Cutting the Dragon's Tail

by Lynda Chidell

  Many things happened to us during our two week stay at Diego Garcia. We were on their local tv station news. We had a request played on the radio station for Peter and Barry back at Boddam (we knew Peter would be listening). We lent the authorities various magazine articles we carried on board, full of information about the Illois people who used to live on the islands. These were photocopied avidly and passed around. We helped with the repair work, although just about all of this was efficiently and effectively done by the professionals.

  I asked the Navy medic what could be done about a verruca David had on his foot which was causing him a degree of pain. 'Cut it out with your scalpel',I was told. David, there at the time, asked whether or not there would be an anaesthetic. 'Of course not,' said the medic. Turning to me again he continued: 'Use the scalpel like a corkscrew and you will know you have got it when he starts to yell and bleeds like a stuck pig.’

  This operation was duly carried out with David desperately trying to prove he was as tough as any Royal Marine. The operation was performed on the wheelhouse settee with Tony standing guard on the wheelhouse roof to warn off any potential onlookers. The best thing that can be said about the entire episode is that we must have got it all out as David had no further problems with it and there is no scar.

  Perhaps I have already said more than I should have done about BillsBoat Basin. We did honour their request that we say nothing about Diego Garcia whilst we were in Sri Lanka understandably they did not want a flood of boats seeking repairs. But years later I feel our time there can safely be mentioned. The authorities were so incredibly good to us. We owe them so much, there is little we can do to express our thanks. It wasn't actually the last we saw of the Marines. They called on us at Salomon Atoll a short while after our departure from Diego Garcia. We were able to reciprocate on some of their hospitality, throwing a party on Tin Hau. They brought plenty of crushed ice so the beers were cold. Barry didn't disappoint us either - a couple of taps on the bread board and he showed up, keen to meet our new friends.

  We set sail late in the afternoon of 14th March, back to Boddam where we planned to spend another three weeks until the winds changed. Predictably, the wind was adverse, but it was not particularly strong. With some use of the engine we had reached the entrance of Salomon Atoll by twenty-five minutes to midday on the 16th. Once again the Chagos Bank was interesting and exciting. We sighted whales, sharks and dolphins, as well as numerous sea birds.

  The return to our atoll was like returning home after a long journey. Peter was still there at Boddam, and Barry took up station below us as soon as we had anchored. The only difference was that there were two other boats, one anchored off Ile de Passe and one off Ile Takamaka. Later, one of them vanished overnight, presumably to Peros Banhos. The other eventually moved over to our anchorage. On board were Frank and Elise, Canadian couple who had been cruising for some years. We stayed on long enough to be able to help Elise celebrate her birthday. Our gift to her was a jar of Boddam-made lemon curd (and a recipe to enable her to make more). The lack of shopping facilities certainly made for unusual gifts and bartering arrangements. We had already traded beers (ours) for potatoes (Peter's). Frank and Elise asked us to post mail for them when we reached our next port of call. In exchange I was given a lovely pair of silver and sea-urchin-spine earrings made aboard Ouais Ouais (their boat).

  We are often asked how we occupied our time when not fishing or foraging for food or tackling the never ending list of boat jobs. One of our more enjoyable activities was beachcombing. There were all sorts of interesting items washed up on the seaward facing beaches. Sadly, however, some of the these beaches were also strewn with the most appalling man-made litter - rubbish that had obviously originated from Indonesia or from the Malay peninsula, well over a thousand miles to the east.

  Peter decided it would be worth his while bringing one of the large and very well seasoned teak logs from this area across the reef and into the lagoon. This teak log had presumably broken free of a log raft up some river in Burma and had been brought by the currents to the atoll. Some one to one and a half metres in diameter and between three and four metres long, it was an exercise in ingenuity to drag it round the islet. Tony was a willing helper in this venture. Once the log was dragged on to the beach in the lagoon, the two of them proceeded to drive wedges into the end grain in order to split it into crude planks. These were eventually put aboard Shahla, taken to Mauritius and machined into proper teak strips. We later heard (the yottie grapevine is infallible) that Peter had decked Shahla with these. It was an enterprise that kept two people happily occupied for ages and improved the value and appearance of Peter's boat no end.

