SEYCHELLES TO CHAGOS
On passage to Chagos
10th – 18th APRIL 2006
With everything packed away, we were ready to leave Seychelles
Shayile was heavy in the water, with supplies and provisions for almost 4 months. I would suspect there must have been about 2 tons of provisions on board.
The passage plan was to initially head in an east north east direction, then in an easterly direction, before finally angling down towards Chagos which is situated on latitudes slightly below the Seychelles. (5.20S, 71.45E)
We were not 3 miles out Victoria Victoria
We continued on our way under sail and the current was WITH us! How long would it last!
I do not crave after long passages! It certainly is great to be out sailing, being with the elements and nature, but extended periods at sea are not what I long for.
Weather was always top of mind for me. I concerned myself with what was coming up and just where the storms and low pressures were. On long passages, you cannot choose your weather and 3 – 5 days into the passage, one has to deal with what arrives.We were still in the cyclone season and although well north of any direct threat by cyclones, we had to be prudent about possible low pressure build up and how best to avoid their weather influence on a passage. My intention to stay north was also to stay well out of their way, should one decide to build up!
I also concerned myself with the wellbeing of Shayile. This centered on the engines and now, the rudders. Were the engines going to go the distance after all the hassles we had had with them? Were the rudders adequately welded and would they hold up to the big seas? These, of course, are major components of any yacht and we could not afford to have them give up on us. It has been known to happen and not something I needed!
10 days at sea is a long time and sitting around, is not one of my strengths! Although I enjoy reading, I cannot keep up the pace for hours on end and I battle to keep myself busy! Further more, I am a lousy sleeper at sea and cannot put my head down for hours on end, sleeping away the days. Frustrating for me!
So on we sailed. Over the following 2 days the wind died off and we did quite a bit of motoring and motor sailing. Erias and Shayile were always within about 6 miles of each other and every so often would pass close by and say hello.
Rob with a huge Barracuda
Day 3 at sea and I hooked into a huge fish. After fighting it for some 20 – 30 minutes, I landed a huge Great Barracuda. It was enormous and weighted in at 20 – 25 kgs, at least! After cleaning it up, I cut it in half and we did a mid ocean ferry of fish across to Erias.
Unfortunately when it came to eating it, we did not enjoy it that much. Firstly it was much too big and these big fish are not as tasty as the smaller ones. We also had this subconscious worry about ciguatera poisoning. That night I chatted to Fred (Peri Peri) and he told me about it and the concerns associated with eating big barracuda. I was aware of the poisoning but understood that it was not prevalent in the Indian Ocean . With Fred airing the issue, the fish did not taste quite as sweet!
Ciguatera poisoning : Although there have been reported incidences of it in the West Indian Ocean, there are numerous occurrences in the Pacific and Caribbean regions.
The toxin is derived from a bottom dwelling, single celled alga found on damaged reefs. This is eaten by reef fish which in turn are eaten by game fish. The toxins then accumulate in these game fish. The toxins are not detectable and remain in the flesh after cooking and even freezing. Symptoms of ciguatera poisoning include gastrointestinal and neurological disorders. The poison can be fatal.
(Source : A field guide to the seashores of Eastern Africa )
So with that great news we unfortunately threw the remaining fish away. This was something that goes against my “marine principles” but we decided not to take the chance.
On route to Chagos!
Day 3 at sea and the wind picked up and we started to sail again. We now had wind in our favour and, best of all, we had current of some 1 – 1 ½ knots with us.
For the next 4 days we made good progress in an easterly direction. Only one issue haggled with me and this was a big low pressure situated just below us. It was giving us great westerly directed winds, but with this clockwise rotation of winds around the low pressure system my anxieties focused on this system! For this reason, Erias and Shayile stayed well north on latitudes of just below 4 degrees south and, although it intensified over the days, our winds were great.
