Location: 4° 17.2 S, 55° 44.0 E
Monday 12:00, 11.27.06

We have moved, but not too far. We are now anchored in Baie de la Raie on Curieuse Island at 4° 17.2 S, 55° 44.0 E . The island is named for the French frigate that discovered it. We have been "doing" the islands around Mahe. On Saturday, we had lunch at St. Anne in Victoria Bay and then on Sunday we sailed across the 30 miles to Praslin, and anchored off Anse Volber, just next to Chauve Souris (Bat) Island.

The Coco de Mer

Today we had a lovely outing ashore to the World Heritage site of Vallee de Mai, where they have saved a big area of Coco de Mer palms, which grow up to 50 meters high and produce nuts of up to 17 kilos. They are astounding. Photos will be soon up on the web site.

The nuts, besides being huge, also develop the shape of women's buttocks, while the male plant appears to have an organ well bigger than an elephant, though, unlike the elephant, the Coco de Mer palm has small yellow flowers on its organ. We spent a marvelous two hours wandering in the park, feeling as if we were on a Hollywood set for a prehistoric movie.

These islands are granite, pinks and greys, rather like the islands of coastal Maine that I know well. It is strange to see familiar weathered granite shapes, but with palms clinging to the little soil instead of pine trees.

We will probably try another cove on Praslin tomorrow or perhaps over to La Digne, before returning to Port Victoria on Wednesday morning to get Willis ready for his plane to Singapore.

Hannah is cooking baked apples for desert tonight, with lots of local fresh vanilla in the stuffing. Yum!

The end of the week

So, it is a Saturday afternoon and I thought I'd write some more into my blog to keep in touch. Seychelles is a cool place! I like it more and more! Today we sailed out to Sainte Anne island for lunch and a snorkel and swim. I took out Strika, our sea kayak for a paddle for the first time and had fun paddling her and even was able to ride on a couple of waves without tipping over. I remembered my father teaching me skiing, saying, "if you don't fall, you didn't try hard enough"... so in a way, I thought that if I didn't tip over, I didn't dare go far enough and ride the best waves... but it was only my first time, so maybe it is okay. Something amusing happened to me while snorkeling. A little yellow fish with black stripes must have thought that I was a fish and it kept on swimming right in front my mask the whole time I was in the water.It was only a couple of inches away from my eyes and turned with me every time I turned. I wanted to keep it as a pet, I got a little attached.

Last night in Victoria was great. I haven't had this much fun in a long time. Hannah and I met an Indian historian who invited us into his house and showed us his amazing shell collection, taught us how to make art with food (like sculpting a face into a potato) and how to heal with food (a strictly vegetarian diet), he also read our palms... he is supposed to have esoteric powers... it was quite interesting! Then, we went to see Nacho Libre, a comedy that made us laugh... and then, we ended up at the Yacht club and at a local bar, called Level 3 where we made new friends. After that, we went on to a nouveau beaujolais party at the local Alliance Francaise (invited by a French girl we met earlier in the day) where we danced passionately until dawn to French and English and American disco music from the 80's. It is wonderful to get to know people here, both locals and expats, they introduce us into their worlds and we feel more connected.

Being Saturday night, we are going out again. I am looking forward to it and it is fun to already have a list of phone numbers to call on new friends to join us. It is easy to make friends with a smile.

Location: The Wharf, Port Victoria, Mahe, The Seychelles

The Schooner Maggie B is still docked at The Wharf in Port Victoria, Mahe, the Seychelles. We are comfortable, well protected and well supported and provisioned. But we are stuck in a Marina. We have a Hertz car to get into town and around the island. It has remained hot, muggy and intermittent rain, sometimes heavy. The Wharf, despite its rather pedestrian name, is a snappy hotel, restaurant and bar.

The Seychelles have made the interesting decision to focus only on the top end of the tourist trade. Camping out is illegal. There are no big hotels, one with 170 rooms is the biggest. They do not allow discount airlines to fly here and the tickets are going full blast and perhaps the whole bay will be paved over in ten years. Charts are useless as the islands change their shape daily. The Seychelles puts itself out as being rather environmental focused, but nobody talks of the impact of filling up the bay or dredging all the material for the new islands. The islands are used for sporting complexes, the new airport, subsidized housing and very high end condos. It must be very frustrating for someone with waterfront property and wake up to a new island with condos for rich Europeans in what used to be bay.

