Navigational Hazard

We were advised to travel in groups from Sri Lanka, and then the official grouping was to commence from Salalah,  Oman to Djibouti.

There were three groups of six yachts leaving Mumbai, India.  The first group left a day and half before us, with the second group following the next day, then our group.  This was to ensure that the smaller vessels arrived in Salalah Port, Oman, at around the time the larger vessels arrived. 

Oil Rig

Sailing with another five rally boats we left Mumbai, and decided we would sail in formation.  It was a 3 x 2 formation with the slower yachts in the first row and the faster yachts in the second row.  The middle front boat was the leader, they advised the speed over ground as well as the course to take.  They also made the decisions for quick action if and when required.  The communication boat was in the second row.   They were the communication boat for our group and twice a day the group position was sent via email to several military liaisons, being UKMTO (UK Maritime Trade Operations), who were located in Dubai.  UKMTO is the primary contact for merchant vessels and liaise with the military.  The second point of contact was MARLO (Maritime Liaison Office).  MARLO is an US group situated in Bahrain who communicates with the US Navy.  The communication boat also sent our positions to rally HQ.  Our communications boat was vigilant in contacting and keeping communications open with MARLO and UKMTO via satellite phone twice a day to ensure there were no Pirate Action groups near our group of 6 yachts.  Anything that looked out of the ordinary via line of sight or on our radars, a call was put through immediately to UKMTO, whilst all the yachts would prepare for possible attack.  UKMTO would stay on the phone until the target was confirmed non threatening. 

Sailing under a full moon

The first night out we were ducking and diving oil rigs, unlit buoys/markers and fishing boats.  The fishing boats are a major hazard as they carry no navigation lights and you cannot determine which direction they are going or how close they are or indeed if they are pirates.

Oil Rig and Fishing Boats

The second day, we managed to do a little sailing, with a beam reach averaging around 7-7.5 kts.   We have altered our course after a piracy incident was bought to our attention, not confirmed but too close to our course to ignore it, (it was later confirmed by the Spanish military as a merchant vessel pirated).  We have predominantly been motoring sailing;  a) to keep moving at our nominated speed and b) so the slower yachts can keep the momentum going for the faster yachts.

Motor Sailing in formation

Its evening and a large vessel with lights, now has none, the radar and AIS have shown this to be a registered commercial tanker.  We are very concerned.  All our nav lights are instantly turned off with communications via the SSB to ensure talking amongst ourselves hasn’t been scanned.  We close our formation and alter our course with the maximum of speed for our yachts.  We are unsure whether this ship is charading as a pirate vessel or whether is a legitimate vessel just as afraid of us, as we are of it.  It is only 2 NM away traveling at 20kts and no navigation lights at all.  Our comms boat has called UKMTO giving all the details, UKMTO have contacted the vessel and have notified us that this is a safe target.  We breathe a huge sigh of relief.  All navigation lights are turned back on, and formation back to normal.

Flying overhead

Saturday 19th February

Today we have had two large planes fly overhead of us.   It gives us little comfort to know that we are being watched over.  We identified one as being from Pakistan.  You see them before you hear them and it’s quite startling to know how close they come.

We have been notified by UKMTO that one of the rally’s boats SV Quest has been pirated.  One of our worst nightmares. 

 We are now on extremely high alert.  A yacht has not been pirated in these waters for over a year.  The yacht Quest was several hundred miles away from us.  They had been traveling alone since leaving Mumbai, with four crew on board and they were not on the recommended rally route.

 Sunday 20^th February

Another fabulous moonlit night with no incidents. We are still motor sailing.

Monday 21st February

 We are getting closer to Port Salalah, Oman now, with the spectacular display of phosphorescence glistening on the hulls of the yachts and a bonus with dolphins playing alongside.  What a spectacular sight at night to see. 

Phosphorescent Slick

We are still motor sailing and the sun is out.  The evenings tend to get very cool so we are wearing our thermals to keep warm.

At 2300 hours we have caught up with one of the other groups sooner than anticipated, one of the yachts has got caught in fishing nets as they were leaving their anchorage.  The rest of their group were standing-by until morning and then they were going to assist them and cut them free.

Our group have stopped to give assistance, we have launched our dinghy and three divers, Gavin, Brian and Paul are helping to free Natibou so that we can all be on our way. 

Armed with underwater torches and dive gear, the three of them managed to cut him free, but it was by no means easy and required all three of them, so had we sailed on by, Hans would have had no chance by himself in the morning. It took around 3 hours to cut them free and then navigate their way back out through the nets to where we were standing by. We were all exhausted, yet another night without sleep except this time it’s for very different reasons.

Three hours later we have now been informed that Natibou are now free and are negotiating their way through the rest of the nets inshore.  Gavin, Brian and Paul are on their way back in the dinghy.

