January 16th AM

More Dolphins:

This morning we awoke anchored in Phoenix Bay on Neill Island. We arrived yesterday afternoon around 4:30.

The Journey Here:

Before our departure from Port Blair we had to seek approval from the harbour master. Something we were denied because they hadn’t received our itinerary, even though we had sent it over weeks prior and had a copy returned with changes made by the naval authority on Andaman. A quick connection with our agent sorted things out as they were the ones who hadn’t submitted our new itinerary to the harbor master. The amount of hoops we have been jumping through makes me feel like a circus clowns chihuahua. Of course it was all sorted out and off we went.

Now as any sailor who cruises knows that when you want to go in a northerly direction the wind is always out of the North. As it was yesterday. Wind in our face for the entire sail but we made it. The video posted below is of more dolphins that decided to visit. There were more this time than last. The video file is too big to post at the moment. I’ll attempt an edit and post later.

After the dolphin visit a sea turtle was spotted by Larissa and Shawn. Unfortunately no picture evidence as turtles aren’t as trusting as dolphins. 

Remember I mentioned we had to get permission to leave the harbour, which we did, so you would think that all was good. Not so in the Andaman's. A Coast Guard cruiser came up on our stern mid-afternoon to check on who we were and where we were going. Of course they didn’t radio us on Ch 16. No! They stood on the bow of their boat flashing hand signals that none of us understood. Then they used a bullhorn. They were downwind of us in 17kt winds and no one could make out what they were saying. We dropped sails and Shawn gets on the radio to sort out what was happening. Once they were satisfied with who,what,when and where, off they drifted and we set sails again for our destination.

If you have never boated you may not appreciate what I am about to say but for those who do boat, sail or power, you’ll know what I am talking about. It seems that if something is going to go wrong on a boat it’s going to happen at the moment you either need it or use it. Such was the case last night as we anchored. When anchoring, for those non boaters, you have a devise called a snubber that relieves the pressure of the anchor chain on the windlass, which is the gadget that helps raise the anchor when departing. On a catamaran the snubber is two ropes attached to the bow of both hulls. It’s been working ideally, until last night. After attaching the snubber and releasing it to do it’s job, the starboard rope snapped at the shackle as it was taking on the pressure. So there we were bobbing in the waves trying to get everything sorted. Shawn was on the helm, Ally and the rest of us on the bow. The plan was to use the windlass to raise the anchor to attach another line to the snubber. Simple right? Nothing is simple when things go askew on a boat. Shawn went to raise the anchor and the windlass failed. So we had to bring in the anchor chain by hand. If you have never done that it’s kind of like tug of war with the land, air and sea. The good news is we were able to get a new line attached to the snubber shackle and set the anchor for the night. 

A fabulous dinner from Edgar, good conversation afterwards and a beautiful full moon on the water. Oh yeah. One more thing. At the end of the night I was on the bow wrapped in the beauty of the moon. Everyone else went to bed. Ally, not realizing I was still up, locked me out. This morning is a fix it and clean it morning. Ah the adventures at sea.