Sri Lanka

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka

Perspective - The island of Sri Lanka is roughly the same size as Tasmania. Sri Lanka has roughly the same population as the whole of Australia - around 22 million.

The search for a good beer was not as difficult as Thailand or Malaysia. There seem to be only three brands; Lion, Three Coins and Carlsberg. The locally brewed Lion larger seems to come in two strengths Larger at 4.8% alcohol and Lion Strong at 8.8% alcohol. After a few of the Strong lager one would defiantly feel the affects of gravity. Alcohol appears to be sold in only a few outlets and also appears to be controlled. The price of a can of 4.8% lager is 120 rupees – less than a dollar.

I visited the old Dutch Fort. Galle was originally colonised by the Portuguese, then the Dutch and finally the British. The Fort itself (World Heritage listed) is a mishmash of inherited architecture from all three former colonial empires.

Dutch Reform Church

Light House

 

Galle Town

I walked around the bustling, chaotic centre of Galle. For predominantly a Buddhist culture there are fair few scams and touts around. It does not take much for someone to come up and ingratiate themselves and give unneeded advice and then asking for a present or money. This was a common theme throughout my travels in Sri Lanka and did get a bit wearing.

Unawatuna

I visited Unawatuna briefly with many small tourist resorts and many people from all parts of the world. The beach there is allegedly the fourteenth best beach in the world, so I was told by the three wheel tuk tuk driver Gorin who knows everything about anything.

I was suffering cabin fever being on the boat and rocking around in the swells in the harbour. I attempted some maintenance jobs on Sadiqi – still trying to stop the leaks coming through the deck and coach house. The heat here is another story it is hot and humid and it's only spring.

I had asked one of the Tuk Tuk drivers for a quote for a tour to the town of Kandy for just two days. The Mojombos had done a similar tour for 6 days. The quote for just me, mini bus, driver, accommodation, and breakfast was US$410.00. I decided to go it alone.

Sadiqi along side Mojombo in calmer waters in the harbour

 It was time to try and get lost in Sri Lanka. With Gary and Vicki on "Mojombo" keeping a close eye on Sadiqi it felt safe to travel. Trying to get lost is becoming increasingly more difficult with fancy android mobile phones. And no, I don't have an iPhone.

On 20/3/12 at 6.30 I left boat. Bus to Colombo cost $2.00 with mad, kamikaze drivers playing chicken with big buses, trucks and Tuk Tuks. The 120 Km drive took 3 hours.

Colombo to Kandy Train

Old Signals

 Then the train to Kandy, 2nd class $2, nice way to travel open window. Tourists travel first class, travellers like me don't.

Bamboo Village looking over Kandy

200Rup Tuk Tuk ride to Travellers Rest guest house. 2,500 Rup or $20/night with hot water. I walked around a green lake Kandy, into the bustling city, then searched for a pub. I met Erica who has been backpacking around Sri Lanka about 5 times and came this time specifically to watch the English verses Sri Lanka cricket test match in Galle.

We had dinner at the Bamboo Village restaurant. Erica has a masters in astrophysics.  There was mention of quarks, bosons, string theory, stuff which I know absolutely nothing about. We both skipped the topic of dark matter. It was a very entertaining evening.  

On 21/3/12 not being that impressed with Kandy it was time to move on. The train was full so I sat in door way for part of the trip. We Arrived at Noyn oya and got a lift to Nuwara Eliya  and stayed at the King Fern owned by Rastafarian Nishantha. This was recommended by the Lonely Planet Guide. It was a great place to chill out it being pretty cold at night. I had to go and buy some tracksuit pants it was so cold. It was great sitting by the fire in the evenings and a little odd being so close to the equator. I could have stayed there a week - great hot shower, very comfortable bed, best sleep I'd had in months. I wondered around the pretty town avoiding tourist buses and the places frequented by them. There are several lovely golf courses, tea estates, vegetable and fruit farms, huge gum tree and pine plantations. Total cost 2 nights Rp8500 or $65 with meals. Another nice place to stay apparently is The Trevene. It was the proprietor of the Threvene who picked me up at the station and recommended the accommodation in Ella. All the people I had asked information were very helpful.

