Change of Plans

Charts arriving for new route
and some spares!
 

Just incase you were wondering our original plan was to sail from Carnarvon to Cocos Keeling Island then onto Sumatra & Malaysia. We have had a long hard think about this route which involves 10 days at sea to Cocos then another 6 onto Sumatra. The weather has not yet settled into a winter trade wind pattern and we are continually getting low pressure systems off the coast up here which results in strong northerly winds and lots of rain. Broome has had its wettest start to winter on record. We also feel that we are not yet ready for a long ocean trip especially in unsettled weather and thought we would wait a few more weeks before heading out to sea in the hope that the weather will be more settled into  a trade wind pattern.
So we have decided to sail onto Dampier taking our time through the many islands in the Dampier Archipelago. Our Cruising permit for Indonesia doesn´t start until mid August so we have plenty of time to just enjoy the sailing and take our time. We will then clear out from Dampier and sail to Bali, a shorter 6 day sail. From there we will make our way through the islands to Kalimantan to visit the Orangutans and then round Singapore and into the southern tip of Malaysia at Johor Baru. We then intend on cruising up the west coast of Malaysia to Langkawi for Christmas as originally planned.
It is sad to miss out on Cocos, but one day we may make the trip there when we feel the time is right. The best thing about our cruising this time is we have no time constraints and therefore we can change our mind to suit us and we do not have to take on any journey we are not sure about. We just have to be prepared to be patient and wait for the right weather. Which at long last we are.....
And if I could insert a smiley here I would!!

NB I spend what seems like hours trying to add photos in certain ways only to find that sometimes when I publish the post it has re arranged itself, so apologies if it seems out of order. Also my Spanish laptop with Spanish keyboard doesn't make things any easier!