Arrived in Male

It seemed to take forever to wash the mud off the anchor chain when we left the Bolghatty House Marina.  We had been berthed stern-to with a lot of anchor chain out to hold us steady in the strong current that switched direction several times each day with the tides.   I’m sure our friends on the dock waving goodbye wondered why Bill was being so meticulous about not letting mud get into our anchor chain locker.  Two reasons.  We don’t want to smell mud and the smell would be noticeable down inside the boat eventually.  And, more importantly, our chain locker drains to a gray-water bilge and mud might clog the drain.  As Bill washed down the anchor chain we drifted with the building current.  We had left the slip at slack high tide, but that doesn’t last long.  Current was already building on the out-going tide.  Several times I saw depths under our keel as low as 3/10 foot.  Gosh, I hate shallow water!  At least we knew it was a very soft mud bottom and we could plow through it a bit if we did go aground.   Finally Bill finished washing off the mud and we motored around to the Quarantine anchorage in front of the Malabar Hotel.  S/V ESPRIT was already anchored by the time we arrived.  We both planned to get an early start on the out-going tide the following morning.  

We did not set an alarm and were a little late leaving.  ESPRIT was out at the crack of dawn and were about 2 hours ahead of us.  As we motored out of the long channel an Indian warship came rapidly past our port side – with 5 guns manned by teams and another man standing on the bow with an automatic weapon.  Glad to see them headed out for patrol while we would be sailing down the coast.  Much later about 70 miles south we heard an Indian Coast Guard ship hailing commercial ships saying that they were doing Anti-Pollution Exercises.  That totally cracked us up.  There is so much pollution of every kind in India that you cannot believe it.  The air is so bad that it is impossible to see the land from less than 1 mile offshore.   The trash in the water is not as bad as in Indonesia or Malaysia, but there is still plenty of it.  The tides causing such strong currents in the many rivers washes trash back and forth for miles daily.  It never goes away.  Just back and forth.

Once we cleared the coastal fishermen, it was clear sailing the rest of the way.  Closer to shore the fishing boats were operating individually.  Once past 50 miles offshore, the fishing boats operated in groups of 5 to 8 boats.  Each boat was fishing independently, but they stayed very close to one another.  The Somali pirates have captured many Indian fishing boats and currently hold more than 200 Indians hostage.  These boats have no insurance and the families don’t have the kind of money required to pay ransom, so these hostages have no hopes of being released.  It is a real problem.  Guess by staying in groups they hope to mitigate the chances of more boats being captured.

During our first day and night we were about 50 NM off the coast when hordes of tiny insects filled the cockpit.  Why in the world are insects way out there?  There is nothing for them to feed on out over open ocean.  Winds were perfect and seas were almost flat.  Perfect sailing conditions for the first 24 hours.  We were taking it very slow because Friday is the Holy Day in the Maldives and we would not be able to clear in until Saturday morning.  We were trying to time our arrival appropriately and did not want to sail over 5 knots.  Saw a good bit of commercial shipping traffic all down the coast of India.  Ships always traveled in groups – at least 2 together and sometimes a group of 5.   Covered 136.9 NM during the first 24 hours.

The second night out I was a little more nervous because we were farther off the coast and farther south, soon past India altogether.  There have been no reported pirate attacks in this area, but that doesn’t mean anything given the increase in the number of pirates out there this season.  We passed across the 9 Degree Channel; saw 3 small groups of commercial ships headed toward the Red Sea.  As we neared the 8 Degree Channel we saw what turned out to be the final group of Indian fishing boats off to the east.  In the 8 Degree Channel we saw only 2 cargo ships headed toward the Red Sea, loaded high with containers. They were already moving at 18 knots.  Good luck, guys!  

After crossing the 8 Degree Channel north of the Maldives, we saw no more marine traffic – at least not during daylight hours.  Around 03:00 an unlit boat passed south-to-north on a parallel course 1 mile off our port side.  This unlit boat went between S/V ESPRIT and us.  It was impossible to see anything by only starlight.  But it showed up very clearly on radar.  We assume it was a simple fishing boat.  

The wind died on the second day so we motored or motor-sailed the rest of the way to Male.  It got noticeably hotter as we progressed farther SSW.  And we thought India was hot!  Sailed 139.6 NM during the second 24 hours of this passage.

Day 3 the wind picked up a tiny bit to a whopping 7 knots and we could sail 3.4 knots boat speed-over-ground.  That was too slow, so we continued to motor-sail; getting hotter and hotter.

 About 17:00 hundreds and hundreds of porpoises arrived to put on a show for us.  They filled an area of more than a quarter mile in each direction, completely surrounding our boat.  These were the smaller type porpoises, not the large bottlenose type.  Bill calls them spinners because they love to jump high out of the water and spin and flip.  Sometimes they do this in what appears to be formations.  

They were speeding toward us from every direction.  Then they would play in our meager bow wave.  It was a delight to watch them play and jump and spin.  This was almost as large a pod as we had seen outside Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas 2 ½ years ago.  There the water was roiling with porpoises.  This time they weren’t quite that dense, but there were easily between 700 to 800 of them showing off.   What a delight for our final day at sea in the Indian Ocean.

About 19:00, the sun had gone down but it was still light enough to see, another pod of at least 100 porpoises came to visit us.  Many of these were standing straight up out of the water as they performed their acrobatics.  Many were twisting 3 times around as they jumped high.  Lots of splashes; they were having a great time – this time all on our port side.  But there was insufficient light for our crappy camera to get any photos.  

