13/09/2008 Another day has passed... We went to Direction Island again. It was our last day there. First, we took a pontoon and sailed to the yacht. The weather wasn’t very nice, but soon a strong wind blew rainclouds away. We decided to have a photo session. First, I stood with Natasza at the bow of the yacht, and then Eliza and me at the stern. It was wonderful:) I felt the scent of the ocean and such amazing freedom. We came back to the island and we finished our flag to be placed on the shelter.  Afterwards, I hopped into the hammock. There was nothing to worry about, so I could rest. Resting in one place is not that interesting, so we, Eliza and me, went swimming. I wore my swimming glasses and I even submerged for 5 seconds. I’ve seen the ocean bed. It was sandy, but covered with stones. But the most important thing is that I dragged my feet away from the bottom and I floated! I can’t swim and it was something totally new for me. Unfortunately, I can’t hold my...

12/09/2008 Today we stayed at our hotel room on West Island. We had a lot of work. Sending postcards, writing blogs, copying photos. It took us all day. I have also written a letter which contains all information about my person. Natasza will seal it in a bottle and she will throw it overboard into the Indian Ocean. I wonder who will find it... In the meantime, I received a present from Karen, who was taking pictures at canoes yesterday. I’ve got a book, with dedication, with her own photographs of the Cocos Islands. Apart from that, she gave me a CD with our photos which she took yesterday. I gave her one CD from the National Magical Song Festival with my signature in return.  We also gave a Smok Wawelski toy to a lady at the hotel. I also called Lita, who helped us a lot, although she did not know me. She really wanted to hear me sing, so I called her and sang over the phone:) We also called Father Tomasz Bujakowski with greeting from Cocos Islands. That would be it for...

11/09/2008 We got up at 6.10 am. By accident, for we were to get up at 7 am, but we confused hours:) We went ashore on a pontoon, and we ate breakfast there. Then we took a fast boat and we sailed to Home Island. We spent two hours there. Sightseeing entire island took us 15 minutes (!). Every inhabitant has the same identical house. We have also bought some ice-cream. Delicious:) The gentleman who was showing us around took us to his home. We were seated on a kind of a porch. There was everything there: tools, chairs, a table, and even the gentleman neighbour’s bed. Soon after, we boarded our fast boat again and went to West Island. We went to our hotel, freshened up, and we ate lunch. After lunch, Kylie came and took us for a canoe ride. We spent four hours there. It was wonderful. We departed in a  few canoes with engines. First, we visited a tiny island where there was a shelter too, but this one had tables and chairs, and we had a small meal organised there. Afterwards, we...

10/09/2008 The first night onboard was fantastic! We fell asleep quickly, surrounded by the silent hum of the sea:) It is marvellous to sleep at the Indian Ocean! We slept and slept and slept :) Natasza was first to get up, then me, and, eventually, Eliza:) We ate a true sailor breakfast, that is: scrambled eggs, bread, ham, cheese and tea. Everything was prepared by Eliza:) Afterwards, we took a pontoon with an engine and went ashore (the yacht was anchored some distance from the shore for it is too shallow there to come closer). If only you could see these sights – like on a postcard! On the island, apart from the phone, there is also a hammock, which is a very comfortable place to rest :) There is a small shelter which provides protection against the wind, rain and sun. But its most important feature are its base pillars and ceiling which are all covered with various items left by passing sailors. It is a very smart thing. We decided to leave our own unique item, something...

09/09/2008 It is FANTASTIC, WONDERFUL, and MIRACULOUS here, you name it! We got up at 8 am. We dressed up and had breakfast. It was very nice :) After the meal, we went to a shop to buy postcards and some bits and bobs. When we were done with the shopping, a gentleman came. He took me and Eliza to yet another beach, where we boarded a boat with a glass bottom and we sailed to Direction Island (one of the Cocos Islands). The yacht was anchored there. Natasza was to join us in a few hours, for she was attending to some other business at the moment. Watching the sea bottom was very interesting. We saw giant sea turtles, which must have weighed hundreds of kilograms. They have made a huge impression on me. Creatures I liked most, though, were... sharks! There were a few grown-ups and a bunch of small ones. But the bigger ones were not really that big. They were grey, but very nice. The gentleman threw them a few pieces of fish and they devoured them hungrily. It was an amazing...

08/09/2008 And so we are here  Another day has passed. We got up quite early, at 6.45 am. The plane was scheduled to take off at 11.35 am, but Ada wanted to take us to a park with Australian animals before the departure. We arrived there right in time – it has just been opened. We went to the kangaroo section first. It was such an amazing experience! The animals were allowed to roam free around the park, they were not caged like in the zoo. We could approach them, and even feed them! They are very vulnerable creatures. Feeding them was so much fun! There were so many of them that, when I took the foodstuff out, they surrounded me before I even noticed  I have seen more animals in an hour and a half than we have planned. We have seen various birds, white and regular peacocks, a Tasmanian Devil, dingoes, a wombat and koalas. I could even touch the latter. A wombat weighs about 26kg and has really soft fur, just like koalas  I saw them [koalas] sleeping together on a...

