Gentle Giants

Lunch with Zorana

Romeo, the oldest at approx 100

They loved to have their necks rubbed

Their valley, lush, green and protected

Touring the Island

After some of the worst weather imaginable, we finally managed to experience a couple of decent days which allowed us to get out there to hike some of the gorgeous trails here in Rodrigues.  

Our first venture out was with Sandy and Jack from Zorana.  We took a local bus to the east coast where there are some beautiful beaches and stunning scenery.  I'd had a brand new pair of Keens put away since Australia so dragged these out for the occasion only to have the sole of the right show fall off within the first 15 minutes of walking!   The guys managed to do a Heath Robinson trick by tying it on with a piece of string which fortunately withstood the test of hiking that distance.

We walked for approximately four hours along the beaches, over the rocky terrain and through some forests, stopping for a picnic lunch along the way.  We all felt so good getting our land legs back in operation again after so many months confined to the boat.  The is a very popular spot for kite surfing.  We had just missed an international competition but there were still quite a few out there catching the 20+knots of wind.

A few days later we tried another trail but abandoned it after only half an hour as it was down steep hills and was so wet and slippery that it wasn't a pleasure.  We subsequently took a bus to another area to follow a trail over the hills down to the coastline and along the waterfront.  We were meant to be in pursuit of orange or yellow markers leading the way but I think the chap responsible for this task had gone to sleep several times along the route (or maybe just had a warped sense of humour) as we sometimes walked several miles before we found the next marker and even that was by sheer luck.  The weather was a bit miff with flurries of rain but overall, very nice.

Next was a trip to see the giant tortoises at the south end of the island.  This time it was just Zorana and myself as Paul felt he needed to stay behind to work on one of those inevitable jobs on the boat.  Again, we took a local bus but had to walk for three quarters of an hour to the reserve.  As I hadn't fully recovered from the previous two hikes, my legs were really beginning to feel it now.

In the late 1600s, there were apparently hundreds of thousands of giant tortoises to be found on Rodrigues, but within a century, mankind managed to decimate the lot leaving none at all.  The Francois Leguat Reserve here has created a safe haven and introduced two species primarily from Madagascar.  There are now over 3500 of these wonderful prehistoric creatures, most born on the island since 2008.  We saw giant tortoises during our visit to the Galapagos but I have to admit, this was so much better.  The entire breeding programme is so well done and the tortoises have a magical lush green and protected canyon where they can freely roam.  I was most impressed.   (Note: photos of the tortoises are in a separate blog installment.)

This small island has been one of the most environmentally devastated ecosystems in the world so, in addition to reestablishing the tortoise population, there has been a programme of mass planting of threatened and vulnerable flora and clearing out of the introduced varieties.  So many species of plants and birds became extinct primarily due to mankind's destructive nature to the point that the fruitbat is the sole indigenous mammal remaining on the island.  It's good to see the effort now being placed on trying to right the wrong.

Our fan belt dilemma has been resolved; we ordered two to be flown in from Mauritius.  They could only find one there at the time but that should see us safely there until we can search for another to keep as a spare.  Paul and another one of the cruisers helping him, managed to replace and adjust the brackets aligning the alternator which was obviously the culprit for shredding all the belts in the first place.  We still have issues but nothing too untoward or dangerous.

PHOTO GALLERY:

Port Martherin Harbour

There were rainbows almost every day

Beautiful sighting

This was actually our first night out on passage to Rodrigues

Fuel truck in Port Matherin

Watching the game of patong, obviously not too excited

One of the colourful homes in the village

Our friend Gary in 'salubrious' hospital after motorbike accident

The beaches were gorgeous

Paul, Sandy and Jack (Zorana)

Nature!

Rodrigues

The weather's been a bit miserable since we arrived and, believe it or not, a might bit chilly. I think our blood is running somewhat thin after all those years in the tropics.  We've dug out the fleecies, long pants and socks and even have a blanket on the bed at night!  What a change.

Apart from the little town and capital of Port Mathurin, we haven't yet managed to see anything but, so far it's lovely.  The people are of French and African descent and are all smiles, friendly and helpful, primarily French speaking. There are fresh baguettes available every day and a spotlessly clean market daily which has to be the best supplied market we've seen since Fiji.  The streets are also spotless as the shops don't give out plastic carrier bags so none to fly off onto the trees and fences or lie in the gutters as we've encountered everywhere in abundance for many years now.  What a pleasure, they should ban the damned things worldwide.

