January 31, 2007 - Headed to the Maldives
by George & Merima

Hi Everyone!

We departed Port Blair in the Andaman Islands this morning at about 1015 hours and are sailing in 15-20 knot trade winds towards the Maldives. Sailing conditions are very nice and comfortable and we're hoping that conditions hold for the 7-9 day, 1200 nautical mile trip west to the port of Male. Our course will take us in a southwesterly direction to the southern tip of the island of Sri Lanka, then more westerly to the Maldives chain, which run north and south for nearly 500 miles to the south of India in the Arabian Sea lobe of the Indian Ocean. The northern part of the Indian Ocean is known for its nearly perfect sailing conditions due to the lack of cyclones during the Northeast monsoon, and steady trade winds around the 15-knot mark.

Our ten or so day stay in the Andaman Islands was short but memorable. Port Blair, the main town, is a slice of India. We enjoyed a few meals out, Indian food of course, were able to get provisions at the local market, and found the people to be friendly and helpful. Cruising some of the outer islands was the highlight, and we enjoyed many dives on the beautiful coral reef, and sundowners on the aft deck overlooking white sand beaches, native rain forests and beautiful mangroves. Having been in a no-fish zone since we left Australia in 2005, it was great to hook up again, as well as spearing a few meals on beautiful reefs. At first we were plagued by barracuda, but finally broke the curse and caught a couple nice wahoo, the larger of the two being 27 pounds. Waaaaahooooooo! Graham and I speared some nice reef fish, the largest a giant sweetlips weighing in at 16 pounds. The freezer is still chokker with frozen fillet.

When we get some photos and logs of the Andamans cruise together, we'll post them in SetSail. In the meantime, we'll try to update you daily from sea on our passage west.

Cheers, George, Merima, Thane and Graham