Chagos to Rodrigues

Our month was soon up and it was time to leave the Chagos Islands for Rodrigues 1100 miles to the SW. Three yachts left about 5 days ago and they had a rough passage. Winds 20 to 30 knots mostly with a few days of 30 to 40 knots. They had lots of leaks from windows and toe rails at hull deck joints as course is a bit to windward making for hard going in the winds.  One yacht diverted to Mauritius as he was getting so much water in through a window over his electronics, going to Mauritius gives a easier angle on the wind.

We waited a day past our permit for what looked like a good weather window and left the anchorage with Cats Paw 4 another Canadian yacht. We shut off the engine a half hour after leaving the pass out of Salomon Island. The sailing was good until the second day when we got a light headwind from the South. Motored for a few hours as we did not want to loose our Easting, as it was going to be tight to make Rodrigues as it was.

The wind soon went back to the SE and we sailed in good wind to Rodriguez. The first six days were superb sailing and then the wind picked up to 20 knots and often up to 30 knots. The seas got very big and rough with lots of spray flying over the boat as we bashed the waves. Occasionally we would hit wave so hard the whole boat seemed to be knocked sideways and shake and there would be a loud bang inside. One huge wave soaked Dorothy and her breakfast and several gallons would have gone below if we had not had the main door closed. A boat a few days ahead of us had got there cockpit flooded and a bunch of water below when hit by a huge wave. Their starter switch shorted, the engine started and the starter burned out, so they could not restart their engine and had to be towed the last mile into port.

The boat looked after us well and kept the water out, no leaks except the very forward, windward side window leaked a few drops, under the extreme fire hose conditions it was taking. I hung a fender over it from the handrails to block the worst of spray. We used our staysail a lot for this passage as wind was just forward of the beam. We had three reefs in the main for most of 3 days and took the staysail down for some of it as wind got worse and just used a scrap of the head sail. We managed our 120 to 130 miles a day still in the conditions.  This is the first passage we have made where we have had to keep the cabin door closed, we have an aluminum door rather than drop boards and sliding hatch.

We kept in radio contact with Cats paw and 2 other boats, Mr Curly and Matajuicy, who left a couple days after us. It was nice to compare conditions and exchange weather information and keep track of each others positions.

The sea conditions eased our last two days at sea with winds dropping to SE 18 to 22 knots. Cats Paw beat us into Rodriguez by a day,only because they are a 40 foot boat of course. We arrived after 9 days at sea about 4:30 in the afternoon and got through the pass just before dark. We called the coast guard to announce our arrival and they told us to tie up along side the cement jetty to complete our check in. We saw 4 officials over the next hour and the immigration guy did not come until the following morning so we escaped paying overtime as it was Sunday night. Another yacht who arrived earlier had to pay $50 overtime.

After the officials left we could finally relax, had dinner and we crashed for an early and restful night. We were looking forward to exploring a new place.



INFO

-We left Chagos on May 4 and arrived in Rodriguez May 13

-We choose to go down the West side of Chagos bank, All the yachts ahead of us had gone down the East side, the thinking being to get as much Easting in you can at the start, but they had two days of hard motorsailing to windward to get around and down bank. I did not want to motor and with our small boat (smallest boat at Chagos While we there) it would have been tough going. In hind site we made the correct decision as we got to sail all of it and after we passed the bank we kept going due South until we intercepted the rhumb line you would draw if going from East side of Chagos bank (Rhunb line from Diego Garcia). Cats Paw came down the West side of bank as well. It is good to get your Easting in while still up North and in the smaller waves and winds. After we arrived at the Rhumb line we headed straight for Rodriguez, well almost, we still tried to get a bit South and East of the Rhumb line just to have a bit in the bank in case we had to ease off if the winds got real strong or more South in them. If you are going to Mauritius you will have an easier time, but they say if going there you should still aim for Rodriguez to start with if possible.  Another yacht that left 12 days after us could not make Rodrigues because of South winds,

-If you get to Rodriguez after dark you can anchor outside in Mathurin bay. Cats Paw 4 did and said it was okay though a bit rolly, but better than another night at sea. They used entrance WP 19 38.91S 63 24.86E and then anchored at 19 39.88S 63 25.70E in 17 meters.

-Navionics and cmap are off about a tenth of a mile, our track was right out of the marked channel on chart. Channel entrance WP is 19 40.17s 63 25.61E 19 40.27 63 25.57 and follow red green markers in.

-For checkin Qurrantine charged us $65 dollars and then there was no other fees. And $50 overtime possible on a weekend.

-Can stay on the wall for a few days if you want it seems until supply ship arrives. We stayed just one night as not liked the tires on wall and bugs at night and no wind. Wall position was 19 40.81S 63 25.21E. We then went out and anchored at 19 40.70S 63 25.17E in 33 feet. Good holding it seems, in sand. Get more wind out in anchorage.

-The provisioning is Okay but a bit limited. Found my baked beans and had to hunt a bit to find rolled oats. There is a veggy market near by and most stores 5 to 10 min walk. Got my Indonesia internet dongle to work though a bit slow.  Eating out can be fairly cheap if you look around$4 or $5, and other places you can spent $10 per person.

- I got some diesel and gas at the local gas station which is beside the small boat harbor. So can take dinghy up small inlet to West and park it on boat ramp 50 meters from gas station. Dinghy ride is 5 minutes from anchorage. Diesel was 42 rp per litre . Exchange rate is 30 rp to the dollar currently. Water in large quantities not easy to get. Harbor clean, can run watermaker. Or wait for some rain. One yacht called a water truck in to give him water at the wall. There is a couple of water storage tanks nearby you can take a few gallons of water at a time for laundry etc, probably can drink it as well.  There is no proper running water system on island.  Some local people wiil do laundry for you though a bit expensive, ask at the dock wall. No marine Chandlry stuff here that we saw.
 I could not find any place that would fill our propane tank, so I borrowed a American connector and hose from another yacht and bought a local 6kilo bottle and managed to fill my tank from it (see photo). We did not have the connector for local bottle so just put a hose over the threads and a hose clamp to hold it in place and in 45 minutes we emptied the 6k bottle into my 9k bottle.  Had to open and close the bleed screw on my bottle to bleed air as bottle filled.