We are probably off Sunday to check out some of the nearby islands. We have tons of recommendations, but there are even more tons of regulations, with just about every nice anchorage a "marine park." Good idea to protect things, but hard to work out where one can moor or anchor or go ashore, etc.

We will be back Wednesday, probably mooring at the Seychelles Yacht Club. Rather more in town and with the other yachties, but will need to row back and forth. Willis leaves for home by way of Singapore on Thursday, so we will probably head back out after that.

We are tied up next to a SuperYacht, the Northern Lights, which belongs to a Swedish family. It is off for Thailand on Monday. There is also a very famous yawl here, the Stormvogel. She is a highly successful Blue Water racer. They are off for the Mediterranean, the America Cup and all the Classic Regattas next season.

More photos coming to the web site.

On being alive

I know I've been writing less and less into my blog lately, sorry about that to all of those who do follow my writings. I've actually been feeling quite well now for a while, very much alive somehow. We arrived to the Seychelles a couple of days ago and there is a wonderful swimming pool in the marina so I've been spending much of my free time there, sometimes forgetting that I am a human being. Swimming makes me feel free and light and strong. It feels like flying.

I have also been very stimulated intellectually, continually meeting fascinating people from all parts of the world... many from Africa and Australia... and my curiosity just grows. The more I learn, the more curious I become. I've been learning about languages and cultural perceptions and plants and animals and politics and economy... and everything seems to be connected somehow... this trip is better than being in school. I am feeling like a sponge, just taking in and taking in... What will I become at the end?

I now also have my ticket to go home on December 15th and to return to the Seychelles on January 7th; it will be great to be at home, I will just have to adjust to the snow and cold. Mail from and to the Seychelles seems reliable and fast (1 week) so our mailing address posted on the website is still the one to use. Stamps are gorgeous here, I'll be sending out many postcards from here. Our plans for the upcoming three weeks are loose. We need to haul the boat to fix the engine problem but besides that, we will just be sailing around the many seychellois islands: lush and green and mountainous, full of flowers and birds. Check out our latest pictures online! The double rainbow is my favorite, it was so beautiful in real life over the water... the type of beauty that almost makes you cry. It is amazing to have been born once but feel that I am becoming more alive with each passing day stimulated by my environment and inner feelings. I don't think it can ever stop now.

Location: 13° 24.4 S, 48° 17.1 E
Monday 12:00, 11.20.2006

The Schooner Maggie B is safely docked in "The Wharf Marina," Port Victoria, Mahe, The Seychelles, at 4° 38.72 S 55° 28.6 E. Don't be surprised if Google Maps puts us inland a bit. The Maps are not up to date. Here in the Seychelles, they make new islands all the time. Coming in here, my paper and electronic charts, both only six months old, said we sailed over solid ground. But all is dredged and reclaimed (?) and filled.

We limped our way in here, running only 1200 RPM as opposed to the max of 3700 because we just weren't sure of the state of our shaft (cutlass) bearings. Certainly at one point they sounded as if a significant part of the Japanese Warrior Class's girlfriends were killing themselves. But now is better for having a bunch of solidified plastic rope being cut off. Or something. We are going to be hauled out here this week and we'll find out what is going on before we consider the long leg to Australia.

Port Victoria

Today was a whole new experience in clearing Customs, etc. We checked in with Port Victoria Port Control and were given a place (lat/long) to wait to be boarded. We arrived at about 10:30, as forecast when we checked in at 0800. And we waited and waited. Finally a rainstorm arrived and a pilot boat appeared with 12 Agents on board. Customs, Health, Immigration, Coast Guard, Captainerie, and who know who else. Lots of smiles. Ten copies of the Crew List With Official Stamp. And they were gone. Good? No. Tomorrow I have to make the rounds of all the same organizations with more copies of the crew lists, etc.

