Day 97, Year 5: Crappy Day
Date: Sunday, January 31, 2010
Weather: Sunny Day with a Little Haze
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin, India

Today it was all about toilets. We have two heads on this boat and our hope was that if we had problems with one, then the other one would serve us. But now both have leaks that seem to be irreparable. Our main head had only a slight salt water leak, but in trying to fix that, it seems like everything starting leaking. We will search Cochin to see if a marine toilet can be bought here and in the meantime continue to try anything and everything we can think of to deal with the leaks. But it is truly a crappy situation.

So while Mark spent his day in the head, I continued cleaning the deck. We don’t remember a time when we finished a passage with a dirtier boat. Everything white has a film of gray over it and needs to be scrubbed. The canvas on the dodger and bimini are also streaked with gray. And salt is everywhere. We can’t make water here as the water is just not clean enough for that, but we can go to the Bolgatty Hotel and get as much water as we want for 100 rupees a week (that’s about $2.22 US). The water is not drinkable, but it can serve for showers, laundry, and washing down the boat. I have finished the first once over on the deck, but it needs much more attention, so this process will continue. After finishing the cleaning, I turned by attention to canning the meat that we had to take out of our freezer when it went down. I immediately cooked the chicken and pork, but let the minced beef and beef sausage sit in the bottom of the refrigerator for a few days. Then I cooked it, and today I canned it. I made spaghetti sauce with the minced beef (that’s what hamburger is called in the South Pacific, Australia, and all points west) and canned the chili spiced sausage in V-8 juice. Canning is s-l-o-w as I can only do one pint jar at a time and it takes an hour for each jar. So I have managed to heat the inside of the boat to about 93 degrees and am still going strong.

Tomorrow morning the refrigeration repairman comes again, supposedly at 10 am, but that could mean anytime between 10 am and 1 pm. Once that job is done, we will go to town to try and buy a SIM card for our 3G modem so we can have internet here in the anchorage. We still have a few more days of boat jobs to do, but at some point, we promise ourselves we will get out there and see the beauty of southern India.

Day 96, Year 5: Refrigeration and Trip to Fort Cochin
Date: Saturday, January 30, 2010
Weather: Clear, Sunny Day; Beautiful Full Moon
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin, India

Who’s who in Cochin? It seems like everyone here is Nazar. We have Nazar on Boat No. 7, Nazar and Ibrahim on Boat No. 113, and now the man trying to fix our refrigeration system turns out to be Nazar instead of Anil. And the waiting game continues. Anil, who turned out to be Nazar, was supposed to arrive at the boat at 9 am. Zazar on Boat No. 113, who we thought was Ibrahim, came by at 8 am to tell us that Anil would be here at 9 am. But it was 10:30 am before Mark got the call to pick him up at the ferry dock. Anil, who ended up to be Nazar, checked things out and discovered that he needed a compressor to vacuum out the system. And, of course, the compressor was back in Fort Cochin which is a 20 minute ferry ride from here, but then you have to add the time waiting for ferry. So Mark took Nazar back to the ferry terminal which is quite a little ride from here. Nazar said he would be back in an hour, so at 12 noon when Lynne of Constance, Judy of Freebird, and I needed to go to the ferry terminal for our little ladies’ day adventure. Mark took us as he thought Nazar would be returning at about the same time. Well, Mark waited, and waited, and waited, until about 2:30 pm and then came back to Windbird and decided to go to Bolgatty Island is get more water. Naturally, as soon as he did this, Nazar called and said he was at the ferry terminal. So back Mark went. Once back on Windbird, Nazar realized that he needed 220 volts to run his compressor and we run on 110 volts. Mark had to run about the anchorage looking for anyone who could loan us a 220 inverter (ours bit the dust on the way here) and he found one on Hafskip. Nazar vacuumed the system and then discovered that our new tank of R134A gas that we bought in Ao Chalong was empty, so he couldn’t recharge the system. I guess Mark used more of the gas on the way here trying to fix things than he realized. But now we are on hold until Monday morning when Nazar will return. Our refrigerator is still running fine, but we just don’t have a freezer. So the refrigeration story will continue on Monday.

