Day 180, Year 5: A Quiet Day
Date: Saturday, April 24, 2010
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds, Squalls All Day
Location: Ile Fouquet, Salomon Atoll, Chagos
Our first full day in Salomon Atoll was a rather quiet one due to the weather. The first little squall of the day woke us early and these “little’ squalls continued all day. There were very black clouds, a little wind and just a sprinkling of rain. Then it would clear and we would open up all the hatches. Then another squall would develop. This is still continuing into the night.
Lynne of Constance called early this morning to tell us that friends at Boddam, the main island in this atoll, had called to tell those of us in this anchorage that there will be a swap meet at 10 am. It will really be more of a social event than a swap meet, and anyone attending has to bring a breakfast pastry. I was already taking advantage of the unsettled weather to bake bread so I just turned one loaf into cinnamon rolls to take to Boddam. While getting out the raisins for the cinnamon rolls, I found some Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips that have been onboard since we left Boston, so I decided to also bake chocolate chip cookies just to see how five year-old Ghirardelli chips taste. The cookies are delicious, so I guess chocolate only gets better with age.
In the afternoon, Mark and Ed went fishing and got a Yellowfin and another Bonito. Mark got yet another lure caught on the reef, so Mark and Ed will return on Monday morning at low tide and try to retrieve it. We are having a tough time keeping ourselves in lures. Yesterday on the way here, the brown boobies once again attacked our lure. This time we didn’t catch one, but they totally destroyed the squid-like lure. It has no tentacles left. When Mark and Ed got home from the fishing venture, Mark and I took our dinghy and trolled along the reef as we headed to the southern tip of Ile Fouquet. We went ashore to find the “camp” where BIOT has bins for recycling cans and glass. It was getting late in the day and there were black clouds all around us, so we didn’t stay long to explore. Tomorrow we will take the dinghy to Boddam, spend the morning meeting folks there, and then snorkel some of the bommies on the way back. From this distance I count about ten boats anchored at Boddam and there are six of us here at Ile Fouquet. We left eight boats in Peros Banhos so it seems we have a grand total of about twenty-four cruising boats in Chagos this year.
I’m thinking about making a hash mark on my computer monitor every time I read “Mark got a lure caught in the reef” … hilarious. I also remembered reading about the frustration another cruiser had with the black-tips getting the fish before they could get them to the boat. Any problems with them patrolling your fishing area?
I read a post on Noonsite from a couple years ago warning about sudden squalls and anchoring in the BIOT. It has me wanting to remind you to have a few waypoints marked and course plotted and ready to go … just in case you need to make sudden anchorage change.