Enroute Seychelles - Day 1

We left Chagos at about 9am on Sunday after the sun had come up enough for us to safely see the coral bommies to exit the atoll. Just before we got to the pass we were greeted by group of dolphins. The winds have been light and very fluky, making for a slow passage. Noon to noon run of 139 miles.
Lots of stars at night till the moon comes up at 10pm. To our north is the upside down Big Dipper and to the south is the Southern Cross. Current position should be on the map at the bottom of the blog page.

Paul
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Bye Bye Chagos

Its been a great 12 days hanging in the remote Salomon Atoll. Lots of live coral, lots of overly interested sharks, Boobies, Notties, Turns and a few Frigates flying around, old copra plantation building to explore -- all in all a pretty magical place. (Pictures to come when we get into the land of cell towers)

We are off this morning for a 7 to 10 day passage to the Seychelles. We will head about 100-120 miles to the south of here on a SW heading to get into better winds and more favorable current, then turn west for a few more days and then turn NW to head up to Mahe island in the Seychelles. I'll try and post a daily or bi-daily note to the blog.

Paul

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Chagos

We arrived in Chagos about noon today (Wed). Had a good sail overnight and this morning. A little over two days of passage time with 16 hours of motoring. Only had one BOB incident overnight. BOB Boobie On Board. She really wanted to hangout on the solar panels for the evening. Probably would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for the guttural squawks she kept making. A little boat poling and she sort of fell off the panels with a quick splash in the water and then off into more elegant flight.

We've tied ourselves to an old mooring rope in Ille Boddam in Chagos. We came to this anchorage because the winds are still out of the north here due to the low that pasd close by (normally would be SE). We were greeted by our friends on Perry, the only boat here, along with a 5 foot black tip shark that seems to think we are about to throw fish scraps overboard. I needed to dive on our old mooring and beef it up a little. Jen, off Perry, told me not to worry because she has researched it and there have only been 9 documented bites by black fin sharks. Thanks. Added a backup anchor line and chained it around a freestanding old coral bommie.
All good for now.
Paul
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Enroute Chagos Day 2

Started sailing about 1pm lat nightr. Lasted til an hour after sunrise, then we had motor all day. An hour before sunset we got enouh wind to slowly start sailing.

Have had a few very interested boobies flying by. These birds are extremely graceful flyers. They keep doing fly byes of our solar panels. Probably trying to decide if it is worth making one of their famously inelegant landings onto one for a little rest.
Also saw a whit tropic bird with its long tail flying overhead.

We should arrive in the morning (our Wed)

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Enroute Chagos Day 1

Left the Addu Atoll at 08:00 this morning. Had good sail all day making 4.5kts to 6.5kts in nice weather with light wind at 6 to 10 kts. The wind shutdown at sunset and now we are motoring south with 2-4kts of wind. The Southern Cross is in the sky off our port bow pointing us to our destination. Pretty empty ocean so far, with one Tuna boat and to freighters heading to Africa.
All good onboard.
01*52S 073*10E
COG 188*, SOG 6.3
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Finally Off to Chagos

 

Finally after sitting in the anchorage in Gan for 6 days past our check out the weather gods are ready to let us start the passage to Chagos. The weather has been overcast, very rainy and occasionally windy. The view above is the reef sitting 25 feet of our stern when the winds come from the SW. It is an ugly reef that took out the rudders on an Outremer catamaran a few week ago. You might ask why are we anchored so close to the reef? I ask myself that question at least twice a day. In front of us are four yellow resort boats on moorings. When the wind goes NW I have to bring in about10 feet of anchor chain to avoid hitting the closest one. You might also ask why don't we anchor somewhere better? This is as good as it gets here.

The conflict between the weather forecast models has continued for most of the week. The GFS model ended up being the most long term predictive and the most accurate here. The predicted low made its closest approach to us in Gan yesterday daytime. Really odd to get the worst weather in the daytime. It usually shows up at 3am. The wind speeds predicted by GFS were pretty accurate and the directions varied 20 - 40*. The low will travel toward Chagos and then west into the Indian Ocean. By the time we get to Chagos in two or three days, its effects should be gone.

Paul.