While Mark was struggling with the refrigeration saga, Lynne, Judy, and I hopped on a ferry to Fort Cochin. While waiting in line to get ferry tickets, we met a young woman named Catherine. She is a year older than our daughter Heather and is a biologist. She is from Montreal, but lives in the Yukon between Skagway and White Horse. I’ve been there, so believe me when I tell you that is in the middle of nowhere. She interviews fishermen for the Yukon Fisheries Department, among other things, races a team of fourteen sled dogs, and somehow manages to escape to India once in a while. She has spent most of her time in India in the north, but is now enjoying southern India. Once we arrived in Fort Cochin, Catherine decided to stick with us while we explored. We first walked to the area of the Chinese nets. These huge nets hang out over the water with system of large logs and huge rocks hanging from ropes above providing a leverage system. The rocks are raised and the nets go down. And only a few minutes after the nets go underwater, the rocks are lowered and nets come up. A fisherman with a big net goes out to gather all the small fish that have been caught in the net, and then the process starts over again. There is a series of these nets, probably eight to ten of them, and they seem to work in synchrony. The one furthest out to sea is lowered first, then the next one, and so on. We were standing by the one most inland. And as soon as it was lowered, the whole series started again. Fascinating. But we all decided that we needed something to eat and drink, so we started backtracking to find a place. Judy decided that we just had to go this swanky, swanky hotel on the water, so we did. It was EXPENSIVE, so we ordered lime drinks and a couple of appetizers that were way overpriced. But it was a lovely setting on the water and we luxuriated. Then we set off on our shopping expedition. We wanted to go this store called Fabindia. We found it and it did have fabulous Indian clothing that was really not too expensive. Then we went to another shop called Cinnamon which was a bit more upscale. There were lovely items for a price a little too steep for us. By this time it was getting late, so we had to abandon a trip to the third shop we were searching for and we headed through backstreets to get back to the ferry dock and said our goodbyes to Catherine. On the way to the ferry dock, we found a fabulous book store and another shop with beautiful rugs and wall hangings. We will definitely return to Fort Cochin just to browse the shops and see some of the major tourist attractions there like the Mattancherry Palace built in 1555, the Pardesi Synagogue built in 1558, and a Dutch palace from the same era, but we had run out of time for today.

It is a holiday here, the anniversary of Mahatma Ghandi’s death. We had planned to have Happy Hour on Bolgatty Island at the hotel, but Dave of Freebird did some reconnaissance and found that no alcohol could be served because of the holiday. We had hoped to find a place with air conditioning so we could meet in the evening without the threat of the voracious mosquitoes that live here. But that didn’t work out, so we gathered on Freebird. Beverly and Greg from Freemantle, Australia, came to join us. They have been here for fourteen months, and were here for a year in the 1990′s. They shared some of their knowledge of the area while we all watched the biggest full moon of 2010 rise. Cochin seems like an easy place to wile away the days, so we will continue to do that.

100130 Day 96 India–Refrigeration and Day Trip to Fort Cochin

Day 95, Year 5: Bustling Kochi and the Anchoring Story
Date: Friday, January 29, 2010
Weather: Clear, Sunny Day
Latitude: 09 degrees 59.038 minutes N
Longitude: 076 degrees 16.214 minutes E
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin, India

Our two mile trip from Willingdon Island to the Bolgatty anchorage went without a hitch. Sometimes the depths were as little as 2.4 meters and we need 2 meters, so we were just skimming by. Once we reached the anchorage, however, we had a nightmare of an anchoring experience. All is well, but I don’t want the three-hour anchoring saga to overwhelm the experience of our first trip ashore here. So that story gets told first.

