by Judy Handley | Apr 5, 2010 | Chagos, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 161, Year 5: Change of Plans
Date: Monday, April 5, 2010
Weather: Winds ESE; Breezy Day; Squalls in the Evening
Location: Ile Fouquet, Peros Banhos Atoll, Chagos
Latitude: 05 degrees 27.415 minutes S
Longitude: 071 degrees 48.903 minutes E
Miles Traveled: 3.5 miles
Our day started with a surprise BIOT visit. The BIOT boat is a bright red ship. The boat comes about once a month to check to see if all visitors have the required permit. A team of four personnel were sent to visit us yachties in their over-sized rigid inflatable boat like our dinghy, but theirs is huge and has two 125 HP motors on the back. Luke and Trev came aboard, both young, good looking, and full of life. The Brits must pick their best and brightest for Chagos duty. Our paperwork all checked out, so they departed quickly. They did invite us to one of the famous BIOT barbeques this Wednesday in Salomon Atoll, but I don’t think we’ll be making that. We’re hoping they will come again the first of May so we can enjoy the goodies that we will have been without for at least a month-beef, chicken, pork, ice cream, and all the beer you can drink.
After the BIOT team left, we rushed to get the bread baked and chores done so we could go explore Ile du Coin. But just when we thought we were settled for a few days, the winds changed direction and put us on a lee shore. That means we were being blown in the direction of the reef that was within a stone’s throw behind us with this wind direction. Our safety depended on the anchor holding, which it usually does, but there is no room for error when you are that close to a reef. It is early for the winds to be coming from the SE. The GRIB files say we are getting winds from the SW, but in reality what we are getting is definitely winds from just E of SE. We really didn’t want to move, but after six boats left the anchorage, we finally pulled up the anchor and took off after them. Two boats stayed behind, but both of them were in slightly better positions than we were. We only had to move three and a half miles to a little island called Ile Fouquet. We came here, not for the island, but to sit behind the adjacent reef that runs north to south and allows us to sit behind it without the worry of being blown onto the reef. So we are safely in our new position. It is beautiful here, but there will be nothing on the island to explore, just lots of reef and fish to discover.
We went snorkeling this afternoon and basically did a drift dive starting at the northern end of the reef and holding on to the dinghy while drifting back toward the anchorage. The snorkeling was good but I think it will be better if we go at lower tide. The amazing thing is that the parrotfish here are not skittish. Usually it is impossible to hover over a parrotfish and watch it chomping away at the coral. But here that is possible. The parrotfish are not huge but the variety is great. And the spadefish (commonly called batfish) were amazingly curious and would almost let us touch them. And I chased a couple of Sailfin Tangs watching their amazing fins spread so that they were plate-shaped and then collapse making them look sleek with their dark zebra stripes. I’m sure we can fill many days in this little aquarium inside the reef just watching the fish.
We went to Constance for sundowners to catch up with what has been happening with Ed and Lynne. We hadn’t really seen them since we left Gan, so it was nice to get together. Our visit was cut short, however, by approaching squalls. We needed to run home to shut the hatches. It is now after dinner and we have had a couple of squalls pass over with some rain and some wind, but nothing major. This makes us doubly glad that we made the move today. It would not have been an enjoyable evening in the Ile de Coin anchorage with squalls coming through. We will return there when the winds change, but until then, we will enjoy life here at Ile Fouquet.
by Judy Handley | Apr 4, 2010 | Chagos, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 160, Year 5: Happy 3rd Anniversary to Justin and Jo
Date: Sunday, April 4, 2010
Weather: Another Gorgeous Day
Location: Ile du Coin, Peros Banhos Atoll, Chagos
Miles from Ile Diamant to Ile du Coin: 14 miles
Three years ago on this day we were in New Zealand. On April 1 we had gotten an email from Justin saying that he and Jo were engaged. We wrote back congratulating them and trying to figure out when and where the wedding would be so we could be sure and be there. Then on April 4 we got another email from Justin saying they were married! They got married on Eagle Rock atop Topanga Canyon in California. They were living in Venice Beach at the time. We were a little shocked at the speed from engagement to wedding, but we were so happy for them. Three years later they have a one-year old bundle of joy–Ziggy. He will turn one this week which is hard to believe. Justin and Jo, we wish we could be with you but we send our love and wishes for many more happy anniversaries.
