Passage to Rodders Photos

 Kathy celebrating her 60th Birthday.

 One of the three big ships we had to motor away from.

The view from the cross above Port Mathurin. (SD nearest yacht)

Passage to Rodrigues

Pictures above hopefully!

We arrived at Rodrigues Island on 22^nd May after motoring furiously for the last 15 hours to be sure of arriving before dark. The wind died away in the middle of our last night at sea and we were not going to be knocked around in the swell for a further 24 hours when we had enough diesel to make landfall.

Cocos Keeling was a beautiful place and the anchorage off Direction Island was very peaceful. After 3 days on our own a ketch called Serannity arrived. We explained that there were several shelters, 2 rainwater tanks and a BBQ area on Direction Island. There was also a great place to go snorkelling called The Rip. All supplies were available on Home Island but this was a 2 mile dinghy ride away across the shallow lagoon, passing over sandbars and reefs. With our 2.5hp outboard the trip took 30-40minutes each way. There is a charge for anchoring: 10AUD per day or 50AUD per week which you pay at the Shire Office on Home Island. We bought 95 litres of diesel which cost us 233AUD. When we ordered fresh fruit and veg from the supermarket we noticed that there were no prices on the order form. Buyer beware!  We were shocked to find that bananas cost 2.30AUD EACH. We bought five. Make sure you check your order, which is boxed up for you ready to take away. We didn’t and found that the tomatoes we’d ordered weren’t there. At least we hadn’t paid for them. The quality of the fresh food is good (as it should be at such high prices) and you can buy vacuum packed frozen minced beef and chicken fillet.

We left Cocos Keeling on Monday 7^th May, a few hours before Serannity. A yacht called CheecaBey arrived just before we left and they are tied to the wharf here at Rodrigues, having arrived today (28/05/12). Our passage was very mixed. We headed south to a waypoint at 16 degrees South and 90 degrees East. Passage weather.com and the Grib files showed that the wind was going to die away on the rhumb line by Friday. We’d chosen to cross the Indian Ocean in May before the Trade Winds became strong and the sea rough. We expected a downwind sail. What did we get? Motorsailing in light E winds, then beam reach with full mainsail and genoa with an ESE wind, then close hauled (wind just off the bow) with a SSE wind and a reefed genoa, a big sideways swell, and by midnight 1 reef in the main and 2 reefs in the genoa. This was still the first day! We had gusty squalls with winds up to 27 knots from the South. On day 3, we caught a rope round the propeller and Jeremy had to go over the stern and get it off. The wind dropped from 23 knots to 6 knots and blew from the East. Jeremy found a small leak on the engine intake cock on day 5. That explained the sea water in the bilge. We flew our ghoster for about 4 hours in light winds, but the sky darkened and another squall threatened, so Jeremy took it down. We started downwind sailing on day 6 and enjoyed fairly constant E to ESE winds from 9-17 knots. We flew two headsails poled out, slightly reefed genoa to starboard and our No2 jib hanked on our inner forestay to port. Conditions were much more pleasant for making bread, cooking meals and generally moving about the boat. We each had 2 hour watches during the day and 3 hour watches at night. We ate our meals together and the rest of the time one of us was sleeping while the other was on watch. Several huge oil tankers passed us going east and west. We had to motor out of the way of some of them. Some nights the moon and stars were fantastic. Other nights, all we saw were dark clouds.

Half way across, about 1000 miles from land, I celebrated my 60^th birthday with a cake and candles and hearty singing from Jeremy. It was a fresh day with a big swell topped with breaking waves occasionally splashing into the cockpit. In the evening the wind increased to 30 knots and the log speed to 7.3 knots, Sal Darago’s maximum. I reefed down. Jeremy was so uncomfortable in the stern cabin that he moved into the saloon to sleep. We were so glad that we’d chosen to cross the Indian Ocean before the winds were too strong and the sea rough. What must it be like in July and August? We did have some pleasant, sunny days but it became noticeably colder at night. We needed a sheet and blanket on our bunks and long trousers and long sleeved shirts for our night watches. The gas ran out on the 11^th day and Jeremy had to change the bottle at 4.00am, just to get a cup of tea. One day we motored in light northerly winds, which went WNW and W. So much for the SE Trades.

