by Judy Handley | Mar 30, 2010 | Passage to Chagos, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 155, Year 5: Passage to Chagos, Day 2
Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Weather: Partly Sunny Day; Winds W 2-6 Knots
Latitude: 02 degrees 04.335 minutes S
Longitude: 072 degrees 45.735 minutes E
Miles to Go: 201
Poco Andantes-slower than walking. That is the way we are currently traveling to Chagos, but the seas are calm and it is very peaceful. We sometimes get 2-3 knots of wind, so we motor. Then we get 4-6 knots of wind and we snail, I mean sail. We have had a full knot of current against us since leaving Gan Atoll so our speed over ground when sailing averages about 1.8 knots; when motoring at 1500 RPM’s we go a whopping 3 knots. We’ve only traveled 66 miles since this time yesterday, so the new Estimated Time of Arrival is sometime on Friday, April 2 unless something changes in the weather.
We had hitchhikers last night. About five Sooty Terns decided that they wanted a free ride and nothing we could do would dissuade them. They perched on the bow pulpit, on the solar panels, and on the grill always leaving their happy little droppings behind them. These are rather large birds and when we tried to shoo them away, they would fly at us and squawk mightily. I love birds, but I have learned not to love them on my boat. The clean-up is no fun at all. We also had a beautiful full moon last night and even though it was very cloudy, the moon light shone through and lit the way for us. My big accomplishment for the day was unwrapping each of seventy-five tomatoes I have in a basket to check ripening progress. The twenty-eight tomatoes on the bottom layer were green in Cochin and are now yellow. The middle and top layers were just beginning to ripen when we left Cochin and they are still not fully ripe. I lost only six that were rotten, so hopefully wrapping each tomato in newspaper is working Mark and I also worked on route planning figuring out how many miles from one destination to another. We are writing a summary of miles to date and miles to go and will put that in a log later in the week when it is complete.
Here’s hoping that our little bit of wind lasts through the night and that the east setting current diminishes soon. In the meantime, we will enjoy the peace and quiet.
by Judy Handley | Mar 29, 2010 | Passage to Chagos, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 154, Year 5: Passage to Chagos, Day 1
Date: Monday, March 29, 2010
Weather: Overcast/Dark Storm Clouds; Winds NW 5-15
Latitude: 00 degrees 01.931 minutes S
Longitude: 073 degrees 04.262 minutes E
Miles to Go: 266
Once again there is wind where there was not supposed to be wind. But we’ll take it. I just wish it were steady. It will be 3-5 knots for 45 minutes and then 10-15 for an hour and back and forth. So we motor, then sail, then motor, then sail. The seas have been fairly calm so far, but the fact that the swell is coming from the SE and the wind is coming from the NW and there is an east setting current could all combine to make for rough seas if the winds get stronger. So even though what we have is not stable, I’d rather have this than strong winds and rough seas or no wind at all. We’ve only been out here five and a half hours, so it is much too soon to tell what is going to happen. This is a passage about the same number of miles as it was from India to Uligan in the northern Maldives. It was about 275 miles from Cochin to Uligan and this passage should be about 290 miles. It should take two to three days depending . . . At this point it looks like we will arrive on April 1st. I hope the joke is not on us! If the clouds clear, we will have an almost full moon and that will make me happy. I love the moon light at night when I am on watch.
Watch for us begins at 7 pm. We do three-hour watches, so Mark is in the cockpit reading and watching from 7-10 pm. He wakes me up, he brings me up-to-date on anything of importance like ship lights, other sailboat locations, and any changes in the weather. By 10:30 pm he is in bed and I am watch until 1:30 am. I sometimes write emails while on watch, name photos, or read using a headlamp that can quickly be switched off and on. Whatever I do, every 15 minutes I stop and do a complete lights out 360 degree visual sweep, slowly looking for lights in the night. If we see lights, activities stop and we just watch until we are sure that whatever it is out there, will pass by us safely. At mid-night, I record all vital statistics in the log book and figure out how many miles we have gone in the last 24 hours. And the main thing we do on watch is keep Windbird on course, adjust sails as needed, and record any changes in sail configuration or weather changes in the log book. By 4:30 or 5:00 am I am on watch again just in time to watch the sunrise. This is by far my favorite watch. I love watching the dark sky begin to lighten and the colors that change from gray to pastels and sometimes to bold reds and oranges just as the sun peaks above the horizon. Then all of a sudden the sky is Robin Egg blue and puffy white clouds here and there. Or at least that is the way I like it best. By 8:00 Mark is usually up and then we do a loose watch arrangement during the day. We have breakfast and take care of any chores that need to be done. By 10:30 am, I go down below to nap for an hour or two and by the time I get up, it is time to fix lunch. After lunch, Mark and I both do watch together, switching off depending on what needs to be done below. By 3:30 pm, Mark goes down for a nap, but he never sleeps more than an hour. While he is sleeping, I watch and read or write emails. At 4:30 pm I start writing this daily log and by 5:00 pm we record the latitude and longitude and send the log and a position report to Yotreps. I then fix dinner and we eat as the sun goes down. We make any major sail changes needed to get ready for the night, and if we have timed things just right, I have about thirty minutes to read before heading to bed at 7:00 pm. And then the whole schedule begins again.
