Baringo's Blog

The peace, quiet and stillness in Marina Bandar Al Rowhda were very welcome! Baringo needed a lot of TLC and at last we had the time and a limitless supply of fresh water which enabled us to give this to her. The thought of the McBrides arrival spurred us on so we were ready and waiting for them with great excitement on Friday 4th March. Sam and Gilly and the boys had spent a Christmas here so they knew some excellent places to wine and dine which was a real treat. With their sturdy 4WD landcruiser we explored the coast to the west and drove up a dramatic wadi with spectacular scenery. We visited the Shangri la resort and enjoyed a long talkative lunch the following day and then had enough energy to do a mountain walk from Old Muscat which was quite steep and stony and occasionally tricky having to avoid getting wet feet in the water at the bottom if the wadi. Sadly they had to leave on 7.3.2011 but only after giving us invaluable assistance to provision the boat for the next leg. Shopping here is on a grand scale and only alcohol is unavailable. After a sad farewell to Sam and Gilly our companion boats had arrived so we were pleased to see them and they were even more pleased to see the Marina!
The next few days were the usual pre-departure tasks alleviated by a mid day swim in the Marina pool which during the week we had to our selves. We had some last minute provisioning to do and a visit to the internet café in town as the marina wi fi does not work very well. We received the spare parts for the two generators and managed to find some gas with the help of our driver.
Our last night was celebrated with our sailing companions now Lyra (German ) ,Skylark 2( New Zealand ) and Puerto Seguro (Argentinian ) we enjoyed an excellent Omani meal on the corniche and a (real) night cap overlooking the harbour .
I can certainly recommend Oman as a fascinating place to visit particularly if you have read Wilfred Thesiger’s books. The scenery is dramatic, the people very helpful ,friendly and polite and there are some luxurious places to stay. The roads are excellent not too busy and petrol is very cheap .The only drawback if there is one is cost,the prices are European /Hong Kong.
Our next port of call all being well is Salalah and we are traveling in tight convoy formation , keeping close to the coast in stealth mode ( no lights no AIS no VHF ). Luckily Lyra with whom we sailed here happened to have a set of walky talkies one for each boat so we can communicate with those as long as we can keep in our close formation. Unfortunately this will mean motoring rather than sailing and may be quite tiring .It is 640 nm so I hope it will not take longer than 5 days and we have no detours to Somalia.

In a Wadi with Sam & Gilly

We saw the Omani coast early Saturday morning 26.2.2011. It is very inhospitable with dry barren rocks steep into the sea. There is no natural vegetation to relieve the eye but nevertheless there is stark beauty about the scene. We found our way to the Bandar Al Rowdh marina only to be told we had to go 4km up the coast to check in at Sultan Qaboos port. We had tried to telephone the Marina en route and call them on VHF before entering but never managed to get a reply which might have enabled us to go directly to the port. After a short rest we set off for the port which did not seem to be too arduous after 14 days at sea, but it did prove to be quite a problem because we had to tie up against a very badly fendered concrete wall, tying up to chains which suspended the fenders because there were no cleats. Unfortunately the authorities could not come out to us on a launch as it would have been much easier for us to anchor in the harbour.
During the day the breeze became much stronger blowing us ever harder onto the wall ,so getting off the wall after the formalities had been completed was extremely tricky. We decided the only way was to try and spring the stern off and make a fast reverse but of course this meant the bow being pressed hard against the wall and with the significant swell that had now joined forces with the wind to make our exit even more difficult the port side pulpit was damaged. Perhaps we got away lightly under the circumstances but it would have been nice to have avoided the whole journey and immigrate from the land.
We returned to the marina hoping they would have a space for us as it is pretty full with local motor boats but we succeeded and were very relieved to tie up for the night.
The cost is very high around 550$Hk per night and after paying 460$US to enter Oman we were feeling rather disappointed . However this did not deter us from a cold beer and a meal in the Marina restaurant with our sailing companions Lyra with whom we had been in line of sight for the westward crossing and who had been very good company. The skipper is a German cardiologist who had sailed single handed from Australia but now has one american crew .
We are now catching up on sleep and starting on the usual round of repairs maintenance and cleaning. There is a boat yard here and the pulpit was repaired today and is now fine. The spare part for the generator is on its way .
We have had an excursion into a small town on the outskirts of Muscat which is a very Arabic but luckily there are signs in English. The architecture is typically islamic but the city is well laid out with good roads and has a clinical cleaniless about it. The backdrop is the extremely bare stony hills. We visited a large shopping mall “Lulu’s” and luxuriated in a profusion of fresh fruit and vegetables which we had not had for the last 10 days of the voyage.
We are trying to join the other boats in the group but this is proving surprisingly difficult with different boat speeds, fuel consumption, water requirements and repair needs etc .We will stay here for at least a week, hopefully not very much longer and then head down the coast keeping about 10 miles off shore. In the meantime we are enjoying our stay here and are planning a trip up-country in the next few days.

