Active Light tours Indonesia

We approached the Maldives and its main island of Male' after three days sail from the north, of course, coming from Cochin, India. All day long the northern coral atolls grew closer to our boat although we could not yet see them, even on our radar. We were in no danger of getting too close, thanks to the modern navigation aids of GPS, electronic chart positioning, depth finder, and radar, nevertheless we were quite uncomfortable all night knowing that hard rocky shores were paralleling us a mere 15 or 20 miles to the west and knowing that a west-setting current was likely to carry us even closer, . . . so we did not sleep well that night. By next morning, we could see palm trees on some of the coral atolls and we had fun trying to sort them out from the rain squalls as we approached the entrance to Male'. Modern airports are an often unappreciated navigational aid and Male' has a big one just north of its entrance. There can be no mistaking its position as large Emirates Airlines jets swoop down from on high to pinpoint the airport's location. Very reassuring! Nevertheless, we approached the port control harbor with Neil being very grumpy and sleep-deprived.

The Maldives consist of more than a thousand coral islands stretching for 450 nm north to south across the equator, south west of the southern tip of India. The population is small and predominantly conservative Muslim. They depend hugely upon import for their supplies. Tuna is the major export item and Male' is the tiny nation's commercial and administrative hub. It is built upon a coral island which can be walked end to end in an hour. It is round in shape and populated with concrete structures in every available square inch. Viewed from the sea, it looks like Brooklyn, N.Y. rising incongruously up and out of the vast surrounding tropical plain. There is not much green, just a lot of sudden high rise apartments buildings. The air strip is stretched out on a nearby atoll to the north. Male' is such an odd landfall, it reminds us of Singapore, . . . all that endless sea, and this city pops up on the horizon! It was an easy approach in the morning and we soon found ourselves moored Med style (stern-to) at the customs dock.

The cement city of Male' pops up on the horizon.

The check-in procedures went smoothly, always involving between three and six polite young men, sweating in starched uniforms with shiny black military-style hard-soled shoes, who come aboard, mar up our decks and paintwork with their shoes, apologize, and then crouch uncomfortably in our cockpit, sweating and drinking tea as we all fill out lots of nearly-illegible photocopied government forms with leaky ball point pens. For check-in formalities, we have designed and purchased a official-looking ship's stamp with a red ink pad which we have found somewhat expedites the customs and immigrations procedures. We have no idea why, the stamp has no official US government endorsement whatsoever. We just made it up, bearing our ship's name and registration number, but local agents almost breath a sigh of relief when we whip it out and plaster up their forms with it. It is almost as if they are saying, "Oh good, these people truly appreciate the value of our paperwork. And they really are legitimate, because they have a boat stamp!".	The "highly official" Active Light boat stamp.
Our agent cost US$100 for his interventions on our behalf and was probably worth it, because by noon we were anchored in the nearby protected lagoon of Hulhulemale', at the northern tip of the airport's runway. But before we left, Neil had an unfortunate accident which is still bothering him over six months later. He had just ferried one of the boot-clad customs officers back to shore from Active Light when our dinghy got away from us. He made a sudden lunge for it and badly tore a ligament in his left shoulder. The problem with this sort of injury is that on a sailboat, working all the time, there is no opportunity for such an injury to completely heal. We spent two weeks in the Maldives, resting, shopping, and sightseeing. Every half hour a ferry crossed between the lagoon where we were anchored and the main island. It cost about 50 cents each way. We won't try to tell you the blow-by-blow of each visit, it was all fairly pleasant. One of our enduring memories was eating often at a small Muslim restaurant called the Tropicana on Hulhulemale', about ten minutes walk from our boat, after we had rowed ashore. We remember it not for the food, which was okay, but for the friendliness of the Muslim men who ran the restaurant and their efforts to talk to us. It seemed to me they went to some trouble to try to make us feel comfortable and explain their religious practices, and we both appreciated that. These people pray a lot!
Ferry to Male'. Nancy is the hat on the last bench to starboard.	Approaching Male' on the ferry.

We did no boat maintenance or repair jobs while in the Maldives that we can recall. With the ease and luxury of living in such a benign tropical environment, lulled into a false sense of security (like most land-dwellers enjoy all the time), we forgot that this bit of ocean can turn nasty. Little did we know what was awaiting us on one of our passages in the not so distant future. So we enjoyed the moment and then it was time to move on to a much better spot, in fact, to the best of all tropical paradises, the islands of the Chagos archipelago.

