You know how there's always one person in every organization who really makes things happen? Well, at the Royal Papua Yacht Club, that person is Josephine! We were having a bit of trouble getting clearance to enter the country – our messages and calls to the authorities were going unanswered. Thankfully, we have Starlink! We called Josephine with Skype, and she managed to get in touch with someone and arrange for them to be standing by for our arrival today. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly, but I have a good feeling about it thanks to Josephine!
Yesterday's sailing was great. The breeze was pretty steady, and we seemed to be making good time. I'm not entirely sure how accurate our tracker is (it's sitting inside the boat), but we seemed to be averaging around 8 knots.
One thing that's surprised me is how little activity we've seen along the coast. Port Moresby has a population of almost half a million, but approaching the city, there's barely a light to be seen ashore. The only real sign of life is a faint smell of burning, like old fires. It's a bit eerie, actually.
I have been checking the weather models against the real-time airport reports around the coast of Australia, and the GFS has been absolutely spot on. The only difference is a few knots less wind at the airports, which you'd expect inland. Both the GFS and ECMWF models are showing light winds along our route for the next week, which could be interesting. Light winds can be a bit tricky for sailing; in fact, wind is the vital ingredient! We might need to rely on our engine a bit more if the wind dies down completely, but hopefully, we'll catch some decent breezes along the way.
Speaking of weather, with the Madden-Julian Oscillation approaching Australia, there's a possibility of increased rainfall and thunderstorms. It looks like there are signs of circulation, and a cyclone might form somewhere south of Bali before heading off either into the Indian Ocean or south towards Broome. We'll definitely be keeping a close eye on that!