Leaving for Chagos While Dodging Chinese Space Junk in the Maldives

Sunrise from the Gan anchorage

After almost 3 months in the Maldives we are getting ready to leave for Chagos. As you can see Chagos is a dot in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It is most famous for the island of Diego Gracia, the only inhabited island in the chain and the home of a large, US military base. We are not allowed anywhere near Diego Garcia, but we can stop at two of the remote atolls in the Chagos archipelago.

Chagos, aka British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), is controversial due to some of the operations on Diego Gracia, like CIA rendition flights, as well as how the British ended up with the island. The Brits separated Chagos from Mauritius when they were reorganizing some of their colonies to give self-rule to the Seychelles and Mauritius.  The locals living in Chagos were moved to the Seychelles and Mauritius. The US got a long term lease for the base and Brits got a great deal on two nuclear submarines.

The UN and International Court of Justice has recently upheld the Mauritanian's rights to the islands. But the Brits are not buying the story. Either way, the area is patrolled by the British Overseas Indian Ocean Territory vessels. You have to jump through a lot of hoops to get permission to stop in Chagos while transiting the Indian Ocean. Vessel insurance, evacuation insurance, wreck removal insurance, etc. During Covid season they only allow three boats at a time. There are no communications there, ie no cell towers, no people and no Costco.   

We plan to be in Chagos for a few weeks and then do 10-12 day passage to the Seychelles. I'll try to post some on passage-- short blogs while we are on our way to Seychelles.

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The view of Feydho on the right, the causeway that connects Gan and Feydho in the foreground and the end of the long Gan airport runway in the background. Taken from our masthead while anchored in the Gan anchorage.

A few weather shots. A rainbow fighting to get out of this cloud.

Yet another squall heading our way.

A couple of live, 3.5 inch Cowries on the reef.

Lot of turtles in Gan, very tame

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Cruisers Notes

Gan anchorage

Outside cut: 00*41.0S, 073*08.75E

The cut into the Gan anchorage lies between Gan and Feydhoo islands and is in front of the causeway connecting these islands. The cut is not as apparent as the typical cuts further north and the water is often not clear.

There is a starboard side pole that marks the outer portion of the cut.

There is a starboard side inner pole on the inside of the cut that is not visible at higher tides.

The cut has about 10 feet minimum at low tide.

On the inner, starboard side of the cut is a shallow spot that sticks into the cut. It is often not very visible due to the water clarity. When you get toward the inside of the cut, stay a bit clear of the starboard side ( a little closer to the breakwater wall on your port). You can turn to starboard into the main portion of the anchorage once you have passed the steps that are in the breakwater wall to port.

Directly ahead of the cut as you enter is an open area with no moorings. This is in front of the tied off to the wall Coast Guard and Police boats. We were told we are not allowed to anchor in this area.

The anchorage is very tight, with the reef to the east and the existing local boats on moorings. These moorings are continually used, so don't expect an empty one to stay empty. The holding varies from good sand to somewhat scoured rubble. The scoured portions are where the current flows under the causeway.

You can't put out much scope as the winds come from all directions. The anchorage depths range from about 6 feet to 15feet. The anchorage is often rolly at high tide.

Petrol and diesel are available in the Feydho harbour. Take the dinghy 5 minutes to the harbour and head to the back wall where the petrol station is to fill your jerry jugs.

Provioning - there are 3 decent grocery stores within walking distance. The 3S store i just across the street and a little south of the petrol station. Its the best place o get eggs as they use a bright flashlight(torch) to check them before they put them in your container.

We are currently anchored at 00*41.136S, 073*08.608E

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WEATHER UPDATE

We've decided to sit tight for a bit. The two main weather models that we use for looking at passage weather are in wild disagreement with each other. The Euro model is fairly benign where we are headed, but shows the start of an RTS, Revolving Tropical Storm, aka cyclone, in the northern hemisphere way north of us. The GFS model shows a much larger RTS in the northern hemisphere, coming much closer to the Maldives. It also forecasts a matching RTS in the southern hemisphere coming close to where we want to go, Chagos. Normally the models don't differ this much, so we need to wait long enough for their little disagreements to resolve.

Euro mode. We are located near the label just below the middle in the blue section. Chagos is at the bottom, center

GFS model

Paul