I always equate Easter with the coming of spring. Baby lambs, bunnies, eggs as a sign of fertility, and the coming of warmer weather. I don’t need weather any warmer than we presently have, but I have heard from both of our kids that they are enjoying a warm weekend. Justin wrote that the desert in New Mexico is warming and that they are now able to leave the front door open so Ziggy can go out and play on the porch. After Heather and Jed’s horrendous “passage” from Washington, DC back to Cape Cod mid-week, this weekend they are enjoying weather warm enough to allow a picnic on the beach with friends. So happy spring to family and friends.
The love affair with Chagos continues. We motored the 14 miles from the north of Peros Banhos Atoll to the south this morning. It was a blue sky, sunny day with puffy white clouds around the horizon. Each little isle we passed looked like a pearl with an emerald glistening in its center. I’ve described an atoll before as a pearl necklace with the islands being the pearls. This atoll is an incomplete necklace, however, as the southeast side has lost all its pearls. The atoll is wide open from that direction and the southern winds we are having caused us to have a bit of a bouncy night last night as the swell built as it crossed the long fetch from the southeast to the northwest. So we decided to move and join the other boats already down at Ile du Coin. There is a pass to the outside of the atoll just before Ile du Coin and when we got there, we headed out to sea to try and catch a fish. We were hoping for a mahi mahi or a yellowtail tuna. These guys often hang out just outside the passes, but we weren’t quite so lucky. We did get a nice little Rainbow Runner in the Jack family. We didn’t know what it was, but people here helped identify it once we got here. It had beautiful blue and yellow horizontal stripes, so I guess that is where the “rainbow” name comes from. For the third night in a row we had fresh fish and tomorrow we will make fish cakes with the remainder. And Mark has made one step toward clearing his reputation as a bird catcher rather than a fish catcher! After catching the fish, we headed straight into the southwest corner of the atoll where the swell doesn’t have a chance to build. On the way here we passed Grande Ile Mapou, ile Pierre, Grande Soeur, Petite Soeur Ile Poule, Ile Monpatre, and Ile Anglaise. None of these islands were ever inhabitied, but Ile du Coin, where we are anchored, was the home for the coconut workers for many years. We can see what is left of a concrete loading dock and tomorrow we will explore on the island. Everything is overgrown but there some remnants of the past that can be uncovered. That will be tomorrow’s job.
by Judy Handley | Apr 3, 2010 | Chagos, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
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.
by Judy Handley | Apr 2, 2010 | Chagos, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 158, Year 5: End of the Snail Trail
Date: Friday, April 2, 2010
Latitude: 05 degrees 15.282 minutes S
Longitude: 071 degrees 46.290 minutes E
Passage Statistics:
306.65 miles in 97 hours, 15 minutes
50 hours 45 minutes Sailing
46 hours 30 minutes Motor Sailing
Fuel Usage~23 US gallons or about 45 liters
Little miracles do happen and the snails have arrived in Chagos. The wind changed during the evening and night allowing us to make it here today and it feels really good to be here. I’m sitting in the cockpit listening to the gentle surf as it heads to shore. Otherwise, it is incredibly quiet. All I can see is sky and sea and the little green islets in the large Peros Banhos Atoll. Windbird is gently rocking, the sun is setting, the horizon all around us is painted in shades of pink and lavender, and we just had freshly caught Jobfish sashimi as an appetizer. We are told by those who have been here before us that Chagos is paradise. Want to come here? Sorry, you can only get here by sailing more than half way around the world or joining the military and getting stationed in Diego Garcia, another of the Chagos atolls. This is one of those perks you get for being crazy enough to sail around the world and I think I’m going to like it here. The water is incredibly clear, the waters are teeming with fish, the air is filled with birds, and there’s nobody here but us chickens. Actually there are twenty-three boats that applied for Chagos permits this year, so there are a few ‘chickens’ spread between the two atolls we are allowed to visit. But that’s a manageable number when you divide them between the different anchorages. Right now, only Constance and Windbird are anchored off Ile Diamont. We can see one other boat anchored a little further south. We know there are about nine boats in the Ile du Coin anchorage about thirteen miles south of here and maybe another couple in another anchorage close to Ile du Coin. The other atoll, Salomon, is about fifteen miles from here and the remainder of the twenty-three boats must be there.
