Howdy sailors,

Well life on the sea is always exciting and we are now in the process of enduring what all people do to reach Taman Laut Tukangbest (Marine Sanctuary) on the island of Pulau Tomea. It is windy and the day has faded away into a charcoal blackened sky as we are making our way into a head sea. We have on board a gentleman by the name of Lorenz, who has been running a tourist resort on the island for the past 6 years. During the day he shared with us some of his thoughts about the reef system, the ocean realm as I would call it and explained that there is nothing like being able to watch a place change before you eyes. It seems to be the simple things that are most intriguing. The simple change in water temperature and one species of coral blooms and Nudibranchs flourish and then if it changes a degree the other way you will see new life of another kind.

I can appreciate what he was saying as I know well from my own experiences that only so much can be learned in the classroom and then you have to get out into the world and see for yourself. After spending three years working in the diving industry previous to joining STARSHIP I got to appreciate this very thing as I watched the marine environment in which I worked change from day to day and then week to week. One of the joys of such a job is that there is always something new just around the corner.

We also have with us two gentlemen from Stern Magazine, Jan and Cornelius who will be joining us for a while and following the journey with interested eyes. So hopefully we will encounter something wondrous for them to see and share with us their delight.

This morning James and I went for a quick dip underwater to see what we could see. After yesterdays snorkel we anticipated a glorious sight and although it didn’t turn out to be magnificent we still encountered some cute critters. The time spent underwater is always relaxing and on most occasions it is where I feel most at home. I have a connection with the ocean and a respect for what great wonders lie beneath it. As a young girl I always wanted to be mermaid after watching all the films about them so I guess this is as close as I get.

White water passage.

The string of islands of the far south east coast of Sulawesi offers superb reef diving with a range of critters skirted by white sand beaches and inspiring landscapes. We are all looking forward to arriving there and getting out of the wildly choppy sea of crazy ink blue water and into something a little calmer; a dead calm is on the wish list so lets just wait and see.

So enough of the heroics, it's rough and I can no longer stand the glow of the computer screen as I sit on the floor in the wheelhouse writing to you all so I am going to bid you adieu for this evening and let Dave return tomorrow and give you the rundown of our new location.

Safe sailing,

Lou.