Chagos
We are sitting in the anchorage in Gan, back from 2 wonderful months in Chagos. The journey there was a little eventful, as usual- on entry the engine wouldn’t start, and we came in to Salomon Atoll under sail, and anchored in the only spot possible, near Isle Fouquet. Unfortunately this isn’t a really safe place, since the frequent squalls that come sweeping through the area put you on a lee shore, and the holding is rotten, since it is on coral, with no good heads to wrap around. We came in between squalls, and hoped for the best. We had a good nights rest with no squalls, but the next day started to be squally again. Oren put out four anchors in all, and all our chain, and we prepared to be beaten about. As we battened down, a dingy came puttering up and we met two of the nicest cruisers we have ever met. Ron from Tigger and Humphrey from Brumby had come up from the safe anchorage four miles in to see if we needed help!
After hearing our engine, they quickly diagnosed sea water in the cylinders, caused by overloading Chasamba with supplies- it is something which happens to most long term cruisers at one time or another, apparently- and helped Oren to get the engine drained and working. We weathered the night, which was very squally, set the anchors again at 3 in the morning because of dragging, and the next morning when visibility was reasonable set out for the anchorage where all the other boats were. Of course, we had to have a big squall come over on the way, so we couldn’t see anything- there are lots of coral heads in the lagoon and it’s a bit dangerous to come in blind, but we had no choice, so we carried on and were rewarded by the sight of Humphrey sitting in his dingy in the pouring rain, holding a mooring line attached to a coral head!
After this slightly traumatic arrival, we had a good rest, forgot about it all and started to have a good time. The cruisers in Chagos are mostly the ‘hard core’ – people who really know how to do things, and have lots of experience, and like helping the less experienced (us) to survive! During the time we were there, Oren made a new saddle for an injector ( one broke) from a piece of iron bar, tied our spreaders to the shrouds with steel wire, was given a mainsail and helped to get it trimmed, we were given a bit of rf ground wire and the ssb now has a range of 2000 miles ( it had about 100 miles before), replaced a seacock which was stuck open with one which came from a wreck, and fixed the toilet ( again).
Chagos itself is an amazing place. It is uninhabited, except by cruisers, and has a population of about 3 million coconut crabs, which start life as hermit crabs and gradually get bigger and uglier until they discard their shells and turn into Jurassic Park extras. The big ones are nocturnal, and can be 5 kilos, but luckily they aren’t agressive and just have a bit of a problem getting their legs to go the right way to run off.Apart from crabs, there are lots of rats, actually nice clean ones though, and of course thousands of coconut trees. In the main part of the island, there are wells and you can do laundry, and there are paths to walk round the island. We even baked bread, and in the evening everyone would gather for a drink and a chat. Paradise! The weather was mostly hot, with squalls every week or two, so we had no shortage of water, and drank only rain water. One day we filled 600 litres of water in 5 hours!
The fish is also abundant, wahoo, coral trout and tuna especially, and we also tasted barracuda, which is very good. There are lots of sharks, mostly black tip, some white tip and a few nurse sharks. They aren’t aggressive though, usually. The remora fish are worse, and try to stick on to you, it’s really horrible!
Our biggest problem was time, surprisingly. We were busy all day, every day, and the time just dissappeared. Two months was not enough, although it is nice to be back in a place where we can buy supplies, since we ate most of our goodies.
Now we will be in Gan for a week, and depending on the weather we will be off to Sri Lanka, so next update will be from Galle. Meanwhile have a look at the new pictures in the album.