It is very hard to capture the feeling of being here in a few words, so I think I will just let you follow us through the afternoon ashore. First, the old name for this city is Cochin and that is the name that is still on all charts and in the cruising guides. The new name is Kochi, so you might find references to this city under either name. We are anchored between long, thin Bolgatty Island and the mainland. We are anchored just about half way between the two and the distance in either direction to land is less than a quarter of mile. Mark and Ed went to Bolgatty Island and paid the Bolgatty Hotel a fee of 100 rupees that allows us to go ashore there and get as much water as we want for one week. We cannot use that water as our drinking source, but we can shower, wash dishes, wash the boat, and wash clothes with it for the total sum of $2.22 US for the week. Not bad. Around 1:30 pm, we headed to the mainland and the shopping area of Cochin known as Ernakulam. We arrived at the concrete dinghy dock and climbed up onto the walkway. A man was there working on a fishing net that I promptly got caught in two times-once with my foot and the other with my backpack. You have to be careful of the nets! We walked inland from the dock and found the main walkway. Almost immediately we were in an area of fruit, veggie, and fresh fish stalls. The green beans and okra were beautiful, the oranges looked delicious, and the bananas looked even better. There were pineapples and pomegranates, Indian kale, onions, potatoes, and other things we don’t know about yet. And there were just so many people. The line leading to the women’s restroom was very long and every women in the line had on the exact same sari. The sari is one lone piece of material wrapped and tucked about a women without the need of pins or buttons. It is worn with a choli which is a tight fitting, short sleeved blouse that does not reach the waistline where the skirt of the sari begins. So a bit of the mid-section is always exposed. But a part of the skirt comes back up and wraps over the shoulder covering most of the midriff. That part of the sari is called the palloo. We tried to find out why everyone was in the same dress, but we had no luck. So we continued our walk through the food stalls to the first main cross street names Shammugham Road. There were policemen to direct traffic, but the traffic was uncontrollable. We have never seen so much traffic before in our lives. And much of the traffic is big busses and the little auto rickshaws that put speed over safety, so crossing the street was a very scary experience. We made it safely, however, and then walked up Banerji Road. But at least we had a sidewalk, so we only had to watch the incessant traffic. We stopped at an internet café to quickly check our g-mail account. We walked on to first major cross street that is named Mahatma Gandhi Road and we turned right. We found a supermarket that was small but had lots of good supplies, an electronics shop that sells SIM cards for our 3G modem so that we can have internet on the boat, but you have to have a passport with you to buy any kind of SIM card and we didn’t have ours with us today. So maybe tomorrow we will go back to town to buy one. We then back tracked a bit to head down Jew Street. It is a one lane street with two-way traffic and no sidewalk, but it has fantastic shopping opportunities. There are wholesale grocers, hardware stores, stores that sell plastic containers, and lots of fabric shops all interspersed with fresh fruit and veggies shops. Most of the men were dressed in a white sarong-type skirt that is tied up between their legs like a loin cloth. I’m not sure what these are called, but most men in Cochin dress like this. We went by shops that had barrels of spices and the scents were delicious. By the time we got back to the harbor, we were exhausted from the walk and sensory overload, but there was more to come. There on the waterfront we saw hundreds and hundreds of people gathered for what is called an Art and Cultural Festival. Today was the first day and it will extend to February 9. So we will have to check this out tomorrow or the next day.

And now for the anchoring story. We tried to anchor the first time, but the anchor didn’t stick. When we brought the anchor up, it had plastic bags wrapped around it. Mark removed those and we tried again, and again it didn’t stick. This time when we brought the anchor up there was fishing net around it. And then I lost the ability to steer and then the engine died. I tried to start the engine again. It started but as soon as I put it in gear, the engine died again. It become obvious that we had something wrapped around the prop, so we just dropped the anchor right where we were, even though we were much too close to a boat called Maud. Maud’s captain, Jim, had spent the day with us yesterday, waiting and waiting, while he was trying to check out of India. We got out the snuba gear so Mark could dive down and check out the prop and what he found was a royal mess. We had installed a piece of steel cable from our keel back to our rudder to keep things like nets from getting up to our prop. But a fishing net had caught around that steel cable, broken it loose and then the whole mess of steel wire and fishing net wrapped around our prop shaft. It took Mark an hour and a half in this not-so-clean water to cut things loose. But he survived and it appears that all is well. We dropped anchor the first time at 9:15 am and the final time at 12:15 PM. It was a long morning!

