Arrival at Chagos, 10 days at sea…..
05 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)
Dear F&F,
Our last day at sea was in lovely light downwind conditions except for the odd swell coming from both the northwest and the east southeast. It felt like we were zooming up and down hills, shortly spaced together. We had an actually sunny day and no squalls.
We slowed last night to arrive here just after dawn. Around midnight last night (why, why, why is it always midnight?!) one last bombing squall came by and caught Nikki by surprise. We had full sail up and had to get it down in one of the heaviest rains I\’ve ever seen. The whole show was over in 15 minutes.
Last night around 2 a.m. local time, I got an email from Angela in South Carolina. When she finds out where we\’re going, she\’ll often \”google it\” and get me some nice information. She found a blog from another boat s/v \”Taglich\” that was here 4 months ago and had a nice GPS set of way points to enter here over the shallow pass. \”Taglish\” said they never saw less than 22 feet (7 meters). I used them and we never saw less than 22 feet either. Thanks Angela!
Debrief of stuff along the way: A small rip in the main developed yesterday. It actually doesn\’t require immediate repair, but I will do so if possible while here. The new furler line works, but is too thin and jams in the winch. I\’ll try and swap it out while we\’re here as well. Some generator/engine maintenance, hopefully I can unfreeze the chuck on our winch buddy (which electrifies any winch on the boat!). We lost the adapter for the winch that fits in the drill motor, but we\’re still good if I can fix the chuck as I have a spare adapter! The stove\’s problem was that a 24 volt to 12 volt converter went bad. Again, I had a spare, we\’re back to hot food. Only missed one meal that way. The washing machine repair seems to have worked, the machine is working as well as ever. We\’ve a leak in our large water maker. It works, but puts 30 liters of sea water in bilge which is a pain. The spare small water maker kept us in plenty of fresh water the whole way here.
It\’s raining cats and dogs right now, but not too windy. We may have to move over to the Ille Foquet when the southeast trades come back in a day or two for better protection than Ille Bodham gives. We are at Ille Bodham next to \”Sunflower\” now.
Dave and Kathie from Sunflower have been here for 18 days and may go the same route we will to Madagascar. They\’ll leave as soon as the weather cooperates. Thank you Dave and Kathie for helping us get set on the mooring. Dave even checked it underwater. IT IS NOW POURING! We\’ll go for \”pupu\’s and cocktails\” at 5:30.
Nikki is nuts and is running out in the rain in her swim suit!…:-) After all, \”I\’m English you know\”, said she!…:-) She wants to swim to shore. She just jumped in and forgot to put the ladder down. Now I\’m soaking wet from putting the ladder down. She just asked me (while she\’s already in the water) if there are any sharks here? I said, \”Yes, lots of black tips like all these reefs\”. She\’s now standing on the beach!…:-) It is POURING!
Okay, we\’ve put out the position report and updated our arrival. Nikki cooked a lovely breakfast and we\’ll be napping shortly…
About 1600 nautical miles, 10 days exactly. Welcome to possibly one of the most remote and unspoiled atolls left on planet earth… Salomon Atoll, Chagos Archipelago
KIT, Scott and Swimming Nikki…:-)