Erias on passage
Day 6 saw me lose a Dorado. The sad part was we gaffed it and landed it. Then, with a final spurt of energy, it came off the lure and disappeared off into the deep blue sea, gaff and all! I was seriously chiseled for having lost such a great eating fish and was certainly looking forward to catching my first Dorado.
A day later as the sun was going down, both reels took off at high speed. B and I grabbed a rod each. I have never experienced a fish to take off at such high speed, and keep going!! Finally they stopped and the fights began. I was the first to lose mine as the line parted. Goodbye fishing lure. Belinda fought her fish for quite some time, before getting tired and handing the rod to me. By this time it was getting dark and I immediately realized that this was no averaged sized fish. It was a bus!! The way it fought and the heaviness of the weight on the rod told me I was in for a fight. Being far out at sea, one does not encounter “pan sized fish!” They are big, and this was no exception. On I battled as it took line and I retrieved line, both of us having our turn of “gaining grounds”, a form of school yard game.
The next problem ; this was a huge fish and once next to Shayile, or on board, what then? My feelings were it was a huge tuna of some 40 or 50kg’s. What does one do with a fish that big? On I fought. Soon it was dark and I had to apply pressure to get it in. It was like trying to wind in a tractor tyre! Solid and heavy. I slowly made progress and literally forced the fish in. We caught a glimpse of this huge body as it swam under Shayile. We could not believe it. How the hell would Belinda gaff this fish? On I fought. Well, the good news I can confidently say is the treble hook snapped clean off and the fish disappeared off to take a rest and live another day. To snap a treble hook takes some doing. Although keen to see the fish close up, we were both relieved to see it swim away. It was just too big for us to catch, deal with, and eat. It was bitter sweet and I was glad to see it swim away.
Easter Sunday arrived! B had “smuggled” a few Easter eggs on board, along with other chocolates bought in the Seychelles. Early that morning we hid them in the cockpit for Dan and Jens. No garden here, just sail bags, pillows and other marine appliances where these eggs were hidden away! B got busy and cooked up the family some croissants, coffee and juice for the kids. Dan and Jenna were eager to get their gums into some chocolate and after breakfast they went on a hunt to find there meager stash of wannabe Easter eggs. It was great to watch them dash about Shayile looking in every possible hiding place. Once they had all been found, consumption began with Daniel commenting “This is the best Easter ever”!!
Certainly a very different Easter from the ones back home, but memorable indeed.
Dan looses a tooth and gets paid in dollars!
Day 7 and we were now closing in on Chagos. Our feelings of excitement and anticipation of seeing these wonderful islands increased. It’s amazing how spirits soar as one approaches land. However the weather had to throw one more nasty at us. With this low pressure still hanging around just south of us, we were getting great westerly winds, but along with this came the good old squalls, bigger seas and increased winds.
The wind slowly built out of the SW and, with that, the seas picked up. The sky was particularly menacing with huge dark grey clouds all around us. Soon the seas followed the winds and increased in size. B and I got busy and reefed Shayile back. With reduced sail and following sea, Shayile was a lot happier. We sailed along at an average speed of about 6 knots. In big seas and wind, I tended to reduce speed, ensuring the swells moved a little quicker than the boat. Soon we were in “SA coastal weather” with big seas and winds up around 30 knots. Between squalls, the wind moderated to some 15 knots and then increased again as the next squall caught up with us. The radar was able to pick up the squalls quite easily and we could see them coming from some distance. A huge yellow blob on the screen slowly catching us up indicated a squall!
On we went and into the night. Peri-Peri informed us that the conditions would stay with us through the night, so we buckled down for a sleepless night at sea.
As mentioned, I cannot sleep when there is bad weather. Firstly I want to be up and aware of what is happening and secondly I find it difficult to sleep when there is banging and slapping on the hulls. Try sleep in a log cabin with 10 people banging the floor with broom sticks! I must have spent most of the night awake. In the early morning as the weather eased, B took over and I fell into a deep sleep, exhausted from being awake for some 24 hours.