Our passage from the Maldives to the Salomon Islands of the Chagos island group was not very pleasant. The passage is only about 600 nm and seems easy enough, because you simply drop straight south through the Maldives chain, across the equator and right into the Salomans, but the winds were light, almost always on the nose, and the east-setting equatorial current kept carrying us eastwards back towards Thailand. (Active Light wants to go back to Thailand for some more new choice teak!) We fished, ate, bathed, read a lot, cursed the malevolent winds, dodged squalls, watched lightning displays with trepidation, slept poorly, fished, bathed, ate and read again. And we spend a lot of time en passage talking about where we may settle when we get back home.
We watched the unique cloud formations a great deal. These occur only at the equator and often brought us short gusty winds of up to 36 knots, not enough to really worry about, but since you cannot see them coming at night, it is wise to reef down in expectation of them, so much of the night was spent going only 3 or 4 knots, reefed down and ready for a squall, in only 10 or 12 knots of wind. Frustrating! By the time we finished this passage, we had logged well over 800 nm, spent eight days en route, and been set well over 100 nm to the east by the current, so we approached the Salomon islands from the east.
Neil cooked a lot of our meals while underway, and of course, we always enjoyed our daily salt water deck baths. We had to put towels across the solar showers we carry on deck for rinse water after a bath, otherwise the fresh rinse water gets too hot to use. All in all, however, it was not a pleasant trip!

Neil on galley duty.

Our last day approaching the Salomons, the wind shifted to the south again and we found ourselves sailing west on a broad reach under very nice skies. We were very aware of the terrible, hull-ripping presence of Blenheim Reef. This reef shows NOTHING above water, does not show up on radar even at low tide, and is very hard to spot until you are right on top of it. We were very lucky to approach the thing not at night, but on the morning of a pleasant day and at low tide. We took advantage of the moment to climb the rigging and take video footage of the monster. Just a few miles past this reef we spotted the low, palm-clad islets of the Salomon coral atolls. Entering the pass on the northwest corner of the group about 1100, with Neil sitting up in the spreaders and the sun over his shoulders, it was easy to spot the coral head "bommies" that populate the lagoon. This was the classic "correct way" to approach a coral lagoon. By 1230 we were anchored in 12 meters of water over sand and coral rubble in the most beautiful spot on planet Earth!

Here begins our stay in Paradise! The Chagos Archipelago is remote and can be reached only by small boat. The group lies on the southern side of the equator 900 nm south of India. It is 1800 nm back to Thailand, 2000 nm to Africa, and 2600nm back to Australia. Moreover, there is a shallow bar over the entrance of the lagoon which prohibits the entrance of large cruise ships. Best of all, no one any longer lives there. There is nothing to buy, no ATMs, no phones, no electricity, just lots of palm trees, sand crabs, birds, and rats! The yachties who make it to Chagos tend to be the hard-core type, able to survive for months without marina water, electricity, and replenishment of supplies. The area is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and is patrolled by British Marines based on Diego Garcia to the South. There is a large American base on the Diego Garcia Atoll, (administered by BIOT) which is off limits to private yachts.

The pass at the Salomon group of islands.

The lagoon at the Salomon Atoll already held nearly thirty yachts by the time Active Light arrived. Several of the boats have come here every year for the last six or more years. Many have made more than one return trip. We were welcomed to the anchorage by Bill aboard Time Out. He told us that the next morning there would be a book exchange and coffee hour at the old main wharf. The buildings there have been cleaned up a bit and are known by cruisers as the Yacht Club. A volleyball court has been roped out under the takamaka trees and most of the pot lucks and other social events are held there. Trails crisscross the island to the tumbled down houses, church, hospital, school and other structures of the village and copra industry that once existed in the Chagos Archipelago. About thirty-five years ago, the people who lived here working in the copra plantations were relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for a large British-American Military Base on Diego Garcia. The coconut trees and other native vegetation have gradually reclaimed the areas where a village once stood.

We stayed aboard the rest of the day and just enjoyed the whole idea of being in a place we had only dreamed of visiting. There was lots of tidying up to do and getting something ready to take to the book exchange in the morning. We were to discover that social occasions abound here. It seems that everywhere cruisers go, there can't help but be a "yacht club" with organized social events not far behind. We are not too fond of that kind of thing and found we did not fit into that part very well. We did attend pot lucks and the bi-weekly "jeu de boules" contests, a form of lawn bowling, tournament run by Bert and Gre aboard Ciris. Neil was the tournament champ the first week and for his prize, got to help organize the next one. We did enjoy it though.

