Hi folks
Position 7.04n 72.55e at anchor in a big wide lagoon off the island of Uligamu among a string of low white sand encircled islands that make up the northern most islands of the Maldives, south west of India.
Getting here from Sri Lanka took us a tad over 2.5 days but would have been faster had Musketelles auto pilot not been inadvertently switched off in the dark of the wee small hours 50 miles off the Maldives. B was on watch and noticed a ship approach from the right and then tracked it with # 1 radar system (eyes) and noticed that went in a big circle around Musketelle. At which point she established that it was Musketelle that was doing the turning not the ship.
After a few frantic moments in the pitch black getting her bearings she worked out that the autopilot was not operating and then on checking the chart track plotter established we had been going seriously off course for some time. So maybe we lost a few hours with that malfunction.
After a few frantic moments in the pitch black getting her bearings she worked out that the autopilot was not operating and then on checking the chart track plotter established we had been going seriously off course for some time. So maybe we lost a few hours with that malfunction.
This has been a tough little sail for the Navigator. On top of the aforementioned glitch she has had a bout of mal de mer caused by some very big seas that were not anticipated on this leg in the predominantly NE monsoon winds which had a touch of NW in them after we passed below India which meant forward of the beam headwinds for us. We continually saw 30 plus knots with a touches of 41knots. Coupled with this we had big seas with up to 6 metre troughs some of which pooped us right into the cockpit...how rude we thought, Cook Strait yes but not the tropical Indian Ocean. The hydraulic driven autopilot decided the seas were too big and would cut out which necessitated we steer by hand for 10 hours. B was out to it so P was on deck for 22 hours straight, 12 noon to 10am the next morning keeping Muskie on course. The stoic B raised herself from the bunk and relieved him of the helm in these huge swells steering for an hour to prove her worth and then luckily the winds receded and the seas too.
Lesson learned...be prepared for the worst at anytime. But in reality this was only strong wind not a gale, storm or cylcone. We are now challenging ourselves to how we will handle a 3 or 4 day blow. Lying a hull to the wind is the most viable option for two handed sailors because you simply cannot stay up on deck sailing and making way for 72 or 96 hours. Even lying a hull getting food and fluids into the system and keeping them there is a major challenge for not only B. This is why we source multiple weather forecasts when we are in notorious volatile regions.
We arrived in the Maldives to a friendly welcoming party of officaldom from Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and 2 Army officers plus boatman. They clambered aboard and did their thing all for no cost and then we spent the rest of Sunday 22 Feb relaxing. Sunday the day of rest....no this is a Muslim country and Thursdays and Fridays are their Sat and Sun. So don't rock up on those days. This place is real paradise with some of the best snorkelling in sublime waters with a multitude of colurful fish including huge manta rays.
We had a chuckle the other day when a French cruiser came alongside in his dink for a chat....B was swimming and pointed out a funny fish with a Rhino like horn that she said she thought was an Emperor fish and the Frenchman said no,no,no thats a Napoleon fish. We chortled about that one after he departed. Turns out it is a Unicorn fish, according to another cruiser.
We had a chuckle the other day when a French cruiser came alongside in his dink for a chat....B was swimming and pointed out a funny fish with a Rhino like horn that she said she thought was an Emperor fish and the Frenchman said no,no,no thats a Napoleon fish. We chortled about that one after he departed. Turns out it is a Unicorn fish, according to another cruiser.
Fast forward to Thr 26 Feb and we cleared with officaldom to sail for Oman and departed at dusk on the 1255 mile voyage up the Arabian Sea to Salalah Oman only to turn around after 4 miles and return to paradise.... because we have an engine overheating problem which is not something we need in these latitudes.
Slept on the problem and now its pm Fri 27 Feb having spent the day assessing the situation.... changing saltwater cooling intake impeller, alternator/waterpump fan belt and still running too hot. Tomorrow will remove thermostat from radiator and if necessary heat exchanger (even though P serviced this in Phuket). Tropical waters are renowned for playing havoc with mechanical gear. We will prevail but we are going to be a few days behind sched.
B has spent the day researching information we have sourced on the forthcoming transit through 'Pirate Alley' on the leg between Salalah and Aden. We will share some of that very interesting data with you in a future blog. We hope to depart from the Maldives for the second time tomorrow Sat 28 Feb.
Slept on the problem and now its pm Fri 27 Feb having spent the day assessing the situation.... changing saltwater cooling intake impeller, alternator/waterpump fan belt and still running too hot. Tomorrow will remove thermostat from radiator and if necessary heat exchanger (even though P serviced this in Phuket). Tropical waters are renowned for playing havoc with mechanical gear. We will prevail but we are going to be a few days behind sched.
B has spent the day researching information we have sourced on the forthcoming transit through 'Pirate Alley' on the leg between Salalah and Aden. We will share some of that very interesting data with you in a future blog. We hope to depart from the Maldives for the second time tomorrow Sat 28 Feb.
All at Anchor
B&P
B&P
