Then, Middle Brother, one of the Three Brothers. A paradise for birds, especially the booby with red feet. We spent 24 unforgettable hours there, no more since the access is now forbidden, the island has been declared a natural reserve.
One month later, we were anchored in front of the island "île du coin" in the atoll of Peros Banhos. We went to our first "pot luck" on the beach with a dozen of yachties.
21 days later, after some very nice walks to see the remains of the town and after some wonderful fishing (groupers mainly), we decided to cruise 25 miles to the Salomon atoll, the most popular in the archipelago.
The authorities of the BIOT mentionned that they counted up to 61 boats in the atoll in May 2002. Fortunately, we arrived early June and many of them were already gone either to The Seychelles or to Thailand.
On the island of Boddam, the social life is starting every day at 4:00 pm with Beach Volley then the evening drink and the BBQ on the beach.
We were also invited for a BBQ on board of the "Pacific Marlin", the red boat of the Fisheries Patrol which controls the respect of fishing licences in the Chagos archipelago.
3 months after our arrival, on June 20, 2002 we decided it was time to leave our new friends (some of them we will see again in Asia) and those superbe islands to cruise to Thailand..
The beginning of the passage was not an easy one under a permanent grey sky and plenty of squalls (an “El Niño” year).
We crossed the equator on June 23 at 11:02 pm in squalls with winds up to 50 knots and plenty of rain (back to the northern hemisphere, maybe). In the next days, the clear skies and the light breeze allowed us to use the spinnacker, a great way to "make miles".i
In total, 1.950 nautical miles from Chagos to Phuket in Thailand. This is our longest passage so far. It's also our "First" in Asia and we will tell you all about it.
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Minuit in Egmont
Middle Brother
Fish on the grill in Peros
Beach volley
Cruising to Thailand