Decision made – heading across the Indian Ocean

Courtesy flags for the year ahead

It all started as we were moving Adina from Singapore to Malaysia when Susie piped up, “I’ve been thinking”, “Yes?”, “What do you think about the idea of sailing around South Africa?”

Ideas are always a good thing, good ideas are even better. Of course ideas must be followed up, researched and if the results are found to be to your liking they should be pursued. Both enthusiastic, we set to looking into exactly what it meant to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. Out came the pilot atlas that tells you what the wind and tides will be doing at certain times of the year, when the best time of year is to go a certain direction. Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising Routes is an invaluable aid. We extended the net further reading the blogs of those who have been before. It’s easy enough to find blogs whose goal it is to make readers envious but we seek out those who tell the full story – what’s good, what’s bad, what’s downright ugly.

Then there are all the considerations we’ve discussed in our previous blog. We sounded out family and friends. And we very much appreciate the comments on the blog, Facebook, and people who took time to write to us, we read all of it looking for inspiration. Many sent supportive comments, advising us to follow our dreams, highlighting we must be safe. Having always planned to come back through the Mediterranean Sea, the sudden news that we were considering continuing further afield came as somewhat of a shock to Susie’s parents. They’ve been one of our greatest supporters and we had to take it on and address their concerns and we started to research more intensely.

We spoke to people who are doing or have done all three options – some shipping, some sailing through the Red Sea and the most popular option of going around South Africa. Well we say the most popular option is to go round South Africa, but actually we’ve met many people who have got to Asia and just stopped. The cheap and easy living suits many here! But they are retired, we are sadly not, we must keep moving and get home.

For us the stand out requirement is that we want more adventure, we want more exploration, we want more encounters with people from different cultures, we want more unique experiences and for this reason we decided crossing the Indian Ocean and heading to South Africa suits us the most.

We accept Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Island experiences we had cannot be repeated, they were stand out highlights. Funnily enough we’ve had many cruisers in Asia ask us if they weren’t dangerous, some even give us strange looks for having been there. If we’ve come to realise one thing on this trip, it’s that there is so much misinformation in this world. We’ve learnt you need to do your research, but not to shy away from areas less explored. Down those small seldom walked paths lie many exciting and rewarding adventures if you just summon up the courage to venture down them. Yes there will be brambles and thorns that might spike you, certainly you may slip or trip along the way, but when you reach the destination, it’s ever so worth it.

Our favoured route to South Africa winds its way via Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Chagos, the Seychelles, the Comoros, Madagascar and Mozambique. Our route is inspired by sailing conditions and reading about other people’s adventures. We were drawn in as people struggled to name their favourite destination on this route, we were enthralled as one person wrote about the crowded dirty streets of the capital of one island and how she slowly but surely got sucked into them, how she realised there was a vibe behind it all, how she adjusted and how she soon loved it all and hated to leave. We realised this is what we too love. That nervous tension of visiting a new place the first time, trying to get the lie of the land, the lie of the people, what is good, what is bad, the excitement of finding some random rack shackle spot full of simple plastic chairs and tables filled with people eating, the fun of catching local transport, shopping as the locals do in markets full of wonderful exotic fruits and vegetables. A queue in a dirty street might mean there is some of the most tantalising fresh bread to be found. Or wandering up to some innocuous hut just behind a beach, calling out and then chatting to someone who welcomes you in, you become friends and a week later you are saddened to be leaving them having shared so many life experiences.

Of course it’s not all a bed of roses. We knew and confirmed that sailing to South Africa can be hard, there are some tough seas to be handled, corrupt officials abound more in the Indian Ocean than anywhere we’ve been before, things can go wrong but all of this we believe we can cope with. Sri Lanka offers many interesting sight-seeing opportunities and many enthuse about it. The Maldives with its clear blue waters and the chance to meet locals that few seldom get the chance to. On to the Chagos islands a destination only boats can reach, again water pristine, islands unoccupied. Across to the Seychelles, the Comoros and the one country we have always vowed to return to, the breath-taking Madagascar with all its surreal wildlife and scenery. And then the big seas down to South Africa and around to Cape Town. Tom spent most of his childhood here so to return on Adina is certainly motivational.

We’re glad we’ve made the decision, we’re enormously excited, though of course there is hard work to be done. Over the next few weeks we have lots to do to prepare Adina, get all the paperwork sorted and stock up our supplies. We so appreciate people’s support; thank you, we really hope we can count on it again this year, it boosts us. The year promises so much adventure, that’s what we wanted and that’s why we’re doing it.

On a sadder note, on Boxing Day 2015 we bade farewell to Janet Allwood, Tom’s grandmother, an inspirational and kind and wonderful lady. Our 2016 Indian Ocean adventure is dedicated to her memory.