Chagos 4/4/2011
We sighted land on the
Morning of the 4th of April 2011 after an uneventful three day sail from Gan. It had been a long and hard trip from Thailand
and we were glad to have finally arrived. We carefully made our way into the lagoon and dropped anchor amongst the other half
a dozen boats that had already arrived......... ahh paradise found!
Our 2 months at Chagos was nothing short of delicious . There is no greater place to lose yourself
and to discover a few things about yourself. Amongst other things I discovered that I was getting fat. Oh yeah over the
last 6 months I had piled it on and was starting to feel like crap. I also dicovered that I could catch fish, not
just any sort of fish but Red Snapper, Grouper, Coral Trout, Bonito, Jobfish ... towards the end of our stay I could catch
fish on demand.
Chagos a brief history.
Chagos is a little slice of paradise in the middle of the Indian Ocean about half way between Thailand and Mauritius.
It consists of a number of small islands Diego Garcia (the american army base being one). 40 odd years ago the yanks wanted
a military presence in the middle of the Indian Ocean some where they could stop refuel and have a quick bite before carrying
on to where ever. They liked the idea of Chagos, stratigically it was perfect so they asked the British if they could have
it. The Brits agreed and Sanatised the whole place relocating the locals to Mauritius. The area is now controled by B.I.O.T.
(Brittish Indian Ocean Territory). They have a big boat called the Pacific Marlin that patrols the area and makes sure all
the yachties are behaving themselves.
Once upon a time you could pay a 100 quid to
B.I.O.T. and stay as long as you liked, some stayed for years. Suddenly it was 100 quid for 3 months, then 100 per month maximum
stay 3 months, now you can only stay for a month and it costs you a 100 quid. The writing is on the wall .........
The B.I.O.T. {Brittish Indian Ocean Territory} people paying us a visit to check our permits.
If you have arrived without a permit you are asked to leave immediately. Since Chagos was made a fish sanctury and all tuna
licences were cancelled, BIOT now patrol the waters fairly vigorously for illegal fishing. The main illegal fishing activities
are Sri Lankan fishermen targetting sharks for sharkfin.
Chagos is crawling with reef sharks. All fairly
harmless but can be a bit of a problem when trying to land a nice coral trout. Many of the yachts caught great fish
but only managed to get the head in - the sharks ate the rest on the way up.
Click here to view a serious shark feeding video at Solomon Atoll Chagos.
One of the old buildings at Peros Banos. It was earie walking through what was once a thriving
community. There was one solitary donkey left on the island. He was a little aggressive if you got too close but looked
remarkably healthy.
There are two atolls that yachties are allowed to anchor. They are Solomon Atoll and Perhos Banos
Atoll. Solomon Atoll attracks the older retired no kids cruisers. Over the years those who visit regularly have set up tables
and chairs, a shed full of all sorts of things, a volleyball court and an organised place to do washing, a dedicated fish
cleaning station. First time visitors can get severly chastised for not following protocol set by the older frequent visitors.
We initially arrived at Solomon only to learn that all the children were at Perhos Banos. We did enjoy our 9 days at Solomon
where we were given many fishing tips and also given plenty of fish to eat. After the 9 days we thought it wise to move to
Perhos Banos so Darien would have kids to play with.
At low tide a group of us would walk across the sand to the next island.
Perhos Banos was much more our style, it was more laid back, bucket loads of kids and beautiful clear
water. There were 16 yachts at Perhos, German, French, Australian, New Zealand, English and South African. Just about all
the French boats had kids who could all speak English.
So what does one do on a deserted atoll for 2 months.
Having a 5 year old gave us a bit of structure as the first 3/4 hours of the day was spent home schooling, then the rest of
the day was fishing, snorkelling, swimming, exploring or just lazing around. Of course there was always the odd boat job that
had to be attended to.
Our bodies and souls slowed
down we settled into a paradise that is hard to explain, hopefully the pictures will.
Looking back from Mepou
du Coin to Ile Fouquet you can just see the anchorage at the left of the picture.
