Day 186, Year 5: A Full Anchorage
Date: Friday, April 30, 2010
Weather: Beautiful Day with Threatening Evening Clouds
Location: Ile Fouquet, Salomon Atoll, Chagos

The anchorage area in front of Ile Takamaka and Ile Fouquet is getting full. There were only three boats when we arrived here, but now there fifteen. This is really the only protected anchorage in Chagos once the southeast trades start blowing and even though they are off and on, a lot of boats have moved here. Jeff and Kathy on Mirage moved here from Boddam and will be leaving a couple of days headed back to Phuket. Another three or four Dutch boats are leaving for Mauritius and one of them has come here before leaving. We once again have the French quarter in front of Takamaka and the four American boats are all in front of Fouquet. It is possible that we will not move to Boddam but just take day trips down in the dinghy. We’ll just have to see what the weather brings.

Early this morning the Pacific Marlin came in through the pass and anchored. This time the marines were aboard and they took off in their high powered dinghies with one going to Boddam and one to the shore on Fouquet. The marines walked the beach, collected the recycling, and then snorkeled on the wrecked sailboat. Mark and I were also out there snorkeling the wreck trying to get better pictures than we did when we were there at a higher tide. We then picked up Lynne and went out to snorkel on a big bommie between our boats and the pass. The water was clear over the bommie and we enjoyed the coral and the few fish that were there. We saw a very large Emperor Angelfish which was beautiful to watch and a couple of Blunthead Platax that were extremely friendly. This fish is mostly fins. Their flat bodies are about the size of small saucer with a long dorsal fin extending upwards about six inches and a long anal fin extending downwards about six inches.. And then they have pectoral fins that hang down like a long beard. They are not colorful, just black, brown, and pale yellow, but I love watching them move through the water with their swaying fins.

Before leaving, the Pacific Marlin checked in with each boat except for those of us who were out snorkeling or exploring and they announced that they would be hosting their end of the month barbecue in Peros for the four or five boats that are still over there. So once again we are in the wrong atoll for the special BIOT barbecue, but they said they will be back the end of May, so maybe we will be in the right place for that one. We were also disappointed to learn that the boat, Mr. Curley, will not be hosting the annual Cinco de Mayo margarita bash down at Boddam this year. I guess we will just have to have our own celebration. Ed makes fantastic margaritas and I still have salsa and taco chips. We still have tomatoes, beans, and taco shells so I think we can throw something together.

I spent my entire day sorting through the remaining 160 red onions onboard, carefully peeling off outer layers of skin to get rid of the black mold between the layers. What a tedious and nasty job, but it is done and the onions should last a bit longer with the moldy layers removed. Mark cleaned off the green algae that was growing just below the waterline and prepared the cockpit area for varnishing the cap rail. This required removing the plastic panels that protect us from the rain and then taking down the bimini. This means that we are totally unprotected from the rain in the cockpit, but the hardware that holds up the canvas cockpit covering had to be removed so we can sand and varnish. He taped off everything so that we can start sanding and varnishing tomorrow morning.

Tonight we went to Constance for sundowners, along with Mirage. We had a lovely evening together and Mark, Ed, and Jeff have decided to go fishing in the morning. I’ll try to get the initial sanding and first coat of varnish on the cockpit cap rail before they leave and then go to Constance to play a mean game of Scrabble with Lynne and Kathy. But back to tonight, we just saw a rainbow in the night sky. It is sprinkling rain and with the nearly full moon shining, we could see a complete rainbow, sans color, to the west. Mark called it a moon rainbow.

