
Welcome to Sailing Navasana!
We are Chet & Jessy sailing around the world on a Nautitech 46 Open performance catamaran sharing the highlights and lowlights as well as some tips and tricks that hopefully someone might find helpful. Hoping not to be an insomnia cure 🙂
Lembeh Strait has a global reputation for being the “muck diving capital of the world”, so we had to give it a shot. Muck diving is basically diving in the “mucky” volcanic seabed looking for rare, small, and camouflaged marine life.
We ended up doing 7 dives including a night dive which was Jessy’s first. Apart from almost being bitten by a black-finned snake eel, we saw lots of amazing creatures, like the tiny pygmy seahorse, thorny seahorse, small cuttlefish, mandarinfish, many nudibranchs, sexy shrimp, snowflake moray, juvenile ribbon eel, blue spotted ray etc etc. That’s us done with muck diving for a while 😉
Apr 19
Lembeh Strait has a global reputation for being the “muck diving capital of the world”, so we had to give it a shot. Muck diving is basically diving in the “mucky” volcanic seabed looking for rare, small, and camouflaged marine life.
We ended up doing 7 dives including a night dive which was Jessy’s first. Apart from almost being bitten by a black-finned snake eel, we saw lots of amazing creatures, like the tiny pygmy seahorse, thorny seahorse, small cuttlefish, mandarinfish, many nudibranchs, sexy shrimp, snowflake moray, juvenile ribbon eel, blue spotted ray etc etc. That’s us done with muck diving for a while 😉
Day 42 away from civilization: The sailors have discovered the resorts in Bitung. They have adapted by initiating a ‘pool crawl’ and can be seen violently feasting on non-boat food in its natural restaurant habitat. The creatures’ hard-earned waistlines are not expected to survive long. Send help!!!
Apr 16
Day 42 away from civilization: The sailors have discovered the resorts in Bitung. They have adapted by initiating a ‘pool crawl’ and can be seen violently feasting on non-boat food in its natural restaurant habitat. The creatures’ hard-earned waistlines are not expected to survive long. Send help!!!
Ventured into the wilds of Tangkoko National Park in North Sulawesi. Since the island sits right on the Wallace Line, acting as a biological border control between Australian and Southeast Asian nature, the wildlife here is quite unique.
Spent the day rubbing elbows with critically endangered Celebes crested macaques. While the adults tried to act like responsible parents, the kids were busy auditioning for Cirque du Soleil 😉
Once dusk hit, we went on a mission to find the spectral tarsier, a tiny primate composed of 90% eyeball. We also ticked off six bear cuscus lounging in the treetops, some kingfishers, golden orb-weavers, and two tarantulas hanging out right at eye level, just to make sure our heart rates stayed elevated!
Apr 12
Ventured into the wilds of Tangkoko National Park in North Sulawesi. Since the island sits right on the Wallace Line, acting as a biological border control between Australian and Southeast Asian nature, the wildlife here is quite unique.
Spent the day rubbing elbows with critically endangered Celebes crested macaques. While the adults tried to act like responsible parents, the kids were busy auditioning for Cirque du Soleil 😉
Once dusk hit, we went on a mission to find the spectral tarsier, a tiny primate composed of 90% eyeball. We also ticked off six bear cuscus lounging in the treetops, some kingfishers, golden orb-weavers, and two tarantulas hanging out right at eye level, just to make sure our heart rates stayed elevated!
It’s the crack of dawn on April 2nd. We’re motoring toward our anchorage near Ternate, the sea is as flat as a pancake, and suddenly, slosh, wobble. A mystery set of waves bumps the hull. We naturally grumbled about the inconsiderate wake of some phantom boat, considering there wasn’t a single vessel in sight. Our little nautical whodunit was quickly solved when our screens blew up with global news alerts. Ah, yes, just a 7.4 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami warning happening a mere 100km from our position. Mystery solved. Thankfully we were in deep water and not close to shore!