  At some point, on one of his logging jaunts, Peter had left a tog bag open on the beach. A while later he realised he had carried a mouse back to Shahla in the bag. The mouse caused untold havoc aboard, eating its way through the bases of innumerable pots of long-life yoghurt, chewing through the rubber seal of the liferaft canister, and breaking into and urinating over all of Peter's tea bags. Hours of planning went into each attempt to catch the miscreant but when Peter finally came face to face with it, he was unable to kill it. In his words, it was 'too pretty'. I cannot recall how he eventually captured it, but he did and was able to return it to the island alive.

  Our own pest problem was a plague of cockroaches. We had unknowingly moved a colony aboard, in the form of eggs, from the Seychelles. We discovered them on our voyage when they were still few in number and small in size. By the time we reached the atoll, we had what could be termed a fairly severe infestation and they were breeding at a fantastic rate. One of the things we requested of the Brits during our first contact with them was some form of pest control to combat the plague. On overhearing our radio plea, Peter announced that he had an Australian silo fumigator which might do the trick. He kindly gave us his only smoke bomb, which we used with great effect. The morning after we fumigated, I picked up three hundred and sixty (yes, I counted) dead cockroaches. That bomb was so effective that we had no further problems.

  As you can see, a great deal of time was spent dealing with things like this. The rest of the hours in the day were given over to our personal interests - in my case, the collecting of shells, mainly beachings. I cleaned, labelled and classified hundreds of collected specimens, as well as making pen and ink drawings of the islands and some of the flora and fauna that helped to support our existence there.

  David enjoyed his sailboard for quite a while. He would have continued to do so had he not become aware on one occasion that he was being shadowed by a shark at least the length of his board. How he ever made it back to Tin Hau with his knees knocking as they were (and without falling into the jaws of the shark below) we shall never know. After that he was reluctant to risk too much boardsailing.

  Looking back on it all, even the hard work was fun in that environment. Had we been on our own, and had Tin Hau been more prepared for it (for example, we could have done without the necessity of the weekly hull scrub), David and I might well be castaways on our semi-desert island to this day.

  The decision Tony made to help us out of our difficulties had been at considerable cost to himself and his family. Initially we had hoped to be able to give him the holiday of a lifetime in return for all that he had done to see our dream become a reality. His reward for his labours and loyalty was instead to be virtually marooned on an uninhabited island. It must have been a severe shock to his system. We, after all, had chosen and prepared for the life that cruising entailed. Tony had had no such preparation, and had just come along for the ride, as it were. It is to his credit that he managed to cope so well. In spite of our widely divergent interests and temperaments we got on very well together. It couldn't have been much fun being the spare wheel at times. Whenever we got too much for him or he felt he needed space, he took himself off to spend a few hours with Peter. When we hear some of the stories owners tell of their horrific experiences with crew it makes us realise how incredibly luc
ky we were with Tony. The only time irritation was openly expressed was when Tony remarked to David that had I been a man he would have hit me! I don't think he was used to dealing with bossy females.

  Before we departed from Salomon for ever, we spent a few days at anchor in the passage between Takamaka and Fouquet islands. This was purely for pleasure - to enjoy a change of scenery and rest ourselves before setting out on the next leg of our journey. As usual, David had chosen the date for our departure to coincide with the full moon, thus giving us the benefit of natural night illumination for the start of the eight hundred and fifty mile haul to Sri Lanka. We set off at twenty minutes past nine in the morning on 9th April.

  6. Onwards to Sri Lanka

  During our first few days out of Salomon Atoll we had enough wind to carry us in the direction we wished to go. We covered the ground very slowly, with wind strengths varying from force one to force three. We ghosted along under sail in quite calm seas. Every now and then we chose to improve progress by using the engine.

  On the fourth day we picked up the breeze we had been waiting for - a force three to four south-westerly. It lasted only twenty-four hours before dying again. At this point we could have put in to the Maldives to wait for the south-westerlies to strengthen. The nearest island, Gan, was only thirty miles to the west. Officially, however, the sole port of entry was on the island of Malé two hundred and fifty miles away. We decided to give the Maldive islands a miss. They would have been very like Chagos, with one difference - people. The Maldives had a reputation which reminded us of the Seychelles - the officials were reputed to be most unwelcoming towards visiting yachts. Tempting as Gan was, we did not want to run the risk of being arrested as spies.