We enjoyed exploring the trails and beaches of Baddam Island. At low tide enough of the reef was exposed that we could walk clear around the island. The large glistening shells Nancy hoped to find on these walks must have been picked up by others. She had to be satisfied with smaller, but still lovely treasures. Although we were sharing this place with thirty other boats, it was still possible to walk the whole distance without seeing another person, finding only the scratchy tracks left by hermit crabs in the sparkling clean sand. The colors of the sky, sea, sand and vegetation are indescribable. Although lovely, our photos cannot capture the depth and richness of our surroundings.

1960's era photo of the Ile Baddam village during copra production years.

Somewhere in our travels we were given a disk containing some old photos of the Salomon Islands as they were during the era of the copra plantations. Our best information is that these were taken sometime in the 1960's by various scientific expeditions studying the Chagos area.. The photo above of the church and the one on the left of the village children are both from this source. We do not know whom to credit for these photos. It was interesting to compare these photos with what we saw as we walked though the village and the plantation sheds. We could imagine children in the old school house. In the hospital we found a bedpan sitting in the middle of the otherwise empty floor. Several of the houses have usable brick ovens utilized by cruisers to bake their bread. The now roofless church still has a bit of stained glass and has seen several renewals of wedding vows.

Our days were sunny and the water in the lagoon calm and clear. Nearly every afternoon at 4:00 there was a volleyball game at the "yacht club" at the main gathering area. Games sometimes got rather intense and we played only occasionally. While the games went on, others sat around and enjoyed a sundowner and conversation. Several times a week, there were pot luck dinners at the beach where there was an unspoken contest to see who could come up with the most interesting recipe for the fish almost everyone was catching. Someone had constructed an in-ground smokehouse ashore where you could smoke your catch of the day. There was always someone around to chat with if you were so inclined. We learned a lot about the area from those who had been there before. The old processing shed was the site of a good well and rain catchment system off the old roof. It was well set up for doing laundry and having a cool shower.

Not all the cruisers are "old toads" in retirement boats!

Above: Our young friend, Tom aboard Asi Sea.
Far right: Neil and Rogier of Guerelec with a
good sized wahoo they had just caught fishing
outside the reef..

The Sirmans were not very successful fishermen. Our friend Tom kept his family well supplied and spent some hours teaching us the proper lures and methods for harvesting fish. We were still only marginally successful. The forty pints of chicken, beef and pork that Nancy had canned as part of our provisioning was very welcome. Also friends shared their fish with us.
Tom was one of a number of youngsters who were cruising with their families. They were home-schooled by parents who were doing an admirable job. These kids were all bright, confident young people, a credit to their families and the unusual lifestyle they were living.

Another regular visitor to the Salomon Atoll was the BIOT fisheries patrol vessel, the Pacific Marlin. This boat patrols the British Indian Ocean Territory on the lookout for illegal fishing activity. There is also a fish biologist on board to take counts on fish and monitor ocean conditions in the area. The Marlin is based at Diego Garcia at the southern end of its patrol area. While in the north section it puts into the lagoon at Salomon several times a month to allow the crew some time to relax ashore. Crew members often bring snacks with them and join in the volleyball games and barbeques with the cruisers. Crew members come from all over the Indian Ocean countries. Together, cruisers and the Pacific Marlin crew found enough common language to have some conversation.

Be careful not to step any of the thousands of hermits crabs!

Once a month the Marlin brings the British Marines who monitor the Chagos Archipelago atolls and collect the user's fee of $100 US dollars for a three-month stay. The Marines who visited our boat were polite, personable young men. They were also very fit, no nonsense types, typical of the military. They had a cup of tea with us and talked about their families and friends back home. The Marine detachment also has the less desirable job of hauling the trash recycled by the cruisers back to the Marlin to be disposed of on their base. This November, we heard news that the fee for visiting the Chagos atolls will be raised to US$750 dollars for each one month visit. That would certainly keep most cruisers from stopping off there. On one hand, we can see that cruisers make the job of the BIOT more difficult and as more boats visit, the pressure on the environment there increases. On the other hand, it is a disappointment that this lovely spot may now be another place priced off limits to cruisers.

West side of Ile Boddam.

