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.
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| 100405 Day 161 Peros Banhos, Chagos–Ile du Coin Check-in, On To Ile Fouquet |