As the days and weeks ticked by we got used to not been able to buy anything, first
of all we ran out of fresh vegies then eggs. It was interesting to see what lasted and what didn't. Cabbage is almost
indestructable and when desperate can make a pretty good substitute for lettuce. We had heard from an old salt that carrots
will keep forever if you wrap them in newspaper and keep them in the fridge as long as the paper was changed ever three or
four days. This worked really well for all our veggies and we still had a few carrots left for our passage to Mauritius.
Unfortunately one of our favorite fruits, tomatoes, don't last that long. A good tomato in our opinion is an essential
ingredient for any sandwich.
Things really started to get serious when the cheese ran out which was about the
same time the wine ran out.
Into our 6th week we discovered that our second 8kg gas bottle was completely
empty and it should have been full. We filled it before we left Thailand. We are not sure what happened but somehow we had
lost 8kg of gas. This presented a problem as our first bottle was nearly empty and whatever was left in it we would need for
the passage to Mauritius. The decision was made that we would have to cook on the beach for the rest of our stay.
To be honest I nearly cried when we found out but the whole thing turned out to be a lot of fun. We cooked early, ate
dinner as the sun set, did the dishes in the sea and socialised with our friends as we prepared to cook. It was quite funny
sometimes the kids would gather around to see what was on the menu for Byamee. One time we cooked some bacon only to
have a couple of the kids huddle up salavating - what can you do I had to give them some. We even had the odd dinner
party ashore and Nigel from Murangaru made us a fabulous table and Paul built a great BBQ.
One of our on beach dinner parties.
After 8 weeks we were ready to leave. Although this is a tropical paradise we felt we had
experienced enough. We had started to run out of a lot of the enjoyable foodstuffs and as we both love food, things were getting
a bit bland. We had much less rain than we had anticipated and our water situation although not dire was getting low. It was
time to move on!
The anchorage at Ile Foucart had been reduced to 2 boats us and our good friends on Murungaru.
The south east trade winds were now consistenly starting to blow 15 -20 knots and would only get stronger.
We weighed anchor at 10am on the 25/May and thus completing a long time dream of mine to sail my own yacht to Chagos.
Chagos to Mauritius. 25/5/2011 - 4/6/2011
This was an exciting passage, for the first time since the east coast of P.N.G. we had consistent winds, Byamee flew along
under reduced genoa and storm trisail clocking 140 nm days. Although fast it was far from comfortable and not typical trade
wind sailing, the wind was from the south east and the swell was from the south west up to 4 metres. We had not experienced
conditions like this before. Every hour or so a large wave would slam forward of the hull sending shudders thru the boat and
sending Byamee airbourne. I do not know for the life of me how people do these passages in lightweight production fibreglass
boats but they do. They are braver then me.
Port Louis Mauritius 4/6/2011.
We sighted
the west coast of Mauritius early on the 4th June the island looked spectacular with its high mountains surrounded by lower
lying coastal areas and reef. We were chomping at the bit to get cleared in and find some real food other then fish.
We radiod port control on channel 16 and asked permission to enter the port, they said if we could get inside the markers
within 20 minutes it would be fine otherwise we would have to hang around to make way for the large bulk carrier that was
behind us.
We pulled in the sails and started up the Yanmar Port Louis here we come!
After completing all the official stuff we tied
up at the Le Caudan Waterfront Marina to experience the charming and chilled out nature of the Mauritians. The city has a
wonderful French flavour and this with the traditional creole influences makes for some great food. The Le Caudan Waterfront
is right in the city of Port Louis and you step out into a newly created tourist area which has been done with style. There
is a wonderful fresh market not too far from the marina which we would visit every day for our fresh baguettes and beautiful
fruit and veggies - after Chagos we loved it!
We settled in a little too easily. Did the tourist route, saw some spectacular sights, ate out,
went to festivals and visited shrines and gardens.
We soon discovered that Mauritius has quite a number of industries for its geographic size.
It has a tuna cannery which employs 17,000 workers and operates around the clock. There is a huge textile mill. Sugar
cane farms everywhere and 20 sugar refineries not to mention salt production and heaps of local produce, oh yes and they
make rum too.
