Cocos to Rodrigues

We enjoyed our break in Cocos Keeling, not that there was much time for relaxing. The World ARC left us plenty of fresh food, so we were able to stock up in readiness for our next sea passage of almost 2000 miles.

Two Skippers on Cocos

As expected, the conditions on the passage were mixed. Often there were two swells, one behind and one from the south. The half knot of current kept disappearing or going against us, so we could not rely on a boost to our boat speed. We had settled weather for several days flying full sails (main, staysail, genoa) keeping about 30 degrees off the wind on a run. This meant we went much further south than Jeremy or I would have done on a dead run on Sal Darago. John was adamant that this didn’t matter on such a long passage and the wind would come round well before we reached Rodrigues. There was often more E than S in the SE trades so the wind did not come round. Consequently, we had to gybe on the last day of our passage and have an uncomfortable night going north or we would have missed Rodrigues altogether!

The base of the bread proving oven

Generally speaking, the crew worked well together. There were some issues and areas of disagreement, but when everyone’s help was needed when the autohelm stopped working, we all played our part to keep Sara II sailing. John fitted a new drive unit, Jeremy hand steered by compass and I kept a watch out for vessels.

Running repairs. Both harnessed on.

We were all relieved when we anchored in the harbour at Port Mathurin after 14 days at sea. We asked permission from the Coastguard on VHF 16. Within 10 minutes of anchoring the Health officer came on board quickly followed by the Police/Coastguard. Next we had to go ashore to see Immigration on the wharf and Customs in the Port Office. The only fee to pay was for the health check.

Jeremy and I jumped ship after the first night and stayed in a hotel for 2 nights’ bed and breakfast. Here, we have enjoyed the luxury of hot showers, a double bed and no cooking. On board, I had one shower/hairwash in 14 days and Jeremy washed in sea water on the deck. There was always concern that too much water was being used on board, but it was difficult to be certain of this as the tank gauges were unreliable. Jeremy and I stopped drinking the tank water as both the keel tank and the middle tank had bits in them and John could not be sure when the tanks had last been cleaned out. Fortunately, we had an emergency supply of bottled water.

The cure for seasickness!

We have enjoyed revisiting one of our favourite and still unspoiled islands. Our legs are aching from walking in the hills after so long at sea.

We intend to leave for Reunion on Saturday after buying provisions at the market. The sea passage should take about 4 days.