Much later in the night, after the sliver of moon was already gone, I could hear splashes again all around us.  I assume more porpoises were playing in the dark.  

A couple of hours before the first large pod arrived at our boat, S/V ESPRIT reported they had seen a small pod of whales swim past their port side.  Jaime said he also saw a sailfish jump in the distance.  But they were not visited by the huge pod of porpoises that came to see us.  ESPRIT remained 5 to 7 miles ahead of us the entire passage.  Each of us continued to keep our speed down so that we would arrive at Male shortly after daybreak rather than in the middle of the night.  My favorite thing on the final night watch was looking up in the sky at the Southern Cross.  Don’t know when we will be seeing that star formation again.

Shortly after 07:00 on Saturday morning we anchored in the designated spot for clearance into Male.  The water is very deep in these atolls, but there is one spot at the SW side of Male that is only 20 meters; that is where arriving yachts are supposed to anchor.  We had sailed 118.4 NM during the third 24-hour period of this passage.  Total trip from Cochin, India to Male, Maldives was 394.9 nautical miles and took 71 hours.  Could have shaved at least 6 hours off that easily, but did not want to arrive at an atoll during darkness.  

Male is a very busy place!!!  There are ferries of every sort moving fast in all directions to the many different tiny islands in this enormous atoll.  And resort private ferries zipping at high speeds crisscrossing the regular ferries.  Add to that 20 cargo ships and the local fishermen and dive/tour boats – and this place is really hopping!  This will take some adjustment on our part.

Despite having emailed our agent 72-hours in advance of arrival, again 48-hours in advance of arrival, again 24-hours in advance of arrival, again 12-hours in advance of arrival, and yet again 30 minutes in advance of arrival (and hailing him on arrival on the appropriate VHF channel) – the agent was a no-show.  Four officials arrived to clear us in and we again printed all the information we had provided to our agent days earlier.  They called our agent and he asked us to give our passports to one of the officials and he would collect them and get us cleared in with Immigration.  Four hours later we were still waiting for the passports to be returned.  Finally, Katie on ESPRIT called the agent and he said it was now okay for us to move to the “safe” anchorage north of the airport on the next island, and he would return our passports to us there later.  Really getting our money’s worth out of this required agent, aren’t we?

We managed to avoid all the zipping and speeding little boats and ferries and made our way safely to the “safe” anchorage.  This is a crowded anchorage.  Something else we will have to adjust to once again.  Many of the large tour/dive boats are anchored with multiple rope lines rather than anchor chain.  These ropes pointing off in opposite directions from the bows of many boats makes motoring through this crowded anchorage a true challenge.  We opted to drop anchor at the rear of the pack, close to where the ferries go back and forth; so our anchorage spot has a lot of wave action.  The waves we can handle; doesn’t bother us.  What does bother us are the flies!!!!!    

The agent’s representative, Abdul, arrived with our stamped passports at dusk.  We were on ESPRIT for drinks so that made it easy for him; cover 2 boats at once.  We still have not seen or heard from Mohammed, our supposed agent.  Now that we have our passports, we can go buy SIM cards for the cell phone and 3G.  Bill is off with Katie this morning to search for these.  There is one very annoying thing we have encountered already (besides the millions of flies) – we are not supposed to leave our dinghy tied anywhere along the dock or wall.  That means only one person can go ashore at a time; the other person must take the dinghy back to the boat.  Since I am in a pissy mood this morning (I did not want to cover up in this heat to go ashore and women should be covered in this Muslim country) Bill volunteered to be the one to take the ferry over to Male and find SIM cards.  He gets to wear shorts.  Whoever said life is fair?

A ship finally has been named for our transport.  Unfortunately, it will be a bit later than originally stated by the shipping agent.  So we will be in Male for several weeks – sitting on the boat the entire time because we are not allowed to leave the anchorage and only one of us can go ashore at a time.  The good side is that gives us plenty of time to prep BeBe for shipment.

BTW, when we were clearing in the Customs official told us that there are 39 Somali pirates in prison in the Maldives.  I have no idea where they were caught or when.  

While waiting in the Quarantine anchorage we watched yet another new manner of fishing.   We truly thought we had seen every manner of fishing imaginable by now.  But this one takes the cake.  If you look very, very closely in the water next to the boat in this photo (right near the back side of the white top cabin) you might be able to see the snorkel tube of a man in the water.  He is being towed by a rope tied to the boat.  He is looking for fish (remember, it is very deep here).  Then he points which direction the boat should proceed.  Now, while he is in the water looking for fish the men above are throwing chum into the water.  They throw small fish and pieces of fish in the water to attract larger fish.  My goodness, I would be afraid of attracting sharks.


Once the swimmer decides the fish he can see are in the right position, he signals and most of the men in the boat quietly get into the water and start deploying and arranging a large net.  The boat circles around and the net is closed up.  All the men get back into the boat.   Soon they are pulling in the net.  On this foray they collected a haul of fish several feet deep in the net.  Most of the fish were 2-feet in length, some greater.   An unusual way to fish.

Farewell dinner

Since four of the five American boats left in Cochin would soon be departing to sail down to Male, Maldives to transport our yachts to Turkey, we thought it would be nice to have a farewell dinner together with all the Americans.  S/V ESTRELLITA will soon be the only American yacht left in Cochin.  They will return to Thailand and spend another year in SE Asia.  The rest of us are shipping to the Mediterranean.