Produce

 

Golf Course

Tea Plantation

 The next town to visit was Ella. 3rd class train ticket cost almost 50 cents

The train travel experience was put into perspective. The train was 2 hours late, a freight train with 5 gasoline tankers and 2 third class passenger wagons - standing room only. It was an hour before the train left the station. The thought of another 4 hours standing did not really appeal to my already fragile sense of humour. It was with relief I managed to get a seat after an hour or so. I met Philip and Franca from Switzerland also backpacking around Sri Lanka.  There were stunning views from the train. The smell of petrol vapour and fumes was not so good - no idea why people sniff the stuff, gave me a lousy headache. I stayed at the Ella Holiday Inn – 2,500 Rups at night.

Ella was beautiful and small. I phoned Mojombo to see if it was ok to stay another day. All was fine on little Sadiqi.

Ella Station

Tea Plantation - Ella

Nine Arches Railway Bridge

 I walked to The View looking south toward the coast between Ella Rock and Little Adams Peak. The next day I walked up Little Adams Peak then in the afternoon walked the train tracks to the Nine Arches rail bridge. Kept thinking of the Steven King movie Stand By Me with some of the songs from the great sound tracks from the 50s and 60s going through my head.

After 5 days it was time to get back to the boat in Galle. At 700am I squeezed onto the bus heading to Matara – standing room only. Standing for 4 hours was character building. Again it was with considerable relief that I managed to get a seat about an hour before our destination. The bus ride along the coast to Galle was spectacular – beautiful beaches. Sadiqi had been well looked after by Zeke on Mojombo.

  

Sri Lanka verses England Cricket in Galle.

Cricket in Galle

A few days after arriving back on the boat we received a notice from the Port Captain that we had to move back to the breakwater as there was a large passenger ship coming into the harbour. This didn't go down well and was the fifth time I'd moved in this damn harbour. I anchored far enough away from the pontoons to use the dingy to get to and from the boat. I was really looking forward to leaving Galle Harbour.

Galle Harbour, Sri Lanka

Galle harbour has a large military presence a hangover from the Tamil Tiger war days. Someone just forget to tell the military that the war's over. Then again what does a government do with all the military personnel after active service. I picked up a pass for the gate from Customs and paid harbour and agency fees with Windsor Reef Navigation. I met Marlin from Marlin Yacht Services who pretty much supplies everything to the yachties, a very affable fellow. 

On returning the yacht I was alarmed by the surge and movement of the plastic jetty. Several of the other yachties were moving their boats to another more sheltered part of the harbour. I should have followed! The big rusting hulk of a boat next to me moved and re-anchored closer to Sadiqi as their anchor had dragged. Little Sadiqi was med moored between a rushing hulk from Israel and  large Ferro cement boat registered in Vanuatu.

Between a brick and a hard place on the Yacht Pontoon at Galle

In the evening I head a loud thump and crack as Sadiqi's stern hit the plastic pontoons. The rudder had hit the pontoon and had shattered the tiller. This is a fairly substantial bit of teak 50mm x 50mm. My sense of humour absconded followed by a stream of profanities! This was serious. Sadiqi was now disabled and not going anywhere. I was hoping that the rudder itself had not been damaged. In my addled, sleep deprived state I tried to think of solutions for the problem. I managed to rig a short length of wood on the tiller to stop the rudder from flogging itself to bits in the serge. I then set about gluing the tiller together to make a template and also, hopefully, to be able to use it to get to a more protected place in the morning.

Make shift Tiller and glued Tiller

Fortunately the swell causing the surge in the harbour had abated by morning, somewhat. I had used B-Anchor (CQR) to hold Sadiqi off the makeshift jetty. B-Anchor had been just that and not performed. I shall be looking to get a replacement and it won't be a CQR type anchor. I swam under the boat to see what damage had been done to the rudder. I was relieved that the only damage appeared to be chips of fibreglass and bottom paint off the upper trailing edge. I was very relieved as had there been any damage I would have had to have the boat hauled out of the water. Galle harbour was not the best place to do that.

