Yacht Delivery Blog

Well, we made it out of Port Moresby! Let me tell you, there are only two reasons to go there, and neither of them are worth the risk of getting your head smashed in and violently robbed. You can get fuel, and the steak at the yacht club is the best I've ever had. My strong suggestion - Get extra fuel somewhere else and become a vegetarian for a week. It's just not worth it. We had to wait 24 hours to get checked in, which didn't exactly put me in a great mood. Then, seven customs officers in big black boots and red betel stained teeth came stomping around the boat for hours, pulling apart anything they thought was suspicious. A drawer with tape over it to stop it from sliding open? Suspicious! Anything in a bag? Dumped on the floor and rifled through! They eventually came to our pretty impressive medical kit, which is all organized in plastic boxes. I could just see what was going to happen. The officer goes, "WHAT'S THIS?" I said, "A medical kit....

We had a good trip sailing from Port Vila to Port Moresby, averaging about 7 knots for the 1500nm passage. Now we're taking a break and doing some repairs and maintenance to get ready for the next part of our journey to Kupang. The check-in process was super easy. We just dropped anchor outside the marina and the officials came to us. They filled out most of the forms for us and didn't ask us any silly questions like "did anyone catch the plague on board?" or "how many stowaways are you hiding?". They were friendly and professional, and even gave us some tips on where to go and what to see in port Moresby. Which is "nothing or you'll get your head smashed in and robbed". Port Moresby is probably a bit like Chicago of the south pacific and I was a little concerned about coming here. I've just seen a headline;  " The Gangs of Papua New Guinea We explore the violent underbelly of Port Moresby, one of the most dangerous cities in the worl...

This second leg of the trip from NZ to Thailand is nearly done now and we can see land. But amazingly as we came down the coast last night there was not a single sign of land - no lights ashore, planes, boats, or any other indication. It was only as we got to within 10nm of Port Moresby we saw a cluster of lights.  We have been sailing with a steady breeze for most of the trip, but as we approached the final 100 nautical miles, the wind died off and we had to switch on the engine. It was a bit disappointing, as we had hoped to sail all the way to Port Moresby , but we had no choice. We wanted to arrive early morning to get cleared in and get to the marina berth and apparently we have already lost a day somewhere along the way. I must have miscalculated because I was convinced that we would get in on Friday, but it turned out to be Thursday. I guess that's what happens when you are at sea and lose track of the days.  Something I always enjoy after a passage is the ...