  On 13th April at sunset we celebrated a great event we crossed the equator. At the same time as we entered the northern hemisphere, we enjoyed the sight of a huge rainbow archway. By night we could still see the Southern Cross and the other stars of the southern skies that had grown so familiar, but we were also beginning to pick up some of the well known northern constellations such as the Plough. A few days later we sighted the Pole Star itself.

  We spent Easter Day (19th April) hove-to, completely stationary. What little wind there had been had died out. We watched a school of dolphins race by. Ten minutes earlier we had been staring in amazement at a school of smaller fish just below Tin Hau swimming round and round in a tight anti-clockwise circle. Why were they doing that? Another mystery for us to solve.

  By the thirteenth day (21st April), we were heartily sick of drifting in mid-ocean. Where were the prevailing westerlies? Tony, in particular, wanted to get to our destination. So on went the engine, and we started to eat up the miles. Galle was only two hundred miles away.

  Our approach to Sri Lanka was hectic. At 10 p.m. on 23rd April, Dondra Head and Barberyn lighthouses were sighted and positively identified. Galle was fifty miles dead ahead. The weather started to deteriorate as we entered one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. There were ships and trawlers heading in and out of the Sri Lankan ports, together with ships bound to and from the Persian Gulf, Suez, India and Singapore. Visibility conditions worsened rapidly. The rain bucketed down.

  By dawn the rain had stopped and we could see the land clearly with all its various features. We were five miles away from the coast, and the view of Sri Lanka in the early morning light was magnificent. All the mountains and hills in varying shades of blue and purple with streaks of mist swirling around and over everything. Once again, as in Mauritius, it took a while to get our bearings. Eventually it was decided we had overshot the entrance to Galle and we had to backtrack southwards a few miles. We were close enough to the shore to be surrounded by fishing canoes. These were dugouts with outriggers powered by four or five men wielding oars. It surprised us to find such frail looking craft so far offshore - the swell and the waves that distance out were quite big. All the boats were very brightly painted in primary colours. The crews greeted us with beaming, friendly smiles.

  7. Back to the Bustling World

  We had no success in contacting the authorities on the VHF, so we made our way into the harbour and picked up a mooring. As soon as we had everything shipshape we sat down to await the arrival of the officials. We waited. And we waited. Realising that we were not going to be visited, David and Tony went ashore to report our presence at the customs office and went to meet Don Windsor, the yacht agent. He made arrangements for all our clearance procedures to be handled the following day and handed David a stack of mail he had been keeping for our arrival. The chaps brought all of this back to the boat, and we settled into a two hour session of catching up with all our family and friends - interrupted only by the need to have a meal. Don had thoughtfully provided some fresh fruit and vegetables.The following morning David reported at the jetty to collect the shore-bound officials who had arrived to effect our clearance. This was accomplished quickly despite the thousand and one forms we had to process - a legacy, we were informed, of the British occupation. The doctor arrived under his own steam, and once his formalities were completed we were free to go ashore.

  Our first few days in Sri Lanka were spent having a hasty and superficial look at Galle and the fort. We discovered that international money transfers could not be handled locally and, as Tony was anxious to be off, we organised a trip to Colombo to arrange finances and a ticket home. We said farewell to Tony in Colombo and he flew out the next day. One of Don's sons, Moditha, had driven us the seventy-two miles to Colombo in the family minibus. This was a hair-raising experience I refused to repeat during our stay in Sri Lanka. Generally driving was of a very poor standard, but his was the worst. Overtaking on blind rises and solid lines, and travelling at high speeds on wet, slippery surfaces was too

  much for me.

  A chronological account of our seven months in Sri Lanka would be a pointless exercise. It would be far better to recount incidents and anecdotes. I think I should introduce Don Windsor before I do anything else, because I will be referring to him from time to time.