We took the ferry to Ernakulan and hailed 4 tuk-tuks for the ride to The Grand Hotel on MG Road.   We have been told that every city in India has an MG Road.  Obviously, it must stand for Mahatma Ghandi.  This would be like every city in America having an MLK road or street or boulevard; obviously, named in honor of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The 4 tuk-tuks considered this to be a race.  These tuk-tuks are adventurous enough when they are driving "normally."  Racing is downright scarey.  But nothing any of us could say would slow them down.  Ours was the last to arrive at the hotel.  But the others cheated because they came in the rear entrance; whereas, we arrived at the proper front entrance.

Dinner was good, as usual.  (Mushroom masala and nan again for me; going to miss that dish -- and mundane grilled tiger prawns and french fries for Bill).  Visiting with everyone was fun.  We will miss Bill and Amy.  I know they will enjoy traveling SE Asia later this year and will meet a whole new set of cruisers as the next year's group arrive in the fall.  They will have some adventures going the South African route next year, more than likely.  I don't see the Somali pirate situation improving over the next year to the point that they would feel comfortable sailing across the northern Indian Ocean next season.  So South African it will be for them.   Maybe we will meet up again in the Caribbean in a few years.

In the group photo from left to right:  Jaime and dad Chay from S/V ESPRIT,  Ruth and Randal from M/V DORA MAC,  Bill and Judy from S/V BeBe, Amy and Bill from S/V ESTRELLITA, Linda and Michael from S/V B'SHERET, and Jaime's mom Katie from S/V ESPRIT.

Everyone in the photo above transported their yachts to Marmaris to avoid piracy except for Amy and Bill on S/V ESTRELLITA.  Bill really wanted to circumnavigate on his own keel.  So they turned around to Phuket, spent a full year in SE Asia, personally replaced the chainplates on their boat as a safety precaution for the notoriously rough southern Indian Ocean, and then sailed the South Africa route.

The highlight of the evening was when someone said he thought that Ronald Reagan would go down in history as being the best president ever in the USA.  Ruth is a die-hard Democrat; and, as such, does not have a high opinion of ANY Republican president -- and most definitely does not think highly of Ronald Reagan.  The look on her face when he said that was hysterical.  Can't remember laughing so hard over a facial expression.   Of course, the person who said that then elaborated why he believes this.  And she could not argue with any of his reasons because he worked in government through several presidents and knew al lot of the inside doings; whereas, Ruth knew nothing about any of it.  Right or wrong doesn't matter.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion when it comes to politics and government.  It was the look on her face that was so very funny.  Bill tried to get her to duplicate that expression for the camera, but she couldn't do it twice.

A British sailor flew to the new Karpaz Gate Marina that is being built in Northern Cyprus -- the one where we have been provided a free berth for one year beginning in May 2011.  This marina is supposed to be completed by May 2011.  He also plans to berth there and wanted to see first-hand how it was progressing.  Here are a couple of photos taken earlier this week.  I seriously doubt this marina will be completed by May.  But maybe it will be close enough to completion by the time we arrive in late August.  As long as there is electricity and water, a secure dock and transportation to markets, then we will be happy there.

I have scheduled this to post on March 12 -- the day that we should arrive in Male.  I did not want to publish that we were at sea, just being extra cautious what with all the increased piracy in the general area.  Will update again soon after our arrival in Male.

Happy  Birthday to our son Aaron, born this day 36 years ago in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  But really a true Texan through and through because he was conceived in Texas and returned there when he was 7 months old and has lived in Texas ever since.

Up the river

One day Chay, Katie & Jamie on S/V ESPRIT took a tour up the river with Nazar in his little boat and invited us to join them.  

 This was a nice way to spend a hot sunny day.   Nazar brought plastic chairs from his home and placed them in the boat so we each had a place to sit with some back support.  I brought a large umbrella.  I felt ever-so-British (sort of African Queen-ish) sitting in the front of that small boat in the plastic lawn chair shaded by my big umbrella.

We thought Nazar was going to take us up the river right next to the marina, but he turned south and then west beneath Bolghatty Island, past the next island (don't know the name) where the new port facilities are located, and then north alongside Vypin Island.   As we approached the new port facilities Bill pointed out that this would never happen in the USA today.  Security would have been all over any small boat approaching a commercial port in the USA today.  I wondered if we would be stopped by security here.

But we got very close (actually beneath the loading cranes) and never heard a peep from anyone telling us to move away.  Seems like they would have learned after that small boat approached and blew the hole in the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen several years ago.  That was in this general part of the world.  One would think they would be a bit stricter about security now.  This is a brand new port facility.  They need to take measures immediately to ensure it is not an easy target.

As we neared one of the bridges we noticed that several boats had decided that the bridge supporting pylons would make perfect moorings.

This is also something that would never be allowed in the USA today.  It would be far too easy for one of those boats to be loaded with explosives and blow up a bridge.

As we continued up the river we saw hundreds upon hundreds of fishing boats.  Some looked bright and new and others looked worn and aged.  This is the type of small fishing boat that the Somali pirates have been capturing for years and used as small mother ships during their pirate attacks.  Today there are more than 200 Indians being held hostage in Somalia -- all simple fishermen who have no hope of anyone paying any ransom for their release.  Here is a photo of one of the older boats filling with ice.