First view of Oman coast

view from Niswa fort

Marsallah our driver

Baringo departed Uligan island in the northern Maldives on Saturday 12th February heading north to Karachi as the safest route to avoid the pirates. We are in company with 5 other boats who have decided to take this route. Several other yachts have gone directly across to Salalah, and others have decided to put their yachts on transport ships to the Mediterranean. One skipper did the direct crossing single handed! Pirate avoidance strategies were from one extreme to the other it seemed.

We sailed between 40 -100 miles off the coast of India and the wind was reasonable for the first 3 days although we were close hauled. Then it became very strong with the accompanying large seas for 36 hours and as always this was tiring for us and Baringo, but luckily we all held up without any major breakages. We discovered en route that Karachi Harbour dues were US$450 and the yacht club commodore could not waive them even though we had reciprocal membership there through the RHKYC. So we had to find somewhere else.

Our new destination was now Muscat, Oman, but we all kept heading North close to the Indian coast rather than a more direct route. Despite the windward sailing being difficult and frustrating at times it was preferable to a pirate attack. We passed Mumbai wondering about a stop for fuel but without an Indian visa this could have been complicated although 2 members of the group did stop at a fishing village further south and managed to refuel and provision without any problem.

So far equipment has behaved but we still have no generator (wind or diesel ) but the engine is charging the batteries and we are getting more experienced at managing our power supply and demand. The water maker is wonderful although it did stop working one night … don’t these things always happen in the dark … but it was only an air lock as the light of day revealed.

Further north the wind direction became more favourable and we had some good sailing in the right direction with a calm sea. We learnt of the fate of Quest which is a horrible tragedy and rather closer to home from here than was desirable especially as we had originally been with their group but we dont know if Quest was on the route recommended by the Blue water rally or had chosen their own.

The total journey from Uligan to Muscat is 1,537 miles but we are now only 240 miles from Muscat where we are hoping the comforts of a nice marina await us as they will certainly be appreciated. Luckily I had seriously over-provisioned – a lesson learnt from past experience but we are really digging deep into long forgotten food as the
journey has been considerably longer than expected.

I hope we can add our photos if we get to Muscat and have internet access so do keep reading!

We anchored off the island of Uligan at the northern tip of the Maldives for our stay here. The island is one of several making up a large atoll and is a potential tropical paradise with long unspoiled white sand palm fringed beaches and clear water with amazing colours from brilliant turquoise to deep blue. There are about 480 Maldivians living on the island and there is a school, a small clinic and three shops but no café or restaurant and because it is strictly Muslim there is no alcohol allowed on the island. Luckily this ban did not include anchored yachts so the Baringo cocktails continued uninterrupted!

There were about 30 yachts at anchor when we arrived and none were sure of their next plans because of the worry of pirate attacks and the anxiety level rose each day! Eventually groups of boats joined together and left to cross directly through the area of pirate attacks but we decided to wait with a few others remaining with the TTT convoy and take the northern route up the Indian coast to Karachi. The frequent meetings to discuss all these options whiled away too many hours which could have perhaps have been better spent if circumstances had been different. The islanders were all very friendly but shopping such as it was and the admin of arrival and departure all took time as the pace on the island is understandably very leisurely. We needed to refuel which we did using jerry cans and the dinghy and the same process for some water although I am pleased to report we are making (drinking) water now.

We swam every day off the boat, some sailors were excited by the appearance of large black manta rays but they looked very sinister in the water like big black rugs and when their fin surfaced it closely resembled a shark’s fin, so adding to their foreboding demeanor. We avoided them! Our local Maldivian help mate entertained us to supper in his home he was surrounded by women and children and of the later 8 were his own but we refrained from asking the number of the former! It was an interesting experience but for US$35 for spaghetti and rice slightly overpriced but we felt it was a contribution to the Island who are very hospitable to passing yachts. Long may this continue. We had the usual tasks to prepare the boat for the next voyage but the generator could not be repaired despite John’s best efforts and a lot of help from engineering sailors. The wind generator needs a new regulator so that will have to wait as well.