100129 Day 95 India–First Trip Ashore in Ernakulam

Day 94, Year 5: Just Waiting . . . and Waiting
Date: Thursday, January 28, 2010
Weather: Clear, Sunny Day

Here we still sit in front of the Taj Malabar Hotel in the ‘new arrivals’ temporary anchorage off Willingdon Island. We are officially checked-in and have permission to move to the main anchorage off Bolgatty Island, but we have to wait until in the morning when there is a higher tide. We are almost sitting on the bottom where we are now and there are places that are too shallow between here and Bolgatty at anything less than high tide. So we will WAIT.

We awoke this morning to what sounded like church bells. Surprisingly, at least to us, is that a majority of the people in Cochin are Christian (mostly Catholic due to the Portuguese influence in the days of Vasco de Gama). So I guess hearing church bells should not be so unusual. But maybe they are just the bells from the clock tower. Anyway, the highlight of today was not the bells, it was w-a-i-t-i-n-g. Here’s that story.

Before going to shore, those of us anchored here were visited by the local boat boys trying to solicit our business while in Cochin. We had been told that the best of the boat boys (these are grown men but I have no better name for them) is Nazar on Boat No. 72. But now all of the boat boys seem to have the same name as Nazar and we were visited by Nazar on Boat No. 113 and Nazar on Boat No. 72-the real thing. We then got in the dinghy, went to pick up Ed and Lynne of Constance, and stopped by Freebird to see Judy and Dave. They were surprised that we were going to shore because they had been told by Customs last night that they would pick us up and bring take us to shore. Customs had not told us or Constance this, so we proceeded. But as you shall find out at the end of the today’s story, we should have let them pick us up. We found a place to tie our dinghy and were immediately met by a man in military dress asking us where we were going. We explained that we were going to the harbormaster’s office to check-in, but he looked very puzzled. Finally, he let us go with some young man who was to be our escort. We walked passed the hotel and got to the government complex referred to as the clock tower. And there is, indeed, a clock tower there. The complex looks as though it was once a grand affair, but even though the buildings have been freshly painted, the gardens are obviously not as grand as they once were. We got to the harbormaster’s office, very small, and filled out forms. We were told to pay 420 rupees and then to WAIT for a receipt. We waited for an hour and half and finally the receipts came. But they had to be signed by someone in a different office, so once again we waited. And waited. And waited. By this time, Judy and Dave of Freebird were with us. They had been picked up by Customs as they were told and sent to the harbormaster’s office with Ibrahim from Boat No. 113. Ibrahim talked with the officials who told us to go on to Customs without the receipts of payment. So we did But Customs told us they could do nothing without the receipts, so Ibrahim suggested that we just go to lunch. Since we were in a government complex, we were taken to what seemed like a government lunch cafeteria. Only men were eating in the cafeteria, but we sat at a table and were served a delicious lunch. Actually it was much more like a dinner of rice and curried soup with various pickled condiments, and chappatis (fried flat bread). Mark ordered a side of curried chicken and others had fish. Anyway, it was Grade A cafeteria food. Then we returned to the harbormaster’s office and continued to wait for the receipts of payment. Still nothing. So now we were told to go to Immigration and come back for the receipts. We got in what are referred to as auto rickshaws that took us to the Immigration Office. Actually the process there was fairly straight forward and we were in and out quickly. But then we asked where we might get Indian SIM cards for our cell phones and Ibrahim took us across the street to a little news stand. It seemed to take forever, but finally we had working cell phones and headed back to the harbor master’s office. Again, we waited. Then finally the signed receipts arrived and we were ushered off to Customs. We thought the process there would be quick, but not so. Again we waited in one office and were then moved to another office where we waited again. Finally at 4 pm, we were cleared in and given permission to move to our boats. But because of the tides, we will wait until morning. We got back to the pier where we had left our dinghy and discovered that it was well dug into the mud. Ibrahim jumped down off the pier to try and move the dinghy, but he needed to get the motor tipped up. Mark explained to him how to release the motor, but unfortunately he pushed too hard and the mechanism broke. So he and Nazar had to pick up the dinghy and move it to deeper water. We had to climb down from the pier to Nazar’s boat and then into our dinghy. This is when we wished we had let Customs pick us up and take us back to our boat. It will take a bit of figuring to work out how to fix the dinghy motor so we can once again tilt it up out of the water. This is necessary every time you take the dingy to a beach, rather than a dingy dock, so we have to get that fixed. But we are checked-in and in a new country with a totally different feel from Southeast Asia. We have been told that part of the Indian experience is getting used to waiting. So we have had a good introduction.