Rodrigues lies about 350nm east of Mauritius and is an autonomous region of Mauritius which is part of the Mascarene Islands.  Its origins date back to the Portuguese, French and subsequently the English who took over from the French and abolished slavery, leaving behind the current African descendants.  It seems a bit of Dutch and Huguenot influence can also be thrown into the melting pot as well.  It has a small population of only about 40,000 and although we hear that its economy is based on fishing, farming, handicrafts and a developing tourism market, we see little evidence of these.  Around Port Mathurin, there are very few fishing vessels, the ground is volcanic so very rocky which must make it difficult to farm on a large scale and we've seen no tourists other than ourselves, yet no one seems poor.  In the early years, the inhabitants relied heavily on tortoises, turtles and an abundance of other seafood.  Now many foodstuffs are sent over from Mauritius on a regular supply ship.

Something that I read which I thought was very interesting is that when Krakatoa erupted in 1883, the sound was so loud that it was heard all the way to Rodrigues 4,800 km away.  It was loud enough that the naval ships were sent out to investigate if there was a ship in distress firing its guns.  To this day, it remains the loudest sound in recorded history.  Incredible.

In the meantime, we desperately need a new fan belt but can't find one the right size.  It appears that our alternator brackets were severely compromised which caused excessive vibration and the subsequent damage to three belts but step by little step, Paul is getting it sorted.  We'll more than likely get a belt flown in from Mauritius and then get additional spares when we get there.  For the time being, we're running on half a belt split longitudinally but so far so good.

Reflecting

If I look back at the last few months and all we endured, I have to confess that there were times when all we wanted was "beam me up Scotty", we've had enough. In hindsight, it doesn't seem possible to have been in absolutely nowhere, and believe me, I am NOT exaggerating when I say we were so far from any form of civilisation that it really did deserve the name of Nowheresville.  Even the charts didn't know where we were!

Despite that and almost zero methods of communication, we managed to order, have delivered and install the offending piece of our engine all within three weeks!  Our daily HF chats with Mick on Zoa were the ultimate godsend solution.  He looked up things, passed on messages and generally acted as our go-between.  Then big thanks to Rob back in Jepara who looked after the financial aspects; we were able to get the part ordered and paid.  It was then delivered to Pedang on mainland Sumatra and sent via a surf charter boat to a nearby island who then sent their little power boat up the river to deliver to us.  We've had friends in large marinas order items from the States or UK and have to wait longer despite having first rate Internet and phones.  We, on the other hand, had no phone and no internet, just occasionally able to send an SMS if Paul climbed to the top of the mast to find a signal.  We were not far from learning smoke signals and the value of tribal drums.

Our next saving grace was the arrival of Jack and Sandy on Zorana.  They had been hoping to catch up with us and had somehow managed to hear us on the HF radio with Mick one day.  They were working their way down the coast of Sumatra and eventually joined us in Nowheresville.  I don't think they knew what they were getting themselves into.  

While waiting for our part, they helped with repairs on our headsail as well as the roller furler which had been damaged during the tow.  We had thought we'd have to cross the Indian relying on just our staysail or storm sail.  But most of all, they helped lift our spirits when we were feeling so down, a lift which we so desperately needed.  

Along with the arrival of our engine part, we received materials necessary for Paul to fix the huge gaping hole in our foredeck caused when the Samson post was ripped out so that was another essential job to be done before we could think of leaving.

Jack did discover that there was a little village a few miles around the corner from where we were anchored but, as we'd not dared go searching due to lack of petrol, we had not known it was there.  It was tiny but we managed to find a few fresh goodies prior to our departure as well as top up with diesel and petrol.  If we'd only known beforehand, we might have felt a little more at ease but there was no one nearby to ask so we remained ignorant until Jack went off investigating.

I've said it before but I'll say it again, if this had been our first year of cruising, there would never have been a second.  However, I know we'll look back on it one day and laugh about it or at least smile and reminisce.

So we have to say a big thank you to Mick as well as to Rob, Jack and Sandy and to all who were sending out little prayers for us - we made it with a little (a lot) help from our friends!

Sunday, 10th July

Oh happy day, we've made it!

We slowed down throughout the night in order to turn into the northern anchorage area at sunrise and timed it perfectly.  Just as the sun rose, we entered the 'channel' for the outer anchorage and were advised that a coast guard ship would be leaving the inner basin later in the day but we could come in for the formalities.  We would be required to vacate later in order to leave room for the ship to manoeuvre and then a supply cargo ship would be arriving the next morning.  We went in to clear customs etc but will remain out until the cargo ship leaves on Wednesday. 

