Crossing the Indian Ocean. Day -1

 We've gotten most of the tasks ticked off our list, including going up the mast for an inspection. Here's a view of Kuah Harbour from 65 feet up in the air. The rest of the items on the list can get thrown away as we grow new, more pressing, maintenance projects from actually being on passage.

The boat is heavier than she has ever been. Full fuel, full water, extra petrol (gasoline for you foreigners) for the outboard, and food for 3 to 6 months.  The diesel weighs over 1,100 pounds, the water over 1,600 pounds. We probably have at least 500 pounds of snacks onboard 😁

If you are like me, your geography of the Indian Ocean is probably pretty weak. Of course, I have an excuse. I graduated high school in Florida. 

The basic plan for this passage is to leave Langkawi, Malaysia, pass over Sumatra, under Sri Lanka and make landfall in Uligan, Maldives. Uligan is at the very top of the Maldives.  We will then take our time travelling down the Maldives island chain. Then leave to sail to the uninhabited Chagos islands. These are currently owned by the UK and managed by British Indian Ocean Trust (BIOT). After a few weeks there we will continue onto the Seychelles.

The passage from Langkawi to Uligan, Maldives should be about 1,650 nm (nautical miles) and take us 10 to 14 days in Georgia.

Well that's the plan at least. In Covid season you really can't be sure of much. Crossing the Indian Ocean is tricky enough timing wise, without having to deal with countries shutting down because of Covid. Right now we can enter the Maldives, we have a permit for Chagos and pre-permission to go to the Seychelles.

In a typical year boats leave Malaysia in December and head to Thailand. Then sometime in January or early February leave for Sri Lanka and then onto the Maldives. The north Indian Ocean is odd in that its cyclone season has two peaks. Jan and Feb are low cyclone months and also the strongest SE Monsoon time. This monsoon brings SE winds, making the trip across toward the west possible. The other monsoon is the SW Monsoon with its corresponding SW winds. These monsoons were well know to the Arab traders who could easily travel back and forth.

Thailand and Sri Lanka being shut now rules them out for stopovers.

We will update our position while on passage most nights. You can view it here

https://farkwar.com/boats/georgia 

Or see the same thing at the bottom of our blog (which you probably know how to get to as you are reading it now)

svjeorgia.blogspot.com

In addition, I will upload some, short text only blogs along the way.

We cleared out of Langkawi this morning: Port Authority, Customs and Immigration. That gives us 24 hours to get sailing. (Cruisers note: Port Authority required in-date boat insurance to clear out. The immigration guy told us to tell our friends that Malaysia isn't ready for cruises yet.)

Wishing ourselves Fairwinds and Clean diesel.

Paul