Well, I'm sure you can all guess what finally happened, judging by our course and speed! After some frustrating, slow, and far-too-hot days, the wind has returned. It's still easterly, but we've got around 15 knots over the deck, giving us a good, healthy push – even if it's not quite in the direction we'd prefer. Either way, it's good news!
To the north of us is a long chain of islands and reefs called the Louisiade Archipelago. Somewhere in there, there must be a gap wide enough to fit two ships side-by-side because there's a veritable highway of traffic coming and going from the east coast of Australia (and probably New Zealand) heading to Korea, Japan, and maybe Hong Kong. They're all heading north or south, and we had to cross this busy shipping lane last night as we're making our way west.
It's quite an experience having a cargo ship that could be over 600 feet long and 100 feet wide heading straight towards you at nighttime at 30kph! Typically, it takes around an hour or an hour and a half from first seeing it on the AIS (Automatic Identification System) to it becoming "not a threat." One of the displays on the AIS is the CPA (closest point of approach), and this is a continually updating calculation that tells you how close the ship will pass. It can be very unnerving as our course and speed aren't constant, so at times the CPA could be a very comfortable 4 miles, and then a minute later, it can be showing 20 feet! And as soon as one is out of the way there are another 4 on the way from both directions.
My favorite tactic is to get Rhona to call them on the VHF radio because, for some reason, they are far more attentive when they hear her voice. The other advantage is that there's a very high chance the crew of the ship are Filipino.
The boat is going well in these conditions and feels really comfortable. I'm wondering if it's in stealth mode – the Tanne 47 we delivered a few months ago would have a steady roar from the stern at over 6 knots, and all we can hear on Oxygen is a bit of splashing at 9 knots!
