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'!

This is what happened to us on day 16, the last day of our trip from Gan (Maldives) to Langkawi (Malaysia). For the last 1.5 days we'd had virtually no wind and the Volvo, our 'iron topsail', had been pushing us along. (anything below 5 knots is useless to us and is classed as "no wind") We decided to stop at a Thai group of islands 35nm from Langkawi for a swim, a wash and a good night's sleep just because the islands were in the way and it suited us just fine. That all went according to plan and early in the morning we carried on to complete our journey. Still no wind and the sea as flat as a pancake.

We were taking pictures of terns standing on small pieces of polystyrene in the middle of the big sea, we could see the fish at the surface, there was not a ripple anywhere. A glorious day to be at sea. While enjoying a cup of coffee, put-putting along at 5.5 knots, we saw large clouds building far, far away, past the horizon. It was so far away we didn't pay much attention. Half an hour later it was as if dusk had started half a day early. Serious stuff and we were to find out how lucky we'd been not to have met one or more of these during the passage. It looked threatening enough in the daytime, never mind being surprised (totally surprised sometimes) by such an event at night time. For maximum effect it is best to have one during a new moon! We had been warned to keep looking over our shoulder for those dreaded squalls! We did have a few squalls but now we know we had never met a real one, only babies! Fancy meeting one while crossing the shipping lanes as some have been unlucky enough to experience.

Within a few minutes the weather turned from totally benign to dangerous. The wind was suddenly there, well ahead of the front and went from 5 to 35+knots in a few seconds. Awe inspiring, the sea state changing by the minute and it wasn't long before the first rollers raced us alongside. We had the engine out of gear now and unfurled the jib to just a handkerchief size to keep us heading downwind and were doing 7 knots. No real problems there, I had a good idea where all those fishing vessels around us were before the white curtain of rain was draped right over us with a resulting total 'white out'! Lasting a good 30 minutes during which time you will get a bit nervous, I can tell you. Nothing worse than sailing blindfolded. You also get wet, and cold, very cold actually. Deena handing out soup (last sachet) next coffee and something to eat. Life inside was still functioning! Engine cooling water alarm was going off each time we lurched from side to side, this is like a red rag to a bull where Deena is concerned but she kept a cool head while keeping an eye on the radar where it was a 'black out' mostly. We are still on course, the hatch and companionway doors are shut or the rain from dead behind would have reached the forward bulkhead!

Then, as suddenly as it had started it stopped raining and the visibility returned, boats around us reduced to only a few (others may have had their nets out and stayed more or less in place) The wind kept blowing strong somewhat longer but eventually died down to very little again. We had made good progress, Langkawi island was close now, covered in white mist streaking down the valleys, quite bizarre. Crimson Tide was cleaned of salt, she hadn't had a shower for 1740 miles!

So, this was absolutely the Grand Finale of our 16 day passage from Gan to Langkawi. They literally pulled all stops to welcome us back! Very impressive! And educational!

An hour later we dropped anchor in the placid lagoon at Telaga Hbr for another good night's sleep. We will clear in tomorrow which finally completes the trip as they say (toilet humor): "the job's not finished until the paperwork has been done"

We left Langkawi on 8 February, so a good 7 months of traveling. The plan was to sail non-stop from Phuket to Chagos and back in similar fashion. Fate would have it that we stopped at SriLanka and Maldives on the way up and enjoyed another good stop in Gan on the way back. It worked out very well. We saw a lot more than planned, all most interesting places to visit and we were able to re-stock, re-fuel and re-charge in the process.

Chagos was a most interesting experience and we were able to 'survive' 4 months away from any sort of outside civilization. Uninhabited islands, what an experience. It's hard to relate to when reading about it, we still think the pictures tell the best story. But, there is a downside to that too!

We have been shy in publishing much on the website lately as we have been on the receiving end of some serious allegations of not reporting illegal activity that we took pictures of and published those on our website. We were refused further extensions to our mooring permit by the Authorities. They had been snooping around our website and confronted us with 'evidence' in the form of our own pictures, all in a very one-sided session on board Crimson Tide.

This has been the only black mark of our stay at Chagos. And it's their opinion, one we still do not share and feel no guilt! So, Yes! Chagos was GREAT! The Last Paradise!

And this concludes our story, 'never a dull moment' as they say. May be it's time for some dull moments coming up soon! We'll make sure we'll enjoy them too.

Greetings

Jacob Deena - sv Crimson Tide

1. Salomon islands
2. Reef walks
3. Below sealevel