15 May 2017 Ile Fouquet, Chagos
It was another windy, overcast day, so I disappeared under the boat cleaning the hull. Eric from “Hokulea” suggested that it was easier to knock off the barnacles and then wait a few days before scraping off the white calcium pads - he thinks that they soften up and then scrape off easier. It still took me over an hour to scrub off the slime and knock off the barnacles. We have a large group of squid living under the boat, who were very interested in me.
We’d run out of beer, so in the afternoon I went fishing. I managed to catch four Grouper - two medium ones about a foot long; and two big ones about 2 feet long. I kept one of the big ones for us and traded the others for four beers; a third of a bottle of rum and cleared my Beer Tab. The rum should keep us going until we leave, but I will need more beer…
While out on the reef, I went snorkelling around the shallows and found that the water is clear near the surface, but below 3 metres the water has lots of plankton dropping the visibility down to 5-10 metres. As I was swimming around, I spotted a Blacktip Reef Shark circling my dinghy, probably hoping to steal one of the fish I caught.
I also had a fright when I was swimming underwater. As I came around a big rock, a huge shark was about 5 metres away, coming straight at me. It didn’t look like a normal Blacktip Reef Shark, so my first thought was that it was one of the aggressive species. Fortunately, it veered away to my left and, as it swam past me, I saw that it was only a large, harmless Nurse Shark . I think that it was more shocked by the encounter than I was.
16 May 2017 Ile Fouquet, Chagos
We still need to do some repairs on the genoa, but it was too windy today. We spent the morning on-board - I did some admin, catching up on editing photos and my blog, while Glenys pottered about making another batch of Ginger Beer and a load of washing.
In the afternoon, we went snorkelling to the north of Ile Jocobin, but the reef was uninteresting and the water was very murky below 5 metres. In the evening, most of the cruisers went ashore for a beach barbeque. The young guys from Barbara Ann have built a volleyball court and improved their coconut frond shelter - we’re calling it Camp America…
17 May 2017 Ile Fouquet, Chagos
Our permit for Chagos runs out in nine days’ time, so we’re trying to decide on the best date to leave on the 1,100 mile/8 day passage to Rodrigues. I went over to “Jackster” with George from “Ngalawa” where we had discussion about the various strategies to get down to Rodrigues in the most comfortable manner.
The general weather trend is that the wind varies in direction from ESE to SSE and will increase in strength from 10-15 knots at Chagos to at least 20-25 knots at Rodrigues. We were all in agreement that we should be heading for a waypoint 120 miles east of Rodrigues, so that in the last 24 hours, we will be heading downwind in the stronger winds.
My plan is to head south for 3 days, which will be a tough upwind beat in 15-20 knot winds. As the wind increases, we will bear away 10-15 degrees for the next three days and then have a down-wind run for the last 2 days when the wind is strongest and the waves are largest.
The Great Chagos Bank is a 100-mile wide atoll directly south of where we are anchored and we have to decide whether to sail around the west or the east side of the huge reef system. If we head east, then we will be faced with a 60 mile motor-sail directly into the prevailing south-east winds and waves and then we’ll have to sail directly south for 80 miles down past Diego Garcia - again hard on the wind. If we head west then the first 24 hours will be much more pleasant, but we’ll end up 120 miles further to the west than the eastern route, making the remainder of the passage harder on the wind by at least 10 degrees.
Looking at the 14-day weather forecast, if we’re taking the western route around the Great Chagos Bank, it doesn’t seem to make much different when we leave. But if we’re going to do the eastern route, we’ll need light winds at the start of the passage, so that we’re not pounding into big waves and high winds.
At the moment, we’re undecided when to leave and which direction to go, but the 20th or 21st looks to have winds less than 10 knots and from a ESE direction, so it might be a good opportunity to head east around Great Chagos Bank and therefore make the rest of the passage a little easier. I’m going to be monitoring the weather every day from now on.
In the afternoon, we went snorkelling and fishing over by Ile Mapou. Again the water was clear for the top 3 metres and then very murky in the deeper water - I caught a nice grouper. Back on the boat, I started to gut and fillet the fish, but the grouper was so slimy that it was difficult to hold. I put a glove on my left hand to hold the fish, but the fish still slipped in my hand and I managed to slash my left index finger with the knife.
It’s quite a deep cut near the fingertip and bled profusely (which made the sharks very excited as I dripped blood overboard). We cleaned the wound then doused it with Betadine, before putting on a couple of finger plasters very tight which seems to have closed the wound. It looks like I won’t be going in the water for a few days because I don’t want to get it infected.
18 May 2017 Ile Fouquet, Chagos
I downloaded another GRIB file and Saturday 20th looks like a light wind day, which may allow us to motor around the East side of the Great Chagos Bank. Otherwise, if we head to the West, we can go any day early next week.
We’ll review the weather again tomorrow, but we’re thinking of going on the 20th. Glenys is expecting it to be a bouncy trip, so she spent the day preparing food ready for the passage - she doesn’t want to be trying to prepare a meal every day. I reviewed my To Do List and did a few small jobs. We need to do some re-stitching of the sacrificial strip on the genoa, but we need to do it on the foredeck and it was too windy today.