We had always hoped to rig our dinghy, Honeymoon, for sailing, partly for the fun of it and partly to avoid Neil having to row us long distances. While in Thailand, Nancy sewed a kit sail and Neil designed a lee board and had a teak boom and sprit pole made by our favorite woodshop, Nai and Toe. Here in Chagos, it finally all came together. Many trials and refinements over several days and the dinghy was sailing. Finally, we could go to the islands across the lagoon too far away for rowing. We could also sail across the reef into the deep sapphire water outside and it was no longer such a chore to make our way to the well on Ile Takamaka.

More beautiful palm trees.

There are still a few refinements to do. We have been using an oar as a rudder and the lee board must be moved from side to side as we tack. This makes managing the dinghy a job for someone who has lots of strength and who knows what he is doing. It is also a little awkward with a fishing pole hanging over the side or a load of jerry jugs full of water. Still, we had a wonderful time sailing all over the lagoon. Neil is busy with plans for a proper rudder and perhaps a dagger board. He spent some time sailing the lagoon with other cruisers owning commercially made "fast" dinghies. Honeymoon kept up with them with Neil at the helm.

Neil preps our trash for recycling bins managed by the British Marines.

There is no place to buy fuel or foodstuffs way out here. The islands can provide fish, some seafood, coconuts and heart of palm. There are rumored to be a few orange and lime trees on the islands at Peros Banhos Atoll, and we have heard the wild chickens on Ile Takamaka squawking, but good luck finding an egg! Visitors must bring everything else with them or do without. We had plenty of food, but wished we had provisioned more snack foods and better fishing gear. Nancy was horrified to find bugs in our sacks of whole wheat flour, but we sifted them out and made bread with it anyway. Our supply of yeast turned out to be inactive, so it was tortillas from then on. People who had an excess of one item would get on the radio and trade for what they needed.
The good wells ashore and rainwater collected in our raincatcher aboad kept us clean and well hydrated. All of the cruisers tried to conserve water and use the provided burn barrel for combustible trash and carefully recycle the rest.

When we first arrived at Chagos, the season had shifted to the northwest monsoon for the northern Indian Ocean and the south east trade winds were in a period of calm. We had some squalls in the atoll, but most days were sunny with very little wind. We had hoped the squalls would bring rain showers to allow us to use our rain catcher to fill water tank. "Old timers" told us that this season there was much less rain than usual and we ended up having to rely on the wells ashore for most of our water. This we passed through a three-stage gravity feed set of filters and lightly chlorinated it to ensure its safety and potability. The anchorage at the southwest end of the lagoon was calm, cool and lovely for days at a time, but by mid-May, the south east trade winds had kicked in again and the Ile Baddam anchorage became bouncy. The constant 15 to 25 knots of wind was less than pleasant. It was time to move to the anchorages on the east side of the lagoon where shelter from the south east trades could be had. As we anchored in the calm water at Ile Fouquet, we looked back at the south end and observed heavy salt spray blowing in a cloud over the spot we had just left. Some boats continued to stay at the south end. They were shallow draft vessels that could get in close to shore or avid fishermen who were loath to leave the easy access across the reef to the "big fish" fishing spots. We were in a new location with new island trails, beaches and snorkeling spots to explore.

By now, we had been in the Salomon Atoll for nearly a month and were still enjoying our time here. We started our day with Neil studying his French lesson and Nancy reading a chapter in her book. Neil had been working his way through a computer course in French in preparation for our stay in the Seychelles. He rarely missed a day putting in his two hours of study. There were more than a few French speaking boats in Chagos so he had many opportunities to practice with native speakers. Everyone was very helpful and patient and he made great strides.
Living aboard a boat in remote areas is fun, but also a lot of work. It took some hours each day to keep water supplies up, prepare meals from scratch, keep ourselves, clothes and boat clean and do boat maintenance jobs. We have a vacuum cleaner aboard that we just couldn't leave behind when we left Thailand, but it uses far too much power for our simple 12 volt power system, so all cleaning was done the old fashioned way.

Boats at anchor at the Ile Fouquet anchorage.

