Year 3 -4 May 2026 –Route to Chagos
I was up at 7.00am and it was a pleasant morning with blue skies and white clouds. Keith and Erika were on watch so I cut up some papaya and prepared breakfast. Our boobie friends who had hitched a lift had gone to do their morning fishing.
I took over at 8.00am and we were still sailing relatively well in 10-12 kts of wind. I sent an email to BIOT and the locals in Chagos explaining our Lat/Long position and that we were now in Chagos waters. I also explained that we may be able to arrive tomorrow afternoon the 5th and would we be able to anchor as our permit was from the 6th. They said they would forward on our email to London and they should reply. I realised that it was a bank holiday in London and would they read it? I therefore emailed back and explained this and they said it should be fine and they would explain to London. This was good news otherwise we may have had to handg around for a night just floating or moving very slowly.
Keith got the fishing rods out and we started fishing.
I did the daily checks and we noticed quite a bit of bird life. There were hundreds of what looked like white terns, many boobies of the red footed variety and a number of large black birds – could be shearwaters. We also saw some dolphins who come to look at us.
The morning wore on and it was warm and a good breeze and it was a nice day. There was the odd rain cloud but we seemed to miss them. The cloud structures were large and diverse in some areas giving it an unsettled feel.
Carolyn and Joyce came on at 12.00noon and we were still sailing albeit off course. The wind began to die so I suggested we motor sail with the main which would enable us to go closer to the wind which we did.
We had lunch and I considered when we could get to the Solomon Atoll we had a permit to anchor at. The waypoint I had set was about 26 nm from the pass into the atoll. At the current speed we would get to the waypoint at about 12.00noon tomorrow. We then had about 4 hours to motor. It would be better to get to the waypoint say at 10.00am so we increased our speed a bit but were still using the main.
We continued and I had some rest and did some admin etc. Keith and Erika took over at 4.00pm and we were still motor sailing. However, like most evenings we could see a lot of rain clouds ahead. However, not long after they started their watch we caught a small tuna which I gutted and filleted. This we will have tomorrow and is the first fish we have had for some time.
Carolyn and Joyce made sausages with mash and red cabbage for supper which was nice to have for a change.
After supper the heavens opened and we ran through some major rain clouds for a couple of hours. There was no way to avoid this rain and we got quite wet. After the rain had begun to stop I thought the best thing would be to take down the main so we could motor direct to our waypoint which was almost directly into the wind. The wind in any event was still weak so this seemed the best thing to do.
I took over at 8.00pm and it was still drizzling. We were still motoring and to our waypoint. The wind came up again and if we sailed we would be 35-40 degrees off our course at least. I therefore had to resist as the main thing if we want to arrive tomorrow is to get there in the light. If the wind radically changes so we can sail straight to the waypoint them I would do it. We therefore settled down for a motoring night and look forward to hopefully getting to our atoll tomorrow.
The picture of the day is an interesting cloud structure before sunset.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
I will be going shortly from India to the Maldives and then on to Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.
I am currently in need of potentially 2 crew from Mauritius to Cape Town from about 10 June 2026 and we should arrive in Cape Town on about 25-30 July 2026. If at all interested contact me on my email below or WhatsApp +44 7931360372.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com