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Starblazer - 29/09/2015 – Cocos Keeling



Wednesday evening, after dinner, John had a strike on his line, so did I
almost simultaneously! I started winding mine in slowly, John allowed his
fish to fight a bit longer. Eventually they were both on the surface about
15 metres behind the boat then one of them made a bid for freedom with the
result that the two lines got crossed. I continued to wind mine in as John
pulled the line manually, then his line chafed through and he lost both his
fish and lure again. We landed a lovely mahi mahi weighing 2.5kg which John
duly filleted and it is now in the freezer.

As anticipated we arrived before sunrise, but dawn was lightening the sky.
We anchored at about 0700 Lombok time, 0530 Cocos time. We had a busy time
in these spectacular islands. Thursday we cleared in then straightened the
boat out. Friday morning we snorkelled the rip along the south side of
Direction Island. The current carried us along at about 3 knots and we saw
some very large Unicorn fish and Bumphead Wrasse and 3 nurse sharks dozing
under a ledge plus lots of other fish. In the afternoon we had a tour of
Home Island, one of the two inhabited islands. Home Island is home to about
450 people of mainly Malay origin, originally brought to Cocos to work on
the coconut plantations run by John Clunies-Ross. On Saturday we had an all
day trip to West Island, home to about 150 of mainly Australian/European
origin. Both visits were informative and interesting. Our visit concluded
with a Rally Briefing and BBQ on Direction Island on Sunday afternoon.
Sorry, no postcards were posted, the post office opens alternate days on
each of the two islands, Friday on West Island and Saturday on Home Island!

The start line was manned by Rally Control on the Police boat and we were
fourth over the line and were very pleased with ourselves! The trade wind
sailing was fast and a little rolly yesterday but the winds have subsided a
little this morning. Not surprisingly, the fastest boats have streaked
ahead, we can only dream of 8-9 knots cruising speed. We are making steady
progress, though, and can report a 24 hour run to noon today of 164 nM, our
best for a long time. To keep me occupied, I made up a Spanish pudding
package, Coulant de Chocolade, yummy chocolate puddings with liquid
chocolate in the middle. Chloe, our granddaughter, chose this package when
she stayed with us on Tenerife in 2013 but we didn’t have time to make it
up! Sorry Chloe, it was delicious.

The loaf of bread which has just come out of the bread maker is rather
misshapen, something to do with the way the boat is healing no doubt. I’m
sure it will taste O.K. though.

Joyce


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