There was still ample time for social events and exploring. Sailing the dinghy, fishing, and walking the trails and beaches in this gorgeous place kept us busy. But by far our most favorite recreation was snorkeling the reefs inside the lagoon. We had done some snorkeling in other tropical locations, but enjoyed this activity so much more here in Chagos. Both of us are very nervous about running into critters that bite and sting and that had kept us out of the water in places where we had limited visibility. The water was so clear inside the reef that we were more comfortable. Long timers here told us they had not heard of anyone being bothered by the small sharks in the lagoon. Tiger and other large sharks take fish off lines outside, but they have not been seen inside. We still look around a lot!
The corals and colorful fish on the reefs are spectacular. Several years ago there was bleaching in the corals here, but they are starting to come back. Purple, yellow, chartreuse, pink, blue and bluegreens delight the eye. They grow in many shapes and sizes. Large drum shapes sprout tree-shaped growths in the centers. Free moving disk corals and mushroom shaped ones cover the sandy areas. Leather corals waved long coral-pink polyps in the current. Tiny reef fish of iridescent colors peek out from among the branches. The colors and patterns on the fishes are so intricate and bright that it seems Walt Disney went nuts with neon marking pens. Our only book for identification is of Indo-Pacific fish. Many of the forms are the same, but the patterns on the fish are varied. We can only guess at the general names of the animals we were seeing. Moray eels, octopus, tiger cowries and the iridescently colored mantles of the giant clams are all memories we will savor in years to come.

A memorable snorkel was the one in the shallow pass between Takamaka and Fouquet Islands. We went at low tide as the current through there is ferocious any other time. This place has been dubbed "The Aquarium" by the cruisers because of the clarity of the water and the variety and size of the animals there. There were schools of frowning unicorn fish. Trumpet fish as long as we are tall hung out in large groups. We watched a pair of small rays swimming in tandem. Several three-foot long black tipped reef sharks cruised by. There were numbers of schools of fish that looked like they would be good on the grill. The usual brightly colored coral reef fish were also present, but in larger sizes than we had seen before. Enormous parrot fish of every color and Moorish idols larger than dinner plates, their long dorsal fins extending back at least a foot amazed us.
Many turtles live in the lagoon and we would see several each time we were in the water. They also like to pop up and take a look at us sitting in the cockpit. As soon as they realize we are looking back, they dive out of sight. On one snorkel over the reef, Nancy saw a very large turtle swimming toward her. A friend had told her that mimicking their flipper movements with your arms will attract turtles to look you over at close range. Nancy tried it and it worked! The turtle drifted by Nancy's face close enough to touch and came back for a second pass. As it moved off, she followed. It let her stay alongside for nearly ten minutes. The animal was close enough to see its eyes blink. When its head was even with hers, its tail came to her knees. As it neared the dark blue of deeper water, Nancy watched it glide off about its business. What a lovely experience!

On June 6, after six weeks in the Salomon Islands, we lifted our anchor and set sail for the Seychelles Islands. Both of us agree that for us, Chagos was magical. This place is one we had read about and dreamed of visiting. We are happy to report that the reality did not disappoint us. Our time here had been too short, but it seems that is always the case when the experience has been such a good one. As we crossed through the pass and into the deep ocean outside the reef, we had our final look and then turned our attention to the journey to the Seychelles.
The winds were light that morning and sailing was slow. We motored for two hours and then raised the sails again when the wind picked up. By nightfall, we were reaching at almost six knots on our course under Peros Banhos atoll toward the Seychelles. After being at anchor for six weeks, our first day at sea was filled with getting back into the routines that fill our passages. We rechecked all our lines and equipment for sea.

Neil raises the anchor as we prepare to leave the Salomon Islands.

The passage to the Seychelles was eight days of fairly good sailing. The weather, however, was overcast and rainy with periods of squalls and heavy rain. Squally weather seemed to follow Active Light the whole way. Boats behind and ahead of us had some cloudy days, but mostly clear and sunny. Even though the sun had deserted us, we had good sailing conditions and only a few times with light winds.
We had two prolonged visits from large pods of dolphins. They raced along side and played in our bow wave. Their acrobatic jumps and flips are beautiful and entertaining to watch. Often, we found ourselves sailing through schools of leaping tuna. Neil was able to hook several and we feasted on tuna for breakfast, lunch and dinner until it was gone. No refrigeration makes it imperative we eat fresh fish right now!! If we catch one too big to eat in a day, we release it rather than waste fish we can't eat.

