Seychelles to Mayotte, with one short stop

When Dave had completed all the paperwork for checkout of the Seychelles on Wednesday, September 13th, 2017, we were ready to go, except, of course, for the small issue of the passport situation! In an attempt to get them back earlier, Dave told immigration that we would be leaving at 6:00am the following morning.

“Good, we’ll see you at 9:00am”, came the reply.

OK…you win some, you lose some!

Considering a lot was done on “island time” in the Seychelles, we were pleasantly surprised when 2 ladies from immigration arrived at the boat at about 9:15am on Thursday morning, with our passports in hand (phew!!). They stamped them, and wished us well. The Seychelles stamp, by the way, is the cutest we currently have in our passports, in the outline of the “coco de mer”, the famous coconut that resembles a backside, and that are only found in the Seychelles, and, in fact, only on the island of Praslin, in a reserve in the center of the island that we unfortunately did not have time to visit.

The cutest stamp in our passports!

In theory, we would NOW be able to leave, as Shuti did shortly after the return of their passports. We helped them untie their docklines, waved from the jetty and said we’d be in touch later in the day, as we were making the journey to Mayotte together with them. We also rendezvoused with Moby and had a more emotional goodbye, as they were heading to Mauritius and we would more than likely only see them in South Africa, and even then, we were not sure if we would be in the same place at the same time. But plans were made to stay in touch, and hopefully get together in SA. We waved to Moby as they too motored past us and were on their way. Why, do you ask are we STILL stuck in this darned marina???? Well, it had to do with our Hawaiian Sling, a type of spear gun, but that has an elastic band instead of a trigger/gun type mechanism. Our sling was confiscated by the Coast Guard on arrival in the Seychelles, which, in itself is ridiculous, as we saw the exact same thing for purchase in the fishing shop in the marina!! The previous day we had tried to find out who had our sling, and after quite a few “let me check and get back to you”, we were promised that someone would bring it to us, also at 9:00am the following morning.

When 9:00am came and went, and Shuti and Moby had left, we still didn’t have our sling. Eventually we saw a Coast Guard boat that seemed to be patrolling the marina. We waved them down, and during a heavy rain downpour, they came along side our bows and onto our boat. It took 1 boat, with 2 big engines and 3 guys on board to bring us our sling, which turned out not to be ours. It was an old, rusty spear gun. Not ours, we said, and had to find a picture to show them what ours looked like! I was having serious doubts that we’d ever see it again! But off they went, and said they would have another look, and if it wasn’t at this station, they would have to go to the other one in Port Victoria, and look there. Sigh….10:30am came and went and we waited. Soon thereafter, Dave’s phone rang, and they said they had found it! They would be there in 10 minutes (5 minutes to do the paperwork, and 5 minutes to get to our boat). About 20 minutes later, they came back…1 boat, 2 big engines, and 3 guys, to deliver our little sling! But we had it, and we could leave!! Just after 11:00am on Thursday, September 14th, 2017, we FINALLY left the Eden Island Marina on our next leg of the Indian Ocean!

Our sling delivery boat!

The wind was blowing a good 17 – 20 knots, and we left with 2 reefs in the main and a slightly furled jib. Rounding the top of Mahe was pretty bumpy, but we knew the wind was forecast to lighten, so we sucked it up and bounced along. By evening conditions were already better, and the next two days actually produced pretty flat seas and lighter winds, but with the angle, we were able to reach, and have some pretty good sailing. Every now and then, we would encounter these pockets of current, where the sea was very disturbed, and we’d bounce about for a bit, and then it would calm down again. You could actually see them quite clearly…a section of white caps amongst an otherwise generally calm sea.

Conditions were great for trawling, and we caught this lovely Mahi Mahi!

Saturday evening saw the winds start to pick up, and it was while we had just sat down to have something to eat that we heard an almighty “crack”! It was unlike any sound we’d heard before. We thought it was something on the boom, but a quick inspection didn’t show anything out of the ordinary, and everything seemed to be in working order. On Sunday morning, while Dave and Stephan were walking around, doing a quick inspection, we found the cause of the noise. Our salon window had two cracks in it…about 27 cm long! The cracks were in the painted section of the window, right at the bottom where it joins the deck, so we could not see it from the inside. The constant flexing of the boat in the rougher conditions had probably caused the window to crack. We quickly sent a message to Lagoon to make sure that it was not structural (they confirmed it is not), and put duct tape over it to stop any further leaking/cracking. Because it is Perspex, it can temporarily be repaired by drilling 2 small holes on either side of the crack to stop it from going any further, and then filling the crack with some epoxy. It is a repair we will probably do in South Africa, although Lagoon has offered to supply a new window at their cost if we pay for the install. Thank you David Farrington and Lagoon in France for your excellent support and customer service. We are so glad we chose a Lagoon to sail around the world in, for many reasons, but the customer support they have provided us along the way is certainly a big plus factor for us!