It is extraordinary where the time went as we only managed to snorkel once off the beach! Our group leader Rene finally arrived from Sri Lanka and the remaining boats of the group who had not already departed on the direct route or were not putting their yachts on large transport vessels to the Mediterranean left Uligan Saturday 12th Feb. on the Northbound route hugging the coast of India and hoping for the best.

Internet access is difficult in fact almost impossible so photos will follow when this improves. Apologies!

Uligan anchorage

Uligan village

Uligan island atoll

We left Galle Harbour after a bureaucratic problem had been resolved The problem was that we had not left the evening before because of the bad weather and so departure date was different on the forms ! We finally motored at 09.20 away in fine weather and light winds but once away from the lee of the land the wind picked up and by 13.00 that day we had 25 knots from the north east . We proceeded to a very rough night as the wind increased and the sea built . This lasted quite long enough for us until late the following evening but apparently the wind funnels through the Palk strait between Sri Lanka and India and is often strong in that area .Surprisingly the wind changed to the WSW on the nose on the third day which was awkward but at least it was only about 13 kts so we just had to be patient as we needed to conserve our fuel as much as possible so sailed rather than motored .Finally the NE wind resumed on the last day and we had a nice sail to Uligan and arrived at 17.30 just in daylight and anchored of the island in 18 metres .Anchoring is tricky with so much coral once again Hobson springs to mind.There were usual casualties of a passage this time the wind generator and the fuel generator and also the new computer we had bought for the trip with all the on board e-mail system and weather on it ! Uligan is a very basic strictly Muslim island so no chance of any repairs here ! Hopefully we can repair the generator as we have offers of help from the other boats here.

After about 3 hours of searching we finally found a resting place in Galle harbour!
The choices lay between alongside a wall with dirty black industrial fenders or attached to a bright blue plastic floating pontoon which seemed to be tethered only at one end to the land and appeared very flimsy .Hobson came to mind but eventually we managed to attach to the end of the wobbling plastic pontoon with very long stern lines to the land .We had to take the dinghy the short distance about 50 m to the wobbling pontoon pulling ourselves along the mooring line! Once on the pontoon getting to the other end to reach the land one felt one had already had too much to drink! One did not go ashore lightly! On gaining the shore we had to pass through security every time showing our shore passes in and out to the 24 hour guards .Luckily after the guard post there were plenty of people on hand to help with transport in Tut Tuts, getting SIM cards, money and shopping. For us they were all genuine and did not try to get more than they deserved .The old Portuguese fort in Galle has a faded attraction and walking around the walls is a pleasant stroll at dusk .The old Portuguese governors house has been recently renovated into a beautiful hotel, they have maintained the traditional style and creatively restored an elegant building. Once settled we went up to the hills to Nuwara Eliya at around 2000m for 3 days in a hired van .To start the journey had one night stop along the beach east of Galle at Marissa where there is a long unspoiled sandy beach and then we headed inland the following day .The climb became rather slow as it was quite steep and progress was hindered by appalling roads, rain, and an election campaign with lines of flag festooned Tut Tuts on the campaign trail .We passed through some of the ugliest towns I have ever seen! Nuwara Eliya is an old hill station from tea plantation days and still has some remnants of British occupation with a race course, English cottages with rose gardens and the Hill Club where we dined with all the trimmings and were waited on by waiters sporting white gloves! We managed some hiking but it was quite cool and wet .The return was uneventful and the boat had not moved in the harbour .
We had discovered that the Galle literary festival was in progress and we managed to hear Jang Chung and Jon Halliday talking about “ The unknown Story “ and the true story of Mao which was a real treat and very interesting .For the literati who may read this it might be worth a trip next year ! We tackled the practicalities of departure, fuel, water food and bureaucracy and finally left 1st February as it poured with rain on the evening of 31st January and the sea did not look very inviting.

