Just Cruizin On Bluemoon

Log 92

Lifted anchor with all on board on the12/12/11… said our farewells to friends and headed back down toPenang, having decided that no matter what, we would be sailing andnot using the motors … and sail we did!

We have had some really windy dayswhich has been awesome for sailing yet the swells pick up in no timeand that makes for a really bumpy ride, yet we are all happy andtrust in Bluemoon.

Managed to sail all the way into Penangand moor up just before the rain hit then spent the next few dayscleaning up, doing washing, last minute maintenance and going to thedentist, while waiting for Tiare to arrive.

Sadly, Moonie passed away after gettinga respiratory infection and so was buried under lovely shrubs here inPenang, with lots of flowers and butterflies flitting by … RIPlittle one x

After doing all we had to do we leftwith Tiare on the 18th and headed back for Langkawi. As Isaid, we decided we were sailing from now on and one of the greatfrustrations we all have is when the fishing boats deploy their netsright in front of us where we have no choice but to change courseimmediately otherwise get hooked up them … as well as the workingboats who trawl with very loooooong lines behind themselves andinstead of changing course ever so slightly, come right across ourbow making us do 360 degree changes almost instantly and always whenwe have got the sails set just right!

The sailing went very well and as theday progressed so did the wind and swells! We were doing a good 7.9knots COG with our very own aquarium attached and managed to catch afish which was not big enough for all of us so we decided to save itfor Tango (Tiare's Portuguese water dog) The swells had very quicklydeveloped into VERY steep and close together and the sailing wasrough! We were slamming down swells and an occasional wave … Tiarehad never sailed in such rough seas ever so were having a great tripwe were sure! LOL … The swells were breaking over the boat andspraying everyone! Four really big ones soaked the boat and all of usin the cockpit … so we all were exhausted and very happy tofinally see the island, though all day we had been trying to head up… edge our way into the wind as we had huge leeway, yet nevermanaged to catch so had no choice but to anchor at 02:45am in thelower South channel in Kuah, which thankfully was wonderfully calm.Tiare is able to point much closer to the wind so dropped anchor anhour later in Kuah through the top channel and were even more pleasedat dropping anchor and being out of those high waters.

The following morning after a goodsleep in and laze around we were all surprised to see a huge squid onthe boat … we could see the place of impact and were sure it waswashed over the boat from the trip earlier … another tasty treatfor Tango … Started the long tack up the channel at 11am and had agreat sail tacking all the way up to the top doing well after only 14tacks at 16:20 pm. Also, we are convinced now more than ever that weare sailing with our very own aquarium attached to the hulls – asour speed should have been way better with such strong winds … upto 40 knots!!!!!!!!!

Had an awesome evening seeing a fullmoon which was half shadowed! Wow! It was quite spectacular!! Enjoyeda wonderful dinner with Tiare which Justine cooked … till two am.

Did some things in Kuah, visited Amandathen headed for Telaga … impressed ourselves by lifting anchor withthe main up!

Another great sail into Telaga where wedropped anchor in the rain, then watched as Tiare dropped anchor inthe pouring rain LOL! Not sure why every single time, even if the sunis shining, that the rain comes the moment we start entering Telaga!

A little later that night, while theanchorage was very quiet and everyone had settled in for the night,we heard a blood curdling scream!

We all jumped up to see where it camefrom …. when we saw Daniel from Tiare coming our way. Tom hadfallen down the companion way and crushed his arm slipping down andhaving the heavy hatch fall on his arm … shame x terrible when youcannot do anything … so we gave Daniel the ice and waited for hiscall which came awhile later saying Tom had calmed down and had avery swollen wrist …

We all lifted anchor around eleven amwaiting first to see how Tom was, then headed for the Butang Islandsin Thailand where we planned to stay for Christmas.

I was not very impressed with myChristmas decorations blowing off the boat!!!

John and I decided to sand the cockpitand the duck so we could paint our non-slip … my Christmas gift andwith it being about a day away I decided to get stuck in and help …Man was that hard work – yet a good job!!!!!