Our daughter Heather wrote and said she was surprised by our comment that coming into Cochin seemed like the first major harbor since leaving Boston. She wondered why Singapore didn’t rate, in our minds, as a major port. And she has a good point. But the difference is that in Singapore, we crossed VERY busy shipping lanes and waited for Customs to come to us in a boat. Then we went into a marina at Sentosa Island and never saw any sort of port except from land. Singapore is one of the world’s major shipping ports, but it doesn’t feel like that when you enter. Here, you enter through a channel with the big guys and are met by harbor patrol and boarded by Customs official in white uniforms. All boat movement is controlled by Port Control from whom you must obtain permission before moving your boat. You are looking across the channel to the huge cranes that load the container ships, and see in front of you the high rise buildings in the city. None of these things were visible in Singapore, so even though it is definitely a larger port, we never saw the evidences other than the traffic in the shipping lanes.

That all for now. You’ll have to WAIT until tomorrow to hear more about Cochin.

100128 Day 94 India–Willingdon Island

Day 93, Year 5: Arrival in Cochin
Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Weather: Clear, Sunny Day; Winds Varied
Latitude: 09 degrees 58.152 minutes N
Longitude: 076 degrees 15.400 minutes E
Miles Traveled to Date: 1,487

We arrived safe and sound in Cochin. This is the first major harbor we have entered since leaving Boston. We had to check in with port control via radio a few times before entering the harbor and were given directions for negotiating the buoys and the major ships coming and going. It was much more formal than anything we have experienced since leaving the US. “Shirena” Harbor patrol came to meet us and helped us anchor in just the right place before boarding and getting our basic information. They will forward that to Customs and Immigration where we will check-in tomorrow morning. Cochin is a city of a million plus people, but it looks like a huge city to us. More tomorrow. It is time for a late dinner and sleep in a quiet anchorage. Wonderful to be here!

Day 93, Year 5: Passage to Cochin, Day Twelve
Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Weather: Clear, Sunny Day; Winds Varied
Latitude: 09 degrees 45.576 minutes N
Longitude: 076 degrees 11.620 minutes E
Miles Traveled to Date: 1,470

We are motor sailing as fast as we can go with the current wind conditions trying to make it into Cochin by dark. We had planned to go slow and arrive in the morning, but around 5 am we got a couple of hours of 25 knot winds that carried us further north than planned. So we changed plans to try and make it in. The current ETA is 7:10 pm, which is just about sunset. So if all goes well, we will be at anchor off the Taj Malabar Hotel at the end of Willingdon Island awaiting morning check-in. Then we will proceed to the real anchorage off the Bogatty Hotel at the tip of Bogatty Island. Cochin is a city divided into sectors by various waterways and there are different sections of the city. We will start learning the ins and outs of Cochin starting tomorrow with check-in on Willingdon Island.

But first we have to run the fishing boat gauntlet to get there. I felt like I was playing a computer game this morning on my 4:30 to 7:30 am watch. There were boats long-lining, trawlers pair-trawling with a line between them, and small boats with flashing green lights that provided the real challenge. I would change direction to avoid one, and then it would head directly toward me. In the dark this just looks like a little flashing green fairy skimming across the water. This little game went on until the sun came up and then all the boats vanished just like magic. We read that the entrance to Cochin is filled with fishing boats and some will have surface nets for prawns. Mark is just now beginning to see a low shoreline. So, land-ho.