We left at 11:30 am this morning thinking that if we left earlier we will arrive in Peros Banhos during the night, but you never know what your speed is really going to be, so it is all a crap shoot anyway. But the extra time this morning gave us time to use the last of our internet time, write and send the last postcards, prepare the cabin for passage, and get everything on deck ready without having to rush. We had Ed and Lynne of Constance over for dinner last night which gave us a chance to show them our underwater photos from the Maldives. We also showed them photos of our beautiful grandkids that we are missing so very much.
by Judy Handley | Mar 28, 2010 | Maldives - Addu Atoll, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 153, Year 5: Ready to Head to Chagos
Date: Sunday, March 28, 2010
Weather: Partly Cloudy, No Wind but Rolling Wave
Location: Gan Island, Addu Atoll, Maldives
To me, getting ready to head to Chagos feels a little bit like preparing to drop off the face of the earth for a bit. We are making our last contacts with kids, buying enough food and fuel to last for the next few months, and topping up the propane cooking gas tanks. When I say that there is nothing in Chagos other than coconut trees, bilimbi trees (more about those in a later log), and fish in the water, I really mean it. Except, of course, on the island of Diego Garcia where there is a US military base that is strictly off limits. There will be twenty some cruising boats with permits to anchor in Peros Banhos and Salomon Islands, but other cruisers on boats are the only people we will see until the BIOT boat comes through to check our permits or to invite us aboard their boat for a barbeque dinner. You have to be prepared to be totally self-sufficient. We think we are, but we’ll not really know until we get there and see how it goes.
The really, really good news of the day was that we finally were able to connect with our daughter Heather, her husband Jed, and boys Sam and Jonah very early this morning. For whatever reason, we can only make successful Skype calls in the morning hours. So we got up at 4 am to try and catch Sam and Jonah before their bedtime. We got to also see Jed’s parents, Marti and Donald. They had all been to the National Zoo during the day but still had enough energy for the call. We got to see Jonah stand up all by himself for a few seconds and got to see him happy and giggling. He’s grown up so much since we last saw him in early October. Sam told us about some of the animals he saw at the zoo and gave us the greatest joy by just letting us watch him and Jonah play. On Wednesday we had a great call with Justin, Jo, and Ziggy and now we’ve had our call with Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah. It could be months (South Africa in October) before we get to see them via Skype again. In the meantime, email and phone calls will just have to do, but we are already missing seeing them.
Filling our propane tank through the drip method did actually work. Both of our 20-pound tanks are now full. We have a huge stalk of green bananas hanging from the arch on the back of the boat and all the food storage areas are absolutely full. Mark and Ed spent the morning going to the island of Hithadhoo to check out, so look out Chagos, here we come.
by Judy Handley | Mar 27, 2010 | Maldives - Addu Atoll, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 152, Year 5: Snorkeling and Provisioning
Date: Saturday, March 27, 2010
Weather: Beautiful Day; No Wind
Location: Gan Island, Addu Atoll, Maldives
We started our day by joining an Equator Village Resort snorkeling trip. There are two bright yellow tourist boats that are moored right beside us and when we walked to the resort to join the snorkeling trip, it was one of those boats that picked us up. We headed to the north side of the atoll to a very nice snorkeling site. It was a wide reef top with lots of stony coral, especially table corals. We saw a nice array of fish, a beautiful eel, and a very shy octopus. We were glad that we went.
