Sailing part 3: Bali to Darwin

After our dramatic stop in Bali we left this tropical island, sailing south into the open sea. We were going to cross the Indian Ocean between Indonesia and Australia. Next stop Darwin, Australia.

On this trip we were 8 people on board. This was just the limit, so that it was still comfortable to live on our Bavaria 49, which is comparable to a 30 square meter apartment. This time we had enough wind, but most of the time the wind direction was against our sailing direction, and we had to tack pretty much the whole way. Also the waves were getting much bigger out in the ocean, and most of the time the waves were going against our sailing direction too, which made the boat jump over each and every wave. It was a very bumpy ride to Australia.

Out in the ocean we didn’t see any sign of civilization for days. No fishing boats and no freighters on this part of the ocean. Only water until the horizon, wherever you look. Here is a video from our sailing trip, which I took with my ipod touch.

After crossing the ocean for 10 days we made contact with civilization again. An Australian border patrol plane was flying passed us and was asking us questions via radio. We were checked 3 more times by Australian patrol boats. Then, after 13 days out on the sea, finally: “Land, ho!”. On the horizon, Australian land was starting to appear. I was very happy that I was actually going to make it from Austria to Australia without using planes. After altogether two months on the boat, I also couldn’t wait to travel on land as a backpacker again. However, I really enjoyed these last few hours on the sea, while we were approaching the Cullen Bay Marina in Darwin. My sailing adventure ended here.

But before we were able to actually leave the marina in Darwin we had to endure a very long and strict procedure by the Australian border police. More about this and how my trip in Australia continues you can read in the following posts.

Have a look at the galleries to see more pictures from our sailing trip from Bali to Darwin.