By day 13, we’d eaten most of our fresh food and started fishing. We lost one hook but we caught a large tuna with our other line. Jeremy reeled it in with great difficulty. We had fresh tuna for lunch, fried in butter and served with slices of our last lemon. We had enough tuna steaks for 4 more meals. The last two fish suppers were eaten in port with fresh baguette from the bakery.

Rodrigues Island is lovely. The officials were prompt and friendly. The local tugboat crew showed us where to anchor. As we arrived Ann and Barry on Cat’s Paw IV yelled “Sal Darago” and came over in their dinghy with a baguette and some tomatoes. There are 8 other yachts anchored and 3 tied to the wharf. We are close to the reef but thankfully the holding is good. The town of Port Mathurin is small and friendly. A daily market sells locally grown and imported fruit and veg. Fresh meat is available on Saturdays. There’s a bank and ATM, a post office, a supermarket and a bus station. The currency is the Mauritius rupee and we’re just getting used to yet another set of bank notes and coins. I think we’re going to enjoy our month’s stay.

Pictures to go with the Blog below

 We filled Sal Darago up with stores, even the bilges.

Sunset as we motored down the West of Sumatera.

Sal Darago on anchor at Direction  Island, Cocos Keeling.

Cocos Keeling Islands

We arrived in this beautiful atoll in the Indian Ocean on 30th April. We had chosen a route west of Sumatra, often travelling between Sumatra and the many islands that lie offshore. The weather was unpredictable for the first part of our journey. We’d checked the weather forecast before we left Langkawi and expected little or no wind. That was why we’d bought 6 additional cans and filled them all with diesel. We did not expect wind from every point of the compass varying in strength from 1 to 36 knots. Sumatra has its own climate. It’s also the second wettest place in the world. We had rain so torrential that we might as well have been under a waterfall. We couldn’t see anything except sheets of water and bright flashes of fork lightning disconcertingly nearby. The thunder was deafening. The west coast of Scotland is arid in comparison. Even when it wasn’t raining the lightning was flashing away all night in the distance. We wondered about the fishermen that anchor out in these conditions night after night and were thankful that we were just passing through. We didn’t need to worry about our water supplies. Our tanks and bottles were full.

The night before we crossed the Equator a northerly wind sprang up and we were able to sail. We offered Neptune a glass of red wine and a couple of biscuits as our GPS changed from N to S. Within a few hours, the weather settled, the grey clouds parted and the sun shone in a blue sky. We needed more diesel and bought some from a fishing harbour at Pulau Tello (00 03 287S 098 17 233E). The coral islands here are text book gorgeous: turquoise sea and white sand beaches shaded by swaying coconut palms. On we went, mainly motoring, making another stop at Teluk Sioban on Sipura (02 10 962S 099 43 840E) to spend the last of our Indonesian rupiah on diesel. It seemed like all the men of the island were on the jetty and a high price was asked for the dirty fuel. A policeman arrived and Jeremy explained our stop was an emergency. He examined our passports and allowed us to leave. We gave him a packet of cigarettes.

Our last stop in Indonesia was at Sanding Island. Reefs were everywhere and it took us a while to find the anchorage given to us by Yawarra II. The entry to the anchorage is 03 29 967S 100 41 401E. We spent a night at anchor here to rest before our 500 mile trip to Cocos Keeling.

After a worrying 24 hours motoring with no wind instead of SE trades, we picked up the Trade Winds. Sal Darago creamed along under full sail on a beam reach and we remembered why we like sailing. Before long we were close hauled and reefed down, but we were keeping our course. Cocos Keeling came into view when we were about 8 miles away. We had already spoken to the Police on VHF 20 to let them know we were coming. The ocean blue changed to turquoise as the depth shallowed and we looked for the other yacht masts. There weren’t any. We are the only yacht anchored here just off Direction Island. The nearest shop is a 40 minute dinghy ride away across the shallows at Home Island. Five black tipped reef sharks swam round us and we were reminded that Paradise isn’t always what it seems.

We have ordered fresh food delivered by the plane from Australia on Friday; arranged Customs clearance on Saturday and we hope to leave on Monday morning for Rodriguez Island, some 2000 nautical miles west of here. We should arrive there by 27 May, where we hope electronic communications will be easier.