Once we returned it was time to turn our attention to the details of getting ready to leave. Getting our propane cooking gas tank filled was a number one priority. Our agent, Mas-ood, arranged for someone to pick up the tank and get it filled. It was returned last night and was not even half full. It was explained to us that they only way they can fill our tank here is the drip method. This means hanging one full tank above our empty, connecting the tanks with tubing, and then letting gravity do its thing. Well, the professionals could only get eight pounds of gas in our twenty pound tank. After going back to the bank to get more money, Mark and I went to the little hardware store here on Gan and rented a full tank of propane. After seven hours, a couple of pounds of gas have dripped through the system, but we still have a ways to go. Lynne and I walked across the causeway to Feydoo to visit Two Plus One, the little supermarket we like. We picked up the carrots we bought the other day, and I bought some more limes, some peppers that look like Hungarian Banana peppers, laundry detergent, and razor blades. Nothing is cheap here, but at least some things are available that we weren’t able to get in India (like liquid laundry detergent). We each order a stalk of bananas to be picked up tomorrow and then we started the walk back to the anchorage. We made a quick stop at Supermarket 3 and then back to Gan.
At 5:15 in the late afternoon, we tried giving Heather, Jed, and boys a call on Skype. We just can’t figure out the Skype issue here. Sometimes we have a great connection and other times we just get the “unable to complete your call” message. This evening was one of those times, so we called the telephone instead of the computer and made arrangements to try another call at 7 pm Washington, DC time (4 am here). Lynne had invited Mark and I over for pizza tonight, so promptly at 6 pm we jumped in the dinghy and went over to Constance. It was a fabulous pizza dinner and we enjoyed the time to talk about our upcoming passage to Chagos.
Tomorrow’s big job is getting checked out and then doing the final, final shopping before departing here on Monday morning. Chagos, here we come.
by Judy Handley | Mar 26, 2010 | Maldives - Addu Atoll, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 151, Year 5: The End of the Freezer Story
Date: Friday, March 26, 2010
Weather: Partly Overcast Day with Wind and Sprinkles Early Morning
Location: Gan Island, Addu Atoll, Maldives
Late last we night talked to my sister Patsy and Jean and Ken of Renaissance 2000 (in St. Maarten) via Skype
Snorkeling in the early morning-lots of beautiful fish
Waiting . . .
Waiting . . .
Mid-afternoon Ali and Riyadh arrived to work on the freezer unit.
So it is now 6:30 pm and I am sitting here alone still WAITING. When Ali and Riyadh arrived in mid-afternoon, they hooked everything up with great expectations. The compressor seemed to be working and there appeared to be no leaks, but still the unit did not cool. Then Ali asked where we got the R134A gas that they have been using to charge the system. We said, “India.” And he said, “Corruption-that’s the problem.” Joking or not, we then started wondering whether or not the tank had been refilled with the proper gas. We bought the tank in Thailand and when it was delivered to us it was not unnecessarily heavy. We used the gas on the way to India to try and recharge the failing system and on the first day when the refrigeration guys came to Windbird in Cochin, they used the remaining gas. They then took the tank to get it filled. R134A is written in large letters on the tank and we assume they knew what to get. But this afternoon after having the tank on for quite a long period of time, it did not frost up or even feel cool. That is when Ali wondered aloud if the gas might be the problem. So off they went, Mark in tow, back to the island of Hithadhoo to get their tank of R134A.
It is now 7:30 pm. Mark, Ali, and Riyadh returned, tried their tank of R134A gas and still no freezer. They think the problem has to be the expansion valve because they believe the compressor is working. They would be willing to keep working on this, but Mark and I had decided last night that if it was not working at the end of the day today, we were going to close the case. And that is what we have done. Riyadh didn’t want to give up and he apologized for not being able to get it running. He is a good man and I think eventually he could have figured this out, but we are just so tired of spending day after day doing nothing but focusing on the freezer problem and we just decided enough is enough. When we are on a dock in South Africa we might look into the situation again, but for now we will simply learn to live without a freezer. In fact, like it or not, we already have.