The anchor went down in the quarantine area off the island Mahe, near Port Victoria, in the Seychelles on the morning of our eighth day at sea. And here we were in another fabled location! The topography of the Seychelles looks very much like the Marquesan islands in the South Pacific, but these islands are real mountains of granite rising above the sea rather than old volcanic cones as are the South Pacific group. A geologist friend tells us that they are the "left-overs" of the split eons ago of Africa and India. In any case, they are high, steep mountains with crowns of mist over their summits and covered with the greenest of foliage.
Check-in was painless. The officials came right to Active Light with the required stack of forms to fill out and the stamps to stamp them with. Fred, the Customs Officer, rode into the Victoria Harbor with us and showed us where we could anchor, all the while giving us bits of local wisdom. The harbor was small and crowded with boats and many mooring balls reserving space for their owners. We finally got anchored, put Honeymoon in the water, and rowed ashore in search of a good lunch.

We had trouble getting our excellent 66-pound Spade anchor to grab in a good spot on the coral-rubble-strewn bottom of Port Victoria harbor. The harbor was crowded with cruisers for our first month there, anchoring sites were limited. We spent most of our time on a free mooring, which was lucky for us because weed and barnacle growth in this foul harbor is incredibly fast due to the presence of a tuna canning factory, . . . lots of barnacles on the first five meters of the anchor chain. Neil's sister Virginia, a successful nurse in Alaska, wrote asking if it was true that the Seychelles was the most beautiful place on earth. We were to stay for three and a half months and we would have to reply with a qualified affirmative. Lots of cruisers stop here because it is a good stopover halfway between India, Maldives, and Chagos and the coast of Africa. We feel the Seychelles are a destination worthy of a longer stay. We came to love these islands more as we got to know them.

On our way past the outer islands into the quarantine anchorage.

The "qualified" part of the comment above stems from the fact that there is not a lot to do in these islands. The diving is poor because recent construction has caused a tremendous build-up of lime suspended in the water. We are talking about constructing entire new island communities from coral rubble! There are limited goods to buy and tourists in hotels are restricted to payment in dollars (officially at 5.6 to 1), which makes things twice as expensive as the free market price in Seychelles rupees (10.5 to 1). The islands are truly beautiful and views from our boat of these mountainous islands never failed to please us. They are so green and lush. We were soon to learn why, . . . it rains a lot! Not all the time, and not heavily, just frequently. During the season we were there, the wind seldom varied in direction from the southeast. We put up our whole boat awnings and got to work on some of the many repair projects we needed. People who do not cruise fail to appreciate the amount of work that goes into boat maintenance. One can forego maintenance for a month or two, but you pay the price later when you have to catch up. Sailing your boat without maintaining the rigging, hull, cabin, and safety equipment will soon lead to trouble.

Under the awning in Victoria Harbor, more repairs to the mainsail.

Since Nancy was to fly out soon, she started to work on the foredeck with mainsail repairs. We have a old and excellent German Pfaff 130 which she prefers (!) to hand crank rather than electrically power. She believes it gives her extra control. There is always a lot of cursing that goes along with this procedure, but the sail gets its proper maintenance. Nothing was ripped or torn, repair always involves chafe prevention. After seven years of use with good preventative maintenance, our expensive Carol Hasse sails are still in pretty good shape. We are pleased with our investment. Nancy is responsible for making every bit of canvas on Active Light, excepting the full deck awning and the main salon cushion covers, both from Thailand. That involves an amazing variety of stitched goods. Having a good canvas maker aboard is easily as important as being a good carpenter, rigger, or diesel mechanic. At any rate, her skills are much appreciated and often admired by other cruisers.

Venturing ashore, we were to find a very friendly and welcoming, largely black population of former plantation slaves who were brought to these islands by French planters in the 18th century. Subsequent administrations by the British have left an emancipated and completely tri-lingual people, . . . everyone speaks French, excellent English, and Creole. All three languages are taught in public schools from the earliest grades. We have never seen a place where the races have blended so harmoniously as the Seychelles. Black, white, Chinese, Indian, and Arab people appear to have learned to get along here despite racial differences. We are not stating that there are no racial prejudices in the Seychelles, but that the differences are less important and subdued to the point of a comfortable tolerance. We rather enjoyed this enlightened state of affairs and recommend the Seychelles as a model for race relations for other countries, if we may be so presumptuous.