Another half-hour and we reached a Catholic church built right on the river's edge.  Nazar said this church is many hundreds of years old, built during the time that the Portuguese controlled this part of India.  The architecture of this church is different from any of the other churches we have seen locally.   Mass was being held as we passed this church and the singing was very unusual.  Sounded very nice and reminded us of the beautiful singing in the churches in the Kingdom of Tonga. 

Along this long river ride we saw all different methods of fishing -- hand lines, small hand nets or seines, fishing poles, stakes to attract fish and the ever-present Chinese fishing nets.

There were dozens and dozens of Chinese fishing nets on every tributary of the river.  And this is just one of many rivers that feed into the large harbor at Cochin.  I believe the same things exist on every one of these rivers.  Heaven only knows how far up the rivers this fishing continues.

Eventually the river widened a lot.  Nazar motored over to the opposite side and stopped where a large rectangle had been walled off.  He explained that this is a fish farm.  Actually, he called it a place to grow fish.  We told him that in the USA we call this a fish farm.  He explained that someone can lease the walled rectangle of water for a period of one year.  There are small locks that are closed off to prevent any fish from escaping into the river.  Several men will take turns staying at the fish farm as security guards to prevent anyone from stealing the fish.  Each man stays there for a 12-hour shift up to an 18-hour shift.  It is guarded 24/7.   There is a small shack for them to shelter inside.  In July (which I believe is the height of rainy season) they will open the locks and catch escaping fish into nets.  The fish should be approximately 16-inches long at that time.  That is considered a good-sized fish around here.

The lessor also can sell the coconuts and dried palm fronds from the palms that grow on the wall of the fish farm.  Nazar explained that not everyone has cooking gas because it costs money.  The poorer people cook by burning palm fronds and old coconut husks.  He said his wife does not like cooking with palms because it is too smokey.    We saw several men with narrow canoes who were collecting the fallen palm fronds and old coconuts.  You can see a couple of these men in the background behind Jaime.

And onward we continued. 

Nazar turned right into a branch of the  river after explaining the fish farm.  After awhile he stopped at a small concrete and stone building with a "Toddy" sign.  He told us it was time for a toddy.  I guess this word came from the years of British colonial rule.  Turns out that the toddy is coconut beer.  That is the only thing they sold to drink.  I passed on tasting this supposed delight, but the other 3 adults sampled a couple of bottles.  They said it tasted like lemonade with beer added. 

The Toddy place also served a set menu of food.  They had sliced homemade bread, a starch dish that we know as cassava but they call something else I can't say, and some fried tiny fish topped with sliced onions.  You eat the whole little fish, head and all.  I passed on tasting any of the food as well because I wasn't hungry.  Bill tried a few of the fish and said they were okay; tasted a tad bit strong.  But the cassava dish was apparently pretty good.  A little spicy but not too much.  Jaime chowed down on that.  Teen-aged boys can always eat.

As we were leaving, the shear pin broke on the outboard engine.  Nazar maneuvered back to the shore and replaced it.  Wish we had an outboard that used a shear pin.  On ours we must replace the entire propeller when the hub starts to spin.   While Nazar was doing this little repair, the "beer truck" arrived with a delivery of more coconut beer.  The beer delivery truck was a narrow river canoe.  What else would one expect out here where there are no roads or bridges.

We continued down the tributary for a bit more, then turned right on yet another tributary.  One could get lost on these waterways very easily.  This particular area had new construction amidst the very old buildings.  At almost every home a woman was doing laundry at the river's edge.  Each home had stone steps leading down into the river.  The women would stand on the steps in ankle-to-knee-deep water and pound the clothes on the stone wall.  It was the same at every home we passed.

Soon we turned right again.  My internal compass said we were heading back to the main river that we had originally come up.  We passed another large group of Chinese fishing nets.  We noted that all these had lights on them.  None of the others we have seen had lights.  So we assume they fish as night in this particular backwater area.  Still would like to know why these are called Chinese.  One net had been modernized.   It had a blue metal frame used to lower and raise it rather than hanging ropes.

We entered a very wide area of the river and could see the white church in the distance on the far side.  Rather than continue that far, Nazar turned left.  This put us going south down the western side of Bolghatty Island.  The marina is on the eastern side of Bolghatty Island.

As we turned left beneath the southern end of Bolghatty Island to return to the marina, we noted how extremely large the mimosa trees are on the tip of this island.  We have lots of mimosa trees in southeast Texas, but nothing like these.  At home mimosas grow about 20-25 feet tall.  Here they are enormous by comparison.  These trees spread wide like huge oak trees.

And that was our day on the river with American friends Chay, Katie and son Jaime on S/V ESPRIT. 

Lunch & shopping in Fort Kochi

One day we joined Bill & Amy on S/V ESTRELLITA and Randal & Ruth on S/V DORA MAC for a day of shopping in Fort Kochi.  And lunch at the Seagull Hotel restaurant, of course.   Ruth was on a mission to find a tour guide book for Turkey, so we all tagged along.  Something to break up the boredom of sitting in the marina day after day.

No guide books for Turkey were to be had.  Didn't think we would find one, but it was worth a shot.  Shopping was good for other things this particular day.  I bought a large blue silk scarf -- just in case I am required to cover my head when we visit the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.  And a heavier weight silk scarf to wrap around my shoulders in case it is cold.  What am I saying -- "in case" -- of course it is going to be cold in Turkey in April!  Istanbul is near latitude 41N.  That is about the same latitude as Long Island Sound in New York.  Darn right it will be cold in April!!