Day 185, Year 5: Walk Around Takamaka
Date: Thursday, April 29, 2010
Weather: Yet Another Drop-Dead Gorgeous Day
Location: Ile Fouquet, Salomon Atoll, Chagos

From our early morning walk all around Takamaka to an incredible moonrise foreshadowed by palm trees tonight, this has been a beautiful day. Low tide was just after 8 am this morning, so at 7:30 am we headed to Ile Takamaka with Ed and Lynne of Constance. We left the dinghy on the south end of Takamaka and started walking along the south end of the island. The pass between Ile Fouquet and Ile Takamaka was shallow enough to walk, so that we did. Ed stayed closer to shore and then headed to the outer reef, but Mark, Lynne, and I headed up through the pass and then toward the outer reef. The first thing we noticed were the hundreds of Red-footed Boobies and Great Frigatebirds that were flying above us. Then we got totally engrossed in the creatures of the reef. We found strange looking crabs, a turtle, incredible little coral structures, black sponges that we have not seen before, a soft-shelled mollusk, and sea stars of different types. On the east side of the island, we met up with Ed who was coming in from the outer reef further ahead of us and we then decided to keep on going to do a circumnavigation of the island. And we are so glad that we did because the bird population on the north side of the island was absolutely incredible. We saw hundreds of Red-footed Boobies and Great Frigate birds and the highlight of the day was seeing the baby and juvenile boobies. Adult Red-footed Boobies are white with black edging on their wings, having a blue bill and red feet. They are quite striking. The babies, however, are fluffy white with black bills, and the juveniles are a glossy brown with a black bill and pinkish-red feet. We saw all three stages in abundance. We thoroughly enjoyed the birds and the huge old hardwood Takamaka trees on the north side of the island. We could see the wreck of a freighter at the outer edges of the reef and saw another turtle. The views looking toward the north end of the island were spectacular and when we rounded the corner and headed down the west side, we enjoyed looking out over the anchorage and checking out the camps along the way. As soon as we rounded the north tip, we could hear roosters crowing. These are left over from the years when this island was a coconut plantation and workers visited camps here regularly. We stopped by the well and the camp which are the remnants from the days when this was a working copra plantation. We also saw clearly a wrecked sailboat that was just another reminder to tread carefully while here.

I spent the rest of my day editing photos while Mark changed the engine oil and read. We invited Ed and Lynne over for tuna chowder tonight and we watched the most incredible moon rise we have ever seen. As the one night after full moon rose behind the palm trees on Ile Fouquet, the silhouetted palms in front of the round moon were just spectacular. It was quite a lovely ending to a most beautiful day.

Day 184, Year 5: Exploring Ile Fouquet on Land and Water
Date: Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Weather: Another Beautiful Day; Few Storm Clouds in Evening
Location: Ile Fouquet, Salomon Atoll, Chagos

There’s a moon out tonight and it was full and beautiful as it rose over Ile Fouquet. And that was a fitting ending for the day we spent concentrating on that island. Yesterday when we were snorkeling between Windbird and the island, we were looking for a wrecked sailboat that went on the reef a few years ago. We found nothing yesterday, but this morning with the extra low tide we thought we saw a bow pulpit jutting up out of the water. So we hopped in the dinghy to check it out and sure enough, it was a wrecked sailboat. It sobers one to see just what going a reef can do to a sturdy sailboat. We came back to Windbird and got a plastic bottle and a piece of line to make a float to mark the wreck so we could find it later. We also took the spare GPS and noted the location so we can mark on it our CMap charts. While we were at it, we rode out behind Constance and marked the big bommie that is out there as well. We then spent a couple of hours working. I continued to work on the Madagascar anchorages spreadsheet and Mark changed the water and fuel filters on Windbird. Then we took the dinghy to the south end of Ile Fouquet and walked around the back side. We got almost to the end of the island before the incoming tide stopped us. We had also obviously come too close to nesting red-footed boobies and they flew up from the mangroves and soared right above us until we retreated. We walked half way back the way we came along the shore and then we cut through the middle of the island. This whole island was obviously a coconut plantation. There were probably camps here at one time, but I don’t think anyone lived here permanently. When we emerged from the coconut forest we were closer to the end of the island where we left the dinghy than we thought. We walked into the present day camp that has a BIOT sign and two recycling cans and we turned to walk back out to the beach. We got to watch two noddy terns fighting or mating, I think the latter. They would fly into the top of a coconut tree and then lock beaks and float together down to the ground. The tree they had chosen for this rite had little pieces of wood nailed into to make steps. When we looked around, we found another one with steps and in the top of that one we saw a red-footed booby scratching his chin with his little red foot. They are a white bird with black along the wings, a beautiful blue bill, and red feet. Mark tried and tried to get him to fly so I could get a photo, but the booby just looked down at his antics and shook his head.

