens  So the birthday came and went as it always does but it was a pretty good one considering I am at sea.   T o cap off the special day we also crossed over the equator meaning we are now officially in the winter half of the world even though it is sunny and 35c!    Lat/long showing us just crossed into the northern hemisphere  At our current s...

 Boxing day  So last night I was having a bit of a snooze as it was my off watch.  Around 18:00 I got a call on the internal phone system, one of the boys telling me to come down to the saloon for Christmas dinner.  Well you will see from the photo it was a bit of a feast!  The salmon didn't get cooked on Christmas eve as planned as it was a bit too rough.   Honey glazed salmon as well baked salmon was the treat of the day along with green beans, roast potatoes with a chocolate cake for desert all washed down with a couple of shots of Estonian vodka!  What a feast. Christmas day feast We had a bit of a water leaking onto the saloon table from the ceiling today.  It's actually the second time it's happened.  We finally tracked it to a small crack in the fibreglass on the upper flybridge lounge deck area.  It only happens when it rains hard and we have a slight port list due to wind on the beam or fuel tank in-balance.  It took u...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! The last 2 days we have had wind and short sharp chop waves on the nose.  We do have hydraulic stabilisers which really help to stop the rolling from side to side but does not stop the nose from lifting with the wave and dropping over the back of it into the next wave.  This has meant the last 2 days have been slightly unpleasant.  I was almost thrown out of my bunk a couple of times and made sleeping challenging. Thankfully Christmas day has brought a bit of a reprieve from the waves as they have settled down overnight and allowed us to go from an average speed of 5.5kts to 7.2kts and that was without changing the rpm.   Christmas Eve is the main day that the Germans, Estonians and probably a few other countries have as the main day they celebrate Christmas, not Christmas Day itself.  It's the day that families get together and the day that the presents are handed out and opened.  The 2 crew who are full time and been on the boat for...

Tuesday 22nd Dec '25   So the boys got themselves a couple of scooters and headed off into the bright lights of Bali to meet up with 15 other Estonian's that either live there or arrived for Xmas.  They did invite me but I graciously declined as I think I would have felt a bit strange amongst a group of 20 somethings talking a strange langue so I gave them some old person advice about riding scooters around Bali and off they went an hour or so after we landed and cleared in. Talking of clearing in - OMG!!!  I thought the pacific Islands were bad.  Roughly a dozen officials came and went in the space of an hour all with paperwork for me to sign.  I must have signed 30+ documents in total!  There were 5 copies of the crew list, all stamped and signed by different departments plus me.  After all these people left my agent went off with passports in hand (never like this process) and said she would be back the next day. The next day she came back, han...