CRIMSON TIDE BACK IN LANGKAWI 17sept08
When nightfall starts at noon and darkness approaches from the west instead of from the east as usual, you know something is terribly wrong! Well, on second looks it can all be explained, but later. First we batten down the hatches and tie everything down! We're going to get some bad weather in 'just a minute'!
3 MONTHS in CHAGOS.
Today 12 July we stop to reflect on the fact that we have been in Chagos, more specifically at Salomon Atoll, exactly 3 months.
To mark the occasion we have just written to the British Indian Ocean Territories-administrators that we want to stay another month.
A postcard from the Salomon Islands
Today I found a postcard from Jacob and Deana in my mailbox! Jacob wrote the card on may 15, gave it to an Dutch yacht that was sailing to the Seychelles. From there it travelled all the way to the Netherlands. Jacob included an cd with lots of photo's on it. I have created three sets:
DEPARTING MALDIVES, for the last leg of this trip.
Just for the record, our illegal stay in the Maldives did come to an end when we were eventually busted by Customs on April 2nd. We were already starting to feel a bit conspicuous and uneasy after 11 days!
AANGEKOMEN IN CHAGOS
Jongens we zijn er, we zijn in Chagos aangekomen(British Indian Ocean Territories)
het laatste stukje was in dezelfde stijl als de voorgaande etappes. Zoals we gewend waren kwam de lichte wind recht uit Chagos. We waren er wel op voorbereid dat de stroom (1.0-1.5 knoop) ook uit die richting kwam en zodoende deden we dus 5 dagen over het traject Gan naar Chagos van 280 mijl door 400 mijl af te leggen door het water.
GREETINGS FROM MALDIVES
After our departure from Galle (Sri Lanka) we were heading in the direction of Male (Capital of Maldives) without any plans to clear in there.
On Sri Lanka
Since our last update we have been in Sri Lanka. We ignored the fact
that as soon as we headed north we were soon sailing in a decent wind.
When I look at the log I see 10-12knots with some periods even with 15
knots during the day, but down to nil after dark. By then we were close
to Galle, the Navy town on the SW corner of Sri Lanka. The actual port
is closed at night (chained off) so we were no longer in a hurry and
ambled along towards Galle Harbour to wait for daylight and the Navy to
allow
us in.
Photo's, lots of them!
Jacob and Deena send me there latest photo's (first 14 day's at sea and visit to Sri Lanka). I have uploaded them to Flicker. You can view them by clicking on the little pictures on the left.
Lucas.
FOURTEEN DAYS AT SEA
It is time for an update, tomorrow we will pass the '14 days at sea'
point, 1030 on Thursday. Yes we are still there, and still on Crimson
Tide too! We cannot judge if we are still sane, if we are it is either
a miracle or testimony of our strong characters!!
Even though nothing much happens at sea we will remember the last week
for some time to come. It was marked by strong counter currents and a
lack of wind. What little wind there was, had the cunning capacity to
blow from the direction we programmed to steer.
UPDATE ON DAY 7, "Up the creek without a paddle" Or are we?
We are sending this update on day 7 of our trip, from a place far from
everything, 660nm from our starting point in Thailand, 920 nm to go to
Gan on Addu Atoll, the southern-most island of the Maldives. (00.33N -
073.21E). Sri Lanka is probably the closest land at 350 nm but its
nearest port is 440 nm from here.
We are marooned on the Indian Ocean and in the fur-lined claws of an area of very little wind.
According to our electronic wind prediction charts for the next 48 hrs
(received daily by email) which covers the ocean north of the equator
from the Maldives to Sri Lanka and all the way to Sumatra, there is
less than 5 knots everywhere! And we have the 'honour' to be in this
area.
IMPRESSIONS OF FIRST DAYS AT SEA
We left Nai Harn on Thursday at 1030. Nai Harn is at the SW corner of Phuket-island and is the bay where we were during the tsunami.
AN UPDATE. WHAT NEXT?
That’s got to change in 2008!
2008 - WEBSITE STARTING UP AGAIN!
Congratulations! You have logged on again to the website of Crimson Tide and… ... this time there finally is something new to read.
We apologise for not having updated the website since early 2006.
Yes time flies, it sure did for us!!
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