It
was still half an hour before dawn when the alarm went off this
morning. If we could get an early start and the forecast was
promising 18 to 20 knots wind we felt we could make it into Banda
Neira before nightfall tomorrow. Everything started well and we left
as the sun was first appearing. We worked our way through the islands
and channels out to the open sea and put up our twin down wind
headsails, or rather we tried to put them up and the second sail
which has to lock into place at the top of the forestay wouldn't
click. Investigations revealed a knot in the fixing was fouling the
mechanism. We adjusted and tried again. This time we got the sail up
properly only to find an hour later the wind had shifted 60° and we
were on a direct course for Wakatobi in the west. Some days the
plan doesn't work as you hope and you move to plan B. We'd only
ticked 45 miles off the 200nm total trip by mid afternoon so not
guaranteed fast enough to arrive in Banda before sunset.
Our
plan B was to anchor in a small bay five miles off to our starboard
side and to continue our journey at dawn next day. The anchorage on
Palua Selu (07°32.42S 130°50.36E) was a great find. It's not marked
on the charts as an anchorage or mentioned in any cruising guides
but it is the perfect place to break the journey from Saumlaki to
Banda. A small fishing community on the shore and a none rolling
anchorage sheltered between coral reefs on either side. As our
friend Dick on Geramar says ' there's nothing to beat heaving to in
an anchorage'
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