Chagos arrival!
After a few hours sleep, I woke up later that morning to B saying “come see!”
Up ahead, there were the islands of Chagos! What a great sight! We had arrived after some 9 days at sea and 1060miles (2000km’s) of ocean having been crossed. Coming up behind, about 4 miles off, was Erias.
Arrival in Chagos with Erias
Paradise found in the middle of the Indian Ocean!
The Chagos archipelago covers a vast area of some 300nm in diameter. There are quite a few atolls where boats can enter and find protection from the open sea. Yachties tend to stick to 2 atolls, Peros Banhos and Salomon. This is the utopia of sailing destinations, the holy grail, where cruisers head for to get away from humanity and to live a true island existence!
We headed for Peros Banhos the bigger of the 2 atolls. It is about 15 miles in diameter with small islands skirting the atoll perimeter; the crater rim. Each island is different in size and is very low lying. The vegetation is all natural coastal scrub and bush with coconut trees littering the skyline of each island. The islands are mostly surrounded by a coral reef. Once inside the reef, the beaches greet you with coconut trees, natural vegetation and rocks to scramble over. Really a stunning place!!
A little bit about Chagos :
The Chagos Archipelago is British controlled but leased to the Americans. The Americans have a military base on the island of Diego Garcia
Years back (Pre 1950’s) there were a few hundred inhabitants on Chagos, but when the British took over and leased it to the Americans, all the locals were moved to the Seychelles, Reunion and Mauritius. There are still a few derelict houses and dwellings on the islands from way back, but no one is allowed to live on the islands.
Now this could provide interesting debate to civil rightists groups! Forced removal and relocated elsewhere for “military purposes”!!
Unspoilt beaches – Paradise found again!!
Yachties are allowed to visit Chagos and spend a few months here, however staying (camping) on the islands is forbidden. It really is a kind of mid ocean break between Africa and Australia for yachties.
The rules pertaining to visits to Chagos have changed since our venture. At the time of our visit to Chagos, the British, came around once a month or so and visit the yachties. They arrived on a large fisheries ship that monitored all movement in and out of the islands. An immigration process took place and a fee of 100 dollars was charged. This allowed yachts to stay for 3 months on Chagos.
There were a number of rules and regulations that were handed out which all yachties had to abide by, amongst them being, no sleeping or staying on the islands overnight, no fires, no spear fishing and no removing of natural resources etc. All of the above rules contributed towards the wealth of wildlife and sea life in and around the archipelago.
Surely, this place has to be one of the last unspoilt and natural locations in the world and we were truly fortunate and blessed to be able to experience it. For me it was just unbelievable and I feel privileged and kind of unique to have had this wonderful experience. More people have climbed Mt Everest, than been to Chagos!
For Dan and Jen, although still young and unable to appreciate the solitude and wonders of Chagos, they to can look back one day and consider themselves very fortunate to have visited such an amazing place. One always wonders how long this can last before there is some kind of commercial venture underway to bring Chagos to the attention of world tourism by means of a resort. Time will tell.
Out fishing, whilst the sun sets over Peros Banhos
Peros Bahnos
We sailed into Peros Bahnos, entering the archipelago via the Northern pass and headed for the nearest anchorage off the island of Ile Diamant. We were keen to rest up and “charge the batteries” after the crossing. Within an hour we had the anchor down and could relax and enjoy calm waters and tropical beaches!! That sense of achievement is something most of us get high on and this was no exception. Again we had crossed an ocean and arrived in paradise!
We intended spending some 3 months in Chagos; first at Peros and then across to the atoll of Saloman. The reason for the move is weather based. With predominant westerly and north westerly winds, Peros offers secure anchorages. As the season swings to the south east monsoons, the yachties then move across to Saloman where better protection is offered from these winds.