After lunch, I worked MORE on the Madagascar anchorages spreadsheet and have now finished that task. Mid-afternoon, we called Constance to see if they would like to meet us at the wreck to dive on it. They joined us and we snorkeled over the wreck and dove down to look inside. What we found was the largest grouper any of us has ever seen. He has obviously taken up residency and was not about to move just because we were poking around. He did back up under something so all we could see was his huge head. We then snorkeled over the reef that caused the sailboat to sink. We saw lots of Parrotfish and Powderblue Surgeonfish and then we saw a completely red fish with very large pectoral fins. Lynne and I followed it around and then I spotted another. I dove down to see it more closely when all of a sudden it was no longer red. It still had vertical reddish-ink stripes but the rest of it was white. At first I thought the sun was playing light tricks through the water, but Lynne confirmed what I had seen. I have been trying to find out what kind of fish this is but so far I have only found one possibility. There is a black-tipped grouper that can turn its red vertical stripes off and on. This is not the fish we saw, but maybe it is related.

We had another 5-star fish dinner with yellowfin tuna seasoned with lavender pepper, a spice from a restaurant called the Silverwater Café in Port Townsend, Washington. It is by far the best seasoning for tuna in the entire world. With that we had green beans (ala a can) stir fried with freshly picked Thai basil. The fish and potatoes were grilled and it was a delicious meal.

Tomorrow we are going to focus on exploring Takamaka. We’ll start with an early morning low tide trip to the reef between Takamaka and Ile Fouquet. And then if we can, we hope to explore the outside of Takamaka.

Day 183, Year 5: A Dinner Invitation
Date: Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Weather: Another Beautiful Day
Location: Ile Fouquet, Salomon Atoll, Chagos

Early this morning a neighbor we have not met came to invite us to dinner tonight. Jean-Alain and his wife Armelle are from Brittany in France, but they now live in Belgium. Their boat, the Armelle T, is a 17.5 meter (57 foot) boat that came in a couple of days ago. Yesterday Mark and Ed took them a huge chunk of the yellowfin tuna Ed caught. So as a good neighbor, they invited us all to dinner. We learned that they left Europe in 2003 and ended their first season in New Zealand. Then they went back to the South Pacific, up to Japan, Alaska, back down to San Francisco, and back to New Zealand. While in Raitea in French Polynesia they met Phillipe who is now permanent crew. Jean-Remy flies in from Europe to crew with them and will stay with them until they get to Mauritius. We had a great evening aboard and hope to see them again in Madagascar or South Africa.

My morning was spent in the dinghy cleaning the waterline and then the whole outside of the boat. I washed it down with Awl Wash and then put Awl Care on the green stripe at the top of the hull. I was going to Awl Care the waterline, but it was noon by this time and the water was no longer flat, so that will wait for another day. Once a boat is painted with AwlGrip paint, the recommendation is to wash the boat with Awl Wash, and then once a year apply the Awl Care. So I will continue doing a bit of this each day until the whole boat is done. Mark worked upside down in the engine room for most of the morning fixing one of the bilge pumps that got struck in the wrong position on the bumpy ride here from Peros Banhos. He also adjusted the oven as it has been unreliable lately. Then he worked on his fishing gear, replacing the lure he lost yesterday. In the afternoon, we worked together on our Madagascar anchorages spreadsheet and then we jumped in the water and snorkeled the reef in front of our boats close to the shore. The water was not as clear as we would have liked, but we had a delightful time exploring and enjoying the colorful rusty orange brain coral that is interspersed among much less colorful coral. There are some lovely little clams here that will someday be giants and the same array of fish that we have been seeing since we reached the Maldives, all of which are beautiful.