We tied onto a buoy with the help ofTiare who had gotten to the anchorage awhile before us having caughtthe last puff of wind while we bobbed the rest of the way = taking alot longer … and of course having this aquarium attached to us didnot help! LOL

Kids wake boarded well into the evening- not to my liking of course … seen some big splashes which means'big something' s' under the seas … mmmmmm … just a thought ….Spent another great evening having a bring and share curry meal whichwas really delish …. Thanks to Daniel and John who were the mainchefs … John has become quite the chef in the curry department andso is nominated every time now LOL … and I think he knows ittoo!!!! hehe … guess if you got it you got it hey! Lol

Ithas always been fun and so exciting seeing everybody getting readyfor a great occasion - rushing around getting gifts - goodies forbaking, and getting the right decor for the tree... even though we donot have a 'tree' on Bluemoon ... it is still one that is a traditionof all times... yet, how sad that so many have no real idea of what a‘great occasion’ it actually is!! Christmas is not abouttradition, gifts, or decorations. Those are symbolic of theunspeakable gift of God’s love. Christmas is a Glorious realitythat our Precious Lord Jesus ’s birth, not only is ‘History’,but was the ‘Appearance of God Himself, in human form’!! Andthough we get to celebrate His birth every year - it is with a newand fresh excitement of the fact that He is the Saviour of theworld!! It is the end result of His death and the resurrection thatgives such meaning to His birth.. It is through the crib in a mangerin Bethlehem that became the link that bound a lost world to a lovingGod!

Whowould have thought that this Special little baby would one day haveHis feet kissed and washed by the tears of a harlot repenting of herdeeds - That they’d walk this tired earth, dusty and weary, toserve a lost humanity. Who would have thought that His tiny handswould one day be held wide open upon the bars of a cross, piercedwith nails....

Thepurpose of this tiny little baby’s journey to earth, was to come tothis world in the body of a baby, with compassion and grace for thesin-stricken men and women in a lost, pain and ravaged world. He cameto relate and identify with humanity, fallen from grace, and He shallreign forever more as the Glorified King with the redeemed!!!! So letus never forget the true reason for the season - Jesus Christ wasborn for our salvation! And as it was said to me by someone I respectand look up to .... ‘John 3:16 - ‘For God so loved the world thatHe gave His one and only son....’ ‘How sad that the church hasforgotten why God sent His son - Because of compassion, with thegreat love that He loves us with, and with that great love... Hegave... It is now that the Christians should start living out thefirst half of John 3:16 - So that we can be rivers of living waters,that His love may flow from us so that the world

mayknow that He loves us and gave Himself for us... This is thesalvation that He loved us and gave us, He sais that not all who say“Lord, Lord’ , but those that do and live the Word. If we love asHe loves, what a wonderful impact the church will have on a worldlost and crying for salvation....’

Ipray that this Festive Season be one of Truth, Love, Joy and peace aswe celebrate the Birth of our Precious Jesus Christ, our Lord andSaviour!

So a very Merry Christmas to each andevery one of you! Trust you all shared a beautiful day rememberingthe reason for the season!! We had a truly lovely Christmas! Startedwith a delicious breakfast, opened our gifts, then Tiare came overand we all opened gifts again, then ate from a buffet which Justineand I had put together and added to Tiare's dishes, John and Danielbraaing the satays which were a winner … watched the kids wake-board … a truly lovely day and evening spent with truly greatfriends. Sorry we were not able to meet up with Mind the Gap as well…. hopefully we would for new year ...

Spent the next day cleaning off thataquarium which was honestly shockingly larger than we realized! Talkabout added weight!!

Jono made us very proud when he and Samwent to help, along with John and Justine, a charter yacht with fouryoung people aboard who had their anchor wrapped tightly around abommie … it was 13 metres deep and they could not dive it as it wastoo deep so Jono dived it and managed to free it for them who werevery VERY happy for him saving their holiday …

We were buoyed up in a beautiful spotexcept that in the evening the wind and current ripped through andmade for a really rocky and rolly night which was not nice .. so wedecided to head out for Ao Chalong, sailing the whole way again …wind or not lol!

We started with light winds for most ofthe day, then late afternoon had a stunning sail, smooth seas anddoing almost 8 knots COG, then the winds picked up and changed andwere were doing a strong beat hoping the wind would change again…but never did … Tiare were staying another day while Daniel did afew minor repairs and maintenance, though would leave early the nextmorning and catch up. Good thing they did as the weather picked upand again we were slamming and surfing the waves. Swells were hugeand close together again, wind over 40 knots and sailing we were! Itwas an exciting sail and Justine and Jono loved the exhilaratingbeating we were having … were going so fast we had to drop the mainand furl in the genoa!!!! yet still we were up to eight knots and inthis kind of weather it was not such fun … Bouncing around with thewind howling … Could not sleep at all so stayed up even when it wasnot my watch … John had no problem with sleeping so I made tons ofcoffee for us and was surprised at how many squid catches therewere!! They were dotted all over the horizon with huge bright lightswhich looked like little cities everywhere!!!! It was quite niceknowing that even without a moon it did not feel that way with allthose boats, horizon to horizon …