Our group was not comfortable sailing on by and not helping.  This is not a place you wish to wait and hang around in, especially when the owner of the fishing net turns up in the morning.  We are all keeping well away from the shore to avoid the fishing nets.  Just to give you an idea, these fishing nets can range up to a mile in length.  The do not have any lights to advise they are there.  Using binoculars at night can sometimes assist with seeing maybe a float in the water.

22^nd February

We now have an extra yacht in our group.  Jacque off Jackobel has terrible toothache and wants to get to Salalah, Oman as soon as possible.  The rally have arranged a dental appointment for Jacque as soon as we arrive.

Fuel is getting low, were able to collect fuel from the group we just left, who managed to get fuel for our group, but not all our yachts collected what was needed, however we will rally around our six yachts and share out the diesel amongst us if needed, so we are motoring faster now to enable the diesel to run at optimum and economically to achieve the speed from the lowest fuel consumption. 

It is great to see small dolphins playing on the bow, it lightens the load a little to see such beauty in the sea, but still knowing what danger lurks amongst it. 

We have sailed past another rally today, the Vasco de Gamma.  Its comforting to know we are not alone.

Vasco de Gamma Rally

Its 2200 hours, we have had the most devastating news ever.  UKMTO called our comms boat to advise that all four passengers on SV Quest had been killed.  This was relayed via the SSB to us all.  Not a word was said.  Many tears have been shed with this news.   I just want to get off the boat and go home, but we can’t, we have another days sailing ahead.  This is like being in your worst nightmare and more!!  You can never judge a situation like this until you have been involved.  Your heart drops to the pit of your stomach, everything feels like its closing in on you, it seems your heartbeat is racing out of control and a nauseous feeling just sits waiting.  But we have another 5 yachts we have to get safely into port then we can decide what to do.  Our thoughts and prayers are with their family and friends at this time.

If there’s any consolation at all we only have 200 miles to go. 

A skiff which pirates use, these guys were going out fishing thank goodness!!

Thursday 24th February

We are only 15 miles away.  Safety is near.  We are all still very much on high alert.  It is so easy to become complacent out here, but truth is, it’s not worth your life now……we still have to be vigilant especially just before sunrise and just after sunset, these are the danger hours for the Somalian pirates to attack.

 After eight long days and 5 extremely longer hours we have made it safely into Salalah port and moored alongside another catamaran from the rally who came via the Maldives.  Just to keep us on our toes the morse cable snapped on the starboard engine, just as we were entering into the harbour.  We had to have three dinghies to maneuver us into place.  Oh well another job to do, but we’re alive and safe, we are just waiting for a few more yachts to arrive in. 

Entering Salalah Port

A huge sigh of relief and tears just streaming down my face.  We’re safe……..

Now a time of reflection and to celebrate the lives of the people who had their lives taken so tragically, it seemed so unnecessary. 

If you are thinking about traversing these waters DONT!!!!!  Y0ur life and crews lives are not worth it.  The Somalian pirates need to be  held accountable for their actions, and unfortunately with such a unstable country and no known government leadership the pirating of all the Indian Ocean will carry on.

A few pics of Mumbai India for you to enjoy.  The people are wonderful, polite and very sincere. The cuisine, mouth watering, and a very colourful place to visit.  The history is mind blowing.  They are very hard workers.  Poverty stricken areas and rich areas are each others neighbours.  They are happy within.  The want to survive is greater the want of material wealth here.  This place is definately worth visiting and exploring…

Eggs anyone?

The Gateway to India and the Taj Mahal Hotel

Housing

A peek into where Slumdog Millionaire was filmed

Housing again

Busy Street

Carved in Stone

Jeans anyone?

Town and around

Markets

Washing the baby

Top Heavy

Drying the washing

Red Kumara for sale

Living in the Slums

More Housing

High Rise

The Toll Bridge

Jammed Packed

Oil Rig plus a navigation Hazard

We’d like to thank the people who we met in Mumbai and made it possible to reprovision the boat plus arrange a dentist for Gavin, and restock us with fuel.  They know who they are.   Mumbai was an emergency stop for us, to enable us to travel with our group up the coast of India to travel safely in numbers.   We did not have visas to go ashore as we had been misinformed regarding the NZ passport allowances.  As a NZ’er you can gain entry visas only on arrival into India via International Airports NOT by seaport.   This made things very challenging for us not to say the least.  Although is there is no difference in the stamps that go in our passports from ones that are entered into via an airport, the Indian authorities are not at all interested in making allowances.    Little did we know how treacherous the next part of our journey to Salalah Oman would be.

Apologies for not updating our blog.  As one of our rally boats were pirated and murdered by Solmalian Pirates, just off the coast of Oman, of which the Solmalian pirates then captured another yacht with a family of 3 children and 4 adults (they are still being held captive with an unknown outcome at this stage), I will not be updating our blog until our yacht has safely arrived to it’s destination.   The process has been a very long one, of which the girls are in one country and dad is with the boat in another country, until such time we can meet up with him.  Sorry for being so vague but pirates can also peruse the internet and they may have our details from the first pirated vessel they took ruthlessly and murdered.  We are safe and that is all that matters.  So please be patient and until it is the right time we will then start updating our blog again.