The only problem with staying at the marina is that the locals view international
cruising boats as a sight seeing spectacle and don't see any problem with jumping on and off the boats for a few pictures.
Parts of the marina have also become a nookie place for young couples and an area to sit after visiting pubs and restaurants
(often after a few drinks). We only had one lot of people jump on Byamee (some boats had guests daily) but it was at 11.30
at night. We got quite a fright an jumped up to find a bunch of harmless young drunk guys - we ended up having a drink with
them until 1.00am.
Well amongst all the fun there was school every morning for Darien and boat repairs that needed
attention. The rough passage to Mauritius brought to our attention a tiny drip coming in through the hatch above the
living area. Paul decided it best to take the hatch off - lucky he did. There was quite a lot of rust on the window mount
because the sicaflex (black rubber used to waterproof windows) had just got old and lifted enough for salt water to get in.
We spent days with electric drills, hammer and chisel and electric sanders to get the window back to clean steel. Then
there is the five step painting, filling and sealing process to get the window back on. Good as new in the end. Not looking
forward to doing the other one which no doubt will also need to be done soon.
Now we had to consider where to from Mauritius. Even though I have been worried about doing
the Mozambique Channel. The weather we experienced on the way to Mauritius and after seeing what the weather is like if you
head straight from here to South Africa, I quickly changed my mind. Almost all the cruisers here are heading to Madagascar
and down the Mozambique Channel so that is what we have decided to do too knowing that many are already safely there. This
means that we needed to sort out our sail problems as we will have light winds for the three months around Madagascar.
It so happens that there is an excellent sail maker here in Mauritius (MU Sailmakers) and we got a good price for
a new mainsail. So we put our order in and a few weeks later received a fantastic new mainsail that has been made increadibly
well. We had the furler mechanism machined in Thailand so our furling mainsail finally works. On a test run we could not believe
how well Byamee sails with the new main. We are both so pleased.
The genoa on the
other hand which we thought we could just repair has proved to be too far gone to repair and the cost to do so would not be
a sensible investment. We have decided to wait to South Africa for a new Genoa as we have a smaller one to sail with until
we get there.
So while we waited for the new mainsail to be made we did our best to see every inch of Mauritius.
Swimming with the dolphins at Black River
This was a scream. Boat
loads of people would go outside the reef to swim with the dolphins. When the dolphins were spotted the boats would all carefully
approach then everyone would jump in the water. The dolphins on some occassions would hang around for a bit but mostly they
would dive down and appear somewhere else. Everyone would then scramble back into the boats and repeat the process over and
over again. The first day we went out the dolphins hang around a little and it was great. We didn't have our swimming
gear as we weren't sure what to expect. The next day we went out and there were no dolphins. We decided to drift about
in the dingy and the other boats thought we had found the dolphins and all came rushing over only to see the three of us.
We decided to give it one more go the following day and Paul managed to jump in just as the dolphins were diving
under us. He did say it was quite amazing to see how deep they go and so quickly.
The whole Black River
area was lovely although the anchorage is subject to some swell. We found an area of pine trees that had loads of
nests hanging from them upside down and beautiful little yellow and brown birds fluttering all over the place. Darien
found a nest that had fallen and it was amazing to see how intricate it was.
Then there were more beaches to see - this is Flic en Flac on the west coast of Mauritius.
We made our way up to Grand Baie where the yacht club gives international boats one months
free membership. It is really nice with a convenient jetty which has water, petrol and diesel, they have a great restaurant,
wifi, a beach and grass area right in front of the restaurant and hot showers and they made us feel very welcome.
We were lucky enough to arrive just after the rowers who had rowed across the Indian Ocean to raise money for charity.
We got to have a chat to one of them and have a good look at the boat. It took them 76 days with four quite big guys on board
a relatively small boat in very big seas. They each lost 12 kilos during their adventure.