Fast forward three days. The winds finally decided to cooperate, but our route to Bitung in Sulawesi required us to sail directly over the literal epicenter of the quake. Luckily we didn’t feel anything but there were still aftershocks every few minutes in the 3-4 scale range! Now we can cross off that “sailed right over an active earthquake epicenter” item on our bucket list 😉
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#breakingnews #earthquake #tsunami #indonesia #sailing
Apr 7
It’s the crack of dawn on April 2nd. We’re motoring toward our anchorage near Ternate, the sea is as flat as a pancake, and suddenly, slosh, wobble. A mystery set of waves bumps the hull. We naturally grumbled about the inconsiderate wake of some phantom boat, considering there wasn’t a single vessel in sight. Our little nautical whodunit was quickly solved when our screens blew up with global news alerts. Ah, yes, just a 7.4 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami warning happening a mere 100km from our position. Mystery solved. Thankfully we were in deep water and not close to shore!
Fast forward three days. The winds finally decided to cooperate, but our route to Bitung in Sulawesi required us to sail directly over the literal epicenter of the quake. Luckily we didn’t feel anything but there were still aftershocks every few minutes in the 3-4 scale range! Now we can cross off that “sailed right over an active earthquake epicenter” item on our bucket list 😉
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#breakingnews #earthquake #tsunami #indonesia #sailing
Happy Easter! 🐣
Leaving the shores of North Maluku behind, we embarked on a 150-nautical-mile sail to Bitung in Sulawesi. Thank the sailing gods for our trusty North Code 65, it’s letting us sail upwind in 7 knots of breeze, doing a whopping 5 knots! We’re practically breaking the sound barrier out here 😉
Tonight, we attempt something we haven’t dared since July: sailing in the dark. We normally avoid Indonesian night sailing due to the local wildlife, namely FADs (Fish Attracting Devices) and giant floating logs. We already encountered 5 FADs in the first 50 miles! Hopefully with the full moon and our nightvision and thermal binoculars we can avoid going bump in the night. Wish us luck!
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#easter #sailing #code65 #bitung
Apr 5
Happy Easter! 🐣
Leaving the shores of North Maluku behind, we embarked on a 150-nautical-mile sail to Bitung in Sulawesi. Thank the sailing gods for our trusty North Code 65, it’s letting us sail upwind in 7 knots of breeze, doing a whopping 5 knots! We’re practically breaking the sound barrier out here 😉
Tonight, we attempt something we haven’t dared since July: sailing in the dark. We normally avoid Indonesian night sailing due to the local wildlife, namely FADs (Fish Attracting Devices) and giant floating logs. We already encountered 5 FADs in the first 50 miles! Hopefully with the full moon and our nightvision and thermal binoculars we can avoid going bump in the night. Wish us luck!
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#easter #sailing #code65 #bitung
Loving the shallow anchorages in turquoise water here in the Bacan islands. We anchored in 4 metres, haven’t done that in a while, in Raja Ampat it was always 25-30 metres! Water visibility was also amazing!
Mar 29
Loving the shallow anchorages in turquoise water here in the Bacan islands. We anchored in 4 metres, haven’t done that in a while, in Raja Ampat it was always 25-30 metres! Water visibility was also amazing!
We just spent nearly a week hanging out in Boo, no ghosts were harmed 😉 It was giving us major Tuamotus vibes with all the lagoons and different shades of turquoise water.
We are genuinely heartbroken to finally drag ourselves away from Raja Ampat after exploring it for 6 months!. Raja Ampat has officially snagged the #1 crown for the most mind-blowingly beautiful place (both above and below sea level) that Navasana has taken us to since we left Europe.
In fact, we’ve had to update our official, highly scientific leaderboard. Here is the new Top 5 list of places that have entirely ruined normal life for us:
🏆 1. Raja Ampat, Indonesia
🥈 2. The Lau group, Fiji
🥉 3. San Blas, Panama
🌴 4. Tuamotus Atolls, French Polynesia
🌺 5. Society Islands, French Polynesia
What are your top 5??