When I wrote the date for this log, I realized it is my niece Jennifer’s birthday. And then I remembered that yesterday was the birthday of another niece, Candi. So happy birthday Jennifer and Candi.

Day 182, Year 5: BIG Yellowfin and Visiting Takamaka
Date: Monday, April 26, 2010
Weather: Beautiful Day
Location: Ile Fouquet, Salomon Atoll, Chagos

An early morning fishing expedition resulted in a whopper of a yellowfin tuna. Ed caught this one and it was big enough to feed all five boats in the anchorage here for two days. So we will definitely have sushi tonight. Ahi is the name for yellowfin tuna in Hawaii and the Portuguese call it atum albacora, whereas the Japanese refer to it as kiwadamaguro. These fish have long bright yellow dorsal fins and a yellow stripe down their steel-blue backs. When caught and canned, they are referred to as “light” tuna. But we know first hand that it makes great sushi. So tonight we went to Constance for sundowners and we took sushi and sashimi and Chagos rum punch. John and Susan Margaret from the boat named Susan Margaret joined us. John is from the UK and Sue is originally from Durban in South Africa. They met climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and then both worked in Dubai. They have been to Chagos before and have sailed the Persian Gulf. This year they are headed to Madagascar and then on to South Africa. They are not leaving here until sometime in late June, but I’m sure we will see them again in Madagascar.

In the afternoon, Mark, Ed, and I headed out in the dinghy to Takamaka to burn garbage and get water. We took the dinghy into the pass between the Ile Fouquet and Ile Takamaka and wove our way through the coral. When we got almost to the southern tip of the Takamaka, we turned and motored north along the shore. The water was probably about three feet deep all along the shore. We first came to a 55 gallon drum on the shore that has been placed there for burning garbage, so we did just that. Then we continued on until we came to a break in the greenery. We brought the dinghy up on shore and took our water jugs inland a bit. We got water but it smells a bit Sulphurous and there are a few leaves and twigs mixed in. John and Sue tell us we will also find mosquito larvae in it, so I might only use this for washing clothes, certainly not for washing dishes. We’ll have to see if it is okay for showers, but every little bit keeps us from running the watermaker and that saves fuel. The highlight of the trip was the sighting of two beautiful rays. The first one was small and black but we were amazed by how fast it moved away from us. The second was a large ray with at least a six-foot wing span. It moved much slower and was so graceful as it swam by the dinghy. What a treat to see such beautiful animals. We feel so privileged to be here. It is just impossible to describe in words how beautiful it is.

Tomorrow is an in-the-water day. We hope to snorkel in between cleaning the waterline of Windbird. It has started to grow a lovely green algae that needs to be removed ASAP.

Day 181, Year 5: Visit to the Chagos Social Center
Date: Sunday, April 25, 2010
Weather: Beautiful, Windy Day; Lightening Tonight
Location: Ile Fouquet, Salomon Atoll, Chagos

On April 25, 1915, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (the Anzacs) joined French and British troops in an assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. It was their first act in the First World War and it failed tragically. Nevertheless, since that time the Aussies and Kiwis honor their military on April 25. It is like Memorial Day in the US, but for the Australians and New Zealanders it’s called Anzac Day. Today was that day, so the Aussies here in Chagos hosted a cruiser swap shop at the Boddam camp in honor of Anzac. Ed, Lynne, Mark, and I headed off in our dingy from our calm anchorage at 9:30 am and by the time we were half-way across the atoll, we realized that it was very windy outside of our little anchorage. Ile Boddam is about three miles from here and is the main anchorage for cruisers visiting Chagos, but when the southeasterly winds set in, it is a bit bumpy. It was that way today and has been for about four days. The veterans who come here year after year say winds like today are unusual before mid-May, but we are certainly glad we are anchored here and not there right now. The boat, Mr. Curly, was the organizer of today’s event and it was great to meet the other cruisers. Ile Boddam was the main community in Chagos during the years when these islands were inhabited and it was the center of the copra industry. We’re hoping the winds will calm a bit in a few days so we can go down and anchor off Boddam to explore and get to know the other cruisers there better, but we will just have to see what happens with the weather.