07/09/2008 The fourth day is over. Time goes really fast! Our plane was scheduled to depart at 9.35 am. Hence, we had to leave hotel around 7 am. Normally, it takes about 30-35 minutes to get from Sentosa to Singapore Changi Airport.  Unfortunately, this time it was more than an hour drive! We were unlucky because our taxi driver confused routes and we had to go the same way twice. What is more, Singapore is completely jammed at this time of a day, and we were in a rush. Fortunately, we made it. We boarded a plane which was to take us to Perth. The plane was humongous – it was Boeing 747!!! It was amazing to fly it! You could get lost just entering it. The plane had several decks with separate entrances. Unfortunately, I didn’t sit together with Eliza, as there were no empty seats. But we were not far from each other. I was seated in a row by the window and Eliza was seated in the middle row. I must admit I had a very nice company. There was a lady with her dad travelling...

2330 Darwin Time, 6/09/08 still Saturday, Cocos Islands on The Indian Ocean (do not confuse them with the ones on The Pacific) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocos_(Keeling)_Islands Here I am on Cocos Islands. Geez, how does it sound?!?!?! A while ago, I did not even know where it was!!! It is dark, I was tied to a buoy a while ago and I don’t see much: a white strip and shades of palm trees in the moonlight... Before I entered the port, a fan belt snapped. By the time I fixed it, it turned out that guys from the port will move Tanasza to a lagoon. There was a whole bunch of them, they have even sent me a red flare... Full service, wow... Being here is just fantastic!!! I don’t know how “here” looks like yet, but I am “here”, and in time for my meeting! Tanasza is marvellous, what a spirit!!! I decided not to enter the port today, but she was intent on doing it so that I can sleep safe. And so...

30 miles to the next stop (6/09/09 - 1700 Darwin Time - 12 08 S; 097 20E) Today’s motto: smile when you answer the phone.  The other person will know… I have seen another shooting star last night. I made a wish, who wouldn’t… but I won’t tell you… I wonder if you will guess it… Hmm, who came up with that stupid rule that one should not voice their wish or it will not come true. I suggest a new rule: lets voice our dreams, a person who is to help us make them real should hear about them… I have got 30 miles to a lagoon. I will not anchor before the sunset, though, and I do not have the courage to enter it after dusk. The place is full of reefs. It seems I will spend another night at sea… I don’t mind

Friday, 5/09/08 12 00 Darwin Time, 170 miles to go, 12 11S; 099 48E I saw a shooting star tonight. I wished upon it, who wouldn’t? I am not going to tell you what I wished for, but maybe someone can guess it...  By the way, did your last wish come true? Do you remember it at all? Can the shooting stars make our dreams come true? Wouldn’t it be too easy then? One could just sit in Ustka in the night and name things they want from life… but it doesn’t work this way, does it? Why is it so then, that when we see a lonely, falling star we make a wish? Because we have them and we need them? Well, they are the beginning for many things... I have been out on the sea for two weeks now and I bet nobody suspects that I will have a beef steak for dinner, even though I don’t have a fridge. Ha! this is true, I don’t have a fridge and no, I haven’t butchered a calf on the way. I have met Bernie, though. No, my head is all right, I met Bernie back in Darwin. He approached me...

4/09/08, Thursday, 1300 Darwin Time – everybody knows, and it has no greater importance to you, has it? 12 06 S; 101 48 E, 290 nautical miles to the island. The island is tiny. Thank God I don’t have to use Jacob’s staff or my fist to navigate. I don’t think I would be able to find that small patch of land in the middle of the ocean… besides, what does it mean to “be a sailor” today??? (I think that, regardless of all the exams taken ashore, either you are a captain (you’ve got “the thing”), or you are not the kind of guy who may become one… (well, they say it is good to have really biiiiiig charts onboard since you can always write “where am I?” on the reverse side and show it to a passing plane: ) Poseidon always watches, he can see everything and frets the sea at sunset… They say the sunset is the saddest time of the day… for me, it is waiting for the first star and guessing its name… Sometimes I get tricked – this one is Venus…...

  Some people have asked me why I do not just go around without any stops. I have more than one good reason for that. First, it is not true that sailing with stops is easier. On the contrary, when you think about it, it is clear that the greater distance from a shore, the safer it is. Near the coast, a sailor has to cope with reefs, shallows, currents, tides, fish boats or large vessels going to ports. And I just love challenges! Second, I wouldn’t have seen many wondrous places on the way, and I wouldn’t have met so many fantastic people. Above all, I wouldn’t be able to share all my experiences with you. It is always beautiful on the sea. Sometimes difficult, sometimes easy, yet always beautiful! We’ve got silence, we’ve got storms, something breaks down, something gets fixed. I visit new places and it is always a fantastic experience. For example, in the autumn, I harboured in the capital of Papua-New Guinea – Port Moresby. Why there? Well,...