Have you ever wondered where the term ‘booby prize’ originated? Well, the term was actually coined by a sailor entering the pass into Peros Banhos. He was trolling a fishing line hoping to catch one of those delicious Jobfish. There were dozens of brown boobies flying behind his boat just waiting for him to catch a fish, but instead of a fish, he snared a brown booby that flew under the line and caught her wings. Luckily, he was able to reel in the bird, retrieve his lure, and cut the fishing line to let the bird go free. It took a lot of squawking and a couple of minutes to realize she was okay and then off she flew. So instead of a Jobfish, he caught the ‘booby prize.” Okay, this is not really where the term originated, but it did happen to us today and we like the story. Constance caught the Jobfish, but a shark bit off the hole back half leaving only the head and a couple of hefty filets, and we caught the “bobby prize.” We successfully let our booby prize go and Constance graciously gave us half of the half of the fish they caught.
The other prize we received was ending a passage with a salt-free, clean boat. We had enough rain this morning to give everything, including the canvas dodger and bimini covering the cockpit a good wash down. We received an email from our daughter Heather this morning and she explained that she has also been experiencing some rainy weather. Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah were returning to New England from Washington, DC by train. It had rained so much that Jed called Amtrak to make sure the things were “still on track” (Heather’s bad train pun). Amtrak assured them everything was a go, but when they arrived in New York City there was an announcement that the train would be going no further and they were told to go to Customer Service for more information. As it turns out, large chunks of I95 were underwater and the train tracks were six inches or more underwater. The only option was for them to take a bus to the train station in Providence, Rhode Island where they had left their car. It was mid-night before they got home with two very fussy little boys. It was a very long “passage” for them and in comparison, Heather’s story made us feel realize that our passage had really not been so bad after all.
by Judy Handley | Apr 1, 2010 | Passage to Chagos, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 157, Year 5: Passage to Chagos, Day 4
Date: Thursday, April 1, 2010
Weather: Totally Overcast with Squalls; Winds 8-18 SW
Latitude: 04 degrees 08.819 minutes S
Longitude: 072 degrees 14.033 minutes E
Miles to Go: 73.3
The snail trail continues with periodic interruptions for squalls. The squall we were anticipating when I was writing the log last night just ended up to be a little wind, but at 10:00 pm we got hit with a whopper that lasted until 11:30 pm. It came with 25 knot gusts of wind, lots of rain, thunder, and a lightening show. We had squalls off and on during the night and then got hit with another whopper this morning. It was so overcast last night that we didn’t see a star or the moon and we have not seen the sun since it rose this morning. During the night the wind was up and down and came from every direction imaginable with no pattern to the changes. All morning we had 15-18 knot winds from the NW and during most of the afternoon we had 15-18 knots from the SW-directly on the nose. The one-knot easterly flowing current takes us far off course to the east in one direction and when we try to sail or motor back, we end up going NW fighting the current and the lumpy seas.. We have used up two complete log pages since midnight just recording the various changes-engine on, engine off, tack to the east, tack to the west, full main and headsail, reefed headsail, furled headsail, staysail, full headsail, furl it again . . . We just can’t find the right combination. And now the winds are below 10 knots, still on the nose, and with these conditions we won’t arrive tomorrow unless a miracle happens. So it has been a very challenging twenty-four hours. I was able to nap this morning until I was almost thrown out of the sea berth even with the lee cloth in place, but since then we have not had a minute to rest until now. Mark is below trying to get some sleep. He has worn himself out today with all of the sail changes and really didn’t get much sleep last night. Mark said today that this reminds him of our eight day trip from Norfolk to St. Martin that ended up taking fourteen days in rough seas with wind right on the nose. This is not nearly that rough, but it feels as though the potential is there.