Galle Harbour

Late morning I was roused from a deep nap by a loud thump. "Oh no not again!" and rushed out to see if the plastic jetty had hit Sadiqi or Sadiqi had hit the jetty. No, it was the Navy doing some exercises with explosives on the other side of the breakwater. Talk about ground shaking when the explosive thump comes through the hull of the boat a bit disconcerting. I can only hope that it upsets the barnacles on the bottom of the boat. It did upset a few fish as quite a few where floating around later in the day to add to the rest of the rubbish floating in the harbour.

On a lighter note Australia was playing Sri Lanka cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground MCG. The Sri Lankan's are very passionate about their cricket. Fortunately for me and not the aussies, Sri Lanka won the first match – best of three. This lead to some big smiles from the Sri Lankans who knew I was Australian. By the way, what I know about cricket can be considered dangerous. The Australians won the second match and apparently it was a very good game. So the bets went down as to who will win the final game and by how many runs. Well wouldn't you know the bloody Aussies Won! I have to be very circumspect greeting the security guards at the gate.

I would not say that Galle Harbour was busy. The only shipping trade was several medium sized ships that loaded or offloaded aggregate for the near by cement plant. The other activity was taking security personnel to and from the ships that where heading to and from the Red Sea. A whole new industry has emerged as a result of the pirate activity around the Somalia coast.

1 Australian Dollare (AUD) = around 130 Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR)

I met John, originally from France, another solo sailor at 72 years old and he has been pretty much been sailing on his own in his 29 foot boat "Anatoli" for the last 11 years. I was able to help him with some mechanical problems on his engine as he is not the most practical person having been a school philosophy teacher in his working life. I do get to meet some very interesting characters.

Other yachties who I have mixed with in Galle Harbour:

Gerry "Liberty"  Switzerland

Stephen and Karen -  "White Wizard" - Newport, Belgium

Brian and Dorothy -  "Tagish" – Vancouver, Canada

Gary, Vicki, Zeke and Nina – "Mojombo" – Tasmania, Australia

John-  "Anatoli" – La Rochel, France

John, from Anatoli, and I walked into Galle for lunch. The general atmosphere of the place is that I have slipped back into the twentieth Century. There are hundreds of little three wheel tuk tuks about. The cacophony of traffic, horns, shouting and the pace of the place is chaotic and loud. 

I tried to arrange to get the anchor and chain regalvanised in Colombo. This was done through Marlin Yacht services, emails have been sent several times, phone calls made and alas time moves on with no advice or information. Sadiqi's foredeck is going a rusty orange colour from the rust bleeding from the anchor chain. This is a job I should have done in Thailand before I left. I didn't thinking the job would not be done before I had to leave Thailand.  

Generally, Galle harbour is a very unimpressive place. The toilets and showers are just over a kilometre walk. The surge in the harbour is horrendous. I really feel for Sadiqi. My sense of humour is still lurking elsewhere. I get thrown around the cabin as Sadiqi dances about in the surges and fights the restraints of forward anchor and stern lines to the pontoons. I can think of a lot of places I'd rather be. It makes me appreciate the better places I have had the opportunity to visit.

One week after arriving in Galle I picked up my new Tiller. I had given a carpenter the old glued tiller as a template. They did a pretty impressive job making the new tiller out of teak – total coast around AU$50.00. I shall keep it as a spare if the old tiller breaks.

With the old tiller attached to the rudder I moved yet again to hopefully a better place in the harbour. I tied up along side "Mojombo" a 42 foot Wauquiez with Gary, Vicki, Zeke (12) and Nina (9) onboard. I have to take the dingy ashore, which means that my rudder will not be smashed to pieces by the plastic pontoons.  It was such a relief to move away from the break water – now I can sleep again.

The Karma side of the harbour

Thailand to Sri Lanka

Good bye Thailand

Departed Nai Yang: Sunday 19-02-12 11.30

Lat: 08 59.59N

Lon: 098 17.66E

Log  4555.3 Nm

Bearing: 265 Deg  M

Winds: Not much from anywhere.

With a deep breath, a little nervous apprehension and anticipation I hauled the anchor and headed west. Since leaving Langkawi in December it has been a waiting game principally for the right weather. There was very little wind from anywhere with no improvement for the rest of the week until I get further offshore.  It was going to be a slow start. Everything seems to be working. Smithy (WindPilot) is on the helm and happily following the winds as fickle as they are.

