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Exody - Days 250-253: Luminous Sea and Crabs at Christmas



Steady trade winds, fair current, gentle sea and settled weather push Exody pleasingly across the Indian Ocean at over 7 knots - we are comfortably reaching towards the Australian atoll of Cocos Keeling just over 300 miles away. We left Christmas Island yesterday Saturday 19th at noon after the mandated maximum 48 hour stopover. This means the fleet all leave in their own time, dependent upon arrival time, but most of us left within three hours of each other and are now sailing in fairly close company. It had been a whirlwind pitstop- re-fuelling, re-watering, provisioning and even a tiny slice of very slow internet!

Christmas Island is a curious place, founded on phosphate, with a population of 1500 people and several million crabs. Someone once said it would only be inhabited once the rest of the world was full- jagged unwelcoming shorelines, dense rainforest etc ! But the discovery of phosphate lead to inhabitation from the late 1800's. Most of the buildings appear very industrial or institutional and the phosphate workings dominate. The people are majority Australian Chinese and then a mix of Malay and European- we were surprised to hear the same early morning calls for prayer we thought we had left behind in Lombok!

Called Christmas because of the day of first sighting back in 1600's, it is a flat low-lying island with a similar tiered basalt and coral geology to that of Niue. It thus shares with Niue the crystal clear waters which we snorkelled in the anchorage on our last morning - an unspoilt coral garden with a host of colourful fish. Our half day tour took us through the rainforest seeing several birds unique to the island and the crabs for which the island is most well known. We saw red, blue and robber crabs in relatively small numbers but large size - later in the year they swarm from their inland homes to the sea for breeding: climbing, crossing everything en route - the roads have special crab fences and underpasses but are still frequently closed. The young return later - it is a spectacle we regret having missed!

We had arrived there in Flying Fish Cove on Thursday 17th, picking up the last available buoy before the rafting up and anchoring for the fleet behind us. Australian Border Force were there in a customs 'cutter' and boarded us all for clearances both in and out. Their scouting plane had been in touch with some boats about 100 miles out - probably no coincidence that this is around where the presence of the Indonesian fishing boats that we encountered night and day radically diminished!

Our last night at sea en route to Christmas Island from Lombok was magically memorable for the two hour spell when we crossed a patch of (what we have since googled as) bio-luminescence - luminous plankton or algae. It was like sailing into a sci-fi movie or a scene from Life of Pi- the sea turned milky light green all the way to the horizon where the moonless starlit sky contrasted black - an inversion of the usual night-time tones! Dolphins could be seen completely black illuminated by the water - with the trace of phosphorence outlining their playful paths. It was quite otherworldly and as if there were a giant light source hundreds of metres below. We checked in the morning for validation from Wayward Wind in our wake - pleased to say they saw the same so confirmed that we were not unduly under the influence!

Peter (Skipper)





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