There are the remnants of a pier on Boddam but it is right next to shore versus the long pier in Peros Banhos at Ile du Coin. The entire anchorage at Boddam is filled with coral bommies and people do not anchor there. They wrap chain around designated coral heads which serve as moorings. There are fewer boats here this year than there have been for a number of years. People who have been here before have seen as many as forty boats at Boddam, but today there were only ten. But that was a great number to be able to meet everyone and have some good conversations. Lynne and I are going to compare notes tomorrow, but we think there are only ten boats headed to Africa this year, versus at least double that number last year, and all but one other are going south to Mauritius for a few months before heading back up to Madagascar. Because we want to spend more time there, we are going directly, but it looks like Constance will be the only other boat going that way with us in early June. So we’ll have the whole west coast of Madagascar to ourselves! I doubt that will be the case, but we shall just have to wait and see.

On our way home we stopped to snorkel one of the many bommies near the reef. The place we chose was nice, but there weren’t as many fish as we had hoped to see. We had wanted to do another afternoon snorkel, but by the time we got back and had lunch, it was time to get ready for dinner. We had Ed and Lynne over for a taste test of marinated Bonito and Yellowfin. Lynne doesn’t care for Bonito, but I wanted her to try it with our marinade. She found it tolerable but still likes the Yellowfin better. Ed, Mark, and I find the Bonito more like beef tenderloin with no fishy taste at all. So the marinade really works to mask the taste of fishy Bonito.

Tomorrow morning Mark and Ed will go fishing and try to retrieve the lure that snagged on coral yesterday. In the afternoon I hope to go to Takamaka and find the well that is there. We can use the water for showers and washing clothes, but another boat that has been using the well says it is best not to use it for washing dishes. So we will spend this week exploring Ile Fouquet and Ile Takamaka and getting to know the other couple of boats that in are in this anchorage.

Day 180, Year 5: A Quiet Day
Date: Saturday, April 24, 2010
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds, Squalls All Day
Location: Ile Fouquet, Salomon Atoll, Chagos

Our first full day in Salomon Atoll was a rather quiet one due to the weather. The first little squall of the day woke us early and these “little’ squalls continued all day. There were very black clouds, a little wind and just a sprinkling of rain. Then it would clear and we would open up all the hatches. Then another squall would develop. This is still continuing into the night.

Lynne of Constance called early this morning to tell us that friends at Boddam, the main island in this atoll, had called to tell those of us in this anchorage that there will be a swap meet at 10 am. It will really be more of a social event than a swap meet, and anyone attending has to bring a breakfast pastry. I was already taking advantage of the unsettled weather to bake bread so I just turned one loaf into cinnamon rolls to take to Boddam. While getting out the raisins for the cinnamon rolls, I found some Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips that have been onboard since we left Boston, so I decided to also bake chocolate chip cookies just to see how five year-old Ghirardelli chips taste. The cookies are delicious, so I guess chocolate only gets better with age.

In the afternoon, Mark and Ed went fishing and got a Yellowfin and another Bonito. Mark got yet another lure caught on the reef, so Mark and Ed will return on Monday morning at low tide and try to retrieve it. We are having a tough time keeping ourselves in lures. Yesterday on the way here, the brown boobies once again attacked our lure. This time we didn’t catch one, but they totally destroyed the squid-like lure. It has no tentacles left. When Mark and Ed got home from the fishing venture, Mark and I took our dinghy and trolled along the reef as we headed to the southern tip of Ile Fouquet. We went ashore to find the “camp” where BIOT has bins for recycling cans and glass. It was getting late in the day and there were black clouds all around us, so we didn’t stay long to explore. Tomorrow we will take the dinghy to Boddam, spend the morning meeting folks there, and then snorkel some of the bommies on the way back. From this distance I count about ten boats anchored at Boddam and there are six of us here at Ile Fouquet. We left eight boats in Peros Banhos so it seems we have a grand total of about twenty-four cruising boats in Chagos this year.

