Thursday 5 February – our stopover proves impossible

We got going as soon as it was light, always easier leaving as we can follow our track in exactly. It was also low tide so the entrance was a lot calmer, we got out no problem and continued our journey south. We got the sails up straight away and had a great sail for a couple of hours. The wind was pretty strong but with no wind instrument we had no idea how strong. The waves were big and choppy, as Rowan said confused seas as the waves were coming from all sorts of directions. The currents are really strong, there are a lot of reefs around so we were relying heavily on our satellite pics on the phone. It was pretty bouncy but not too bad and no sign of any squalls so all was good.

Rowan had found an anchorage to go to on a little island about 50 miles away. It was slightly west which meant avoiding some reefs barely above water, it got a lot bouncier as we were going more into the wind. We had to get the engines on without them we could not keep the right direction. The currents were roaring through and the wind had picked up. We had put a second reef in the main sail and reefed the jib. It really was not a comfortable ride from here on crashing into enormous breaking waves in big winds. We got to the anchorage at about 3:45pm relieved it had a bit of protection, we were in good light which was essential as there was a lot of reef to navigate. Our spot was near to a jetty where there were already three big fishing boats in the anchorage, all tied up with lines back and front which made it much harder to wiggle through in the wind. Not a lot of sandy patches so we struggled to find a spot to set the anchor, when we did, we landed up way too close to the jetty which has been extended since the anchorage was marked on the app. It was really rather fraught with the fishermen watching on, like we were their Thursday evening entertainment. We finally gave up but now it was nearly 5pm the light was fading, and the only other anchorage suitable in these west winds was full of bommies. We made the decision to stay at sea and just have the jib out. I had spotted a shackle had broken on the jib where it attaches to the furler, so Rowan had to go and tie it back up in the pounding seas. Once done we furled the jib so it was secure. We only have 50 miles to our destination island Flores, so with the furled jib we were making 3.5 knots enough to hold our course. We will arrive at Flores in the morning so we will have good light to find a protected place to anchor.

It was a very uncomfortable night banging into the waves. We had an early supper Rowan went to bed to get some sleep but by 9:30pm he was back up he could not sleep in all the noise. We also had to turn the engines back on as we were drifting off course and we do not want to have to redo any of the west that we have banged into to get this far. So I got let off with a very early night shift.