After shopping in the tourist section new Jew Town we hailed 3 tuk-tuks to take the 6 of us to the Seagull Hotel restaurant for lunch.  One couple paid 50 rupees; another couple paid 40 rupees; and we paid 25 rupees.  Each for the exact same distance in the "motorized rickshaw" as the tuk-tuks are called here in India.  And we did not even try to bargain the price down.  We just happened to get quoted the cheapest price.  To put that in perspective, 50 rupees is about $1.10 USD.  Tuk-tuks are very inexpensive here.  On the ride to the restaurant we passed hundreds of school children getting out for their lunch break.  The groups we saw were all in uniforms, but Bill & Amy passed a group of girls all dressed up like small Indian women.  If they send me that photo, I will upload it later.  Speaking of which, the Indian women dress in the most beautiful saris.  I have not taken any photos because it always feels like that would be an intrusion.  But, take my word for it, they wear gorgeous clothing, even for just staying at home and doing daily housework.

This time we knew to enter the Family Restaurant instead of the one called just plain old Restaurant.  Mustn't mix the women with the men while dining.  I really don't get that segregation by gender while eating concept.

And by Family, they do mean family.  There are no high chairs or booster chairs here.  Women hold their babies and toddlers when feeding them.  Everyone normally eats with their fingers and it can get pretty messy.  But they have something else for babies in restaurants that we don't have back home -- baby beds.  Have you ever seen a baby crib or bassinet in a restaurant?

BTW, food was good again this day.  Mushroom masala and cashew rice for me.  Fried shrimp for Bill.  With parotta (a bread thing) and Kingfisher beer.

After lunch we all walked down near the Chinese fishing nets to try to negotiate a better price for a knife that Bill Betts wanted to buy.  Bill Rouse went in and bargained the price down from $400 USD to $300; but Bill Betts only wanted to pay $200.  Ended up not buying it.  He will be here several more weeks and has plenty of time to return and pay the higher price if he decides it really is worth that much.  While walking down the narrow old stone/dirt streets we saw some electrical lines that are very low to the ground.   As we walked near these lines to take a photo, some local men shouted to tell us that it was "danger."  No kidding!  That is why we wanted the photo.  Any little kid could grab these things, they are so low to the ground.  Danger, indeed!

While walking back to the ferry dock for the first leg of our return trip to the marina, I stopped in a small shop and bought a "doubles" doll for our granddaughter.  This will probably be our birthday present to her later this summer.  A doubles doll has a male head on one side with a long flowing cloth robe/skirt.  Beneath the robe/skirt is a female head.  You turn the doll upside down and the long cloth goes down in the opposite direction and becomes a long dress.  These dolls vary in price considerably, depending on the fabrics used and quality of sewing and adornments.  Our granddaughter won't care anything about this, but I thought it would be a good souvenir for her or remembrance of our trip to India.

At the ferry dock there was the Indian version of a Park 'N Ride lot.  Full of old-fashioned bicycles and lots of motorcycles.  No bit of space wasted. 

There are two queues to purchase ferry tickets -- one line for women and one line for men.   With only one ticket seller.  He alternates selling first to men and then to women.  Each person can purchase only two tickets.  Then everyone stands together on the platform and makes a mad dash to try and be the first one on the ferry when it arrives.  So, what is the point of separating the women from the men to purchase the tickets?  The logic (or lack thereof) totally escapes me.

Another one of those little quirks of India.

Dinner at Nazar's home

Nazar is a man who works with boats in the marina.  He has been working with cruising boats for years, long before this marina opened almost a year ago.   Before the marina was built, Nazar used to greet boats when they anchored in front of the Malabor Hotel to clear into Cochin.  Now that the marina is open, he rarely is available to personally greet arriving yachts in the quarantine anchorage in front of the Malabor Hotel because he is busy at the marina.   So, being in job competitive true Indian spirit, another man now calls himself Nazar and rushes to greet arriving yachties -- effectively stealing business away from the original Nazar.  Competitiveness to the Nth degree!  We, as well as most of the other cruisers, were roped in by who we now call Skinny Nazar when we first arrived.  Skinny Nazar did a fairly good job of taking care of yachtie needs.  Heck, he even rented us the SIM card from his cell phone when we first arrived; a huge benefit which I will describe farther down in this posting.  And he handled our first few loads of laundry.  His prices were very reasonable.  Later, in the marina, we met the original Nazar, whom we have affectionately dubbed Fat Nazar.  He really isn't that heavy but we needed a way to distinguish between the 2 men with the same name.

Fat Nazar is a jewel.  Just about anything you might need done, he can help you find it or do it.  Need a doctor; he's your man.  Need propane; he will take you to the right place.  Want to take a tour; he knows who to call.  Need boat washed, polished or waxed; he doesn't really do much of that -- but his son Nazam does great work at bargain labor rates.  If Nazam is busy then Nazar will find someone else to do the job on your timetable.  All of us who were hijacked by Skinny Nazar soon switched allegiances to Fat Nazar.  He is our go-to man for India.

Nazar  invited all the cruisers in the marina to his home for the mid-day meal on Monday this week.  At least, he invited all the cruisers who were here last Friday to come to his home for a meal on Monday.  People from 2 boats were still out touring northern India and returned over the weekend, so they missed out on the invitation for a home-cooked traditional Indian meal.