Ile Diamant
Our first anchorage was Ile Diamant, close to the northern pass into Peros. We spent 4 days here and enjoyed getting into the Chagos way of life slowly. You know, one has to ease into the lifestyle, not jump in head first! Takes some adjusting! Not easy!
Joining us at the anchorage was Christian, a single handed French sailor. This was his 7th time back at Chagos and he knew the place extremely well. We went ashore with him exploring deep into the coconut tress and vegetation. It was a great afternoon of exploring the island and that evening we planned a braai ashore. We all packed a basket in a clearing amongst the coconut trees, we made a fire and sat around enjoying the moment. The kids went of exploring and chopping, whilst we braaied fish and meat on an open fire.
Young Manu brought in a coconut palm heart, which we all ate. To fill you in on this delicacy, a young coconut tree is cut down at the base. Inside the lower part of the trunk, and at its center, is a “tube” of this tasty flesh. It is the “vein” that leads up the trunk and has a sweet, almost cucumber flesh like appearance to it. It can be eaten as is, or sliced up into a salad. This is known as Millionaires Salad as a whole tree is sacrificed to produce the salad!
Kids braai-ing marsh mellows on Il Diamant
It was on the beach at Ile Diamant that Dan and Jenna introduced Manu and Tito to roasting marshmallows on the fire. The evening went on well into the night and we all had a most relaxing and memorable evening together.
The snorkeling was great off Diamant and the coral unspoilt with beautiful fan corals and plenty of reef fish. Unfortunately, some may say, there are lots of sharks! Black Tipped Reef Sharks are everywhere and were seen virtually every time we dived. They seemed more inquisitive than threatening and fortunately are not that big. The biggest we had seen so far was some 1 ½ meter or so.
The fishing off Diamant was fantastic. As I enjoy fly fishing, I spent most of my fishing day out throwing a fly. Success was varied and I must admit I lost a lot more than I caught, but catch I did and what a great way to catch a fish!! The fights I had were numerous and would make many a fisherman extremely jealous. And I suppose that is one of the many reasons why yachties make this journey to Chagos!
One afternoon Jean-Ives and I decided to go diving. We must have gone some 300 meters or so away from the yachts and for an hour or so we dived and spear fished. Little did we know but above us, the weather had changed rather suddenly. We were not aware of it as we hunted the waters for fish. Finally we decided it was time to head back to the yachts. The sea and wind had picked up and the ride back on the duck was bumpy.
When I got back to Shayile, I could see B was not happy. With the wind and seas having picked up, Shayile had dragged! We were on a lee shore and the reef came awfully close. The main problem was our awning which was up and acted as a huge sail, assisting in “pushing” Shayile towards the reef. Although shaken, B did extremely well and with the help of Christian, they had re-anchored Shayile. With the weather conditions, Christian upped anchor and headed off for another island which offered better protection. With me back on Shayile and Jean-Ives back on Erias, we both lifted our anchors and headed off after Christian.
We sailed in an easterly direction down towards an island called Ile Longue, with the wind still blowing 25 knots.
B: After a year of great excitement and many dangers, this was the most terrifying experience. I was down in the very forward cabin, turning and checking the potatoes for rotten ones when I realized that the awning was flapping harder than before. I went up to secure it and saw Erias come past me at a speed! We were DRAGGING!!