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#rajaampat #booislands #cuttlefish #sailing #boatlife
Mar 23
We just spent nearly a week hanging out in Boo, no ghosts were harmed 😉 It was giving us major Tuamotus vibes with all the lagoons and different shades of turquoise water.
We are genuinely heartbroken to finally drag ourselves away from Raja Ampat after exploring it for 6 months!. Raja Ampat has officially snagged the #1 crown for the most mind-blowingly beautiful place (both above and below sea level) that Navasana has taken us to since we left Europe.
In fact, we’ve had to update our official, highly scientific leaderboard. Here is the new Top 5 list of places that have entirely ruined normal life for us:
🏆 1. Raja Ampat, Indonesia
🥈 2. The Lau group, Fiji
🥉 3. San Blas, Panama
🌴 4. Tuamotus Atolls, French Polynesia
🌺 5. Society Islands, French Polynesia
What are your top 5??
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#rajaampat #booislands #cuttlefish #sailing #boatlife
Our final stop in Raja Ampat, Pulau Boo had us doing a double take, like we’d accidentally sailed back to French Polynesia. A ridiculously beautiful turquoise lagoon… and then a narrow, shallow entrance pass to get the heart racing 😉
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#rajaampat #pulauboo #booislands #lagoon #sailing
Mar 19
Our final stop in Raja Ampat, Pulau Boo had us doing a double take, like we’d accidentally sailed back to French Polynesia. A ridiculously beautiful turquoise lagoon… and then a narrow, shallow entrance pass to get the heart racing 😉
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#rajaampat #pulauboo #booislands #lagoon #sailing
We did some diving in Misool with our trusty dive ventilator and the visibility was amazing. Pristine coral and lots of sea life. The only tragedy? We missed the oceanic mantas. Turns out we missed the memo on the season ending, so they were already off enjoying their summer homes. 😭
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#rajaampat #misool #diving #turtle #seaturtle
Mar 14
We did some diving in Misool with our trusty dive ventilator and the visibility was amazing. Pristine coral and lots of sea life. The only tragedy? We missed the oceanic mantas. Turns out we missed the memo on the season ending, so they were already off enjoying their summer homes. 😭
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#rajaampat #misool #diving #turtle #seaturtle
Blog Posts
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Replacing the 20 meter long steering cable on Navasana
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Setting up a Catamaran for blue water sailing
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Backup Self Steering
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Atlantic Crossing Autopilot Survey
Good autopilot article from yachting world magazine based on survey of 250 boats that crossed the Atlantic last year including us….
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How to get to Pink Beach in Rangiroa
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Excited to be profiled in the July issue of Latitude 38 Magazine!
We were happy to be profiled in Lat 38, I used it read it all the time when I was living…
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Pacific Crossing #2 Recap
I was really excited to complete my second pacific crossing arriving in the Marquesas on the 27th of April from Panama….
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Interviewed in PBO Magazine! How we selected our ideal cruising boat comparing monohulls and other cats.
In May’s edition Ali Wood, the editor asks what makes the perfect bluewater boat. We were lucky to be one of…
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Featured in Practical Boat Owner Magazine! How we configured Navasana for bluewater.
Humbled to be the main feature in the April edition of Practical Boat Owner magazine! I have been reading the magazine…
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Atlantic Crossing Recap, Photos & Videos!
Some quick stats from our Atlantic crossing from Las Palmas, Gran Canara to St Lucia with the ARC Days to cross:…
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Downwind Reefing Setup
On Navasana we reef going downwind which is much safer and easier than bashing into big swells and waves especially in…
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Safety & Emergency Preparations
Since we were planning to cross multiple oceans we wanted to make sure we were well prepared for any eventuality. We…