Crossing the Gulf of Bengal.

As we left Chalong, Thailand we were entering a new phase of our trip by leaving South-East Asia and commencing the crossing of the Indian Ocean that would lead us up to the Red Sea. Covering over 3400 nautical miles (6300 km) this section of our trip is unique in many aspects. For one it can only be sailed during the North-East monsoon in January and February as the rest of the year the wind comes from the West making it impossible for a sailboat to go that way. But the biggest problem resides in the fact that we need to go through the Gulf of Aden in the West, the most pirate infested waters in the world. However, if you sail around the world the options are not legion. You either go through this area or you skip all South-East Asia and sail directly from Australia to the rough waters of South-Africa then into the Atlantic and if after that you still want to see the Mediterranean Sea you need to add one more year and two ocean crossings to the trip. We elected to go through the pirate region but to sail the Gulf of Aden in a convoy of sailboats we would meet in Oman at the entrance of the Gulf too reduce the chance of an attack. We left Chalong, Thailand on Jan 6th in direction of Sri Lanka but after a few hours of motoring on a flat sea we realized it was a bad idea to try to cross 1200 miles with limited fuel we had and decided to turn back to Chalong to wait for a better window and get more fuel. Besides the forecast showed the coming of a huge storm in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and we learned later that indeed the storm was pretty bad and a sailboat was lost at sea. We finally left on Jan 13th, 2011, had a nice smooth ride and nine days later we landed in Galle, Sri Lanka. The picture of this beautiful sunset over the Bay of Bengal, somewhere between Thailand and India, speaks for itself.

Arrived at Assab, Eritrea, Africa

We arrived in the city of Assab, Eritrea in Africa on February 27th 2011 after a passage of 457 miles with the Seabird convoy.

Arrived in Yemen.

We arrived in the beautiful city of Al Mukalla in Yemen, from Uligan in Maldives, on February 20th, 2011 after a passage of 1503 nautical miles (2796 km) that took us 13 days, 3 hours and 0 minutes for an overall average speed of 4.8 knots. This passage was the most amazing passage we did. In the Maldives we organized a convoy of 9 sailboats with who we sailed in formation all the way from Maldives to Yemen to ensure some safety while sailing through these dreaded waters. We arrived tired but safe and sound in Mukalla where we are trying to get some rest, resupplying and getting prepared for the Gulf of Aden passage, while dodging the gunshots of the police forces trying to disperse the daily manifestations in town. We will sail the Gulf of Aden in convoy as well. We know we are not giving you much stories to read lately but we spent most of the last two months at sea where it is very hard to write. We are sailing the most dangerous pirate infested waters in the world and every Middle Eastern countries around us have either no government or is under serious political unrest. The short periods we spend ashore were 100% busy with either visiting (when possible) or resupplying. Just stay with us and I promise you to come with tons of pictures and crunchy stories as soon as we reach safe waters and decent internet in a country where people don't shoot at each other.

On Passage toward Red Sea

Chocobo is on passage toward Red sea and will update the blog as soon as we got internet access. Lots to say...

Arrived in Maldives

We arrived in the northernmost part of the Maldives on February 1st 2011 after a 457 miles passage leaving Galle, Sri Lanka that took us 3 days and 3 hours for an average speed of 6.1 knots. We are now anchored at Uligan Island, Maldives.

Arrived in Sri Lanka.

We arrived in at the city of Galle (pronounced gawl) in Sri Lanka, from Chalong in Thailand, on January 22nd, 2011 after a passage of 1150 nautical miles (2139 km) that took us 8 days, 17 hours and 30 minutes for an overall average speed of 5.5 knots. This very long passage was actually pretty quiet as we motorized the first 4 days by lack of wind then had a slow sail for about 4 more days. Then, as we reached the vicinity of Sri Lanka, the wind picked up and on top of a 2.5 knot current we were flying at more than 8 knots for the last day!

Phuket (pronouced Poo-ket).

Christmas was already behind us and 2011 was on the horizon. For us it was time to leave Phi Phi Don and set sail to the Island of Phuket, more precisely at the town of Chalong, where it is possible for us to resupply in fuel and food before leaving Thailand in direction of Sri-Lanka. After two days of grocery shopping and working on the boat, oil changes and inspection of the riggings, we wanted to visit the place a little. On this new-year’s eve we hired a taxi driver who took us across Chalong on board of his red “vehicule”. Of course, the ride in this 4-wheeled smurfette was more exciting than visiting the tourist sites themselves! Note: if you find that I look a bit sloppy with my unshaved beard it’s because I’m presently growing a beard and I’m still in the phase of looking like an homeless but in a couple of weeks it should look better.

Our first visit was to see the Big Buddha, which is visible from almost half the Island of Phuket. The 45m (145 feet) high marble covered statue was very impressive even though the construction of the site was not yet completed. A stairway is planned to provide access inside the statue and that, we can assume, should help the Buddhist followers to get closer to the Nirvana although I personally believe that taking a plane is a more efficient way, in terms of the height achieved, to do the same! Of course, here we assume that getting closer to the heavens means getting away from the center of the earth because if we climb inside the statue then for a Canadian, who is on the other side of the earth, we are in fact going down! All right, I guess I am asking too much for a philosophy developed at a time when the earth was flat! More seriously, look at the statue and can you determine the sex of Buddha? I am not an erudite on the question but I think that, although the first Buddha was indeed a man, he/she represents the ultimate state of a conscience or the state of a being at the end of the line of rebirths and in which case the sex of the being is not really important when presented in its spiritual representation. Wow, did I just say that?

On our way back from our visit of Buddha our driver suggested that we stop for an elephant ride! We thought we’d seen everything after climbing at the top of hill on board of his taxi propelled by a lawnmower engine but apparently Thailand had more for us to experience. Then hop we jumped on Mary’s back, a 21 years old elephant and already mother of a little 5 years old pachyderm, for a 1 hour ride in the surrounding trails. No doubts that an elephant ride is something special but let’s say that the beasts are not really driven to exhaustion by their owners. In the first half hour Mary made us cover the impressive distance of 500m (540 yards), which represents a speed of 1 kmh (0.6 mph) or, if you prefer, twice as slow as a human being walking at a comfortable pace! During the second half hour we simply came back on our steps. Of course, to attain this racing snail speed Mary had to stop once for her physiological needs, and God knows how impressive the needs of an elephant can be, three times to eat some bushes and twice to drink in the little water ponds along the trail! Well, we were not there to cross half of Thailand on the back of an elephant but it was still impressive to find a mean of transportation slower than a sailboat!
Finally, for our New Years Eve dinner we didn’t feel for something too exotic so we went to a little French restaurant, L’escale, in the hearth of Chalong where we enjoyed a very good magrès de canard, with the little sweet sauce, prepared by the French chef and owner of the restaurant who expatriated from his native France to offer his culinary talents in South Asia. After the meal, we came back to the dinghy but without realizing it we arrived at exactly midnight and as we put our feet in the little inflatable fireworks went off everywhere at the same time including on the pier just a few feet from us! It was really impressive to see but knowing that the guys lighting the rockets in question are far from being certified firework experts we quickly motored away in the middle of the water and far from the shores to watch the fireworks, which fired up in all directions we would look. We saw many fireworks in this trip but this one was really the most impressive.
Happy New Year 2011 to everyone and Danielle and I wish you Happiness, Health and Prosperity for the coming year.