There are about a dozen and a half yachts here and all of them have a horror story to tell.  It doesn't seem to matter if they've journeyed from Chagos or from Cocos or Sumatra, they've all had a pretty torrid time of it.  We'll catch up on all the news once we've had some sleep.  The important thing is, we've made it and we're still in one piece.  Hallelujah.

  

Daily report

Note: published after arriving in Rodrigues

Tuesday, 5th July - Zorana made it in tonight!  They have had three days of 25 to 30 knots of wind.  We, in the meantime, only 400nm behind them, have had NO wind, nada, ziltch and insufficient fuel to just keep on motoring.  How can there be such extremes in such a short distance?

Monday, 4th July - Happy Independence Day to all our American friends.  We are wallowing in extremely light winds getting nowhere.  The gap of only 300 miles between us and Zorana had been closing nicely but how things have changed.  They are moving; we are not.

Sunday, 3rd July - ho hum.  We're making progress but the seas are still wild, waves coming from every which way.  It's never comfortable in these conditions.

Saturday, 2nd July - still rough, still very overcast with spurts of rain but we're getting there slowly but surely.  

Friday, 1st July -Happy Birthday Canada!  Not much to report from here as today was pretty much like all the rest.

Thursday, 30th June -  and the beat goes on and on and .........

Wednesday, 29th June - ditto from yesterday.

Tuesday, 28th June - This is getting monotonous.  It's way too bumpy to do much and mealtime is a real chore.  We need instant everything.

Monday, 27th June - Again, good distance averaging over 7 knots.  A few squalls.  Our booby kept coming back with friends but didn't land despite having his landing gear down several times - not good equipment for holding on.

Sunday, 26th June - Made good distance.  Still very boisterous.  A brown booby spent the night clinging on for dear life and leaving many 'presents' on the solar panels to clean up.

Saturday, 25th June - a 27 metre yacht 'Alea' passed us in the morning; our first sighting of any traffic. Winds were very light with very choppy seas so we had to motor most of the day to make any headway.  Not comfortable.

Friday, 24th June - an Australian Marine surveillance plane flew over us to check up.  They're a bit far from home.  We had some good sailing in the morning but then had to motor through the washing machine.

Thursday, 23 June - We motored through the night but conditions improved so we were able to sail in fairly pleasant conditions later on; not particularly fast but a comfortable ride.  We darted around a bit to avoid squalls, but by mid afternoon, they hadn't amounted to much more than just nuisance value.

We've still got a negative current which is causing us to progress by less than 100nm on average per day.  Pretty slow going as we had covered 150 in the first 24 hours alone before being caught up in the foul weather and currents.

Wednesday, 22nd June - We continued motoring.  The current is a real dampener - just a few hours hove-to last night and we lost 4.6nm which took another two hours to get us back to square one.

Tuesday, 21st June - Well, today could be described as thoroughly "Ess Aitch One Tee!"  One minute there was a howling gale and the next, virtually nothing.  The gales were so frequent, that we didn't dare put out too much canvas in between these bursts lest we couldn't haul them in in time.  Hence, we averaged less than two knots the entire day.  Then to crown it all, we have a hell of a negative current against us.  Back to the pilot charts that Jack had studied; besides the zero chance of gales, they also show a positive current all the way across the Indian Ocean at this latitude!  Well, someone upstairs really screwed up this year!

We started motoring in the hopes of finding a way out of the currents but just as Paul took over his shift, the engine spluttered and died.  We were more or less expecting that due to the really dirty fuel available in Indonesia.  He had run his fuel polishing system but it is so bad that the filters all clogged up.  We hove to and he got to work changing them all before we could get on our way again.

On the positive side, Paul caught a nice-sized mahi mahi and my encounter with Karate Kangaroo is getting better.  I'm still unable to winch but at least I'm not totally incapacitated anymore.

Monday, 20th June - Our 46th anniversary.  Unfortunately, it turned into a thoroughly fretful day.  The wind charger stopped working and Paul spent the entire day trying to sort it out but to no avail.  This now will mean that we'll have to charge the batteries at night by running the engine.

Besides this, we started to experience the squalls that Zorana had encountered and, believe me, they are not pleasant.  However, over a 24 hour period, we'd achieved 150nm which is so much better than expected.