But the Seychelles look just beautiful and fun. Less hard core than Madagascar, less poor. They make money by selling fishing rights to all the fish in their area, to Spanish and Japanese fleets, and then requiring them to process their catch here in the Seychelles. 50% of their GNP! Sechellian oil, and probably just as likely to run out.

There are a bunch of new photos to come up on the web site tomorrow.

Location: 5° 38.5 S, 53° 47.6 E
Sunday 12:00, 11.19.2006

At noon today the Maggie B was at 5° 38.5 S 53° 47.6 E underway from DesRoches Island to Port Victoria on Mahe, Seychelles. The wind is light and variable. We are motor sailing slowly, making about 4 knots with just 1200 RPM on the engine. Mahe is just 118 NM and we will be there Monday morning.

I spent a lot of time with a bread knife (serrated blade) and ice picks, diving on the prop, trying to get the burnt plastic fried remains of the rope out of the shaft. I remember the happy old days (OK, the water in Maine was cold) when once you cut the rope off, all was OK. Now the space age ropes fuse themselves into a solid black plastic that is almost indestructible. I'm afraid that we will have to get hauled (again!) in Mahe. The only way to be sure the shaft is clear and the bearings are OK is to pull the shaft. We seem to be getting satisfactory cooling for the shaft bearings at these reduced RPM's. I don't believe that I have fixed it, but perhaps some cooling water can now get through.

DesRoches

We sailed into DesRoches Island (named after Francois Julien DesRoches, governor of Mauritius from 1767 to 1772) on Friday night, slipping into the lagoon with the help of our forward-looking sonar. It was so strange to come in from big waves and weather, past a hidden reef (it was night), to anchor off an island barely visible in the inky black. We cleaned up a bit and rowed into the Five Star DesRoches Island Lodge, to be turned away from dinner by the manager who was appalled that people could "just show up" and expect to join them. But he did agree to allow us to have lunch and dinner the next day.

On Saturday we walked and snorkeled and ate marvelously. But we also discovered the DesRoches Island Mystery! Hannah, Willis and Bori had gone ahead to discover the village and check out the rumors of giant tortoises on the island. I had pressing business to finish my book, sitting under a palm tree.

One of us must go!

I then headed down the island road towards the village, to admire the birds and spiders and lizards. As I was walking down the totally deserted road, a figure in camouflage carrying an AK-47 appeared from a bush about 50 yards away and started to walk on a converging path. What to do? He looked in excellent shape and clearly could outrun me even if I had a head start, and anyway, he had the gun! So I continued until we intersected. I was not relieved to see two knives, a pistol and extra ammo. The AK-47 was not raised, but his finger was on the trigger. We talked in French. He said that he was with a Seychelles Army Commando Unit, based in Mahe, but he had been sent out to DesRoches on a special mission. What special mission? "Pout tuer un boeuf." What — I became unsure of my French. Yes, there was a wild steer on the island that had been terrorizing the locals as well as the Lodge guests and the Manager had complained to the government: "It is him or me — one must go!" (Love the French!). So a Commando was sent out licensed to kill. He was to stay until he succeeded. The island had once supported 900 cattle and all but two were removed. One had been killed a year ago and this last steer is now both canny and grumpy. The Manager confirmed the story and said that his chef was in readiness to celebrate victory with a barbecue.

Location: 6° 25.4 S, 53° 24.7 E
Friday 12:00, 11.17.2006

The Schooner Maggie B was at 6° 25.4 S, 53° 24.7 E at noon today. The wind has been light and variable. Last night during my watch, midnight to 0300, I was able to move the boat exactly three nautical miles. With no engine, you take what you gets. As I write this (@1500), though, we are making 8.5 knots in a fresh SE'erly, with rain clouds all around.

At noon we were 46 NM from Desroches Island, home of the famous Deroches Island Lodge. We hope to anchor in their lagoon for tonight and Saturday night, and attempt to clear up the problems we have with our propeller shaft. They have a top diving operation, so I should be able to get a tank and poke around for a bit. Our ETA is about sunset. Hopefully we will be able to slip into the lagoon. Our first real trial of the forward-looking sonar. It will also be our first sailing anchorage.