The reef loomed below the water and was coming closer all the time. I started the engines and tried to power forward, but had to leave the wheel to pull up the anchor chain to release the bridle, in order to let out more chain and halt the slid. I couldn’t drop the awning all the way as it covered the anchor chain and winch. Basically it was impossible to do it alone. We were veering wildly in the wind as I ran backwards and forwards and, because of a hardware problem, I was unable to find the centre of the steering. In desperation I blew the distress horn, hoping Rob would hear me and come back. The children were really scared and so was I! It was the first time I could see our boat being wrecked and our home destroyed. Nadine was unable to help as she had her hands full on Erias with high wind and scared children! Then Christian arrived…..!! He had rowed over in his little dingy and popped his head up and said “Don’t worry, I am here” with the sweetest French accent I have every heard. He steered and fetched the scissors to cut the ropes holding the awning and I was able to stow it and pull up the anchor. We re-anchored in the same place and once I had caught my breath he shot off, pulled up his own anchor by hand, and sailed away. After he left I started to shake like mad and couldn’t stop the tears. I was so upset, the children were scared, and I was furious with Rob for going so far away to fish. We have always been a great team and I now knew how heavily we rely on each other, you cannot do this alone! Christian got a huge goodie bag from me the next day, including a whole slab of Cadbury’s chocolate, Rob was most unimpressed with the chocolate loss, but I reckon he earned it.
Picking coconuts
Ile Longue
When we got to Ile Longue, Christian was already anchored up. We dropped anchor close to him and we all sat out the afternoon waiting for the wind to die down. Although sheltered from the waves by the island, the wind was still howling.
We spent 4 days at Ile Longue and the fishing here was unreal. Again I spent most of my time fly fishing and again, though not always successful in landing them all, I did get some fine fish for the pan.
A creature that I found totally amazing on Chagos was the Coconut Crab. We had been told about them and read up a bit about them, but seeing one was special! The first time we came across one, I could not believe the size of it! These crabs are enormous! Apparently they can weigh anything up to 4kg’s! Their nippers are huge and the crab must be +2 feet in length. Coconut crabs, as their name describes, apparently live off coconuts. They rip open the coconuts and eat the flesh. We all know how hard a coconut is so you can imagine how powerful their nippers are! Avoid them! Unfortunately these crabs are quite rare and take many years to grow to full size. Some are reported to be as old as 35 years! Further to this, they are rather slow moving, easy to catch, and taste delicious. Many succumb to eager and hungry yachties.
Manu and Daniel with a Coconut Crab
One afternoon we had a great downpour of rain and managed to catch about 60 liters of water, the first time since arriving on Chagos. Not entirely successful, as our tanks were very low, but non the less it was some at add to the little water we had in the tanks
When it was finally time to up anchor, it was out of necessity to get water from one of the wells on the bigger islands.
Ile Grand Soeur
We left Ile Longue and set sail back to Ile Diamant. The wind was fair and, although squally, was allowing us to head in the right direction. We were also hoping for rain! Besides catching a great sized Rainbow Runner, I also caught a Shark! It took my lure which surprised me. These lures travel just below the surface and not easy for a shark to grab; or so I thought. It was a small Grey Shark (Nurse Shark) and after removing the hooks I let it go.
Slowly the wind picked up to 30knots and we were reefing the sails. We needed better protection than the island of Ile Diamant
We spent another 3 days here and, again, the fishing was great! We lost a lot of fish and one day I was stripped by a fish, or something! It took off and would not stop. I had to apply pressure as I ran out of line before it finally parted. Some big GT I suspected!
Robinson Cruso kids!
B: Being deserted islands, surrounded by coral reef, you would imagine that the shells on the beach would be unbelievable. Think again. The shores are alive with hermit crabs of all sizes and shell shapes. Some out grow the large shells and have to fashion homes out of coconut shells. The strangest one was living in the bottom of a broken bottle. There were some beautiful long pointed ‘marlin spike’ shells but all of them were inhabited and I wouldn’t have the heart to evict the cute little crabs who live inside them. The only shells that escape being squatted in were the cowries and cone shells. As I spent many happy hours with my family, Aunt and Uncle and cousins searching the Natal coast for cowries this suited me fine. We found lots of Money; Gold ringer; Arabian; Carnelian; Map; Arabian; Serpents Head and Tiger cowries but mostly small to medium sized. The only large shiny Tiger cowrie I found was lying all alone on a shell-less beach where we spent one hour before an oncoming storm sent us scuttling back to the boat. On the way back we had to take evasive action to avoid hitting a drowsy turtle grazing over the reef.