So here’s the plan. We are going to join a resort snorkeling trip in the morning, do our last bit of shopping in the afternoon, and check out on Sunday. Bright and early Monday morning we will be headed to Chagos. How’s that for affirmative action!
by Judy Handley | Mar 25, 2010 | Maldives - Addu Atoll, Sailing Logs Year 5 |
Day 150, Year 5: The Continuing Freezer Story
Date: Thursday, March 25, 2010
Weather: Another Beautiful Day
Location: Gan Island, Addu Atoll, Maldives
A thousand Rufiah is the equivalent of 78 US dollars. We went to the bank on Monday and withdrew 2,000 Rufiah, spent that, and went back yesterday get another 1,000 Rf, spent that, and that meant another looooooong walk back to the bank today. I was planning to go alone, but at the last minute we found out that the refrigeration guys were not coming at 10:30 am but rather at 12 noon. So Mark went with me and started the trek north. Amazingly, once again our Sri Lankan friend Lal drove by and picked us up for part of the trip. But he was not going very far. We then started walking again and a taxi driver tried to convince us that we need to ride with him. But we convinced him that we needed to walk. Just as we were getting ready to cross the causeway to the third island of Maradhoo, the same taxi driver stopped and offered us a free ride to the ATM. His name was Moosa and we were hot and tired and got in. He took us to the bank, was very helpful, and we decided to have him take us back to the second island of Feydoo to a pharmacy. There is a cruiser in the Chagos who is having a very bad back problem and Ed and Lynne’s friends that are there asked them to pick up some medications. They gave us the list since we were going north today, and Moosa took us to the pharmacy and made sure we got the medications we needed. We then walked back to Gan. We got back to Windbird in time to have lunch before the Riyadh and Ali returned with our compressors.
Now for the “freezer story” for today. Basically, they believe both compressors work fine but there is still a problem. So what we think we know is that we spent $1,000 on a new compressor we didn’t need, but still don’t have a freezer. Riyadh thinks there might be a problem in the cold plate, so we removed that and he took it back to his shop. Tomorrow is a holy day here, a non-work day, but Riyadh and Ali left their equipment here and said they would return tomorrow with the cold plate. If things don’t work then, we are going to say that we gave it our best shot and simply forget about having a freezer until we get back to the US.
When the refrigeration team arrived at the dock, Mark went in to pick them up and drop me off for a little Gan Island adventure. I just wanted to walk around the island and see what was there. I also wanted to go to the Post Office to send early birthday presents to Jo and Heather. Prior to 1956, Gan Island was a community of Maldivians. But in 1956 when the British could no longer use Sri Lanka as a base, the British built a Royal Air Force base in Gan. All of the people living on Gan were moved to the next island north, Feydoo. Causeways were built to connect the island of Gan to Feydoo to Maradhoo to Hithadhoo. But then in 1976, the British pulled out leaving Gan as a military base ghost town. Still no one really lives on the island, but many of the barracks are used to house resort employees. The Equator Village, a truly affordable Maldivian resort, is a resort of refitted barracks. The resort has used a mass of tropical plants to hide the fact that the housing is really barracks and they have done a good job of this. I went there to see if we could join one of their daily snorkeling trips and found that we can for $10 US per person. On Saturday we will definitely do this. I found the Post Office and mailed my packages and then headed back to Windbird.
When I arrived, Riyadh was still working hard below and Ali was sitting in the cockpit relaxing. I think his main job is that of an interpreter as he speaks very good English, but Riyadh does most of the work. I learned from Ali that the most beautiful women in Addu Atoll live on the island of Feydoo and the most brilliant men live on Hithadhoo (which is where Ali lives). On the serious side, I learned that young people in this atoll that want to go beyond grade 10 must pass the Cambridge test. It used to be the Oxford, which Ali says was easier, but now it is the Cambridge. You can then go on to grades 11 and 12. If you want to further your education you can either go to the capital of Male and spend about 15,000 Rf ($1,100 US) per month to live or you can go to Sri Lanka and get a higher education for about $300 US per month. So most young people go to ‘Lanka’.
So our saga will continue tomorrow when Riyadh and Ali return. If the freezer system does not work with this newest fix, then we are going to hang it up. In the meantime, we hope to get in an early morning snorkel here in the anchorage and the pass leading in. We are seeing turtles and rays in the anchorage, and locals are diving and coming up with octopus, so there must be something here to see.
We were successful in talking to my sister and brother-in-law via Skype with video tonight, and then we got a call from sailing friends Ken and Jean on Renaissance 2000. They were calling from St. Maarten in the Caribbean. As always, it was great to talk with them and they gave us tips for our upcoming year of cruising. We love the cruiser network.
