First Leg of Passage

We wish we had delightful news to share but not this time. The voyage from the Andaman Islands south of Sri Lanka was most uncomfortable but not to the point of dangerous. Most of it was spent in a weather low pressure system that moved west with us making for weird choppy seas and westerly winds to beat into. Beating is sailing close into the wind and we got lots of smashes slapping into the bow and we took on more salt water all over the boat than any other trip....makes for a mess to clean up now we have arrived in the Maldives...actually Ulagamu in the north of the chain.

One really nice thing cheered us. A huge ship passed us and sent us a message on our AIS device [this tracks ships for us and sends a signal about us to them]. They said,"Ahoy brave sailors, Bon Voyage!". We didn't even know we could get messages over the AIS screen and our unit isn't fancy enough to send one. We had 2 ships that were happy to change their course and go behind us when we asked them. Amazing to see this 1/5 mile long vessel alter course just for us.

Here in Ulagamu it's quite remarkable...a school of squid have circled the boat all morning and we see manta rays and porpoises every time we go outside. 19 boats here are in somewhat of an uproar changing plans to avoid the expanded pirate areas. Many...maybe half are going back east or going 1000 miles north to Pakistan or paying $30,000 plus to have their boat shipped from here by a contracted ship. There are still those of us who will go ahead with our plans and take the direct route to the Red Sea stopping in Aden if we need fuel which we probably will. This leg that we depart on Monday Feb 14th will take 2 1/2 to 3 weeks.

Now is time we need prayers. This is the biggest risk we have taken but we have a pod of 4-6 boat that will remain in radio contact but we will not be in sight but rather on our own for the most part.

We would love to hear from folks but our sailmail email isn't coming through so if folks write us there we will write when we can get it.

We are very busy fixing small, inconvenient breakdowns around the boat and lots of mildew!!! Please keep us in mind...

Lynn and Chuck on CYAN

west to Maldives

We left the Andamans on Thursday Jan 27 at just before sundown...they want you out of their hair in 2 hours after checking out from immigration. So we got to sail thru a 1 mile passage in the blacka** night with no moon or sight of a horizon...just the radar image to get around the south of the main islands. Even Chuck who is a pillar of patience couldn't wait to get out after "big brother" was watching us the whole time with radio calls and even helicopters. I mean we aren't carrying weapons!!!

Some anchorages there were supposed to be just great but now they are off limits for cruisers and they are also charging about $10 a night to anchor any where in the islands. Even the regular anchorages are often in passages between islands with current and deeper than we like at 60-70' depth. As far as we are concerned the whole Indian bunch can just shove it!!! We heard of a taxi driver reporting a cruiser for changing out a routine pump and the govmt charged him duty for bringing it in because he allegedly brought in the pump to sell!!! Go figure! No other government acts this way....taxi driver spies??? Come on!!!

3 days behind us now with lumpy seas but usually good enough wind to do 5-6 knots. We have had enough scattered storms to clean off the salt and top off the water tanks....and make everything sticky and knocks us around freshening up our bruise assortment!

This sunday am just after I got up from my last sleep about 1pm, Chuck says we are dragging something and he has to go into the drink and cut it off in 25 knot winds. We hove the boat to with the staysail...[sorta stopping it by keeping it almost into the wind]. He was so brave to tie himself on and dive down with a knife and cut off a 10' long bunch of nets...looked like a bunch of onion and fruit bags in a old fish net. It was hooked on a tiny ...less than 1/4" screw... that holds on a zinc and had been slowing us down by a knot of speed.

