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.