We also enjoyed the island food. Curries abound here, . . . pork, beef, fish, and chicken curries over rice with peppers and a green papaya salad are the common meal and they are delicious. The locals even talk of a curry made with the fruit bat, curry de chauve sauri (bald rat), but Neil was unable to talk anyone in the yacht club galley in to preparing one for him. After that beef eyeball taco in Mexico several years ago, he will eat anything at least once. It was delicious! The Port Victoria market place abounds with good fresh vegetables and lovely bananas in several varieties. The best are the small sweet finger bananas. A great deal of the food goods are imported and one can buy excellent Dutch edam or gouda cheeses for about $1.50 a pound (that would be in black market dollars). There are a lot of small stores here and three or four supermarkets. Shopping at these was so surprising to us. First impression is that the shelves are very nearly bare. Little variety seems to be offered, and heaps and heaps of one product is there when the shipment first comes in. Since we did not know these products, many from Dubai, UAR, France, and the Netherlands, we were really frustrated shoppers at first. But we soon learned that in order to get what you want, after learning the products, one must shop at all three major supermarkets and hit them on the days when the shipments arrive. A big shipment of a popular item, like the delicious yogurt from Dubai, hits the shelves of only one of these three stores and the supply is gone within about half a day! It took a little getting used to, but one learns to cope. Walking around downtown for shopping or whatever, we always felt safe and accepted. People were courteous to us, tolerated Neil's attempts to speak French and even laughed at his jokes. No one ever bothered us in any way. Begging does not occur in the Seychelles.

The Seychelles Yacht Club became quite important in our lives. It is the hangout for all the cruisers who can afford the onerous financial burden of RS 300 (about US$30) for a three-month membership in the club. For this fee, one couple gets privileges to dine in the good club restaurant, drink at the bar, use the bathrooms and showers (no coins, but no hot water), secure dinghy tie-up, mail delivery, garbage disposal, book exchange, hand laundry facility, laundry pickup service, potable water fill, and lots of good friends. We especially like the ladies who worked in the bar and our good friends Cathleen, Madelaine, and her sister, Nancy, all cooks in the restaurant. We enjoyed many an excellent meal with friends there, and we have never had such a good cup of tea as in this restaurant. We think it is both because the local Sey Tea is good and they use full cream milk with the service.

Neil fills our jerry cans with potable water at the Seychelles Yacht Club.

Our favorite side street, near the public market, downtown Port Victoria.

Inside view of a small portion of the open air public market. Great veggies!

After Nancy left, Neil fell into frequent social mingling with two boats, . . . especially Jim and Nynke aboard the yacht Wal Rus and Aussies Geoff and Christine aboard their yacht Shambala. Eleven of the photos on this page were taken by Chris or Geoff and are used by their kind permission. These folks were so nice to Neil during Nancy's long absence! Jim's wife also took a long visit to her native Netherlands and the USA, so Jim and Neil became especially fast friends and spent many a pleasant evening eating each other's cooking. Jim was known as the "King of Pan-fried Chicken", Neil was the "Dhal Master", but frequently called other things. Jim began organizing a series of cross-island hikes. There are lots of island hiking trails that are beautiful, and the tourists seldom venture upon them. We made seven day-long hikes in total. Seldom has one spent time with such a amenable, compatible, and friendly bunch as Jim, Nynke, Geoff, and Chris. He will always remember those beautiful hikes!

This waterfall was a series of slippery, rocky steps down the mountain.

We always hiked in this large national park called the Morne Seychelle. The trails were truly "'round the rough and rugged rocks", often wet and steep, but there were trails, steps and hand holds. The views were spectacular. There are very few mammals in the Seychelles, only a large fruit bat and a little primitive critter called the tenrec. We saw both on several occasions. Our hikes were characterized by good company, lots of talk and teasing, photographs, spectacular views, and gourmet lunches (mostly from Chris) on our rest stops. It seems we all tried to impress the other with packing some delicious treat up the mountain to surprise our friends with. Neil's crowning success was to transport an entire Indian dhal curry with rice, still warm, to the lunch stop. Everyone was impressed and his backpack was lighter on the way back down! We stopped twice for a soak in the cold waters of the waterfall shown in the left photo. Christine, a physical fitness trainer, explained why the cold water felt so good on our tired and aging leg muscles.

Never has there been such a compatible, amiable hiking group as the four of us. There were seven long hikes in total and we all totally "knackered" (Aussie term) at the end of each one. In the right photo Neil used a little tripod on a self-timer to get us all in one shot atop Trois Freres (Three Brothers) mountain, a series of peaks overlooking Port Victoria. The photo appears a bit washed out because the day was quite overcast, in fact we got rained on a bit, but we used Adobe's PhotoShop to lighten the shadows cast on everyone's face. One's attitude about rain changes when in the Seychelles, . . . the showers are so light and brief that you can count on the sun coming out again in not more than three minutes. Such an environment is great for stimulating growth in green foliage, but not good for doing paint and varnish work on one's boat. As you can see the following photos, these islands are made of original continental bedrock. In fact, a case could be made for the Seychelles having once been the center of the entire world, . . . India and Africa simply drifted away over the eons.

