crossing the north indian ocean

this crossing was by far the best of all, at least i thought so. when we left the similans towards the nicobar islands (which belong to india) we did not have much wind. this is not so ideal but at least when there is not much wind, the sea is flat, making the life on board an absolute pleasure! we had a couple of days like this and we motor-sailed. after clearing the nicobars; which we just passed through as we are not allowed to stop there; the wind picked up and we had a fantastic breeze for the next 900 nautical miles. it was wonderful. it was not too hot or too cold. there was not a cloud in the sky and we had full moon so we had the most clear skies every single day and night.



only towards the last night approaching the south coast of sri lanka the winds picked up quite a bit and we had some rough seas. on one occasion we had a set of three very big waves which knocked the boat sideways almost completely on the side. we lost some things overboard as they were washed by the water that came in the cockpit. while i was steering through these waves which we practically surfed at 9 knots (note our boat speed is 5), esteban was in the mast setting our third reef, or making our main sail the smallest possible before putting it down completely. luckily we saw the waves before they hit and he hugged the mast and held on managing to stay on board. everything happened in a matter of seconds and just as fast as they came, they left and we stayed with strong winds but better seas for the remainder of the crossing.



when we closed in the sri lankan coast we were greeted by many fishermen in the most fabulous rafts. they are very slim wooden canoes. So slim that they do not fit on the hull so they climb up and hang on wooden poles which are built into the raft and look like a mast with branches; it all looks like if they were hanging from a tree. it is very bizarre and we did not understand the sight until we got a very close look at where these guys were standing. at the beginning we were afraid. imagine the first sight of this canoe approaching at full speed towards the boat with 10 men hanging and waving their arms. but once they closed in, we could see they were friendly fishermen interested in exchanging their catch for cigarettes and alcohol. because we do not carry smokes and only very little alcohol on board we could not barter and had to wait to buy our own fish in the town.