Seychelles etc

Not our boat – Ferry harbour, Victoria

Oh yes, we have been very lazy.  We are so enjoying the time here in Victoria that we haven’t been out to any of the outer or inner islands.  Time has flown by and we are coming up to our fourth week here.

It doesn’t mean that we have been able to go anywhere anyway.  The first order of business was to get the fridge back in full operation. That we did quickly with local assistance.  The next order of business was to get the spare part installed that came from San Francisco – $80 for the part and $130 for couriering!

With those two items done we thought we would head out for an extended weekend to one of the closer anchorages. Went to start the engine, which it did quickly, but with an odd sound.  With Connie down below and the engine running she called up to say there was smoke.  Running down below we determined it was coming from the starter motor.  Okay, turn off the engine and cancel the night of music at the bar in Eden Island and cancel the quiet anchorage in the national park.

Entrance to the botanical gardens

We solved our problem fairly quickly with again land based help.  Hauled out the starter motor, gave it to Tony for repair and he had it back in 18 hours (no island time here) and we got it reinstalled on the Monday and the engine up and going again without having to turn the fridge off (no sun).

That was great but now the weekend was gone and we awaited the arrival of our friends on Pipistrelle, Elaine and Bob.  They have been the two unluckiest sailors we’ve met and we were hoping they had a good trip from Chagos to Seychelles.  We followed their progress and were relieved to hear winds were good and they were doing well.  As they approached the Seychelles the weather deteriorated and being cautious they anchored to wait till the morning to enter the quarantine anchorage and clear customs.  We now have 11 foreign boats in the area – Pipistrelle, Nightfly, Garamar, Divinity, Totem, Imagine, Paradocs, Utopia, Zephyr, Helias and ourselves. Most are anchored out in the quarantine anchorage but Nightfly, Paradocs and ourselves are in the Inner Harbour.

The harbour holding is not great but we are on a mooring close to the yacht club.  We are serenaded every night but the live music at Club 55 on one side and the Japanese, Korean fishboats on the other side and then occasionally by announcements forward of the bow by the either Oz, American, British warships/submarines that are in and out of the harbour on the hunt for pirates.

As for the weather – the favourite subject of Canadians. Here are the local headlines – Strange Weather.

Strange weather

Excessive rain, cloudy, high winds etc.  Climate change? Certainly makes it a challenge to predict where to go and what to do.  Yes, it’s cloudy but you know what we are enjoying it. Above the anchorage lie the mountains allowing cooler air to cascade down the hills in the evening spreading a cool scent laden layer across the anchorage making sleeping at 4 degrees south of the equator a pleasant experience. We have no complaints even though it rains intermittently every day.The article talks about Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) by Wikipedia interacting with a low over the Arabian Peninsula. Interesting but complicated. One learns something new every day which is wonderful.  This is something I have not heard about before and it’s quite complicated and not something easy to explain. Read the Wikipedia if your are interested .

In the meantime we will enjoy the Independence Day celebrations and watch closely the political antics that are starting due to an upcoming election

Stay tuned