Not only do I have a deep cut on my finger, but I have now developed an ear infection, both of which are keeping me out of the water, so no snorkelling for me at the moment. I spent most of the afternoon researching how to play a new song on the guitar, but I was very frustrated because I couldn’t really play the guitar with my throbbing left index finger.
In the evening, we invited “Jackster” and “Hokulea” over for dinner. Alcohol is becoming scarce, but “Jackster” brought a bottle of rum, “Hokulea” brought a half bottle of rum and we found another bottle of red wine hiding in a locker. We had a jolly night.
19 May 2017 Ile Fouquet, Chagos
We agonised over the weather again. The latest GFS GRIB file shows that the wind tomorrow won’t be as light as expected. Also there are gale force warnings in effect to the south east of us, which I think will be bringing bigger seas to our area. We’re now planning to leave Monday 22nd and go down the west side of the Great Chagos Bank. If the winds are lighter over the weekend, then the waves should be smaller on Monday. It’s a lottery…
There was great excitement in the morning when the patrol boat from Diego Garcia turned up and came to inspect everyone’s papers. The main BIOT patrol boat remained outside the atoll and they sent in two 25 foot long RIBs manned by marines, a customs lady and a fisheries inspection guy.
They first went to Ile Boddam, but soon started to board the 10 boats at Ile Fouquet. The customs and fisheries officers went onto each boat; checked the BIOT permits and stamped everyone’s passports with the very rare BIOT stamp. They expressed surprise that everyone was at Ile Fouquet, saying normally everyone is at Ile Boddam. It was all very friendly.
For the rest of the morning, I chilled out, while Glenys did some more cooking. It was an unpleasant afternoon, with showers and dull grey skies, so we stayed on- board for most of the time. In the afternoon, we cracked up and went for a walk on Ile Takamaka, looking at the bird colony, collecting shells from the beach and had a brief foray into the interior to check out a couple of Coconut Crabs. It got us off the boat for a couple of hours.
20 May 2017 Ile Fouquet, Chagos
The anchorage is starting to thin out now. Some boats have headed for the Seychelles and “Proud Cat” is heading back to Thailand. The wind dropped as predicted, so “Relax” and “Ngalawa” left this morning heading for Rodrigues, taking the eastern route around the Great Chagos Bank. I talked to “Relax” after they’d been at sea for three hours and Ralph said that they had ten knots of wind from the south east and were motoring into two metres seas - he said that it wasn’t too bad. Maybe we’ll have a go at the Eastern route when we leave in a couple of days’ time.
It was a pleasant morning, with light winds, so we dried out the genoa and dropped it to the deck to make repairs. Glenys set up her sewing machine on the foredeck and sewed a couple of patches on the sacrificial strip on the leech. She then reinforced some of the stitching on both the genoa and the staysail.
The weather became overcast and showery in the afternoon, so we hunkered down and did a few jobs - Glenys did some more cooking and then made a dodger for the port side guard rails. We know that we’re going to be sailing upwind with the waves on the port side, so the dodger will hopefully redirect some of the water away from our cockpit when we get hit by a big wave....
In the evening, we went over to “Jackster” with “Hokulea” to celebrate Dave’s birthday. Fortunately, “Jackster” still have some alcohol, so we had a good evening.
21 May 2017 Ile Fouquet, Chagos
It was a lovely day with light winds and sunshine. The weather forecast still looks good for leaving tomorrow, so we spent most of the day tidying up after three weeks anchored in the same spot. Glenys fitted the new spray dodger and tidied up her fridge, so that she can easily get at things while at sea. I checked the engine, had a last look at the rigging and checked the condition & tension of the steering cables – losing our steering on this passage would be a disaster.
After lunch, we went swimming with the Giant Mantas, which have been regularly coming to feed on plankton at the side of the sand bar where we’re anchored (they like cruising around at 05°20.01S 072°15.85E).
There’s still a lot of plankton in the water (which is why the Manta are there), so the visibility was only 10 metres and my photography was limited to natural light – a challenge.
We spent over an hour watching three Mantas with wing spans of 4-5 metres. They were cruising up and down the side of the sand bar sometimes in formation, three abreast. If we stayed quiet, floating on the surface, then they would swim very close to us, sometimes directly at us and then veering off at the last minute.
At one point, I had two of them performing loop-de-loops directly beneath me. They would dive down, disappear in the murky water and then re-appear swimming vertically towards me before looping over, showing me their white underside and then diving back down into the gloom. Big show-offs... It was a great finish to a fabulous three weeks in Chagos.
In the afternoon, we prepared for sea and stowed the dinghy on deck. We then had a quiet night watching a movie and finishing off the last of our alcohol – one last tot of rum with ginger beer and we managed to squeeze two small glasses of wine out of the last box. With no alcohol left at all, it’s definitely time to go…