BERND'S ARRIVAL (written for 15 April 09)
"Chimani" and friends Bernd (skipper) and John (crew) arrived at Uligamu the
day before yesterday. They left Fujairah about half a day after us and took
a slightly different route- turning right at Ras Al Hadd as opposed to our
"go straight for a few days before turning right" route. Eerrrr, that's in
simple terms of course, although in reality, the navigation isn't too much
more tricky than that. They'd suffered an autopilot breakdown, so hand
steered for the last 1000 NM(!) They reckon they've got biceps like Poppie,
but either way, they looked like they were well in need of a rest.
They arrived in style- sailing right up to the anchorage. They told me
afterwards that that was the only decent wind they'd had for several days,
and so wanted to make the most of it!
It was good to catch up with them- I'd had only sporadic communication /
position information via Helen, so it was good to hear of some of their
experiences- including being snagged in a fishing net hundreds of miles from
land, in the middle of the Indian Ocean!
John (the self proclaimed boat chef) threw together a tuna (obviously hasn't
been reading my blog...) dinner and we had a few beers and a good catch up.
We've explored a few parts of the island together. Although I've only been
here a few days more than them, they accuse me of already walking and
talking slower, and having reduced expectations of what's possible when.
Island time, right?
We have been invited tomorrow to go coconut picking / eating. It's not the
Inter Atoll Tourism Permit that Bernd was hoping for, but it should be fun
all the same.
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