NANOU -- From Exploration in Australia to Captivity in Thailand...

    Last view of sydney?

NANOU left Sydney in April1997 and cruised the Australian east coast dropping anchor at dozens of small towns, isolated cays, reefs and islands before arriving in Darwin to participate in the famed regatta from Darwin to Ambon, Indonesia together with another 120 yachts.  We came 10th in the cruising division -- not bad for a 45 ton boat.

NANOU stayed away from the tourist areas and visited places that few people ever get to see.  In these remote areas, the crew were able to explore, write, photograph and generally relive the days of Captain Cook - admittedly with a lot of extra high-tech gizmos!  We spent time with people living a simple life without any of the things we take for granted such as electricity and modern toilets.   In hindsight, it shouldn't have been a surprise that they seemed so much happier than your average city slicker...

Our passion for coral atolls and reefs had us often snorkeling and scuba diving in gorgeous underwater gardens and exploring wind swept wild beaches where turtles still outnumber people. 

But sometimes we encountered environmental disasters.  Whilst scuba diving, we were almost literally blown out of the water by dynamite fishing, the fires in Sumatra and Borneo had us sailing through smoke so thick you couldn't see more than 200 feet ahead; entire islands were bared of every tree by timber plunderers, and finally an oil slick penned NANOU in Singapore for more than a month. 

NANOU then proceeded to Phuket, Thailand for a much needed new coat of bottom paint.  The job turned out to take a lot longer than forseen.   And stuff on land soon took over.  The call of the ocean weakened for a while as NANOU sat glumly out of the water for almost 10 months as the skipper honed his land lubber skills.  So it wasn't until February 1999 that NANOU finally set sail for Sri Lanka.  It was hard work getting the boat ready to sail again but once free of land, that old liberating feeling makes the boat work all worthwhile...