Noon 20-02-12 Monday

Time: 12.00L +7UTC 

Lat: 07 59.27N

Lon: 097 02.31E

Log  4622.5 Nm

Bearing: 264 Deg  M

Winds: 10 – 12 Kts ESE

75 Nm since leaving Nai Yang. Winds improved though the night and early morning.

Spent the night dodging ships – AIS is a very handy tool.

Noon 21-02-12 Tuesday

Time: 12.00L UTC+7 

Lat: 07 55.20N

Lon: 096 03.39E

Log  4668.7 Nm

Bearing: 264 Deg  M

Winds: 5 Kts WNW

Frustrating – very little wind and usually from the wrong direction.

54 Nm sailed in the last 24. I managed to get some good sleep while the boat did circles, going nowhere slowly.

Smithy on the helm at sunrise

Noon 22-02-12 Wednesday

Time: 12.00L UTC+7 

Lat: 07 48.55N

Lon: 095 09.17E

Log  4731.5 Nm

Bearing: 264 Deg  M

Winds: 8 - 10 Kts NE

57 Miles sailed in the last 24 hours. Lack of wind making for another slow night going in circles. I flew Big Bertha the asymmetrical spinnaker for 8 hours until 20.00 hours fantastic sailing in light winds. At midnight the sails were slatting so much in the choppy seas that I dropped all sails and went to sleep. Wind has tended to be from aft, which has meant gybing down wind to get a good wind angle. I have been in HF radio contact with Brian on "Tagish" from Vancouver, Canada. They are heading in the same direction as I am and are about 3 days sail ahead. 

Big Bertha sailing into the sunset

 Time:  23/02/12 09.50L UTC+7 Thursday

Lat: 07 37.39N

Lon: 093 39.91E

Log  4806.3 Nm

Winds: 8 - 10 Kts NNE

We transited Sombrero Channel. Sadiqi sailing well. I chose the Sombrero Channel between the Nicobar Islands as it may have less shipping traffic. There were no ships. The cook managed to conjure up fried egg, bacon and tomato on toast followed by marmalade on toast and a cup of tea. I was called on VHF by Gary on "Mojombo", UK registered, who spotted me ahead just after sunrise. Good to have a little company. They are also heading to Sri Lanka.

Noon 23-02-12 Thursday

Time: 12.00L UTC+7 

Lat: 07 48.55N

Lon: 095 09.17E

Log  4731.5 Nm

Bearing: 263 Deg  M

Winds: 10 - 12 Kts NE

Great days sailing. 109 miles sailed. For 6 hours at night only had the number 3 headsail up to slow down so as not to transit the Sombrero channel at night. Sadiqi has crossed the Andaman Sea and has entered the Bay of Bengal.

Noon 24-02-12 Friday

Time: 12.00L UTC+6 

Lat: 07 19.72N

Lon: 091 10.61E

Log:  4909.9 Nm

Bearing: 264 Deg  M

Winds: 8 - 10 Kts NNE

Another great days sailing with 128.7 Nm sailed in 25 hours. There was an extra hour added to the day with the clocks being changed to UTC+6 hours. Time change - 1 hour for every 15 degrees of longitude (360/24 = 15). The company of yacht "Mojombo" was short as they had overhauled Sadiqi and sailed into the sunset before the end of the day. Size matters – well water line length makes all the difference to boat speed. Mojombo is 40 feet and Sadiqi 30 feet. 

Noon 25-02-12 Saturday

Time: 12.00L UTC+6 

Lat: 07 00.77N

Lon: 089 23.38E

Log:  4987.3 Nm

Bearing: 264 Deg  M

Winds: 10 - 12 Kts NNE

It had been another great sail with boat speed up to 6.5 Knots with 108.3 Nm sailed in 24 hours.

It was an interesting night. I had noticed the build up of storm clouds to the south with flashes of lightening and sound of distant thunder. Alas, it appeared that we would converge. At 1.00am I was rudely awoken to the sound of thunder, sails slatting and banging in little wind. The calm before the storm! It was an extremely dark night no stars, no moon. There was more than enough retina searing lightening and loud, earth shaking thunder all about. One of my worst nightmares could be realised the boat getting struck by lightening and loosing all the electrics and electronics. The deluge that followed was amazing. Both boat and I had a thorough washing. I set up the 20 litre water containers at the mast to catch the rain from the mainsail and boom. In less than half an hour I had 40 litres of water. I had a smile, while sitting in the cold rain, when for a very brief moment, I did ponder the alternative of sitting in rush hour traffic in a short term car park, otherwise called a motorway or freeway or being out here. You'd have to search on "Freeway" on this blog to see the reference.

