ANDAMANS AGAIN

Last summer we received Emails from our friends on PTARMIGAN and BEAU JEU saying, "Let's all go to the Andamans next year!" YES! Some sailing sounded good to us after our year of "work creep" and boat projects. So we made plans to go in early February, we got our Indian Visas, and loaded aboard some provisions. In the end, our friends did not go--but we did!

This was our second visit to the Andaman Islands. We went before in February of 2001. (see SetSail articles dated 9 March 01, 16 March 01, 24 March 01, 20 April 01, 27 April 01 and 04 May 01) February is a good time of year for visiting the Andamans. The December/January enhanced NE winds have moderated, and it's usually clear and dry. Wouldn't you know, the winds moderated right down to nothing when we were ready to go. We motored north from Phuket to an anchorage at Thap Lamu and waited for another day. I can't really say the winds had improved much when we did leave, but we figured some motoring might get us away from the coast far enough to have some breeze. That seemed to work.

Our passage was a good one. The winds were a light NE, so we were on the wind and having a little difficulty in laying our course because of a S setting current. Must have actually been a SW flow, as on arrival at Port Blair 3 days later we tallied a gain of 39 miles from current. We caught a nice barracuda enroute, and then, just about 2 miles from the harbor entrance, hooked a 25 pound wahoo! Big fish fry for that night shared with 2 other yachts in port.

Port Control advised the proper authorities of our arrival. This year yachts were not allowed to anchor in the mini harbor behind Chatham Island, but about a half mile away in "the flats". This made picking up the officials and bringing them aboard a bit of a risk with a small dinghy and outboard, and the afternoon winds and chop.

No Navy to make papers with; this time it was the Coast Guard, and they did at least have a boat. A BIG boat. That wanted to come alongside SUNFLOWER to drop the officers. No way Jose. I could just see their high rusty decks taking out stanchions as well as our brand new rail mounted solar panels. I made them hold off until Al got back with the dinghy and could ferry the officers to our boat that way.

There was the usual paper shuffle to deal with. And why it takes 3 men to visit you to fill out one form is still a bit boggling. In the end, the Coast Guard was satisfied that our charts and navigation equipment were sufficient. They signed off on their report and were gone. The Immigration were totally business; they just wanted the forms filled, the passports stamped and themselves returned to dry land. The Customs needed everything in triplicate. They are well known for asking for "compliments," which means they want a gift--preferably liquor. We told them a flat NO. However, before they got back into the dinghy we gave them a big piece of our fish to share.

The next day we reported to the Harbor Master's office to fill out more papers and prepare an itinerary. Awkward. How do we know where we want to go and what dates we will be there? He just said, "Do your best." We quickly realized that 30 days was not nearly long enough to make our cruise in Andaman waters. The Harbor Master very kindly loaned us 2 charts of some northern areas we wished to visit. We got photo copies of the charts in pieces, and did a "cut and paste" session to produce something we could use while navigating the northern islands.

Three years ago we had spent a lot of our time in places south of Port Blair. This time we headed north. With Northerly winds we did a lot of beating and more than just a few hours of motoring to reach our objectives. It was well worth it.