We departed from Nai Harn bay on the SW coast of Phuket at 2.00pm Sunday 16th January intending to sail to the Maldives. It was good weather with a good wind from the NE so at last we had some pleasant sailing .The TTT rally is fairly loosely connected at this stage but we had a radio sked every morning with the other boats which is always reassuring .The route goes south of the Nicobar Islands and then due west. Several boats decided to stop in Galle so we decided to join them as we were passing the door and had enough time before the departure from the Maldives .It seemed a more interesting place to spend time and we hoped it would provide better provisioning .The passage was great fun and only 7 days with strong winds from the NE 25-30kts with some rough seas 2-3 m swell but we had great sailing and good speeds for us 8-9kts .We only had one night of storms which most of the rest of the fleet missed but compared to the Malacca straits they were short lived. The moon was the brightest we have ever seen so the night sailing was magical. One problem we had was that one of the mast track screws came out partially which meant we could not drop the mail sail as the car could not pass over the protruding screw .Luckily the offending screw was quite low down and we could put in 2 reefs which fortunately was all we needed to do for the moment (we hoped ) .We then had to wait for a period of relative calm to go up the mast and tighten the screw and for this we had to wait 2 days .A calm window finally arrived and Julia went up (for the first time ) all went well but it might have been a different story if the errant screw had been at the very top of the mast .
All the mast track screws will now need to be checked but in the calm of the port.
We sighted Sri Lanka 23.1.2011 at 4.45pm and the sailed very slowly up the coast to arrive in Galle at dawn .The entry process done by the Sri Lankan navy is long and complex. It took us some time to find a suitable berth for the boat as there are so many yachts here but we finally ended up attached to a very flimsy floating blue plastic pontoon from the starboard stern with another long port stern line to the harbour wall and the anchor from the bow. A bottle of wine and a few cans of beer later and minus 200$US we had our shore passes and had finished by5.00pm.The authorities were all pleasant and humorous and the experience was not as bad as we had been led to believe .It remains to be seen if this surprise visit was a good decision or not ! Lets hope so and certainly so far so good.

At last I think we are ready to leave the comfort of Phuket for the high seas .We are anchored in Nai Harn bay on the SW end of Phuket and after several days of yet more preparation we are hoping to leave tomorrow .Many of you may wonder what could there be left to do but we have bought a basic diving kit in case we get trapped by fishing net and have bought yet more provisions because the rumour has it there is almost nothing to buy in terms of fruit vegetables and spares between here and Europe .Our delay allowed us to see Henry  off back to Beijing and Vanessa back to Sudan so that was a definate bonus .It alos seems the weather has not been good in Sri LWe have met the other boats on the TTT and had a briefing from our leader Rene Thiemesson who has a beautiful boat ” Alondra ”  a 60′ ketch . We will head south of the Nicobar islands and Sri Lanka and then NW towards the Maldives .We are enjoying a cocktail on the verandah in the Royal Meridien Yacht Club with a beautiful view over the bay and Baringo …a suitably fitting farewell to an excellent sojourn . The voyage should take about 10days so watch this space !

Wishing all our blog followers the best for 2011 .We had a very lively Christmas and New Year here with Vanessa and Henry and friends and the Davies ,Button and Gibson families . Wonderful food ,too much to drink but a lot of fun ! Yes we are still in Phuket as the anchor windlass failed on boxing day while we were sailing in Phang Nga bay . Of course it was impossible to fix anything quickly over the holiday period . As a result of the delay we have not been able to join the Blue Water Rally but have joined another group TTT (Thailand to Turkey ) leaving on 15th January .The route is slightly different as our first stop is the Maldives so we miss Sri Lanka and India .But some sailors we have talked to here think it may be better and safer .We have found a replacement windlass here and it should be fitted tomorrow .There are certainly worse places to be stuck than Phuket but we have spent rather too much time in chandleries and boat yards viewing windlasses and calculating windlass performance than one should on a tropical island holiday ! However as always we have learnt from the experience and who knows in the long (and/or short ) run it may all work out for the best ,although it has been rather frustrating and disappointing at times .

sailing on boxing day

swimming in Phang Nga

bungalow and small swimming pool at Andaman bangtao beach resort

restaurant right on the beach- where are the others?

lanterns on new years eve

new years eve

15th December

We are staying at Ao Po marina which is a new marina in Phuket .The pontoons are  open so there is a good breeze but also a good tide which can make manoeuvering onto the berth  rather tricky .The weather has improved or at least we are not noticing it so much in the safer confines of the marina and we have done several jobs on the boat which we had not finished in Hong Kong such as new furling lines and new jib sheets as well as the general repairs .We are trying our hand at mousing the small jib sheet but had to give up this evening as darkness fell .

Ao Po marina

We heard from the marina manager here that several yachts from the King’s Cup were washed onto Kata beach in a strong westerly wind .I expect this is old news now in Hong Kong  but we went to see the boats and a very sorry and sickening sight it was . We had certainly experienced the strong westerly winds at sea and indeed at anchor having made the mistake of thinking we were in the NE monsoon and anchored on the wrong side of an island .We might have been anchored in the middle of an ocean for all the protection we got .Our anchor held but as a cruiser I think we had a lot more weight than the racing boats .

beached yachts

a sad sight

We have met our boat neighbours whose problems made our rather rough passage seem inconsequential beside the problems they had losing their steering in the Indian ocean and having to raft up alongside a commercial vessel to get engineering assistance in rough seas with no steerage. So it is all relative !