100127 Day 93 India–Passage from Thailand to India

Day 92, Year 5: Passage to Cochin, Day Eleven
Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Weather: Clear, Sunny Day; Winds E 25 then No Wind then SSW 10-12
Latitude: 08 degrees 06.604 minutes N
Longitude: 076 degrees 44.004 minutes E
Miles Traveled to Date: 1,361

What a varied twenty-four hour period we have had. Late yesterday afternoon we were flying along with about 20 knots of wind and heavy seas. The wind increased during the night and we were flying along with 20-25 knots. Early morning had us rounding the tip of India and the winds were actually gusting to 27, but once we were in the shadow of the land we lost all wind and had to motor. We motored along patiently and then at about 4 pm this afternoon, we got a nice 10-15 knot wind from the SSW and we are now sailing once again, and on flat seas! But we have had a one knot current or better against us all along and can’t seem to find the positive current that should run up this coast. In order to find the wind, we had to go a little closer to shore and right now we are running on the edge of the shipping lanes. But we have thus far avoided traveling through the fishing grounds. We had one fishing boat approach us this morning, but we were motoring and we just upped the RPM’s and outran them. They just want Coke or water or whatever we will give them, but it is a hassle we would rather avoid if possible.

Because we are traveling at 4 knots rather than the 6 that we had become accustomed to, we will not arrive in Cochin late tomorrow. Instead, we will arrive on Thursday. That will make this a thirteen day passage. I don’t like the number, but I am very happy with the passage. It has been a good one thus far.

We hear our friends Robert and Tina of Shirena on the IO (Indian Ocean) Net each morning. They are traveling with Fatty and Carolyn on Wild Card and are making great time. Shirena is having an auto pilot problem, so we hope they get that solved. Hand steering all the way would be no fun at all.

Day 91, Year 5: Passage to Cochin, Day Ten
Date: Monday, January 25, 2010
Weather: Clear, Sunny Day; Winds NE 16-22
Latitude: 06 degrees 47.500 minutes N
Longitude: 078 degrees 15.779 minutes E
Miles Traveled to Date: 1,231

The Gulf of Mannar is not one I had ever heard of, but it is one that I won’t forget. By midnight tonight we will be fifty miles directly south of the tip of India and on our way out of the Gulf of Mannar, but until then we must endure what she has to throw our way. At 3 pm yesterday we were motoring because Sri Lanka was blanketing the wind. By 4 pm we had 12 knots of wind and we turned slightly NW to take advantage of the winds and turned off the motor. By midnight we were motoring on flat, glassy seas and were able to get back to our course, and then by 2 am the winds and seas started building, so off went the motor and sailing we were. And we have been on quite a ride since then. The six to nine foot waves come directly at our beam, raising our starboard side leaning us to port, sliding under the boat, and then tossing us back again. This happens every three to five seconds, so it’s a bit like riding a bucking bronco. When Mark got up this morning, he said he felt like he had been in a Mix Master But we feel very lucky that it is not rougher. Boats transiting the Gulf of Mannar during the past week have reported 25-30 knot winds and very rough seas with squalls. I think we hit it just at the right time. The GRIB files are showing 15 knots of wind, which means you can get up to 20, and that is what we have. And Freebird, who is about 24 hours behind us reported sailing through hundreds of fishing boats on the east side of Sri Lanka. Somehow we missed that treat as well. So far the decisions we have made jointly with Constance for this passage have been good ones, so we hope the good continues until we reach Cochin.

Tonight we will reach Cape Comorin on the southern tip of India, and then head out to the NW until we are about 25 miles offshore. We will parallel the coast up to Cochin. We could motor sail right next to the land, but then we would more than likely have to motor and contend with fishermen stopping us asking for things. We contacted a boat named Hafskip in Cochin and the captain, Joost, said he took the close-to-shore route. But we think we would rather put on the extra miles and go offshore. Right now it looks like we will be in Cochin mid-day Thursday. It’s been a good passage but it will feel good to be an anchor once again.

Day 90, Year 5: Passage to Cochin, Day Nine
Date: Sunday, January 24, 2010
Weather: Hazy Horizon; Winds SW 7-10 (daytime land breeze)
Latitude: 05 degrees 56.070 minutes N
Longitude: 080 degrees 02.550 minutes E
Miles Traveled to Date: 1,111

Here’s a quick summary of the past glorious twenty-four hours:
–Motor sailing through the evening to reach our first waypoint off Sri Lanka by midnight.
–Strong winds pushing us in just the right direction by 11 pm, so off with the engine..
–Overnight broad reach sail in 18-20 knot winds with two knots of positive current in fairly calm seas-Windbird was flying!
–Best ever 24 hours from 5 am yesterday to 5 am this morning-161 miles.
–Spotted only a few ships and a few fishing boats all night. Whew!
–Passed under Sri Lanka during the day, only eight miles offshore, with no indication that land exists there. We did see two light houses, but nothing else, not even a bird. Oh, Mark did see a whale that put on a little show for him. Unfortunately, I was napping.
–Continued great sailing until we entered the Gulf of Mannar which separates Sri Lanka from India.
–Lost our wind before noon and motored until 4 pm in calm seas.
–Currently sailing again with what we assume are temporary SW winds. We are on a beam reach but the winds are only 7-10 knots.