It was a brilliant sight seeing thegalaxy with so many stars and yet again made so many wishes on somany falling stars that I had run out of wishes to wish for LOL …When it is the darkest, the stars shine the brightest and up to dateI have never seen such a display of lights anywhere else except onthe ocean on a very dark night … though that also changed when thesquid boats came out … The bright bursts of light in thephosphorescent behind the boat, in our wake was another blessing …like thousands of little angles holding candles, dancing around wasspectacular!! What a privilege to witness something so magnificent!Again … only when it is darkest do you see such beauty come alive!!It seems to reach in and touch your soul!!!

We had left at 11am and arrived at justpast 11am the next day in Ao Chalong.

(Our co-ordinates … 07 Degrees 49 137N 098 Degrees 21 563 E)

It had been a pretty rough night, soJohn went to sign in while we set about packing away and sorting thefallen stuff … then sat and relaxed with a good cuppa smiling atanother glorious day, knowing that this sailing was truly an awesomeway to travel … way better than even motor sailing …. we werequiet chuffed that we had not used the motors and had saved a goodfew drums of diesel …

Just as were heading out of Ao Chalong,we saw Mc Duck … said our hellos then headed for either Nai Harn orPatong … depended on how busy the places were … We were all hot,tired and not in the mood for squashing in anywhere so gave Nai Harna miss as it seemed very full to us and headed straight for Patongwhere we dropped anchor and were amazed yet again how pretty andcolourful this place is!! Now the funny thing about this place for usis, the closest way to describe it is like Sodom and Gomorrah … yetwhen you look at the locals and not the workers, you get to seeanother side to Patong … Thailand. Europeans lying close to nakedon the beaches with g-strings and being topless is still not what weare used to … though when you look past all these things, the placeis really very pretty … cobblestone walkways, bright and colourful– everywhere … John fixed the 15HP motor and the Port and S/Boardmotors … We were all pleased to see Tiare, Mind the Gap and PlaneSailing arrive! Went by to visit a few friends wishing them for theseason.... Spent awonderful evening with Tiare, Daniel, Hiromi, Sam Tom and Tiaga …and Mind the Gap, James and Lorna watching a spectacular display offireworks … like from Disneyland!!! Amazing!!!! We all went toshore to join in the celebrations which was very festive! Justine,Sam and Jono stayed to dance the night away …. and we have anotherbrand new year ahead!

Onthe 1stof January we all had time to relax and have some quiet time toreflect …

Aswe turn the calendar to the new year, we are faced with newchallenges that lay ahead and hopefully they are embraced with ourenthusiasm and motivation!! Trusting that we do not walk alone!

Thislast year has gone past like a flash! So much has happened in whatfeels like such a short time!!!!!

Aswe look back to the mistakes and mishaps that were made last year,the missed opportunities and the wasted time.... allows for that tobe our inspiration to make this year the best we can by learning fromour yesterday’s.... Let us not go through this year making the samemistakes!! Let us go forward with the reassurance that Christ hasgone before us and let us not take lightly to the fact that we are‘Alive in Him’ and live totally in His freedom that has set usapart from the world and all that is in it!!!

Letour lights shine brightly this year and make an extra effort to bethe vessels that our Mighty Lord intended us to be...! May wecontinue being refreshed and filled up with His Wisdom and Knowledgethat others may hunger for what we have!! Let us be the salt of theearth just as His Mighty Word tells us to!!

Let us grow by taking time to really care and show kindness to oneanother... Let us submit our own ways and desires to the Will ofChrist, for when we are what He wants us to be, then we won’t havedifficulty in knowing what we should do....

Let us face this new year with constant fellowship with Him, for He willlead and direct us in the fulfilment of His plan and as most of usmake self-improving resolutions, let us keep in mind one of the mostimportant... UNITY - in our families, for each other, and for thelost. Let us keep the vision in front of us …. where God IS thecentre in all areas of our lives!

God Bless you and keep you strong in the Power of His Might as we standfirm in His Word and in His Truth!

Thanksto all who have sent mail!

Mayyou continue to keep living life to the fullest!

Till our next blog, John Jenny Justine Jessica and Jonathan x