After a peaceful night under a magnificent starry sky, which felt like we were in a bubble of sparkling diamonds, Elaine was delighted to spot the Southern Cross hanging low on the horizon; always a wondrous sight, especially since she hadn’t expected to see it again so soon.
Today, under glorious sunny clear blue sky, we enjoyed another lovely day of sailing in flat seas, albeit a little slower than we would have preferred at times, but, at least, we weren’t having to burn any diesel. By the afternoon, though, with the wind picking up slightly, meant slightly lumpier seas too.
The day, however, was essentially a repeat of yesterday; lounging around, taking turns to nap, eating, snacking, reading, etc, with the exception of an issue with a fishing boat. This is the third encounter we’ve had with fishing boats in this part of the world. First, on our approach to the Maldives we had, what initially looked like a pleasure craft, stop right across our bow about 1NM off while we were under sail and refused to move or answer our hail on the VHF radio, but soon moved when we didn’t alter course, only to realise afterwards it was actually a fishing boat and we were, in fact, the give-way vessel. Then, at anchor in Uligamu, we had one drag down on us in the middle of the night and, this morning, we had one alter course and come hurtling straight towards as if to t-bone us. It wasn’t until we switched on both engines at full revs, under full sails, that we left them to our stern. By this stage, it’s fair to say, we’ve actually had enough of them, so the next one that gets up to any antics is going to experience more than they bargained for. So unnecessary, not to mention dangerous and it certainly begs the question as to why fishing vessels are always the stand-on vessel regardless of any irresponsible manoeuvres made, but, unfortunately, those are the “rules of the road”!
In Indonesia we had similar incidences, but later discovered that the fishermen had a belief that they could pass their bad “juju” to the other vessel by coming really close to it; unnerving, nonetheless, for the unsuspecting like ourselves, since we have no idea what their intentions are, whether acting out on a superstition or something more sinister, especially when they continue to pursue the yacht. It certainly doesn’t help matters that none of these vessels have an AIS (Automatic Identification System) either and we only pick them up on the radar until we have a visual on them.
Anyway, putting that behind us, literally and figuratively, we enjoyed chats to Talulah Ruby III (Andy and Paul) and Golden Spirit (Caroline and Michael) this evening.
Our day wrapped up with a delicious Penang curry, accompanied by the rotis made for us in Uligamu; turned out to be a delectable combination!