Yes we have made it into Cochin India.  What a terrific place to be.  The people are friendly, it’s warm and muggy, but when the sun goes down out comes the mozzie battalion with full vengeance!  Walking down the main street is like a looking at a technicolor coat with all the beautiful saris, and yes Shae and I have invested in one.   As this place is predominately muslin, we are not allowed out without covering our shoulders and wearing dresses/skirts/shorts past our knees, so as to not offend the local people.  We have managed to look around at a place called Fort Cochin, Jew town and do a little shopping in what they call Broadway.  We have really enjoyed our time here and wish we were able to stay a little longer but this is not the case.  Unfortunately the information that we have been given by the Blue Water Rally directors (this is why we joined the BWR and paid for the information and support to be correct) had been incorrect regarding NZ’ers getting visas on arrival.  This was only if you flew in to 4 nominated international airports that you can receive a visa in this manner.  So Gavin and I had to fight tooth and nail with the Indian Immigration with the wonderful help of The New Zealand High Commission, to obtain an emergency visa.  The NZ High Commission have been absolutely fabulous.  As we had been waiting for our prop to arrived from Belgium via NZ, NEVER EVER EVER use DHL!!  They are a very incompetent company internationally and do not understand that when a product is under warranty as it is faulty that there is no charge, yet the incompetency and the understanding of the basics of english does not register in their intellectual ability.  So waiting for an urgent propeller to be delivered before our departure and requesting a commercial invoice to the value of the product, even though it’s a nil charge, they cannot compute.  Then to find out after all this time that they had the original invoice stating value of product.  This has now put us in a compromising position, we now have to collect the prop from Mumbai under emergency visa status again with the assistance of the NZ High Commission.  DHL India’s lack of customer service in abhorrent.  Basically 4 days of pissing around waiting for them to organise themselves in DHL India undermining the credibility of a NZ company stating that there is something not right about this shipments nil value (even though it states quite clearly on the invoice WARRANTY REPLACEMENT OF FAULTY PRODUCT NIL VALUE) is not acceptable.   Our shipment was held to ransom, in plain DHL India english, you don’t supply the invoice you don’t get your shipment.  Then on top of that we paid for an express delivery, what an absolute joke.  Anyway enough of that enjoy the photos…

Digging a trench by hand

Shae on the Ferry

Busy Street

Vege Fruit Vendors

Indian Sunset

Fishing boat

Net Fishing

Local Taxi

Local Fishing Boats

Fort Cochin Local village

Shae arms with henna

Fort Cochin

tuk tuk

Main Street

The Sari

Bolgharty Marina by nightfall

The butchers

Street Vendor

all in a hard days work

Fish Market

Gavin and Paul up Enchantrass Mast

Fresh Juice crusher

Main Street Broadway

Installing Powerlines notice the OSH Regulation of bare feet

Cochin Harbour

Bolghaty Marina Cochin

22Kt gold

Here are some pics of our road trip up the the high country in Sri Lanka.  Tea plantations, waterfalls, elephant orphanage, safari trip and many many temples. Enjoy…

The bus and tour guide

A bucket and well

Inside of the temple

Shae and the famous Buddha

Rice Fields

The blowhole that didnt blow only 1000 Rupees

The Safari Trip

Safari Transport

Let the wildlife tour begin....

Never smile at a crocodile

Water Buffalo

a lonely turtle

Monitor Lizard

Tame Boars

The rules of entry

Hmm Bambi or Venison on a plate (Spotted Deer) YUM......

Wolves

Green Breasted Bird

Can you see him?

Our first siting of an Elephant

My what big teeth you have.......

A fine Specimen for a plate......

Water Buffalo just lazing around....

Ohh just nosing around

Doing what an elephant does

Just a few jeeps

A Mongoose

A well earned stop after a 3 hour stint

A seaside village within the Safari Park

Locals

Bike Training Sri Lankan Style

Heading Up into the high country, our first waterfall of many

Sol Maria

We are in Patong Thailand and we are preparing for the New Years celebration.  Here’s a few more pics from us.

A beached Buddha

A quiet get away from Patong NOT!

Paragliding assistance no harness

A Cruise ship in Port, we're so small!

Patong Beach

Powerlines Patong Beach - for Clint

Seafood anyone? Restaurant Hawking

Karate Kid?

Chinese Lantern for good luck

Up she goes

letters to the heavens

Oops

VW Combi Style cocktails

Tuk Tuks

A few more pics for viewing.   Enjoy

Koh Rok Nok Diving

More of Koh Rok Nok

Rolly Taskers Sail Loft

Dinner at Phi Phi Don

The Big Hong

Inside the Big Hong

Sea Eggs

Under the sea

Moray Eel

More Fish

Diving Again

Drink Anyone Mix your own Phi Phi Island

Tsunami Safe House Phi Phi Don

Phi Phi Don from the Top

Power Lines Phi Phi Island

Ton Sai and Phi Phi Don