Wednesday, 3rd of September, 2008 14.00 Darwin Time,  12 32 S; 103 52 E. Cloudiness: 50%, batteries are charging 8 ampere, wind speed – around 20 knots, more or less (rather more than less, I assume), for I have no instruments to measure it... It is amazing how one can get used to things which seem impossible to be considered normal: how fast you learn that you have to put your leg here or there in order not to be washed away, or thrown for another bruise... before a wave hits, it is important to grab something, and this comes somewhat naturally with time... Another night at sea passed. How was it? Very uncomfortable, for sure, but also the scariest moment of my journey. Here’s the story... I went up on deck in the evening in order to look around. I looked at the cloudy sky above me and at all these fierce waves around. I was stunned. I was just standing there, my hands gripping the forecastle, and my legs fixed against seats – and I watched... I watched what the...

13 02 S; 105 34 E, 18.30 Darwin Time, Tuesday, 2nd of September.      The weather became “moody”. I have the smallest sails and yet, Tanasza gets punished. Everything falls out of cupboards, it is difficult to move... clouds, rains, squalls and waves hit the deck all the time – just like in Conrad’s novels. One of such waves, a white horse, got into the mess: it soaked me, my mattress and totally flooded the galley – fortunately, my computer is always sheltered. I have just passed a  large fish buoy (nets’ marker). It was huge and it floated, just like that, with no worries. I have made a rather awful discovery. Bookshelves got flooded with water. A few books got totally ruined, I am trying to save the rest drying them page after page. Let them dry, I want to read something... Night reflections: these clouds are so dark that I can easily imagine shapes and silhouettes out of them. There is a superman jumping out of the window, there is a doggie and a...

  11.00, 1st of September, 2008. 13 06 S; 108 31 E "To live means not to waste time waiting for tomorrow.” I don’t know where I have read it but I agree. How about you? We have to live every day as if it was our last… just reminding you, for I am sure everyone knows it, but do you all remember that? … and what if you had only a week… what would you do? … what if you could imagine your life in 5 years time, and you could sneak in and see this very day 5 years from now… What are you doing, where are you? … I hope you are working now to be there in the future, to do what you want to do… and if not, Heloooooo! Get down to it!!! Here, on Tanasza, it’s like in a sailor’s chant (now, how did it go?). If a sunset is red, the weather will go bad. And that’s what happened – I woke up in total greyness, it rained a little (which was nice, for it washed salt off Tanasza). And so I sail. Christmas Island lies two days north west from here. Why don’t I...

I have torn yet another page from my calendar – did you know that paprika was introduced in Poland later than tomatoes? And that it has more vitamin C than a lemon? If not, now you do! 12 49 S; 110 12 E 1500  Darwin Time, Sunday, 31st of August, 2008 It is Sunday here. You will have Sunday the following day, so whatever I say now  is tomorrow for you (have you read Umberto Eco’s “The Island of the Day Before” – those who read it know what I am talking about). So, the wind is pretty much OK, I can almost stay on course (270º) towards Coconut Island; speed: around 5-6 knots; I’ve got the first reef on the mainsail and I have a full genoa; waves are uneven – high, brought from the Southern Ocean. There are clouds on the portside, the “troubling” ones, and the sun, which rises later and later every day because it sets later. Last night was the first one since I left Darwin when I did not see any ship or fish boat – I still have to be careful, though, but...

Saturday came, 30th of August. High noon,  12 47 S, 112 42 E. Total cloudiness in the morning but I’ve got the right course, it will take me directly to Coconut Island. They say that only those who really want it go to the sea. I want it. It is beautiful. Immense space, total freedom. My yacht is marvellous, there are birds, lots of birds, I suppose there are plenty of fish too, but I don’t fish, just in case. I try to avoid fishing around the world. I passed so many fish boats in the night that I’ve had enough of the smell of a fresh catch. By the way, do the fishermen realise that when they are working on deck and they have their spotlights switched on, they can see nothing except for a white ball and they simply do not know where they sail! They are very loud on the radio, though!  They chit chat (usually when I want to go to sleep) on a channel designed to be used only for calling up and most important business... Surely, a fisher wants to be at sea and I, most...