Cooking has been a challenge but I am getting my sea legs back and learning to wait for the right roll to cook and it takes twice as long. No fish yet but we still keep trying as long as there aren't storms. These storms are pretty mild...just annoying.

more later

Cyan Crew
Lynn

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First Anchorage in Andamans

Finally, we are anchored at Havelock Island in the Andaman Islands, way SE of South India. The check in process the last 2 days for us both and the vessel was beyond belief. We had heard that they have the "bureaucrats from hell" here in India and boy, do they like paperwork and job security. We have never had to go fetch, in the dingy [on several trips], 12 different customs, quarantine and immigration guys from the harbor dock to fill out forms and submit pages of info and then, later have 7 more coast guard guys get on the boat for more of the same paperwork. They needed to know everything about us, our plans and the boat....like how much booze we have, a list of all meds, all the food and suppies we have, all our electronics and a list of jewelry and other things of value and another list of everything on the boat like anchors, sails, electronics.

While cruising we have to call in twice a day and tell them everything we do. You'd think this was the garden of Eden instead of a bunch of islands. How this country functions, we cannot understand!!! When they gave me back the paper with all our prescriptions all neatly listed and said they also needed to know all the expiration dates, I blew up, emphatically said that "They all are expired...I only take expired meds and I wanted out of their country...NOW!!!" Well, since they never seen a conniption fit, they backed down and said we suddenly passed quarantine and there were no further problems! I'd had enuf folks tromping thru my boat all day asking all kinds of personal questions like how much did the boat cost, how old we are, how long we have been married...everything but info on our private stateroom life!!!

The town at Port Blair is a dingy village from the past with cows rooting thru garbage cans and getting anything done, like buying deisel fuel, takes great effort, filled forms and long lines. Getting a cell phone sim card was more of an event than the whole process of Checking into most other countries. The card just costs a total of $2.50 and 30 minutes building up a 20 page file for their record. There were about 6-7 boats in the anchorage checking in or out and on Sat the 22nd of Jan we were glad to get off on our trip around these islands we have read and heard so much about.

Our first anchorage is off a nice long, beach with a small resort. The seas are soft and the breeze keeps away the bugs and cools us. Fishing is supposed to be great but we haven't caught anything all day...maybe tomorrow!!!

We heard about the "big Salties", the saltwater crocodiles that are in all the brackish areas off the main islands and to watch where we swim. We enjoyed watching the porpoises jump while having dinner and look forward to walking the beach and fishing tomorrow. We will snorkel in a better location for coral than here....and we will keep posting...

Lynn and Chuck, too, on CYAN

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We are off

We left Phuket, Thailand early...a lot earlier than Chuck wanted to get up...on Monday Jan 17 after anchoring in a wonderful cove on the west side of the island. We actually had some light wind and sailed until about 1pm and have been motoring and will probably will thru the night....makes for an even warmer cabin to sleep in with the heat of the engine while off watch. Chuck sleeps from 7-12 then Lynn sleeps 12-5am, then Chuck for another 3 hours and Lynn for another 3 hours. This works for us. We were told to always get at least a sleep of 5 hours for good brain rest. It always takes 3 days to get used to the schedule with Lynn getting a tad bitchy due to lack of sleep.

We are fishing but haven't caught anything yet....seen several big ships going to and from India.

Huge healthy salad with croissants for dinner with box wine.

I just want to check that this is making it onto the blog...more later

Chuck and Lynn on Cyan

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Leaving Jan 16th

Welcome to the blog we plan to keep while traveling through the Indian Ocean and on to the Red Sea.

Here is a slightly inaccurate map [since Lynn doesn’t quite know where Aden is] of pour planned course. She also can’t make a straight line with Photoshop yet so the course line is a bit sloppy but you get the idea.

We can send messages to this BLOG right from our SSB radio and keep folks posted about how things are going. We expect to catch fish and avoid pirates!!! Apparently they are targeting areas well south of our course anyway. We can’t send photos but we can ramble on about what we are doing and how the weather is.

We can only get messages if you know our sailmail email address and we cannot put it here due to spammers acquiring it. We do hope to hear from folks. This trip is going to take a while but we are well stocked and the boat is well conditioned.

Warm thoughts

Lynn and Chuck on CYAN

Prayers from our friends and family who are "believers" are always appreciated!