It was now time to move again as we needed water desperately. We also wanted to explore what may be termed the main island in Paros; Ile Du Coin.
We upped anchor and sailed a short distance in a southerly direction towards Ile Du Coin.Ile Du Coin
Back in the days when Chagos was inhabited, Ile Du Coin was the hub of Peros Bahnos. It was here that the village was situated. As we approached, there were 2 other yachts anchored off what appeared to be a pier. We found ourselves a piece of sand amongst the coral and dropped the anchor. As water was high on the list of priorities, we went ashore to check out the well that was situated in the remains of the village. After beaching the ducky and wandered into the coconut trees and soon found the well which was positioned next to a derelict house. The house, a double story wooden house of sort, belonged to the governor of the island years back. Unfortunately it was falling apart quite badly and kind of tricky even to enter and explore! We took our jerry cans and began to fill. No sooner had we started to fill the cans, the mosquitoes arrived in their squadrons, so much so that we had to leave in a hurry.
Next day I was back at the well, armed with plenty of Mozzie repellent and long pants.
I filled our containers and headed back to Shayile. As the water was not recommended to drink, I had to filter it. As our water maker on board Shayile was pretty much dead, I rigged up hosepipes and managed to use the water makers 3 part filter system to filter our water. We then added a few purification tablets to the tank and in went the water. A few loads and we had our tanks half full. We were still optimistic that it would rain. Ha ha!
Tito and Daniel
One morning, we all went ashore to collect some washing up water. Daniel and Jenna played on the beach whilst B and I went to the well. As we were filling up we heard a chilling scream coming from the beach. Not knowing who it was, I sprinted off towards the beach. Jenna was running towards us screaming “Daniel had fallen out a tree”. It was not far and I arrived to find Daniel lying on some very nasty rocks. He had fallen out of a coconut tree onto the rocks. (The rocks formed part of the old jetty and pretty much the only rocks around! He was crying and looked terrible. He was bleeding from a gash on the head and there was blood in his ear. I asked him where it hurt and carefully lifted him up; concerned that he may have hurt his back. Fortunately it was ok. B arrived and we lay him down on the beach. Between breaths he was saying “Sorry” and “This is like a nightmare but it’s real!!” He really was in a bad way. We cleaned him up and examined the damage. A gash on the head, swollen elbow and wrist, a big scratch and early bruising low on his back. We took him back to Shayile and got busy with the first aid kit. To say he was extremely lucky is downplaying this fall. It must have been a good 2 ½ meters that he fell and how there was no broken arms or serious damage, I have no idea.
He perked up but we could see he would have bruises and pain for some time to come.
Next day, we decided to sail across to the island of Ile Fouquet and catch up with Belagear and Ad Astra. I needed some glue for the rubber duck which was slowly coming apart at the seams and continually leaking air. Peter said he could assist me with some as our poor rubber duck was now in a bad way!
Off we sailed to Ile Fouquet, a short distance of some 3 miles.
Ile Fouquet
As we approached Ile Fouquet, we counted some 7 yachts there. It appeared to be a great anchorage and the waters were very calm. We sailed passed Ad Astra waving to Ian and Elizabeth. We had not seen them since Dar and that was only for an hour or 2. We had spent time with them on Sakatia in Madagascar
We spend 4 days or so at Ile Fouquet and it was fantastic to get into the company of a group of yachts again. We loved being alone, sailing and traveling as a family, but it was also great to socialize with other yachties from time to time, catching up on news and stories.
That first evening we were invited ashore for a fish smoking evening. (Getting the fish to stay in the rizzler is quite difficult – only joking!) Ian on Ad Astra had a smoker so those with fish took it along and it was smoked to perfection. We were introduced to the other yachties and spent the evening catching up on everyone’s news.