We rented a car to see the east coast of Mauritius as the SE trade winds were too strong to go
by boat. It is beautiful and would be lovely to explore by boat in the right season. The houses on the north and north east
of the island are just magnificent. Mansions with absolute water front, looking onto reef protected water and the northern
islands of Mauritius. We later found out that there really is no price on these properties as there are only 1,000 of them
and the market is open to international investors.
It was really hard to capture the beauty on camera as it was
so expansive. Here are a couple of pics from our drive on the east coast.
....and what a great way to disguise an ugly telephone tower.
This is a picture of a guy at a Hindu festival. Everything on him is actually through his skin
including the rod in his mouth which passes through both cheeks. He has hooks through the skin on his back and is towing the
shrine behind him.
We managed to get our
visa extended for another 6 weeks with the excuse that we were waiting on a new mainsail . Quite a few cruisers had problems
getting visa exstensions it seems that if you have a reason ie engine problems its o.k. but if you say "I realy like
the place and want to stay a little longer" its a problem.
The Mauritians are a proud people who have
managed to build a thriving economy on this little island. Tourism is No 1 followed by Sugar cane, Textiles and Tuna Processing.
They are fiercely protective of there little piece of land and patrol the waterways daily for illegal immagrants. Every morning
and every evening the customs boat would come past with his clipboard making sure everyone was legal...
We got
the call from Rob Stevenson from MU SAILS to say our new mainsail was ready .Rob came out to the boat and fitted it personally
as well as ironing out a few problems we had with the furler. Highly recomended if you need a new sail or repair No need to
wait to get to S.A. Robs your man very professional,on time and makes a great product.
MU SAILS Rob Stevenson +{230}2553801
musails@intnet.mu
With our new sail and a full tank of gas it was time to move on . We said goodbye to our friends on "Dana
Bum 2" and set sail for Ile Saint Marie Madagaskar.
2/8/2011 Ile Saint Marie Madagaskar.
It was a pleasent but uneventful sail to Madagaskar we got to try out our new mainsail and even flew the spinaker
for half a day . We arrived at the town of Ambodifototra on the island of Ile Saint at 4pm on the 2/8/2011. We were
excited as it is the whale season ,literally thousands of Humpback whales make there way with there calfs down the channel
between the mainland and Ile Saint Marie.
I should say when it cmes to whale
spotting we are pretty dismal . I was saying to Joyce just how unlucky we are when it comes to seeing a whale ....the timeing
was brillant a humpback rose out of the water showered us with spray and flicked its tail ready to dive just 20 foot
from Byamee. Of course one never has the camera ready when a Humpback presents itself so you just have to believe we saw heaps
of them its just that they would not stay still long enough till we could get the camera!
Getting pics of whales
for us is a bit illusive . We woke up one morning to find a Humpback and her calf 20 metres off the stern .We jumped in the
dingy with the camera and silently rowed out we were almost at petting distance ..i could smell its breath .I focused the
Cannon for our first great whale shot only to realize the data card was back at Byamee in the laptop.
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| A Humpback and her calf |
No sooner had we droped anchor and a small boat was rowing towards us, it was the custom guys .Three friendly
young men jumped onboard and we all started filling out the usual forms ,we paid $35 US dollars and got a stamped form .We
later found out that these guys are nothing to do with customs but just a couple of oportunists ripping off the cruisers....
welcome to the third world .
These 3 guys did a pretty good job of pretending to be custom officials ,one
even had on a uniform,but i should have twigged when i saw he was wearing no shoes. Doesn't matter we were just glad to
be here.
Ile saint Marie is a small island off the east coast of Madagaskar , mainly a tourist island and
a good place to go whale watching . Very popular with the French and those looking for a cheap holiday.This is the first country
we have visited where no one speaks english Malagasy is the main language followed by french {nearly everyone can speak
french}
Believeit or not this Renault 5 was still in service. It didn't take us long to figure out that this
is a seriously poor country .
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Madagaskar gained independence from france in 1960,politics since then have been marked by numerous protests
,7 disputed elections,2 military coups and one asasanation. The country at present has no goverment and is under the control
of the milatary.The European union refused to recognize the current goverment as it has been installed by force. Third
world countries who do not have recognized goverments forgo alot of infastructure aid and this is not good for Madagaskar.