29/08/08 Friday It’s getting cloudy, but there is no wind. It’s hard to breathe. I make 3 knots under full sails, I would like to have mps (do not confuse it with pms, which I have in abundance) – does someone have a spare one? (I am talking about an asymmetric spinnaker). Bread moulded, eventually – I threw it away. I spilled tomato juice on stairs and my legs. I wiped the floor, took a shower and did a bit of washing. Tried to get some sleep meanwhile (I did not sleep much last night). “Swarms” of flying fish – in sunlight, they look as if they were made of silver. 20.00 Zulu, 12 50 S, 113 58 E, about 1000 km to Coconut Islands... It reminds me of a song by Sting “a thousand miles...” Do you know it? Seriously now, it got very cloudy at the sunset. Terrifying leaden clouds, as if someone cut them off with a knife at the bottom, full of blackness below the cut. Blackness that forecasts squall... some time later: ... while I was keeping watch and my...

Thursday 28/08/08   08.00 Darwin Time, 12 55 S; 116 03 E  ...wind still shows no inclination to cooperate... Up to now, I noticed that each and every stage of my journey has been very different: the first one was difficult technically and the weather was rough, the second one was easy – there were a lot of storms, though. The third one tested my endurance and navigation, and now psychology took its place – I have a rendezvous in Coconut Island, and the wind doesn’t want to blow... I am always afraid to ask for wind aloud... a few times I got more wind than I wanted, and once, I think, even more than Tanasza was meant to be able to withstand... yet I sail... at least 3,000 meters of  water below me. Only a few centimetres of plastic – yacht’s deck and my sleeping bag lay between me and the abyss... water surrounds the yacht, I hear it tapping against the deck before I fall asleep... there is no better lullaby I could listen to... Tomasz from Perth gave me his...

Tuesday 26/08/2008 12 46 S 119 14 E  1930 Darwin Time ... I am sailing towards the sunset... a multitude of ships, their paths on a chart look like a Christmas Tree and their real lights look like candle lights on a Christmas Eve... these two ships going north which have just passed me seem to have turned back in order to cross my course. At least, such is the impression. In reality, new lights, this time southbound, appeared in the place where the two vessels disappeared on the starboard... after some time one of them passed in front my bow and the other one went behind my stern. (...) a “pot hanger” broke down – it happens when you cook on a swinging cooker. Fortunately, I have a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, and I don’t cook much, or I stabilise a kettle with my hand. Today, it was sufficient for me just to sniff coffee from a pot. I think I will wait for some inspiration to fix it, but definitely not today. Portuguese Men of War (Physalia physalis)...

Sunday 24/08/08 A funny thing, when you are at sea, it doesn’t matter if you are good or bad, for the sea gives you a blank card. You are. Just like this, you are at sea and this is what counts.    09.00 Darwin Time, Sunday position:  12 40 S; 125 53 E How’s the day going? Fine, thanks! ... I woke up around noon... and lazily looked around. My book, over which I had fallen asleep, got more folded pages, an alarm clock hid itself under my pillow... today is one of those days when a woman should not have to do anything. And so I did, I run around in my pyjamas all day, I prepared myself a cup of French vanilla coffee which I got from Marta and Krzyś. While water was boiling (also lazily), I took my time to check what is going on around: if there are any clouds, if everything is ok on the deck, I checked the batteries, my position, and I went back to check if my pillow doesn’t feel too “lonely”. I read the book, sip coffee, today is my “children’s day”,...

12 23 S; 127 44 E, 22nd of August 2008, 07.00am Darwin Time (Friday) I marked my position on the chart. The Timor Sea above me, Joseph Bonaparte Gulf below me. Quite a place to sail for a little yacht like Tanasza. We had a beautiful sunset yesterday. One of the most beautiful I have ever seen. And then we came back to the misty reality, it felt as if we were sailing in gray sauce. We smelt a weird smell of land in the air. I couldn’t tell the difference between the sky and the sea. Everything was under a thick layer of fog, which made the world seem really tiny, or maybe rather as big as I was able to see. Two nights on the sea have passed. I haven’t slept well. I woke up every few minutes in order to check if everything was fine since I had this strange feeling, and I did not want to miss anything. 15 hours later... Days became normal, every now and then I was visited by a bird or a dolphin, reef block system’s choke broke down, I was visited by a Coast Guard...

Janek woke me up. He brought me a sandwich for breakfast: Truly Polish bread with liver spread and kiwi. Delicious, I ate it half awake, since I barely got some sleep. I had half an hour to get ready to sail out. Adam drove in, Ania got a flat tyre. They are here for holidays. The rest of my friends were at work at the time of my departure (as most decent people would), but we have seen each other off before (more than once;-) )  I sailed from marvellous Darwin on Tuesday, 19th of August 2008, going out through the Cullen Bay Marina lock at 08.00 am. It was tough, believe me, since it didn’t occur to me to warm up the engine before. It was a little windy and I had a lot of “fun” leaving the dock. The short time I spent in the lock wasn’t easy either. I tied the boat to the platform in order to get a shower. Afterwards, I departed. Janek was taking photos and Adam was filming... It was sad to leave since I met the most fantastic people ever on this stop....