The next evening was a Pot Luck dinner and everyone brought something along to eat. It was spread out and a fine dinner of assorted food from different yachts was eaten!
Hunting kids
B: As rather new arrivals, and with a freezer, I was able to treat everyone to a change from the fish diet with a home-made chicken liver pate. Well that went down well, especially when you realize that some folks live without fridges, never mind freezers. I even had a marriage proposal; clearly Günter had had enough of fish!!
The camp where the socials took place was great. No mozzies and well protected amongst the coconut trees. It was great to be able to catch up with people we had met at previous destinations, exchanging stories on our travels. We also met other yachties most of which had sailed in from the East. (
Rob with a sundowner
One morning, we heard via Peter on Belagaer that strong westerly winds were predicted and that he and a few other yachts were leaving to go to the Salomon atoll. We decided to stay on a while longer as we were enjoying Peros Bahnos and wanted a few more days to explore the islands further.
With 3 or 4 yachts heading off, we returned to Ile Du Coin, back to where Erias was anchored to spend a few more days there. We lifted our anchor and motor sailed back to Ile Du Coin.
As mentioned Ile Du Coin was a great island to explore. With its many houses and derelict infrastructure, it was worth checking out. Further more there was reported to be, some elusive fruit trees tucked away amongst the trees.
We dropped anchor next to Erias and Yacht Mariposa, an American yacht, who was now anchored along side Erias. There were also 1 or 2 other yachts there at the time.
Govenors house on Ile de Coin
More ruins
One afternoon, the Shayile and Erias crew went on a food search. First place we came across was the village cemetery. It was quite eerie but interesting to see dates and names on the many broken and destroyed tombstones. Most of them were in French which was rather surprising. We were not aware that French was the language spoken by the island residents. Many of the graves were children, a clear indication of the harsh environment they were living in. From the cemetery we bashed our way through the vegetation and coconut trees, again looking for those elusive orange trees.
After about an hour we found them and managed to get about 10 or 15 oranges. We also found a few lemon trees but, unfortunately, no lemons. Finally we came across the last remaining residents on Ile Du Coin, a few donkeys! They looked pretty healthy and obviously had access to a stable diet.
Our food search continued and next up was Bread Fruit Tree. For those of you who do not know what they are, (I had no clue) they resemble a green melon. They grow on trees and are not easy to pick! Their flesh is unique. Hard almost potato textured when green, but turns into a sweet, soft, almost paw-paw fleshed when ripe.
Graveyard on Ile du Coin
After a succession of attempts at getting to the Bread Fruit, which had us all in hysterics, I finally managed to scramble up the tree with the help of a rope. With a gaff tied to a paddle, I managed to get 5 bread fruit down. A successful food gathering afternoon was had.
The next afternoon the Shayile and Erias teams went ashore for a beach braai. The kids and I collected wood and made a “camp”. We the prepared a fire and, as the sun was setting, we fired it up.
Now a beach braai sounds a lot more romantic and exciting then it actually is. Without charcoal, fires for a braai are a mission; it’s dark and the meat tends to be grilled on one side and raw on the other; and, no matter how careful you are, there is always a dose of beach sand on the meat! Trying to lay all the food out, without a salad landing upside down in the sand, is an art! However we did it and we all had a very successful braai and a wonderful evening on the beach.
When the braai was over we filled the fire with wood and all sat around and enjoyed the company and unique surroundings. The kids played around the fire way into the night. As their batteries started to run low, we packed up and headed back to the yachts.
That night we decided it was now time to sail across to Salomon. The plan was to leave first light next day.
This we did and next morning, we upped anchor and headed across the atoll towards Ile Fouquet, and out through the pass on the southern side of Peros Banhos.
It was a pleasant crossing with the wind almost directly behind us and not much of a swell. The distance was 25 miles and it lies virtually due east of Peros. We all sat back and enjoyed the short crossing to Salomon!