Day 179, Year 5: Ile Fouquet to Ile Fouquet
Date: Friday, April 23, 2010
Weather: Overcast, Squally, Seas 1.5 Meters, Winds SE to ESE 15 Knots
Location: Ile Fouquet, Salomon Atoll, Chagos
Latitude: 05 degrees 20.299 minutes S
Longitude: 072 degrees 15.768 minutes E

Remember the rule-never leave port on a Friday. Well, we broke the rule today and paid the price. We had a bumpy, squally ride to Salomon Atoll, but we are here and anchored in front of another Ile Fouquet. Constance called on the radio last night and said they were thinking of leaving today so we said we’d tag along. It was either leave today or tomorrow as the winds are supposed to die out by Sunday. That would means we would have to motor, but as it was, we had to motor half of the day anyway. We had wind but it was often on the nose and we had to use the motor to assist. We made it with just an hour to spare before dark. This Ile Fouquet is much bigger than the one we just left in Peros Banhos and not as dramatic looking, but I do love the tree on shore that is full of some sort of white birds tonight. I will be anxious to check that out tomorrow.

The REALLY good news of the day is that Jonah was a real trooper and now has those tubes inserted in his ears. He was a little fussy in the recovery room, but by the time he got home, he was ready to go to the backyard and play with Sam. We got this news from Heather when we sent the log last night, so we slept peacefully knowing all was well. Now we just have to hope that the tubes work and that Jonah does not get repetitive ear infections.

Tomorrow we will begin to explore Salomon Atoll, beginning with Ile Fouquet. Next door is Takamaka (I love that name.) and we might take a peak there as well. We will stay here for a few days before moving down to Ile Boddam. Like Ile du Coin in Peros Banhos Atoll, Ile Boddam was populated at one time. It is the go-to island in the Chagos for most cruisers and has an active social life. There are volley ball games in the afternoon and cruisers are there that come here year after year from Southeast Asia. I think being there will be a bit like summer camp, but if the BIOT boat comes at the end of the month and has another barbecue for cruisers, it will be at Boddam and we will venture down there to take part. So my best guess is that we will be here for a week and then move to Boddam.

Day 178, Year 5: Thinking of Jonah
Date: Thursday, April 22, 2010
Weather: Lots of Rain Early, then Overcast; Winds ESE 12-15 Knots
Location: Ile Fouquet, Peros Banhos Atoll, Chagos

Today has been a day all about thinking of Jonah. He is just shy of ten months old and it doesn’t seem fair that he has had constant ear infections since December. But he has and today is the day that he is having tubes inserted. At 5 pm here it was 8 am on the Cape and that was the time of the procedure. Jonah had to be at the hospital at 6:45 am and be put under general anesthesia for the 8 am procedure. It is now 6 pm here and 9 am on the Cape, so he should be reunited with Mom, Dad, and Sam. At 4:55 pm I was working in the kitchen and all of a sudden I was overcome and almost in tears. I looked at the clock and realized that Jonah was probably just about to get those tubes inserted. Then at 5:20 pm, I got this huge feeling of relief. So I am assuming all is well. I might be thousands of miles away, but something has surely kept me connected to Jonah and East Falmouth, Massachusetts today. Jonah has the most incredible deep set BIG blue eyes you have ever seen topped by Handley eyebrows that turn down when he laughs. So Jonah, we are thinking of you and seeing you smiling and laughing. We so hope that is what is happening right now.