  Don was a Sinhalese businessman with every finger in one pie or another. He was a charming gentleman who took great pride in his unofficial title of 'Yotties friend'. Everything he did for the yachtsman carried a (hidden) service charge of ten per cent, and this earned him the subtitle 'Ten per cent agent' His family had, for several generations, been ardent admirers of the British royal family. The name Windsor had been adopted by Don's great-grandfather at the time of his baptism into the Christian faith. When we met him, Don was a very active sixty-two year-old with a wide knowledge and understanding of world affairs. A throne-like chair was strategically placed on the veranda of his home and surrounded by chairs for his 'courtiers'. He had an almost photographic memory, and was willing to sit and hold forth on just about any subject his audience saw fit to choose. He was available day and night to sort out the problems of people far and wide. He was a Justice of the Peace, and was regularly called upon in that capacity too. His family handled all manner of yacht related activities and provided all sorts of services including meals, laundry, sail repairs, carpentry, mechanical work and so on. No job was too small to handle, Don had the biggest ego of any human being we'e ever met and took great pride in everything that had ever been written about him, whether good, bad or indifferent. He kept a scrapbook full of cuttings relating to himself and his activities. Articles had been sent to him from the four corners of the earth. I know he sounds larger than life, but he had to be seen to be believed.

  Our first few weeks following Tony's departure saw us busy tackling the usual endless list of boat jobs. They always mount up on a long voyage and our experiences thus far in the Indian Ocean had taught us that the sooner they were done after arrival in a new port, the more we could relax in the knowledge that we were ready to put to sea at a moment's notice, if necessary. We had been assured we could stay as long as we liked just as long as we paid our harbour dues (US $66 per month) and agent's fees (US $25 per month). There was also
an initial fee of US$31.

  Sri Lanka considered itself to be a developing nation. Having lived in a real developing country for some years, I would prefer to describe what I saw and experienced of Sri Lanka as a re-developing nation. The country has a history which goes back to around 500 bc. It has seen colonial rule three times, first under the Portuguese, then the Dutch, and finally the British. Each of these left a mark. The fort at Galle had architectural samples from each period in a good state of preservation. The fort itself was added to and modified during each phase of colonial rule. When we saw it, the fort area was used mainly as a business and office district and had a quiet dignity quite unlike the bustle that assaulted one elsewhere. In the new town area there was a confused mixture of noises, sights and smells that left one fighting for breath. Apart from the very modern post office building with its electronic equivalent of Big Ben all the buildings were of indefinite date and parentage. Some attempted to be modern. Others were dilapidated centenarians. Everywhere were crowded shops with goods spilling out on to the pavements in wild profusion. At closing time, one took pity on the assistant whose duty it was to cram everything back inside. When visiting these shops, it was almost impossible to weave one's way between the sacks of rice, lentils and other grains and spices which cluttered the floor. Once having negotiated that obstacle course, we had further difficulty seeing the contents of the shelves along the walls.

  There were one or two yachts already in the harbour, and we quickly got acquainted with their crews. Yotties are always helpful when new yachts arrive, particularly in directing new arrivals towards the best bargains and places to have work done. One of these was an Irish girl who had been some time in Sri Lanka learning about acupuncture and homeopathy. She and I became friendly and I was glad to have her as a guide for the few days she had left before sailing to Thailand. It was she who took me down the coast to Unawatoona and introduced me to the owner of the vegetarian restaurant and also to a British ex-architect turned Buddhist monk who was running a mission station there. On the same day we went further down the coast to the home and workshops of Dr and Mrs Da Silva of Habaraduwa. These introductions all played an important part in our life in Sri Lanka. Mary had met these friends through her studies in Colombo. Both she and Ozren (her Yugoslav sailing companion) were qualified doctors who had a serious interest in alternative medicine. They had been studying at a world renowned clinic of acupuncture where Western medical practitioners went if they wished to learn more about Eastern medical practices. During our visit to Chagos I had strained my back and pulled an old injury, and had been suffering some pain. Ozren offered to manipulate me on board Tin Hau and added some acupuncture for good measure. The manipulation was brilliant and got my back into shape in no time. Ozren taught me how to self-manipulate in the event of a recurrence. Apart from providing an amusing subject for David's camera, I don't think the acupuncture was of much value.