Despite all this everyone seems fairly happy and relaxed.Our plan was to work our way slowly up the coast to
Antisiranana then around the top of Madagaskar to the island of Nosy Bee where we will catch up with some of our cruising
buddies from Chagos.
Thought i"d throw in a pic of my beautiful daughter and sexy wife in her new bikini.
16/8/2011 Antsirana {Diego Suarez} east coast of Madagaskar 12'
16.384S 049'17.862E
This was our first stop on the mainland of Madagaskar .Antsirana ,better knowen
as Diego Suarez is a beautiful natural harbour with a colourful french colonial past .We anchored in Melville bay ,there
were a few yachts about but no one living on board . We had a good nights rest and next morning set out to explore the town.
First stop was to find somewhere safe to anchor the dingy ,we spotted a nice jetty and what looked like a restuarant
about 200 metres away . We got Fred up into the cockpit {Fred is our maniquen ,a pretend person that sits in the cockpit whilst
in high risk areas ...and believe me it does not get anymore high risk then here ,thats just for theft, these people are poor
but they have no interest in harming you they are just after something they can convert into money ...like our outboard
motor ! }
 This was a special place , the little restuarant served the best "steak provere" {a dish that
became a staple to us during our time in Madagaskar} for little more then loose change .The more we travel and the more countries
we visit the more rediculously exspensive Australia seems.
There are places we visit where i would have loved
to have been 30 or 40 years ago ,Antsiranana is one of them ,in its heyday this city would have been a charming place. Just
look at the remains of this majestic palace.
 20/8/2011 Antsiranana to Nosy Bee .
We left Antsiranana with favourable winds
to come over the top of Madagaskar and head towards the popular Nosy Bee {Nosy means island in Malagasy}. There is probably
no better time then now to talk about Pirates especialy the somalian variety.
DODGEING
PIRATES.
Since we left Thailand Somali Pirates have been a concern to us . I can talk about this comfortable
now as we are out of the danger zone {I'm writing this from Durban South Africa} Most people believe the Somali pirate
problem is confined to the Gulf of aden and the Red Sea ,this is no longer the case with attacks happening as far east as
the Maldives and as far south as the top of Madagaskar and Mayotte. Before we left Thailand we did realize that there had
been an attack 160nm north west of the Maldives , we were now travelling in the volunter reporting zone for piracy and if
we had been insured our insurance would be void for the area . having said that there had never been an attack this far east
so we were not overly worried. Our passage from Chagos to Mauritius we decided to do without running lights at night,
some we have spoken to think this was a little paranoid but our concern was justified when a large tanker passed a stern of
us with no running lights and his A.I.S switched off . The real scare came a week before we were due to leave Madagaskar
for South africa.....More about that later!
Nosy Bee ...North west coast of madagaskar 22/8/2011.
This
place is seriously cool a little island off the coast which caters for the French,Italians and anyone else who wants to pretend
to be a millionaire for a couple of weeks .The currency is "Airey Airey" pronound "Harry Harry"
and you get thousands of them for a dollar ! You can eat ,drink , and be stupid here for a week for less money then it
would cost to dry clean a couple of shirts back in Oz.
 The capital of Nosy Bee is Hellville named after some politician who had a similar surname ,nevertheless
its a hell of a place we spent 2 months here hanging out with other cruisers living the good life. The cusine here has a heavey
french influence with steak provere been a popular dish it is cooked using Zebu a sort of ox looking animal .A good steak
provere at a nice restuarant overlooking the beach can be had for as little as $6 . Every sunday late afternoon the locals would start arriving at the beach to play volleyball ,listen to music
or just hang out .By nightfall there were bands playing and lots of partying. The local drink here is Madagasy rum {cheaper
then bottled water} with freshly crushed limes brown sugar and lots of ice, it can become a bit addictive
Local band on Nosy Be beach on sunday afternoon
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