Report on Visit to China

Holiday Season 2010

We are glad to be home on the boat but there has been a huge amount of rain, even well past the change of seasons and the boat is torn up and on the hard getting new wood, bottom paint and other repairs.

We need to report on our China trip and all these photos are just some that caught my eye as I went through the mass of photos that we took.

Smoggy day at the wall!

We stayed in 12 different locations all around China and have decided that for us, China is simply "not fantastic". It is pretty OK if you have extra time and more money than you might expect to pay. We were happy making our own arrangements and liked Agoda for hotels. We often took day tours recommended by cruiser folks and from Tripadvisor. We still found all of China very average, in general. With all the raving I hear I feel like someone needs to tell another side. We are not naive travelers. We enjoy a sense of adventure and don't mind if everything isn't perfect because it's another challenge. We were disappointed with much of the big attractions just being rebuilt rather than maintained to look like they used to when they really didn't used to use so much concrete! So many places looked manufactured to be tourist attractions. And the air pollution was dreadful casting an awful haze over everything.

Old style banking building in Pinghao

There were some places that were remarkable. We really enjoyed Pingao, an old walled city, Dali for it's mountain hike and old walled town and Lijiang as an example of ancient culture, even tho it was a bit touristy...especially it has a nice palace visit called “Mu’s House”. We did the usual touristy things in Guilin, Li river cruise thru steep karst[upward jutting mountains], and it was all pretty ok in the pollution. Our short waterfall hike in Dali in the mountains convinced us that rural China is nicer than the smoggy, noisy, 'overdone with tourists' big cities. We think it takes younger bodies to really enjoy the rural adventures tho..

Just us somewhere pretty!

Many natural elements were stunning but they are far apart. So much of the info at attractions is, of course, altered to go along with the current government ideas that we were always suspicious. Many tours just told us the info we could read in English if we wanted to with out giving any depth. We found that getting the headphone recorded tours was always interesting and we often wished we had chosen them over a guide.

Lynn tries calligraphy and does OK encouraged by onlookers!

Much of the archeology was very interesting and there is more variety than we expected all over China. We did like learning a lot about prehistory and early man...one of Lynn’s favorite subjects. Chuck was more interested in military stuff and politics. China has been around for an amazing amount of time and accumulated an even more amazing number of Chinese!!! Maybe we got “Chinaphobia”!!!

Must make time for happy hour!

All this doesn't say we are sorry we went. We wanted to see China and what it had to offer. We just feel like it has been just a bit overrated. And we found the food was universally average to awful. It seems like we would have found something remarkable in over a month of experimenting as we always do when we travel ...but we didn't. The quality was just so average even in expensive restaurants and with guides to help us choose. Nothing was worth ever having again or as good as frozen Chinese food in the US!

Clear skies for mountain hike on paved path...easy!

We liked Hong Kong somewhat better but it was even more expensive, like the US....the history was interesting there but many places were just touristy sites and shopping and high up views from mountains. It was like “China-Lite”!! We didn’t think it was worth it to just shop ‘til you drop! The history museum was quite well done as were several museums all around China. We learned a lot from the better museums everywhere. We especially liked the Capitol Museum in Beijing... Good general info on all of China and architecturally stunning.

Stayed in antique hotel...like 500 years old!

Lynn was not impressed with the Chinese gardens...too manufactured from concrete and unnatural....too stiff and formal and artificial. Too many things seemed like Disney had made ancient places to visit. It just didn't feel genuine and sincere but rather like tourist traps to suck money from you. She did like the calligraphy, clay and porcelain traditional arts.

Typical old house

If asked, I guess we would say if you don't expect too much, China might turn out fine but too many folks are making it sound fabulous and we worked hard, but couldn't find very much that was great. There was too much smog, smoking, yelling into cellphones, and pushing crowds [even in the off season] to make some things worth a treasured memory. We absolutely enjoyed many places but we were just not overwhelmed with awe. I also need to say that this is a very generalized opinion with an overall aspect.