Shortly before 13:00 on Monday afternoon Nazar started rounding up all of us and directing us to his small boat.  His home is over on the island of Fort Kochi and he was providing the transportation.  Crews from VAGABOND, ESTRELLITA, ESPER and BeBe climbed into the small boat.  We were all a tiny bit concerned about exceeding the prudent passenger weight limit for Nazar's small boat with 9 people aboard; but he drove slowly and we made the trip just fine.  In fact, on the way back we stopped and picked up 3 more people on S/V ESPRIT to give them a ride back to their boat in the quarantine anchorage.

Nazar lives in a typical local home.  There is a dark, close opening from the street that leads into a large open rectangular courtyard of sorts.  The close dark opening creates an almost constant breeze from the sun-heated stone streets and buildings on all sides.  Homes open to the courtyard on 3 sides, but not from the street side; that side was just blank walls that were the rear walls for the small businesses fronting the street.  Everything is tightly spaced together and the streets are very narrow, as one might expect from a place built hundreds of years ago.  Of course, all buildings are constructed from stone or concrete.   Inside the courtyard residents had built small wooden structures and cages that housed chickens and birds and whatever they did not want inside their homes.  Cats were everywhere.  The cats here are a very small variety.  Nazar was shocked to see the size of some of the cats on some cruising boats.  The local cats weight maybe 3-4 pounds.  Some of these cruising cats weigh in at 17 pounds.

Nazar and his family live in a modest home.  A British cruising couple helped them buy this home several years ago.  This British couple also paid for medical treatment for Nazar at one time.  He refers to them as his God Parents.  Nazar is a Christian and like to talk with western cruisers about 'Sweet Jesus' as he calls Him.  His son, Nizam, is a Muslim.  We were surprised to see an inter-faith family of these particular 2 religions, but the vast majority of Indians accept all faiths.  India must be the heart of spirituality because I think every religion in the world is represented here.  Here in the state of Kerala there appears to be harmony among the various believers, except for foreign influence that does appear to be a growing problem if one reads the local English-version newspapers.  It is reported that "foreign made videos" are illegally imported and show things (whether true or untrue) that cause dissension and ill-will with one of the religions.  I'll let our readers decipher for themselves which religion is trying to cause the problems and wants to take over everyone.  (Correction:  Found out just before we left the marina that Nazar is also a Muslim.  He has picture of Christ in his home and talks about Jesus freely; maybe in honor of his Christian God Parents.  There is no discernible bias against Christians here.)

Nazar's family (most likely his wife or daughters) had prepared several large bowls of chicken briyani -- my favorite Indian dish, although I also do love mushroom masala.  This briyani was much, much less spicy that I am accustomed to in restaurants.  They probably went really light on the spices since they were serving westerners.  The briyani included raisins, which is also a departure from what most restaurants serve.  It was very good.  It was served with a tamarind sweet sauce and red onions marinated in some white liquid and seasoned with tiny slices of a very hot pepper.  I really liked this but could not understand what they called it.

Since they were feeding westerners, they served the briyani on plates and provided forks or spoons.  Normally, this rice dish would be eaten off banana leaves with one's fingers.  That is the typical way of eating here.  Which brings to mind the unusual way the Indians have of drinking liquids.  Most people never let the glass or bottle touch their lips.  They tilt their heads back and literally pour the liquid into their mouths and down their throats.  I would gag if I tried that, but they are quite comfortable drinking in that manner.  And that is more hygienic and leaves the glass or bottle edge clean in case someone else wants to share the drink.

After the meal Nazar brought out his photo albums of his family and some of the cruisers he has met over the years.  Please realize that very few cruisers traditionally stop in Cochin, so his photos as very special to him.   Bill & Amy on ESTRELLITA had been to Nazar's home previously, so they knew that his photo albums were getting a bit tired and worn.  They had brought a large new photo album as a host/hostess gift -- intended as a gift from all of us.  We also had brought a small bag of assorted gifts.

Nazar's youngest son is 8-years-old.  His name is Nazir.  Probably there is some cultural connection between the names:  father Nazar, eldest son Nizam, and youngest son Nazir.  Unfortunately, Nazar's English is not that good and there was no way to get an explanation of how the names of the males in the family are decided upon.  The language spoken here is called Malayalayam.  I can't even say that.  Just too many syllables for my tongue to handle together.  Our grab bag of goodies contained a DVD for the family and a DVD for the child, plus numerous American snack foods -- Cha-Chos (Doritos), Oreos, vanilla cream-filled cookies, lemon cream-filled cookies, peanut butter-filled crackers and cheese filled crackers, plus a large bag of Hershey's Kisses.  All were a hit both with little Nazir and big brother Nizam.  Nizam especially liked the Cha-Chos.  The next day when Nizam was waxing our boat I gave him a taste of plain nachos made from Cha-Chos and jalapenos and cheddar cheese.  All 3 food items were new to him.  He really liked the nachos, especially the jalapenos.  That was a new "chili" to him and he savored the taste.  BTW, other American foods that we have introduced to locals have been banana bread and devil's food cake with fudge icing and toasted pecans.  All have been big hits with everyone who has tasted our strange foods.