What a happy, handsome lot!

Toward the end of this period, Neil met a new personal hero. His name is Paul and he met him during dinner aboard Wal Rus one night (Jim and Nynke's beautiful yacht). He is 76 years old, has a bum left leg from a childhood accident, and is single-handing around the world in a lovely little wooden double-ended boat named Ellen. He is from Finland and it turns out that he was the guitarist for the Helsinki National Theatre group for years and years. He told us of playing 420 consecutive performances of "Fiddler on the Roof" and of not missing a single show, of playing "Man of La Mancha", his favorite, for a three-year run, and having to learn to play the bouzouki for "Zorba the Greek". He is an accomplished guitarist and can play anything by ear or sight-reading. Most importantly, he was as childishly enthusiastic about wanting to play jazz or any sort of music as Neil is. So the two rehearsed aboard Active Light four times and started playing on Saturday nights at the Seychelles Yacht Club. We cannot boast that we brought in packed house audiences, but they did like us.

Neil, Paul, and Paulo on a Saturday night at the Seychelles Yacht Club.

Paul sails not alone, but with an imaginary crew of six characters, all figments conjured from his vivid imagination. He practices drawing them every day in fine felt tip pen and we think his drawings are quite handsome and original. He has written a series of over one hundred articles for Finnish newspapers about his travels and adventures with his make-believe and colorful crew. We all have encouraged Paul to write an entire book about his travels with this fictional crew. The really interesting stories usually involve squabbles between the intellectual Swedish mechanic, the thin and mischievous Indian cabin boy, and the rough, tough, Malaysian captain. Paul claims to be merely supercargo, a passenger/spectator aboard Ellen. His boat was built in Finland by his son-in-law and he has done quite well for ten years now without the assistant of such luxuries as a power windlass, refrigeration, watermaker, and so on, . . . much like Active Light. He has performed some commendable acts of generosity in supporting members of his Venezuelan wife's family with business and education loans, in spite of not getting along so well with his wife, whom he nevertheless loves dearly (!), . . . so he goes off sailing a lot.. Everyone needs a hero and father figure and Paul is Neil's hero. He admires his sparkling imagination and his courage to live the life he wants in the face of advancing age and much adversity. Like the song from the musical Chicago goes, "You can like the life you're living, you can live the life you like!" The lyrics continue, by the way, with "You can always marry Harry, . . .and fool around with Ike!", . . . but we digress. We last saw Paul as he raised his anchor by hand, taking off for a solo trip up the Red Sea to the Med, as we played the Finnish national anthem for him on trombone from our dinghy, along with several other well-wishers in their dinghies. It was a touching moment. He is a wonderful spirit and we hope he comes to visit us in Washington one day.

And so we come to the end of this edition of our webpage. My beloved Nancy, much against her better judgment and the advice of her family, came back to me after two and a half months, laden with the same heavy bags she left with. (I thought we were lightening the boat.) This time they were filled, as usual, with boat gear replacement parts, presents and supplies for Neil. We are proud to announce (trumpet fanfare appropriate here!) the birth of our grandson, Burton Zachary Hirsch, to our own Shawna and Joe. We are so proud of them all. Nancy also brought back a new digital camera, which we both really like, and many, many pictures of our new grandson and our grand daughter, young Anna Banana. After a couple of days getting used to each other's company again, we rousted about for a week or two, provisioning and putting things back in order, getting ready for a 2,100 nm passage to Richard's Bay, South Africa. It was getting late in the season by this time. The sailing guides caution not be sailing in the Mozambique Channel in the month of November, so we decided to forego visiting Madagascar, . . . a decision we both now regret. Oh well, next trip. Little did we suspect, as we set off one overcast Monday noon, the difficulties we would have on this passage, . . . but that, dear readers, is a tale best saved for the next edition of "The Amazing Geriatric Adventures of Nancy and Neil".

Nancy and Neil
s/v Active Light
Tuzi Gazi Marina
Richard's Bay, South Africa

Views from our mooring in Port Victoria, the Trois Freres peaks and (right ) the nearby bar Club 55, scene of many noisy, late night parties.
A large rookery was on the east side of a little island in the anchorage.	We rowed past this rookery each day on our way to and from town.