Day 159, Year 5: I Think I’m in Love
Date: Saturday, April 3, 2010
Weather: Gorgeous
Location: Ile Diamant, Peros Banhos Atoll, Chagos
Yes, I think I’m in love. It was love at first sight. This anchorage is so nice that we just couldn’t move on today. Ed and Lynne of Constance left to head to the southern anchorage at Ile du Coin where all of the other boats are anchored, but we decided to stay put and soak in the peaceful beauty. It helps that there is very little wind as we are anchored very close to a reef, but the holding is good and we will move on tomorrow. This place looks like those screensaver photos showing little white sand islands dotted with palm trees–paradise. We have just barely begun our Chagos experience, but it has been a good start.
Mark played detective today. We had a couple of leaks in strange places on this passage, so Mark tracked those down and took care of the problems. I worked on a summary of our voyage since leaving Bundaberg, Australia in 2008. We went snorkeling and saw four new fish and turtle. Our new fish sightings included what we think is called a Cuvier Butterflyfish (Chaetodon triangulum), an Emperor Angelfish, a rather large Blacksaddle Coralgrouper, and the ugliest and meanest looking fish we have ever seen, a Camouflage Grouper. This big blob of a fish looked right at us and opened its big mouth to scare us away. But when Mark dove down closer, he hid under a rock. Just when I was following the Emperor Angelfish, a smallest turtle swam by and we took off to swim with her. We are anchored in 25 feet of water and not far from us the coral shelf begins. At low tide, much of the coral is exposed, and most has been bleached. So it is not as colorful as some, but it was a very nice afternoon snorkel and the perfect way to cool down.
I finally found my water thermometer that was carefully put away when we had the boat painted last year. It was so carefully put away that we couldn’t find it. But Mark finally remembered seeing it in the chart table. Not sure who put it there, but we’re glad to have it back. The water temperature here is 88 degrees Fahrenheit, exactly the same as the air temperature in the shade. So it is hot, even in the water. But it still cools you off.
Our other task today was to figure out how many miles we have come since Boston to get to Chagos and the total is 26,400 nautical miles. I don’t think it is that far around the world if you could go around at the equator with no side trips, but unfortunately there is a lot of land in the way, so we have gone up and down and around. And the scary part is that we still have 10,000 nautical miles to go just to get back to an island in the Caribbean that will complete our circumnavigation. I won’t consider the completion until Boston, but we’ll certainly have a celebration when we reach Union Island in the Grenadines.
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| 100403 Day 159 Peros Banhos, Chagos–Ile Diamant |
