Day 175, Year 5: Walking From Island to Island
Date: Monday, April 19, 2010
Weather: Rain Overnight; Sunny Day; Winds 10-12 SE
Location: Ile Fouquet, Peros Banhos Atoll, Chagos
I like the idea of walking on water from island to island, but I must admit that we actually walked IN the water from island to island today. After dropping Constance’s dinghy off at the far end of Ile Fouquet, Mark and Ed dropped Lynne and I off on a sand bar between Ile Fouquet and the next little island to the west. The guys then took off for Ile du Coin to fish and get water. Lynne and I walked on the sand bar and in the water to get to Mapou De L’Ile Fouquet and then started our trek back to Ile Fouquet. The reef and sandbar walk today was not nearly as interesting as yesterday’s reef walk, but we did see three different eels. That was about it for wildlife. Our low tide timing was good and we got back to Ile Fouquet while the tide was still out. I had joked about having the swim the last little bit, but the water just wasn’t coming back in that quickly. We got to the end of Ile Fouquet and then walked its length to get back to the dinghy we had left there earlier. The tide was still very low so we had to pull the dinghy out until the water got a bit deeper and then we rowed until the water was deep enough to lower the engine. We got back to our boats around noon, but Mark and Ed did not return from their foray until 1:30 p.m. And they returned with no fish, again. Mark lost another lure, and caught and lost another needlefish. As far we know these are not good for eating so it is just as well that it got off the line on its own as it has very sharp little teeth that look like broken glass. I spent my afternoon making chutney and then had Ed and Lynne over for a veggie curry dinner.
Another boat came into the anchorage today. Jenain, a South African boat that was here when we were here the first time, sailed down from Ile Diamant where they have spent the last week. Tomorrow we will try snorkeling the aquarium at low tide once again to try and get some good video and then we hope to visit with our neighbors. We did meet Peppy and Bob on Far Niente yesterday, but we really haven’t had a chance to talk with them. We have met Bill on Jenain but never really gotten to talk with him for any length of time, so we’ll give that a try tomorrow as well. We keep thinking we will move over to Salomon Atoll, but it is so pleasant here and we keep finding things we want to do, so we probably won’t move until the weather makes us.
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| 100419 Day 175 Peros Banhos, Chagos–Walk from Mapou De L'Ile Fouquet to Ile Fouquet |