The crack in our window

The boys catch a nap while the conditions are still calm!

By Sunday night the wind was really strong, and we experienced one of the worst nights we’d had in a long time. We were having to almost beat into the wind, and we ended up going quite far downwind of our course, in order to try and minimize the bashing, knowing that we could make it up later, when we would reach the wind shadow of Madagascar, and would be forced to motor. We had previously discussed stopping at one of the atolls that were scattered along the way to Mayotte. Aldabra is a World Heritage Site, and we would have liked to have stopped there, but it was a little off our course, and we had not obtained permission from Seychelles Island Development Group, so did not have a permit. We could have tried to stop without a permit, but had heard that they were quite strict and could have asked us to leave had we stopped. On our way was another, much smaller atoll called Cosmoledo. We researched the possibilities of stopping there, and found out that one could not get into the lagoon, but it was possible to anchor in the lee of the island, and get some shelter. After our rough night on Sunday, we were keen for a rest, and Cosmoledo was conveniently coming up at daybreak. We also wanted to show Stephan what it was like to go to a deserted island, and worked out that we could stop, and still get him to Mayotte in time to catch his flight on Sunday the 24th. So just after sunrise on Monday morning, September 18th, we sailed into the lee of Cosmoledo, and found a spot to drop the anchor. It was still a rolly anchorage, with currents ripping past us at up to 3 knots at times, and with the wind blowing at 20 – 25 knots, it wasn’t exactly calm, but it was nice to be able to rest.

Cool Runnings at anchor off Cosmoledo, way in the distance

We soon discovered that we could only reach the shore at high tide, as the entire island was surrounded by a coral fringing reef, and we could not get our dinghy over the reef and onto the beach. So we waited a couple of hours and then headed to land. While we waited, we reveled in watching the whales that gently played in the waters not even 2 boat lengths from us! There seemed to be a whole family with moms and calves. They would blow a big puff of water in the air, take a breath and we could see their big backs and at times, even their tails! Benjamin has a great shot with the sunset, and a whale tail!

Once the tide was high enough, we explored the beach, marveling at the hundreds of sea birds that called the island their home. Beautiful shells littered the beach, and the water was nice and cool. Turtles swam up and down the beach, in the calm section between the beach and the fringing reef, and popped their heads up periodically to check us out. They are so cute! We also saw very big, very fresh, turtle tracks up the beach to indentations in the sand, where they must have come to lay their eggs. We were very careful to give those areas a big, wide berth, in order not to disturb any eggs that may be there. We think, judging from the tracks, that they were leatherback turtles that had come to lay their eggs. With the wind still blowing so strongly, Stephan just couldn’t help himself, and had to go for a kite surf. After all, he couldn’t bring his gear all the way with him, and then not use it!!

Ben and Gaby cool off in the water...the little dot in the middle is a turtle poking its head out the water!

The turtle tracks looked the tracks from an All Terrain Vehicle!!

Stephan gets his kite ready

He launched off the beach and then disappeared around the corner. After a while, we got a little concerned, because we couldn’t see him anymore, but eventually we spotted his kite coming back around the corner. He had kited all the way across the inside of the lagoon to the other side, and back again. On his way, he saw a 4ft tiger shark swimming just feet from him in the lagoon!! That’s the time to NOT wipe out!! With the sun getting low in the sky, and the tide going out again, we had to make our way back to the boat to avoid being stuck on the island for the night! We enjoyed more whale sightings, and enjoyed sleeping a whole night, (ie. No night watches!), even if it was a bit rolly!

Stephan in action

The kids exploring in the tidal pools

The fringing reef we couldn't get past at low tide

Another spectacular sunset at sea/anchor

We stayed another day at Cosmoledo, watching the whales, and relaxing in the morning, and once we could access the beach, we explored a different part of the island, and found that there had been a settlement there at one time. We found some old graves, as well as ruins of some buildings, including 2 jail cells! We have not had internet to be able to research what may have been there, and why no-one lives there any longer, but it would certainly have been an isolated existence for the souls that did call it home.

The birds were very curious and even had a go at our fishing rods!