Part of our problem is the location. We are probably in the Intertropical Convergence Zone.(ITCZ) where the weather systems from the Northern Indian Ocean and the Southern Indian Ocean converge near the equator. In the Atlantic and Pacific the ITCZ is called the ‘doldrums’ and is characterized by no wind and calm seas, but in the Indian Ocean it can be quite stormy and unpredictable as we are experiencing. I think all of those interesting weather clouds I was seeing yesterday was the ITCZ. We were looking at it from the outside. But now we are in the band and probably won’t emerge from it until we reach Chagos. Mark is up and we have started the engine once again to try and make some headway toward our waypoint. I don’t want to complain too much as I know it could be much worse out here, but I’ll just say that this is not our favorite passage to date.
by Judy Handley | Mar 31, 2010 | Passage to Chagos, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 156, Year 5: Passage to Chagos, Day 3
Date: Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Weather: Partly Sunny Day; Winds NNW 10 Knots
Latitude: 03 degrees 01.658 minutes S
Longitude: 072 degrees 33.703 minutes E
Miles to Go: 143
Here’s the latest news from the snail crawl to Chagos: It’s HOT, we’ve been on an upwind slog most of the last 24 hours, the seas are now coming from the south and are choppy, during the night and early morning we had one little squall after another (very little rain and just enough wind to confuse things), and now the Chagos ETA is April 3rd, not the 2nd. Otherwise, things are great! Windbird sails just fine going into the wind as long as we have 10 knots of wind. Anything under that and it becomes a challenge. Last night we were trying to sail with 6-7 knots of wind right on the nose and we finally gave up and motored the last half of the night. By 9:00 am, however, we were able to sail again, still fighting to keep Windbird on course in the now choppy seas that cause us to bounce and our sails to lose their wind. But since 3:00 this afternoon the wind switched to the NW and now to the NNW and is a whopping 10 knots. But hey, that’s better than anything we’ve have had to date, so we’ll take it. Right now we are making 4 knots good over ground, still with better than a 1 knot current against us. If these conditions persist, we still might make it on April 2, but more than likely it will now be April 3. We heard from the BIOT (British Indian Ocean Territory) administrator today confirming our April 1st arrival. I guess that is our April Fool’s joke for this year, as we certainly won’t be arriving tomorrow.
Watching the weather develop has been most interesting on this passage. We have mountainous cumulus clouds all around the horizon. During the night and early morning it looks like a layer of wind blows under the clouds and causes the bottoms to flatten. Then a grayness starts to form near that flattened bottom. Smaller, dark gray cumulus clouds then form in front of the big white ones, and as the whole mass moves from the West to the East in front of and behind us, we start to see places where rain is falling from the gray clouds. The gray clouds then seem to stretch out forming a squall line and when we get near it, the wind increases. As we pass under and out of the gray squall line, the wind then dies away for a bit and changes direction slightly. This means readjusting the sails and just when we get everything reset, it happens all over again. This repeating process stopped mid-morning, but right now there is a humongous gray cloud just to our west blocking out the light of the sun. I guess we are starting the nighttime squall game a little early this evening. In fact, it has just sucked all the wind away and we are sitting here with sails flapping in the breeze. So it’s time to start the motor and get ready in case this one is packing more wind than we experienced earlier.
