Carnarvon Departure

Hi everyone,
This morning we cleared out from Carnarvon and are now on passage towards Cocos-Keeling. We are currently sailing at about 6.5knots in a nice SSE breeze which is varying between 12 and 18 knots. Our position is 24 48S 113 23E.

We slipped the mooring in the fascine at 0945 and had a trouble-free exit from the fascine. We had 0.8m of tide and never saw less than 2.5m water depth. In the harbour we tied alongside the SW end of the T jetty where there was a metal ladder for the BorderForce folks to board us.

Mikhael and Lisa of BorderForce arrived at 1045 and it was a very quick and simple exercise to clear out. We even got stamps in our passports. It felt very strange putting the X in the "departing Australia permanently". We know we'll be back eventually. Mikhael emailed us an electronic copy of our Port Clearance within minutes as a backup to the paper document. Most helpful.

We had a great second week in Carnarvon. Our friends on Vulcan Spirit arrived mid last week and it was nice spending time with them exploring Carnarvon. Our friends on Apogee departed Carnarvon on Monday last week and they are approaching Cocos-Keeling this morning.

It seems strange to be heading out into the Indian Ocean. This is the third boat we've prepared for this voyage. At last we're on our way! Friends of ours crossed the Indian Ocean last year. They described it as "eating the elephant - bite by bite". We're taking our first bite!