Some of the ruins on the island

The deserted beach and protected bay - pity we couldn't get our boat in here!

An old boat, high and dry amongst the ruins

The remains of another building

Desolate beauty

The old graveyard we discovered

Because I'm usually always behind the camera!

I just love driftwood on the beach!

Stephan exploring the beach on the other side of the island...more turtle tracks in the foreground

Time for a wash!  The kids give Dave a good scrub with the sand!

Steph relaxing as the sun goes down

On Wednesday morning, once it was light enough to see, we picked up the anchor, and headed out for another day of punishment in “washing machine” conditions of the ocean. Under different circumstances, we probably would have stayed, and waited for the wind to die down before leaving, but that was not until the following week according to our grib files, and Stephan had a plane to catch, so we unfortunately had to head out. I’m sure Stephan would have enjoyed a few more days of kite surfing as well!! The day was bearable as Dave took it upon himself to hand steer most of the way, thereby being able to anticipate the wave action and minimize the pounding we would otherwise take. As day turned into night, the wind started to die, and by midnight and into the early hours we were doing about 4 knots boat speed in about 8 – 10 knots of wind. We had reached the wind shadow of Madagascar, the island is so huge, that it literally blocks the south east trade winds, resulting in an area of “wind shadow”, where the wind dies to nothing. Soon we were motoring, but the problem with motoring is that you can only go so fast, and in our case, we also had a generous current AGAINST us, as usual, and while our boat speed was around 6 knots, at times we were only doing 4 knots through the water, so our arrival in Mayotte got later and later. 

Stephan joins in the tradition of raising the Q flag and the French courtesy flag

We did not want to spend another night at sea, and drifting off the entrance of Mayotte was just not an option for us! We were very lucky in that Shuti had decided not to stop at Cosmoledo, and were already safely anchored in Mayotte. We knew we had our own guide in the harbor to steer us clear of any dangers, so we decided to keep going. We reached the entrance of Passe M’Zamboro at the northern end of Mayotte at about 8:30pm. It was already pitch black, literally, as this was the night of new moon, meaning there was no moon!! This was the first time we had ever attempted a night entrance. We were also confident that the markers would be lit, and the charts accurate, as Mayotte is administered by France, and we’ve had only good experiences with French islands! And it turned out fine. The entrance had a lot of current flowing through it (about 3 knots against us), that swept us sideways, but we were prepared for this, and steered accordingly. The pass entrance was also wide, deep and very well lit. Mayotte is almost completely surrounded by reef, giving it the world’s second largest lagoon, but it also meant that we still had 13 miles inside the reef, after the entrance, to go to get to the anchorage. We were about half way down the channel when we saw a boat coming quite rapidly towards us, and then shining a bright light at us. At first Dave thought it was a fishing boat, and flashed our spotlights back at them, but then quickly thought…perhaps not a good idea. And rightly so…the boat turned behind us, the red and blue lights started flashing, and the spotlight stayed on us. It was the officials! We slowed down and put the engines in neutral, and prepared to be boarded. It was our first night entry, but it was also the very first time we had not radioed the authorities. Normally we ALWAYS radio at about 12 miles out, identifying ourselves and asking for permission to enter that country’s waters. Sometimes we get an answer, sometimes we don’t, but we always do it. We had read that in Mayotte you just come in, and don’t have to radio anyone. And so we didn’t, but shame on us, we should have known better…especially arriving at night!

Two armed customs officials came on board and asked to see our passports. They were very nice and very professional. They said that they have a big problem with illegal immigrants coming in from the Comoro Islands, and routinely patrol the perimeter of the island, especially at night. After they saw we were just a cruising family, they let us go on our way, and we apologized profusely for not radioing ahead and announcing our arrival and intention to enter the pass. This delayed us a further half hour or so, and poor Momi and Yoav were waiting for us in the anchorage. We let them know we were coming, and stayed in radio contact with them, as they hopped in their dinghy and went to a mooring buoy that we would pick up. They signaled us with a flashlight and we headed towards the light. By 10:30pm we were safely attached to a mooring buoy, happy to have made it to Mayotte! Our thanks to Momi and Yoav for their help…we could not have come into the harbor and picked up the mooring in the pitch dark, especially not when we woke up the next morning, and saw how many boats there were!!

The anchorage at Dzoudzi - none of these boats were lit at night!

We had made it to Mayotte, another leg over and done with! Now we had 2 ½ days to explore before Stephan had to leave us, but first, we had to clear in…that story and an account of our stay in Mayotte will follow in the next blog post. Stay tuned!