Properly we are not supposed to land anywhere before we clear in Port Victoria, Mahe, but I'm taking the opinion that this is a "safety of the vessel" issue, and anyway, hopefully it won't come up. We hope to eat ashore tonight at the lodge!

From Desroches to Mahe is another about 120 NM, which we'll do from Sunday afternoon to Monday morning.

We are back in the midst of flights and flights of flying fish. Last night I cleared about a dozen from the decks, some alive, most dead.

All is well.

Location: 7° 21.0 S, 52° 46.0 E
Thursday 12:00, 11.16.2006

The Schooner Maggie B was at 7° 21.0 S 52° 46.0 E at noon on November 16th. We are slopping around in very light SE'erlies, with intermittent rain. The seas are 2-3 meters and irregular in adverse tidal/current flow. In front of rain showers the wind picks up to 10-12 knots, which drives us along fine, then it rains in a biblical fashion (all our water tanks are full now!), then the wind dies out for a bit. This is typical weather as the SE'erly trades meet the ITCZ (Inter Tropic Convergence Zone). Normally, we would motor when the boat speed is less than four knots, but now we have fewer options as we don't know if the shaft bearings will work for five minutes or five days, and I want to save power for when we really need it, like arrival in Port Victoria, Mahe.

Through Nigel Irens' good offices, we have a contact in Mahe, who is in charge of a company which is agents for port activities. They have sent me information on how to get ready to be boarded by Sechellian Officials on arrival. Among other things, they say we will need:

1. 6 copies of Crew Lists
2. 3 copies of Crew Effects Declaration
3. 3 copies of ship's stores
4. 3 copies of IMO Health Declaration
5. 3 copies of Certificate of Registry
6. 2 Declarations that we have no firearms
7. 3 copies of last 10 Ports of Call

I am panicking a bit that they might try to take away our lovely South African Wine. Perhaps I'll declare it "medicinal." "Ship's Stores" is also a bit scary. Will they take all our food? And what are "Crew Effects?" Ah, well, I'm sure it will be fine. The Seychelles have apparently done a lovely job of protecting their environment and I'm sure it will be sensible.

We are just off of Saint Francois Island, part of the Alphonse group. There is supposedly the one of the best resorts in the world on Alphonse, which is apparently the #1 spot on the planet for fly fishing for bonefish. I wonder what the guests, who pay $600 per night for a standard room, are thinking in the downpours? Probably happy that they are not on the schooner making its way past them...

All is well.

Impressions of Madagascar

On November 13th we left the lush, green mountains of Madagascar slowly sinking to our stern in the sunset. I can not separate one day from another in the week that we spent here, they've melted into fantastic memories....

Snorkeling with green turtles and thousands of coral dwelling fish on Nosy Tanikely, watching children play while we were eating Banana Flambe at cafe Lemuriens, and feeding the lemurs on Nosy Komba, the colourful baskets and beautiful smiles of the ladies selling there lace and embroidered table cloths and bed spreads in Hell-Ville. Admiring the 1960's Renauats driving under the massive, ancient mango trees as we ate improbably good pastries at the Oasis Cafe, Astrix comics plastered on the table at the Nandipo Bar, the chaotic waterfront in Hell-Ville when the ferry comes to off-load everybody and their chicken, And wizzing around in the afternoon of our last day on a rented skooter with Willis and Bori, with the smell of ylang-ylang, mango and Zebu all around, shouting Bella Char to the amused Malagasy walking along the side of the road.

A year ago

I've been slightly seasick again since we left Madagascar and I am still feeling a little disoriented under the almost equatorial sun so I can't write much today but I wanted to stop for a moment and remember that just a year ago, November 15, 2005, was the day when Frank took me to Covey Island Boatworks in Petite Riviere, Nova Scotia, for the first time and I was introduced to the Maggie B on a Tuesday afternoon. She was then nothing but a sculptural masterpiece looking somewhat like a future sailboat and the people working on it were strangers to me. Now, the Maggie B is happily sailing on the Indian ocean after several thousands of miles on different seas, cold and warm, and some the people who were strangers to me then, became good friends. Much has happened since, more than I can express right now but I've been waiting for this day... to say that today, it has been a year... and it has been a good year, full of adventures I never ever imagined. I am left breathless, remembering...