Lejiang canal scene

The treatment by the Chinese people was outstanding and we can't say enough good things about them. We were surprised to find and enjoy the Chinese as being very expressive and open like the Italians and not nearly as shy and soft spoken as the other Asians. We usually stayed in 3-4 star hotels but did stay in Hostels in a few places and wished we had used them more than we did. They were more personal. I will add that all the transportation works very well and we were impressed, especially with the super high speed trains.

Mu's Residence in Lejiang

We are now getting our Indian visas now to go to the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean and they are supposed to be wonderful and sparsely populated and also with quiet anchorages...sounds fantastic after the hoards of masses of folks we saw in China. We gotta admit that it is an amazing feat to employ, house, feed, nurture and amuse so much of the world’s population in just one country.

A Wall where potential candidates are found for arranged marriages

Must include the mass of Terra Cotta Soldiers to prove we were there!

The Great Thai Elephant Adventure

CYAN's crew tries a new skill!!

One of our most special adventures has been the Patara Elephant Farm in Chiang Mei, Thailand. It’s the number one rated thing to do there on Tripadvisor Website and we consult that site often in our travels. This choice was better than we expected! It was educational and so much fun.

They picked us up early at our hotel and there were about 16 in our class of trainees. We learned about how the elephant is endangered and being abused by other tourist organizations. It seemed like we learned a lot about elephants: their reproduction, digestive health, usefulness, disposition, skin care, communication with us and us with them and of course, how to board one and get off! This can be complicated but we managed with help.

We examine the droppings for health check...[it was like shredded wheat!]

Chuck gets on like a pro!We will not show my boarding...it was not a graceful sight!

Most interesting is that a swinging tail and flapping ears means a happy elephant and saying “deedee” to them mean “good elephant” while stroking under the eyes is affection! We had to write all the commands on our arms to keep track and they respond well to commands…eventually. Speed isn’t their strong point! Strength is!!! And coordination, along with warmth and friendliness! They get friendlier with you when you feed them that first basket of fruit and your hand is enthusiastically scooped right into their mouths with the fruit.

Chuck feeds his new friend!

Bath time in the river was fun but a lot of work! Skin care is important.

The elephant shower us after we bathed them

We learned to examine the sizable, but not offensive, droppings [see above] to check for health and to correctly bathe the elephants for skin care and do they ever love a good bath! They are very cooperative in the river. But, slugging through the muddy jungle takes some encouragement and that comes in the form of kicking them firmly behind the ears to go right or left and saying “bye” but more like “biii” to get them to move forward on the trail instead of stopping to nibble tasty bamboo shoots, a real favorite. We were so surprised at how well these elephants could climb over these steep trails in the jungle. Lynn who has some height issues had closed eyes a few times and we were more than 10’ up off the ground sitting on their heads rolling with each step. She kept looking for a soft muddy spot to fall but never did!

Along the muddy jungle trail!

After riding for almost 2 hours through steep, muddy but beautiful jungle we arrived at the wonderful waterfall for lunch and a swim with the “big” fun bunch. This was really a wild time as you can tell here. Lunch was great but all the leftover food including the banana leaf table cloth got fed to the elephants and they were used to it and ready for it!

These guys were like big babies in the water and we all had a blast like kids.

I’m sure the photos show what a wonderful day we had and we both will never forget our elephants. Lynn’s was Man Wan Dee and Chucks was Man Su Noy. They were both 35 years old and still in birthing years. They had both been teak log workers at one time and were “retired” now.

A tired return ride home.

Patara is a special location that takes in and cares for many elephants acquired from many sources and for many different reasons. We were so impressed with their work.

We were absolutely exhausted but what a wonderful way to end our 3 week journey in Northern Thailand.

http://www.pataraelephantfarm.com/

Lynn and Chuck, who are now getting ready to go to the US for 19 days then China for 5 weeks!