After resetting Smithy for the lighter winds I took my cold damp carcase to bed. I was roused again from a very sound sleep with the sound of slatting sails. "Oh no. Not again!" I said, or words to that affect. 5.00am and the winds had dropped to almost nothing. It was not raining and there were a few stars about. I reset the sails and Smithy and returned to bed.

Noon 26-02-12 - Sunday

Time: 12.00L UTC+6 

Lat: 06 48.53N

Lon: 087 42.45E

Log:  5072.2 Nm

Bearing: 264 Deg  M

Winds: 5 - 8 Kts SE

Not the best day distance wise with 100 Nm – still a good day. It has been interesting watching the swells. There has been a large languid swell (3 metres) with very long wave length from the south west and a short, choppy, turgid swell (2 metres) from the prevailing wind direction north east. When the current turns and goes against the wind the seas become distinctly nasty, the boat bounces around uncomfortably and makes the sails slat regardless of the wind strength.

Noon 27-02-12 - Monday

Time: 12.00L UTC+6 

Lat: 06 41.35N

Lon: 085 45.37E

Log:  5151.2 Nm

Bearing: 262 Deg  M

Winds: 5 - 8 Kts ENE

116 miles sailed in the 24 hour period.

I saw whales in the evening. At first I thought it was a dolphin leaping out of the water in the distance. Getting closer I could see that these were a lot bigger than dolphins. There may have been about 10, large, mostly black, with a long, narrow, tapering, swept back dorsal fin. They were happy playing with themselves leaving me alone.

0500 another early wake up call. I heard some rain and felt that something was not right. Once the brain engaged I found that Sadiqi was heading east. Smithy the windvane had faithfully followed the 180 degree wind shift. Smithy has no wires, no computers etc. he has no idea where he is or where he's going – he steers to the wind that he is set to. Fortunately, we had not gone too far. To be able to tell if the wind has shifted and Smithy maybe heading off course I use the cross track error (XTE) on the chart plotter (GPS). If the boat sails more than 2 miles off course then an alarm goes off. However, with the wind shift of 180 degrees there was no cross track error.

Half an hour after resetting the boat on the right course – west – the wind dropped altogether. I started up the motor and motored west charging the batteries.

Noon 28-02-12 - Tuesday

Time: 12.00L UTC+6 

Lat: 06 35.31N

Lon: 084 19.77E

Log:  5202.2 Nm

Bearing: 261 Deg  M

Winds: Not much from the west.

Not a great day sailing wise - 85 miles sailed and motored. It was a long night with the wind, what there was of it, coming from west. The wind picked up to about 8 knots from the north during the morning. There were storm cells all around and distant sounds of grumbling thunder. The boat is rolling around so much, wind indicator at the top of the mast is behaving like a demented mutt chasing it's tail. It didn't do much for my demeanour either.

Noon 29-02-12 - Wednesday

Time: 12.00L UTC+6 

Lat: 06 31.27N

Lon: 083 16.34E

Log:  5218.8 Nm

Bearing: 259 Deg  M

Winds: 5 - 8 Kts SSW

Another long day and night – pulling the sails up and pulling them down – I lost count of how many times. The wind was very capricious. I even tried Big Bertha the asymmetrical spinnaker hardly fluttered the petticoat. Four hours before sunrise I pulled the sails down and went to sleep. There was no wind and the confounded slatting of the sails drives me crazy. At first light I started the motor and headed 258 degrees. Just as well there is an extra day in the year this year.

I had the privilege of a dolphin escort at sun rise. A pod of about 30 to 40 dolphins played in Sadiqi's bow wave as we motored westwards in almost zero wind.

It was a good day to top up with fuel, bake bread and do chores in the glassy conditions. Fuel used since leaving Ban Nit, Phuket – 35 litres, approximate distance travelled 928 nautical miles. The engine has run for 36 hours.

