Helen left back to Dubai a few days ago and now I’ve settled into something of a routine here.
My mother arrives here in about a week’s time for a two week visit- the first week of which will be on board with me and the second will be in the local resort. My sister, brother in law and nephew will arrive about a week after mum and will stay in the local resort for about a week. After that, Helen will return to Gan with two of the kids and we’ll continue our adventure south to Chagos.
After that our plans have changed a bit. With all the reports of Somali pirates getting more and more daring and making raids close to the Seychelles, we’ve decided to give the Seychelles a wide berth. I’m quite disappointed by it- I was looking forward to visiting the varied terrain of the Seychelles perhaps even more than the Maldives and Chagos. The other factor putting us off was the two thousand plus mile journey back to the UAE. Three plus weeks at sea was something that neither Helen nor I were looking forward to. We both find long passages a bit boring.
After about a month in Chagos, we’ll head back here to Gan, apply for our 30 or 44 day cruising permit and cruise the Maldvies. After that, it’s a relatively easy 12 or so days to Muscat from the north of the Maldives.
When we told another cruising couple last week of our fly-in fly-out plans, they christened it “Jet Setting Cruising”, which of course is a bit of a contradiction in terms.
I know that I’ll be busy from when mum arrives, so I’m making the most of the down time now, by diving once or twice each day (mostly with the local resort), doing odd jobs on the boat (there’s always something that needs fixing or improving...) and exploring the local islands.
My friend Bernd also arrived on board “Chimani” yesterday. He left Fujairah about six hours after us, arrived in Uligamu a few days after us, and now I see him here too. Is this guy following me!? Of course it’s good to have a mate to yarn to, and have a few beers with.
The boat chores seem endless- there seems to be something each day that needs some attention- engine service (I’ve managed to put that off for the last week, but I know I can’t ignore it much, longer...), light bulbs needing replacing (one in the bathroom (easy), one up the mast (not so easy...)) and then the ongoing stuff like trying to make the fridge more energy efficient. I do find the chores to be a bit relentless sometimes, and find that I need to maintain some discipline to fit them into my days without them gathering up to the point where together they become daunting.
It’s a nice sheltered anchorage here, with shops, the local resort, restaurants, internet cafe etc all within an easy walk. It’s a perfectly civilised place to spend the next month.
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