As we were walking back out of the courtyard we paused to look at some baby chicks in a cage on the ground.  All the tiny chicks were painted -- bright pink, bright green, bright yellow and a dull odd color.  Due to the language barrier, we were unable to understand why these chicks had been painted.  Or, at least they looked painted to us; I cannot imagine the feathers on any chickens naturally being this color.

As we were trooping back to the dock area I snapped this photo of a few women walking down the street.  This shows how narrow the streets are.  And the other photo shows the interior of a "supermarket" in Fort Kochi.  Not much for us to buy in this store.  I never, never buy anything in the open burlap bags; and that is how most things like rice and spices are sold locally.  I am afraid of bringing insects onto the boat, so we skip buying in these type stores.

Nazar dropped us back at the marina.  It was very generous of him to invite all of us to his home and to share a meal with us.

Nizam has been cleaning and polishing our boat for several days.  His labor rate is only about $11 USD per day and he is a good worker.  We don't really need all this done since the boat will get filthy again during transport up the Red Sea with desert sands constantly blowing, but this provides income to a hard-working local young man. 

As I said earlier, Nizam is a Muslim.  He got to know the crew of QUEST quite well when they were docked in this marina with the Blue Water Rally boats last month. The morning we all learned of the murders of the QUEST crew at the hands of the Somali pirates, Nazam was visibly shaken by the news.

 He said, "America does bad things.  America did a bad thing now.  American should not have taken any Somali pirates back to the American ships.  The Americans should have killed them all right then.  No take back to trial.  Kill them all right then.  America did a bad thing to let these pirates live.  They are bad men."

So, okay, all you folks who went on and on about the QUEST carrying Bibles.  This is a Muslim talking and he thought Scott and Jean were wonderful good people and had no problem with their religion or the fact that they had Bibles on their boat.  

Explanation of why Skinny Nazar loaning us a SIM card was so convenient.   It provided us with communication capability until we could figure out transportation and place to buy our own.  Many countries are now making it more difficult to purchase SIM cards both for cell phones and for 3G data modems.  After the terrorists attacked Mumbai and the Indian authorities learned of all their communications on locally purchased SIM cards, more stringent laws were enacted.  In order to purchase a SIM card one must not only show your original passport but must also provide the store with a copy of your passport, a copy of your visa page and entry stamp, AND a passport photo.   We have been told that France has even more stringent laws and that it is next to impossible to purchase a SIM card there without 3 months of local utility bills in your name, as well as providing passports, etc.  I cannot fault these countries for their efforts to thwart terrorism, but it a small hassle for cruising folks.

This extra paperwork required in India is not a problem for us because, like most cruising boats, we have a scanner/printer on board.  We get passport photos taken at least once a year (usually during our home visit to Houston since it is easier when you speak the local language).  We then scan the newest passport photo or visa photo.  We carry photo printing paper on board BeBe.  So it is very easy for us to print as many visa photos or passport photos as needed.   If you are planning to start cruising, consider a scanner/printer to be a necessity these days.  And bring plenty of printer cartridges, at least enough to last until your next trip home to purchase more.  We vacuum seal the printer cartridges to prevent deterioration in the salt air, and they last several years.

Another pirated yacht

By now everyone should know that there has been another pirated yacht in the northern Indian Ocean.  This time it is a Danish yacht, taken as they were enroute from Maldives to enter the patrolled IRTZ corridor.  And, sadly again, we also knew the folks on this yacht.

In Galle, Sri Lanka we were rafted to this yacht.  They were against the concrete wharf and we were tied along their starboard side.  Every time we went ashore we had to climb over their boat.  (See Jan 30 posting -- Trip to Columbo)  Being European and familiar to being in crowded harbors, they had no problem with this.  This Danish family was so nice, quiet, peaceful and gentle.  Those are the only words I can think of to describe them.   Good experienced sailors all.

The family of 5 also had aboard 2 young men as crew.  Actually, when we were together with them Bill and I thought that 1 of the crew was their eldest son, just had darker hair than the rest of the family.  But news reports state that this young man was crew and not a family member. The other young man as crew was obviously not a member of the immediate family.  Nice guy, but completely different body build and coloring from the very blonde Danish family.  Like most boat kids, the teenage children were mature for their years and accustomed to being around adults.

One thing Bill and I noticed was their courtesy flag for Sri Lanka.  It was a blank sheet of paper on which the children (or one of the children) had drawn the flag and lion emblem and then colored with crayons.  This hand-drawn, hand-colored "flag" was then inserted into a plastic sleeve.  The open end was taped and it was hung as a courtesy flag on the starboard spreader flag halyard.   I thought at the time that this was a good project as they learned about each country they were soon to visit.  Inexpensive and educational project for home-schooled cruising kids.

The name of this boat is ING.  We inquired how they came to name their boat after a well-known international corporate giant.  The father explained that this boat had once been sponsored by ING corporation in a race of some sort.  When he bought the boat he planned to change the name.  Then he found out how much it would cost to remove the name from the hull and all the sails -- and decided that ING would be a good name for his boat.  So he left the original name in place.  Bill and I were surprised that ING corporation had not either removed the name before selling the yacht or at least stipulated in the sales contract that the name must be removed and the yacht given a new name.  Seems like ING corporation would not want their corporate name on an item outside their control -- especially on a private yacht sailing around the world.

