Official Jessica Watson Blog

Well things did get a bit exciting the other night when the wind suddenly picked up with a huge swing in direction. One minute it was a quiet, starry night and Ella's Pink Lady was sailing along comfortably under full sail. The next minute the wind was gusting well over 35 knots with Ella's Pink Lady healing right over taking off in the wrong direction. Getting soaking wet at 2 o'clock in the morning isn't exactly all that out of the ordinary, but this time with the southerly wind, the waves and icy rain were particularly cold and un-welcome.

Maybe next time I'll get a better look. Both Amsterdam Island (see pic below) and St Paul Island sound like they have pretty colourful histories. All these little islands in the middle of nowhere seem to come with stories of shipwrecked sailors surviving for years, before being picked up by other ships. But the story about these islands that really caught my attention was one about a company that set up a lobster cannery on St Paul before going bankrupt, leaving 7 of their workers stranded on the island. When someone eventually remembered the poor guys and came to pick them up three years later, there were only two survivors. Imagine being forgotten and abandoned on a little island completely in the middle of nowhere!

The wind and sea has now dropped off again. Actually I wouldn't mind a bit more wind right now, as we're not exactly going anywhere too fast. So it's time to pull out the patience hat till things do pick up a little more. Talking of wind, I was sorry to hear about the damage from the cyclone that crossed the Queensland coast last week and hearing about all the boats washed up and wrecked in Airlie Beach.

Jesse