Sitting in the cockpit near the entrance to the cabin I was monitoring the fishing ship that had been sailing for half a day 2 nautical miles behind me… The last time I took a look it was slowly moving off my radar screen. But then the alarm for ‘ zone 1’ suddenly went off! How can that be? A boat has to go through ‘zone 2’ before this can happen and that alarm had not been activated… On the radar screen I could only see a long line disappearing then coming back on again, but then I knew the reason why… It was a low flying airplane from the Australian Customs and Border Protection. “Sailing ketch, sailing ketch” … I could hear coming from the radio. That is me! … This was the second time an Australian Customs airplane was flying over. But it is quite normal here as they come over to ask for your boat’s name and some other information. To come in unseen into Australian waters must be almost impossible. Since I had already given all the necessary information back in Torres Strait I only needed to give my boat’s name since they already knew all the rest. We had a nice chat and then they wished me a nice trip and as Guppy sailed into the night the plane flew away. I had a very good sleep last night since there is not much ship traffic around, so today I feel much better than yesterday. I had to have a good night’s sleep anyway because I will need to be in shape to finish this crossing. The next obstacle en route is already waiting for me … it is a 100 nautical miles run between sandbanks and heavy currents with a possible seven meter tide flow…

Laura