Arrival in Chagos
Apologies for not being in touch. We arrived in Chagos a few days ago and have been moored near the island of Boddam. We had a fantastic day to arrive- a break in the weather giving us three days of the clearest blue skies and crystal clear water. We had made radio contact with one of the other boats already in the anchorage and the skipper Bryce and our friend from UAE (Bernd) came out to meet us in the dinghy to help us navigate in past the many coral reefs or ‘bommies’. The small irony is that the boat we made contact with was named Silver Fern after one of the NZ national emblems- the same emblem we carry as a motif on the side of Aroha. Bryce is a Kiwi – so Bryan felt right at home! Within a few hours of establishing our mooring, we had an invitation to our first party.
The derelict buildings from when the island was a copra plantation some thirty years back offer some functional use- with one being claimed as the ‘clubhouse’. It is a fun setting, with lots of maritime objects have been left by other yachties over the years. The party was to celebrate the 69th birthday of Ron off ‘Tigger’. At that point, there were seven boats moored here so we met lots of new people and enjoyed Ron’s special punch for a good few hours. The evening was punctuated by visits from the islands main inhabitants- huge coconut crabs. They can become a bit unnerving when it is so dark and you can’t see where they are coming from. One even attempted to launch itself into the blazing fire- but made a hasty retreat when he discovered it was very hot!
After the great start, the weather then decided to take a turn for the worse (well it is monsoon season) so we have had a few windy and bumpy days and nights. The moorings here have been created by previous boating visitors and our mooring is a long chain wrapped round a huge coral head, so pretty secure. Our concern has been the mooring lines we have been using to secure ourselves and the fact that we have a reef either side of the boat meaning we don’t have a great deal of room to swing. Bryan spent some time sorting mooring lines out yesterday, including bringing up an additional second chain he had found on the seabed and we also made a make shift anti-chafing solution for the rope. So we are now feeling a bit happier and safer. The wind is almost consistently blowing from the south east around 15 – 20 knots, peaking up to 30 knots.
Unfortunately, our main computer decided to pack up completely about a day after we arrived- hence the communication black out. For now we are borrowing email facilities from Martha and Bryce on Silver Fern and am aiming to install the mailing software on Erin’s computer.
3rd July 2009
Each day seems to be taking on its own routine. The days actually seem to be passing quite quickly, which seems strange given the simplicity of life here. We are moored about 500 metres from the shore- an acceptable distance to kayak. Erin and I have made the crossing a few times now. Today we went across on a laundry mission. Previous visitors to the island have created a laundry area in a clearing, the centrepiece of which is a well that provides fairly clean sweet water. We drop buckets into the well and then do the washing in large plastic drums. The added bonus is a mangle that is attached by a steel beam to one of the trees. The mangle saves on the chore of wringing out and really speeds up the whole process. Once washed, we take advantage of the numerous washing lines provided and leave to dry until our next visit. The only disadvantage is the abundance of mosquitoes that seem intent on eating me alive – no matter how much mossie spray I have on or mosquito coils I have burned.
This afternoon we will be heading across for a game of beach volleyball near the ‘clubhouse’. There are only four boats here now so we have fairly small teams. I find it a bit painful on the wrists but is a good way to pass an hour or so. This morning we were fishing off the side of the boat. Erin was the prize fisherman of the day, landing a decent size fish which has now been filleted and is sitting in the fridge ready for supper. I caught two, but both were thrown back as tiddlers. Something fairly large came and bit through my line just at the end of the fishing mission; not sure what, but I’m kind of glad it got away!
We are getting through a fair amount of board games and I think tonight will be a DVD and popcorn night, maybe with a glass of vino or two.
5 July 2009
Some years back Erin developed the tradition of having at least two birthdays a year. If it’s good enough for Queen Lizzie then it’s good enough for Erin! Erin’s habit arose from being a summer birthday girl in one of the hottest places on the planet and discovering that when it was her long awaited turn for a birthday all of her mates would have left Dubai for cooler climes. This year has proved to be no different, clearly no mates around for her to celebrate turning 11 with, and the prospect that we will actually be on passage back to Maldives during her actual birthday. Erin latched onto the fact that Eileen from Tigger was to celebrate her birthday on the 3rd of July, so Erin had asked if they could have a joint birthday party. So it was that last night Erin and Eileen had joint birthday celebrations onshore at Boddam.