Our day started at 6:30 am with a deluge of rain accompanied by strong winds. When we looked out we could see nothing except for Constance and she was right next to us. Something was wrong but we weren’t sure what. It took us some time to figure out what was happening, but eventually Mark was sure that our anchor chain was wrapped around a bommie and that was keeping us from swinging normally. By 8 am the deluge was over, we had filled a few buckets with rain water and put them in our tanks, and we had used the engine to move us so that the chain was freed from the bommie. So all was well even though it was quite an exciting early morning. The rain stopped but the sky was totally overcast for the rest of the day and the winds never subsided. Since the only thing between us and the outside is the reef, it is a bit bouncy but not bad. We continued with rainy day projects. The main job of the day and the success of this year to date was that Mark took down the wind generator to finally check out what might be causing it to work sometimes and totally quit at other times when it should be working. This has been a problem since we left Thailand, but we have hesitated to take the generator down fearing that we would do something to totally screw it up. But the job was actually easier than expected. One of the brushes in the head was sideways therefore making contact occasionally with ground which caused the generator to brake to a stop. It would start up again and repeat the braking as soon as it got enough speed to generate electricity. Mark could immediately see the problem and fix it. So he reinstalled it and it has been working great all day. We do hope this is a true fix as we are getting great power despite the clouds that are keeping the sun from powering the solar panels. When I was not assisting Mark with the wind generator project, I was defrosting the refrigerator. Our refrigerator has a wrap-around cold plate that frosts up. It is just like the tiny little freezer compartment that froze ice in the refrigerator I grew up with. So every couple of weeks I have to take everything out and use hot water to defrost it. Other jobs included cleaning out the anchor locker and doing more Madagascar research. The more I research, the more excited I get about going there. But I will write about that later.

Day 177, Year 5: Rainy Day Projects
Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Weather: Off & On Rain All Day; Winds ESE 12-15 Knots
Location: Ile Fouquet, Peros Banhos Atoll, Chagos

After moving everything off the v-berth yesterday, we enjoyed our first night sleeping there last night. It was much cooler-so windy and cool and that I had to have a top sheet. So we will keep things this way while we are here in Chagos. Because we both took showers yesterday, I used the shower water to soak the sheets from the aft cabin bed overnight. That’s why it rained. Every time I soak sheets overnight and get them ready to hang out in the morning, it rains. But I went ahead and washed the mattress cover and material that has been covering the v-berth, and most everything is dry tonight. It has been very windy, so drying could happen in between rains. It is a little labor intensive bringing clothes in when it rains and then hanging them out again, but it works. Today we got under the v-berth and rearranged things. We put the huge spinnaker back under the bed and got out the candy-stripped boat covers that we will use in Salomon while doing our varnishing projects. Getting under the v-berth prompted Mark to clean out the huge drawer that he keeps electronic gear in and I cleaned out the cabinet in the v-berth and ended up gathering all of the batteries we have onboard and getting those better organized. In the afternoon, Mark worked on re-rigging his fishing pole with stronger line and I started mapping out our Madagascar anchorages. This requires reading every bit of information we have and then using what we know to make tentative plans for our three months there. It looks like we will have no trouble spending that much time there. The unusual geologic formations and unique plants and animals will certainly keep us busy for three months. It looks like most anchorages might be a bit rolly, but we’ll just have to put up with that so we can enjoy such a special place in the world.

Mark, Ed, and I went out in the dinghy mid-day to recover the lure Mark lost yesterday and found it amazingly quickly. Mark swam in one direction and Ed in the other, and Ed picked the closest route as he found it almost immediately. Both tried fishing from the boat this afternoon. Mark caught something, or rather something caught Mark and immediately went under some coral. It must have taken almost an hour for whatever it was to rid itself of the hook and escape, but at least Mark got back all his gear this time. We had the Bonito caught yesterday for dinner tonight and despite everyone saying that it is not a good eating fish, we found it to be quite good. I marinated it in the marinade recipe I inherited from my sister Margie and that was the magic formula. Oceanic Bonito and Skipjack Tuna are used interchangeably, but evidently Bonito should have a lighter pink meat. The fish Mark caught yesterday had dark meat like Skipjack, but whatever it was it was quite good when marinated and grilled. So we’ll stop throwing all of these fish back. They are easy to catch and small enough that you can eat it all in two days. So a couple of these a month would be great.