Monday 24th Sept07
Arrived in Cocos Keeling - a real tropical paradise with white sand beaches, good snorkelling, reef sharks & dolphins, palm trees galore... but what a rough journey over the last day getting here. So much for calming down yesterday afternoon - the wind got up to around 25kn consistently! The Indian Ocean certainly has big seas! And I'm expecting the next leg to be even tougher - nearly 2,000mls to Rodriguez, near Mauritius, with even stronger winds and bigger seas... I'm keeping my fingers crossed it won't be too bad when I leave at the weekend!
Very nice of two cruisers here in the anchorage at Direction Island to come out to meet me in the windy conditions and guide me in around the reef in the far-from-calm lagoon! A vital port-hand marker buoy was missing off the end of a reef, there are lots of isolated coral heads & shallow patches & the sun was not shining, so their help was most appreciated!
'Barbie tomorrow' I was told..