But then to make matters worse, in an attempt to quickly get out of bed to help during one of the squalls, I pulled a muscle or something in my chest leaving me in excruciating pain.  It felt as though Karate Kangaroo had had a go at me, I could hardly breathe.  Now I was as good as useless when it came time to winching or pulling on lines.  I couldn't even lift the kill-switch for the engine.  Double ow.

A not-so-great anniversary to say the least.

Sunday, 19th June - Left at noon.  After all we've been through, we both felt very nervous but, despite our charts being .8nm out, we had the track we'd been towed in on which showed us crossing right over islands and reefs which is a bit unnerving but it all worked out well.

By evening, we'd done 40nm and had fabulous albeit a bit blustery, conditions - nothing like what Zorana had experienced for the last three days - thank goodness, we really didn't need trying conditions to get us back in shape again.

I crawled into bed right after dinner only to immediately have a large flying fish fly into the top hatch and perform Saint Vitas' dance on my bed.  Paul rescued it and threw it overboard but my nice clean sheets were no more.

Saturday, 18th June - Zorana is still experiencing really rough conditions and had to hove to again for a few hours last night.  The reports show that the system is weakening so, hopefully by tomorrow, we'll be able to get underway.  We just don't want to experience any more of what we'd already been hit with just coming here.

The day is overcast and blustery but Paul managed to finish the locker hatch cover that was ripped out.  He's made an incredible job of it considering the circumstances.

We are definitely praying for fair winds so that we can get out of here and be on our way.  We're now a whole month behind schedule.

Friday, 17th June - What an awful day!  Rain and more rain, wind and more wind, just nasty.  Paul wasn't able to get anything done on the deck.  A sign that it was pretty bad away from our protected anchorage was the fact that all the fishing boats came in to hide away.

We spoke to Jack on Zorana and they'd been through the washing machine.  They'd had to hove to for twelve hours with winds gusting 50 knots at times.  They wished they hadn't left.  And the strange thing is, the pilot charts show that there is ZERO chance of gales at this latitude.  Yeah right!  

We spoke again in the evening and with Mick's (Zoa) help by looking up the weather for the region, he advised that conditions were going to remain similar for another 24 hours at least.  As we'd lost a day anyway, we are now not planning to leave tomorrow as thought.

Thursday, 16th June - We're on our own again!  Zorana left this morning and we hope to be just two days behind them.  The weather held out until later in the afternoon then all hell broke loose.  Back to dreadful squalls and rain but we both managed to get some work done, Paul on the deck repairs and me with the laundry.

Wednesday, 15th June - Today is the day for securing the hole in our deck.  Again, it's not going to be pretty but as long as it's safe and waterproof, we shouldn't have any serious problems with it during the crossing.

Sandy and I went back to the village to spend the last of our Rupiah.  Can't think we'll have much success in exchanging it across the other side so we may as well spend it on things that we can use aboard.

Paul's having one of those frustrating days trying to get the bow fixed only to discover the epoxy he bought in Thailand is a paste and not a liquid; not what he needed to do the fibreglass work but, as they say in Afrikaans, "a Boer maak a plan" so he's just getting on with it.  As long as it keeps the waves out of the windlass and chain locker, it will have to do.

Tuesday, 14th June - We have an engine!  And a working one at that!

At first we were a trifle concerned as smoke was coming from the alternator but that burned off so it was obviously just some of the cleaning fluids that he'd used. The engine is running, it sounds good, the alternator is charging and the water is flowing out the exhaust.  The only thing not working at the moment is the tacometre but that's probably just a loose connection somewhere.

Jack and I went into the little village nearby - hadn't even known there was one as we hadn't dared use our precious petrol to go searching.  We managed to find a few veggies but no sign of any fruit whatsoever.  We also filled a couple of diesel jerry cans and bought a little petrol so, yup, another great day.

Monday, 13th June - Paul spent the whole day working on the engine while Sandy and I worked on the sail.  My sewing machine wouldn't even make one stitch through the sail and hers was giving us grief.  In the end, we cut off a good proportion of the damaged UV strip and got her machine going well enough to fix the edges.  It doesn't look great but it should do the trick until we can get it repaired properly.

In the meantime, he fitted the part and it is actually perfect!  He's still got to remove all the batteries again to replace the pulleys and then align the alternator and replace the fan belts but the evening was upon us and we all wanted to get the sail installed before it got too dark.  It's up and hopefully we can use it again.  Another good day.

Sunday, 12th June - great news, we finally received our engine parts!

Paul was in the dinghy, about a hundred metres out on the start of the 6nm journey to the surf camp when a boat hailed him down - it was carrying our parcel.  A quick inspection with much trepidation and, wow, it looked good.  