ING departed Sri Lanka on a Sunday afternoon, enroute to the Maldives.  The following day we departed enroute to Cochin.  Minutes before leaving the wharf they presented us with the remaining third of a very fancy ganache covered cream filled chocolate cake.  The cake required refrigeration and they did not have room for it, nor was there enough left to serve all 7 people; so they thought we might like to enjoy it.  We did.  What a treat!  This was a nice gesture on their part.  I am sure whoever was to be on night watch on that first night at sea would have enjoyed eating that cake.

One of the things we noted about this yacht was that they had such a tiny water supply for 7 people for an ocean crossing.  Their water tank was so small that they filled it by carrying 1-gallon plastic bottles from the spigot and pouring into the tank.  Barely sufficient water for drinking and cooking, and no fresh water for showers and washing dishes.  We assumed those tasks would be done with seawater.  I sincerely doubt they had a watermaker on that boat.  This was not a yacht filled with luxuries.

We were impressed with the obvious sailing skill of the entire family and 1 of the crew.  The other crew member did not seem as experienced, but maybe we just got  the impression because he was not as familiar with that particular boat as the other 6 people on board.  When they were ready to depart, a friend used his dinghy to pull our stern out.  The ING backed out of that tight space like professionals.  Our friend then used his dinghy to push our stern back up close to the wall of the concrete wharf and we tightened the dock lines fore and aft.  A piece of cake!  As we were adjusting our dock lines for our new closer position, the ING motored out of the harbor.

That was the last we heard of them until receiving news on February 24 that a distress call had been heard using their boat name.  U.S. Central Command confirmed to another friend that the distress call had been received and provided the coordinates.  None of us knew the nature of the distress call.  We were all hoping that it was a mechanical failure of some sort.  On February 25 Central Command again confirmed the "last known position" for ING.  Bill plotted the latitude and longitude of both locations and it was very obvious that ING must have been hijacked by pirates.  In 21 hours the ING had sailed 117 NM in a straight line towards a known pirate haven port on the coast of Somalia.

Bill and I remained silent about this because we felt that to make anything public might jeopardize any possible rescue attempt or at the minimum might cause difficulties in negotiations between the Somali pirates and the Danish authorities.   We had seen how crazy the media behaved in reporting the capture of QUEST.  Why feed the frenzy?  I am writing now because the Danish government has made news of this capture public.  And, as predicted, the media is clamoring the same question as when QUEST was captured:  Why were these people in this dangerous area?

Here is why.  The father/captain on ING discussed piracy concerns with us in Sri Lanka.  He pointed out that NO PRIVATE YACHT HAD EVER BEEN CAPTURED in the northern Indian Ocean when following the routes recommended in published sailing guides (specifically in Jimmy Cornell's book of sailing routes).  He was correct at that time.  No private yacht had been captured; at least none that we are aware of.  There was one French yacht hijacked several years ago; but that capture took place in the far western Gulf of Aden and close to the northern coast of Somalia, not in the northern Indian Ocean.  At the time the ING left Sri Lanka, the huge increase of piracy attacks this year was not yet publicized.  And none of us sailors in Sri Lanka yet knew anything about the rioting in Egypt (later to spread throughout almost all the Middle Eastern countries).   As I have pointed out in previous posts, last "season" there had been only 6 pirate attacks in the northern Indian Ocean (all against commercial shipping); this season there were 78 as of February 10.  And there have been many more since then!  

ING was already at sea when QUEST was captured.  I do not know if ING had been notified of the murders of the crew of QUEST.  But there would be little, if anything, they could have done differently had they known.  As I have had to repeatedly point out to non-sailors, there is this little phenomena in this part of the world known as monsoons.  A sailboat cannot travel in the opposing direction during monsoons.  It flat just won't work -- impossible due to wind angles and strength of winds and all the normal sailing technicalities that non-sailors cannot comprehend.  ING could have turned and gone due south; that would have been his only option in a sailboat at this time of year.  And that would have taken him into even more dangerous Somali pirate waters and closer to the Somali coast for a very long distance.  Not to mention he would be sailing into cyclone territory during cyclone season.  So all the arm-chair sailors and the ill-informed critics need to do a bit of research before they criticize ING's decision to be where they were when they were.  It was pure bad luck that pirates happened upon them.  It is a big ocean out there.  It is hard if not impossible to find a boat when you have the exact coordinates.   Their bad luck to be found by the bad guys.

We hope for the safe release of the crew of ING -- the entire Johansen family -- Jan, Birgit, Rune, Hjalte and Naja; and the 2 young men crew whose names we never learned.

NEVER FORGET QUEST

We cannot allow a bunch of thugs to take an entire ocean away from the world. Ignoring this will be disrespecting the deaths of the crew of Quest...we will NEVER FORGET QUEST.  We call on the Congress and the Administration to take action which will rid the world this problem.

 

We are working to create copyrighted items such as the Burgee above which will be distributed by interested organizations.  These interested organizations will receive 100% of the revenue with no licensing fee back to us.  The organizations must agree to use 100% of the gross margin from sales of the licensed items to fund lobbing efforts and other efforts which will may lead to a change in how various governments treat pirates and piracy, with the ultimate goal always being the elimination of piracy.  As soon as we have our first license agreement we will post it here and on the Facebook page for QUEST NEVER FORGET (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Quest-Never-Forget/196704463691254).

We are cruisers and do not have a real office nor do we have support.  We are looking for a land-based volunteer to head up the effort of getting various organizations on board...please email us at neverforgetquest@gmail.com if you feel you can help in any way.