Year 3 -9 May 2026 –Solomon Atoll -Chagos – part of BIOT (British Independent Overseas Territory)
It was a pleasant morning when we woke and I checked the weather. We were going to have rain on and off and then overnight so an early start for Mauritius tomorrow morning looked good. I had heard from Des, our weather man, and he thought it was a good time to start as well. This is quite a difficult passage as the wind angle can mean you are close hauled for the 1300 nm and there can be a SW swell to make it even more uncomfortable. The predicted wind would be 20-25 kts and 3m swells.
The crew wanted the last day snorkelling so we had breakfast (a bacon and egg sandwich) and as the cockpit tent had dried and the shade cover we decided to bring them in dry and to put them away. This was just as well as we had rain on and off during the day. I checked the generator and as it had enough oil and was working well without leaks I put the cover back on.
Erika and Joyce made some more bread and we tidied up and prepared. As we did so a rain shower came and we waited for it to finish.
Once the bread had proved and went in the oven we headed off in the dinghy to snorkel in a different area on Boddam in the reef in front of us. This was quite a good area in that there were quite a lot of healthy coral but quite a lot of dead coral – I presume bleached. The healthy coral was an array of vibrant colours and quite a variety as was the fish life. There were all sorts of fish some quite large and others tiny of am vast array of colours. We spent about 45 minutes and returned to Stormbird.
The bread was nearly done and Keith prepared lunch while I had to do another form for Mauritius. We then chilled and at 3.00pm we went out again this time to the North part of the reef for our last snorkel. This was low level coral and healthy with lots of fish life and we must have spent about an hour and everyone enjoyed it.
Once we returned we put the engine from the dinghy on the back of the boat and then raised the dinghy and
prepared everything. It began to drizzle and carried on like that into the night. We had a shower and then a quick drink for the last time before Mauritius.
We had got some tuna out for supper and then 1kg of mince which we will prepare and use for 2 meals. I prepared this mince and we had some music on to keep us going. We could not sit in the cockpit due to the rain so we sat inside and played games.
I prepared the tuna which we had with Pak Choy and frozen peas. This all went down well and we then turned in for an early night as we had about a 7–8-day journey to go – half an ocean really.
The picture of the day is the dinghy anchored at one of the snorkelling points.
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