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 wil...

Day 21 of this Nordhavn 76 yacht delivery from Cairns to Singapore positioned us off Batam Island , staging for final arrival into Singapore waters. Anchorage Selection – Shelter and Security Initial arrival into a bay on the eastern side of a small island at 14:30 revealed excessive residual swell. Rather than accept unnecessary roll at anchor, we relocated to the western side between two islands where the landmass provided effective protection. Anchor was set at 15:30 in well-sheltered water. Following seven days of sustained sea state, the vessel required a full exterior freshwater washdown. Salt accumulation accelerates corrosion, particularly in tropical humidity. Cleaning commenced from the upper superstructure downward, ensuring exhaust stack, rails, and decks were cleared. Security considerations in parts of the Indonesian archipelago remain relevant. Opportunistic boarding incidents have been reported in certain corridors. Standard protocol included: All access poin...

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.  Super chef known 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 speed we would be arriving at the marina in Batam around...

 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...

Arafura Sea / Indonesian Throughflow 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 b...

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...