We’ll be spending tonight, tomorrow, and most of the next night crossing the Gulf of Mannar before we reach the southern tip of India. Depending on the wind, we should reach Cochin by Thursday. Right now we seem to be in the path of ships leaving Galle, Sri Lanka headed west, so we will have to keep a sharp lookout tonight. But all is well.

Now for the salt story. There is a book named Salt that outlines the role salt had to play in the development of the civilized world. Well, you can now add our discovery of salt to that outline. This morning I fixed French toast and needed to get the maple syrup out of the cabinet over our starboard settee. Right now that starboard settee is our sea berth and the back cushions are snapped up to the ceiling covering the cabinet doors. I unsnapped the far right cushion and let it fall, along with a cascade of salt pouring out of the louvered cabinet doors. It’s amazing how much salt is in one little 500 gram container. This one was on the top of boxes on the top shelf and the foolproof lid had come off draining salt down on top of everything. And of course, when I took the cushion down, the salt then spilled on to our sheets on the sea berth. So we had a whole morning of clean-up. How I miss my shop vac. With a vacuum the job could have been done quickly, but without, it took almost two hours.

We heard Robert of Shirena and Fatty of Wild Card on the net this morning. They have left Uligan in the Maldives and are headed to Oman. We wish them both a safe passage to Salalah. That is where they will regroup before heading into the Gulf of Aden.

Day 89, Year 5: Passage to Cochin, Day Eight
Date: Saturday, January 23, 2010
Weather: Clear Skies; ENE Winds 10-15
Latitude: 06 degrees 05.886 minutes N
Longitude: 082 degrees 43.463 minutes E
Miles Traveled to Date: 947

It’s all about timing. We have had days of beautiful sailing with no deadlines, so if we went a little slower, no problem. If we went a little faster, great. But now we need to reach a waypoint by midnight tonight, so that by 9 am tomorrow morning we will be starting the sixty mile stretch along the south side of Sri Lanka. We know there are fishing fleets in that area, but they move and you never know exactly where they will be. And we are hoping to stay close to shore and negotiate the fishing fleet during the daylight hours. Then by dusk tomorrow night we will be heading across the Gulf of Mannar that separates Sri Lanka from India. The winds have died down some but our problem is that they are coming almost directly from the east. Since we are going due west, that puts the wind directly behind us, so we finally had to make a sail change and we are now motor-sailing wing and wing. The seas have increased so that we are moving forward like a Weeble Wobble. I think this was the name for those little toy people with weighed, rounded bottoms. You could push them but they wouldn’t fall over. They would just weeble wobble. And that is what the bigger seas do to us when we are sailing wing and wing. The swell goes under Windbird’s aft starboard quarter and emerges on the forward port quarter leaning us one way and then the other. Unless there is a change, we will have to continue to motor sail through the night and then possibly through the day tomorrow. When you sail as close to land as we plan, there is often no wind. But even if we have to motor for the next 24 hours, we just have to be thankful for the past week of beautiful sailing.

Today was a baking day-bread and brownies. And, of course, there was more reading and daytime naps to fill in the gaps from the nighttime watches. The nighttime sky has been spectacular, but I have really missed having moonlight to sail by. We started out with a new moon. On our second night out, the tiny little crescent set just about the time our first watch started. Last night is the first I have seen of the crescent moon. It was low in the sky when I went on watch at 10 pm and I was amazed at how much light in shed on the water. But before midnight, it set, and things were pitch black again. We had one ship pass by us last night, but that is the first ship we have seen. I have a feeling that during the next few nights, we will see lots of ships. So watches will be a little more tense. I just wish I had the moonlight to guide me.