When we think back to the time that we bought Calypso, she had a perfectly good Arona engine with very few hours on it but Arona no longer existed and we discussed at length the impracticalities of keeping an engine where spare parts might be an issue.  "What if we're stuck with a problem on a remote island somewhere in the middle of nowhere and we can't get spares."  Thank goodness we decided to bite the bullet and replace with a Beta Marine engine, an engine where we believed we'd be able to obtain parts anywhere in the world.

Well, in truth, we ARE in the middle of nowhere, a remote island with no facilities in fact, no nothing!  Despite the fact that it seemed like a lifetime at the time of going through it, we have received our replacement parts in just two weeks!   Paul has already fitted them and now just needs to reassemble the pulleys, alternator and fan belts so, with any luck, we may just be able to start the engine tomorrow.  

In the meantime, Sandy and Jack came over to inspect our genny and it definitely appears as though it's just the UV strip that is badly torn.  We'll cut off the really bad stuff, sew up that which has just separated but is still OK and worry about fixing it properly when we find a sailmaker in either Rodriques or Mauritius.  Sandy's machine will handle this so we lugged the whole thing over to their boat to start the process which we hope to finish in a day or two.

We're now feeling so much more positive.  A couple of days ago when we discovered how bad the roller furler had been twisted, Paul went into complete dispair.  It was just another disastrous thing after all the others that had gone wrong and we simply couldn't see our way clear of the problems.  

Jack and Sandy have kept us sane and gave us the opportunity to see the woods for the trees.  It helps so much to have a clear head look at things without all the emotions that put us into such a slump.  Then there's the contact help and friendly voice we have in Mick on Zoa.  Unforgettable!  We can now see some major light at the end of what has been a particularly long dark tunnel for us.

Saturday, 9th July

Note: published after arriving in Rodrigues

Less than 100nm to go.  Yeah!

Yesterday and, so far today, we have had very good sailing conditions; 15 - 18 knots of wind from the south and southeast allowing us to move at around six and a half to seven knots without being over canvassed.

We haven't had to start the engine thank goodness -we're preserving the little bit of fan belt in the hopes that it'll survive long enough to get us into the anchorage.  Paul has managed to keep the batteries charged up using our little portable generator - there's insufficient sun for the solar panels to do much and, of course, we haven't managed to get the wind charger to work. That will have to wait until calm conditions at anchor.

It's been one hell of an ordeal, not only for us as we hear the other boats already there are all licking their wounds to some degree.  All agree, it was their worst passage ever!

 

Thursday, 7th July

Note: published after arriving in Rodrigues

Today there is NO wind to start.  A while later a little comes up but no sooner have we got the sails up when it dies completely again.  OO, so we start the engine as rolling in glassy waters with huge swells leaves an awful lot to be desired.  Five minutes later, our brand new fan belt disintegrates.

All day working on repairs - no auto pilot, no Nav system, no charging, no AIS, no fridge/freezer, no nothing.

Our last spare belt doesn't fit so we use the remaining half of the old belt - hold thumbs.

Next, the spinnaker pole broke free from its goose-neck fitting at the top falling and almost tearing into the genny!  Paul had to climb mast to tie it back up in its vertical position.  Try this in huge rolling seas and yikes, bit dicey.

A little wind came up by the end of the day allowing us to sail at 3 - 4 knots but in huge seas.  Very uncomfortable.

Are we having fun yet?

Note: published after arriving in Rodrigues

Overview - This was NOT fun!

No one ever mentioned how awful the crossing of the Indian Ocean could be.  One minute we're fighting winds and currents to achieve no speed at all and the next, we're hurtling along at over nine knots (that's greater than our hull speed) with a postage stamp-sized sail up and with huge waves crashing into our hull, knocking us from pillar to post - oh how do I count thee oh bruises?  

Two days later, we're bobbing around for a few hours before the inevitable big hit comes along again.  Not, I repeat, NOT fun!

We could eat off the saloon floor - not because it's so clean (far from it), but because half the meals I tried to prepare have ended up down there!  If this had been the start of the first year of our cruising, believe me, there would never have been a second!

400 miles to go.

Jackie from Inspiration Lady in Rodrigues spoke to Calypso yesterday, apparently they have about 400 miles to go, and have light winds, so it will be a slow run to the finish.
Mick
SV Zoa

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Update on Calypso

We just heard Zorana has arrived in Rodrigues and said Calypso is a few days behind and all is well.

Jan and Mick  SV Zoa

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.