The Aroha camp was assigned to organising party games – for the young and young at heart. Erin took charge of generating the ideas and with a little help organised the following games; pin the tail on the fish (not a real one!), treasure hunt, coconut shy, skittles and crab racing. There were only three kids in attendance, so the young at heart took on the challenges with relish. I particularly enjoyed the crab racing; each entrant selected their own racing crab, put into the centre of the racing arena, and with the winning crab being the first one to reach the outer circle. My crab seemed a bit slow on the principle of the game, preferring to meander around the starting circle rather than leg it for the outside edge and freedom. There were a few other ‘purebred racing’ stock crabs in the field but mine didn’t manage to pick up any pointers!
Once the party games were concluded it was onto the serious stuff; eating and drinking. Parties are based on a pot luck principle – everyone brings a dish or two. I managed to make Fudge Drop cookies, Anzac biscuits and Bryan caught and made the Polynesian fish dish Iki Mata. We also made two special jellies – both had jelly sweets in, and one was made especially for the grown-ups with Vodka replacing some of the water. Don’t worry, they were colour coded just in case we got them mixed up! Martha from Silver Fern is a musician so had written a birthday tribute to Eileen, which she accompanied with the guitar. I attempted to join in with the singing very quietly since I am tone deaf and couldn’t hit a right note if I tried! A few wines and glasses of punch made for a great evening. Bryan made the drink/drive dash back to Aroha with us all in the dinghy, managing to miss the many coral heads. Erin still has her ‘real’ birthday yet to come, but I reckon she has done pretty well so far with one of the most unusual venues she is likely to encounter for years to come.
11 July 2009
When we arrived in Soloman Atoll we had headed to the furthest of the two anchorages available. The Boddam anchorage has had a number of mooring buoys added over the years meaning that anchoring becomes unnecessary and that the boats are pretty well secured to the moorings by chains wrapped around large coral heads. Not only is this more secure than anchoring, but it also causes less damage to the beautiful coral beneath us. The downside of this anchorage at this time of the year is the constant wind that seldom drops below 15 knots and often peaks around 30. This wind typically whips up the sea making the area around the boat fairly choppy. Each time we head out on the dinghy we get soaked as the spray washes over the dinghy – particularly if you are seated at the front of the dinghy as I tend to be.
After nearly two weeks we had two particularly unsettled nights with choppy seas and high winds, so we decided to move to the other end of the atoll close to the Fouquet Island (Ile Fouquet). By this stage, only one other boat remained at our end, with another five anchored at Fouquet, with good reports of a more sheltered, calmer sea anchorage. Yesterday we unshackled ourselves from our many lines (better safe than sorry) and set off for the new spot. Literally as soon as we got in the shelter of the island, the wind eased considerably. We made a quick circle around the potential anchorage spots before dropping the anchor in reasonably deep water (20 metres). Bryan donned his scuba gear again; as he had to unshackle the lines at the other end; and checked all was good and secure. He also attached a buoy that would ensure the end of the chain attached to the additional 30 metres of rope was lifted off the seabed and more importantly away from any risk of chafing on coral heads.
We decided to celebrate our safe anchoring and achievement of the three-mile‘ passage’ with a bottle of pretty decent bubbles – shared with Martha and Bryce who are our neighbours again. The last bubbles we had were for the four-day passage from Gan to Chagos, so you can see our reasons for celebrating are beginning to move down the scale somewhat!
12 July 2009
Our first night at Fouquet (pronounced “Fookay” though I am sure some of you can work out a slightly less polite version!) passed quietly. It is definitely much smoother here. The early hours of the morning bought with it a thunderstorm and some rain to top up the water tanks a little.
Today is still a little overcast but it is quite pleasant as the temperature is a few degrees lower. The weather is allowing us to work on some of the boat chores such as writing the blog and mounting a jigsaw picture that we completed a few days back. We have several ‘doing things’ on board, the jigsaws included. The first we have completed was a 500 piece 3D image of birds. Whereas a few months back, I would be stressing about trying to prove the market existed for master-planned cities the size of Hong Kong, now my biggest stress is completing a puzzle that makes you a little cross-eyed. It looks like we may be in for a culture shock when we get back to civilisation and discover that we need to wear shoes (and underwear…) again and remember that there are more things in life to worry about. Thankfully, that return is still a few months away…..
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