Baking Bread

 Noon 01-03-12 - Thursday

Time: 12.00L UTC+5.5 

Lat: 06 04.49N

Lon: 081 32.43E

Log:  5242.0 Nm

Bearing: 260 Deg  M

Winds:  < 5 Kts E

There was very little wind. The sea was like deep blue glass with the odd lump or two from the swell. Toward evening I shut the engine down, give it a rest and me a respite from the noise, and went for a swim. The sea is an amazing deep blue and, I guess, deep too at 4,000 metres. Sea temperature is around 29 to 30 degrees Celsius.

I managed to get three hours of peace with out the engine in the early hours of the morning. There was less than 8 knots blowing from the east – it was just enough to keep Sadiqi moving along at 2 to 3 knots. Otherwise, the engine has been pretty much running continually.

A huge pod of dolphins frolicked around the boat early in the morning. There would have been more than 50 covering a wide area. Some of them played in the bow wave, some did somersaults and leaps out of the water in the distance. Great to see and watch.

While having my coffee and breakfast a Sri Lankan fishing boat paid a visit. It must have motored more than 2 miles just to come and say hello and ask for cigarettes and arrack. I had been warned about these opportunistic fishermen – beggars of the sea. I waved politely, told them I did not have any arrack and fortunately they went on their way. 

Sri Lankan Fishing Boat

I changed the time zone for Sri Lanka UTC+5.5 hours. I have gained another half an hour.

I can see Sri Lanka in the distance and a lot of ships. The AIS has been picking up a ships almost continually now. The VHF radio traffic between the ships has also increased with operators confirming position and course to avoid collisions.

02-03-12 – Friday 0800L UTC +5.5

Arrived Galle Harbour, Sri Lanka

Engine: 788.4 Hours

Log:  5274.0 Nm

Winds:  < 5 Kts E most of the time

Lots of ships and lots of small fishing boats as I got closer to the shore.

I hoisted Big Bertha on a starboard tack. This lasted half an hour before the wind shifted further to the east and strengthened. I gybed Big Bertha and off we went the peace and quiet was sensational.

I had to slow the boat down to arrive at Galle in day light. I hoisted the sails again in 5 to 8 knot winds from the east. The boat speed varied through 2 to 5 knots. It was a pleasant drift with a half moon and star studded sky. 

At 23.30 I was abreast of Dondra Head the southern most tip of Sri Lanka. I had to dodge many small fishing boats. I was to discover that some of them fish in pairs with a gill net between .

I went a little too close to one pair of boats, not between them, and snagged a net on the rudder skeg dragging the two boats behind Sadiqi. All the one bloke to say was "fishing net damaged" repeatedly, hoping for big compensation. I furled the headsail and hauled in the mainsheet tight. By this time one of the boats was banging against the port aft quarter of Sadiqi. I lowered the swim ladder and hopped over the side to try and un-snag the net. Eventually I succeeded and we went our separate ways. I think they were a little surprised that I got into the water so quickly. Sadiqi suffered a few scratches on the topsides and rubbing strake from the fishing boat banging into it.

About 20 miles before Galle the fishing boats started to thin out and I was able to get a little sleep. The sounds, sights and smell of land were distinctive. The sounds of music blaring from what I can only assume were holiday resorts, the coast line lit up with lights and the smell of wood smoke and exhaust fumes. I was only drifting about a mile to 2 off the coast with the wind, what little of there was, was coming off the shore.

At 8.00 I called up Windsor Reef Navigation to act as agents to clear into Sri Lanka. I also called Port Control to ask for clearance. I was told to anchor near the harbour entrance, not in the channel, and wait for Navy clearance to arrive. The anchorage was very rolly not comfortable at all. I was then ask to move to a slightly more sheltered anchorage so the Navy could come onboard and give clearance to enter the harbour. Even with the new manual anchor windlass I was starting the have a sense of humour failure. The navy came on board and apparently I was not seen as a security threat and I was able to enter the harbour. I was told to tie up to the wharf and pick up the agent and the navy to disembark. I was not happy about tying up to the wharf with the surge in the harbour. The agent, Casson, capitulated and said I should go where the other yachts were. The other yachts were moored with bow anchor and stern tied to a plastic leggo like structure that looked totally inadequate for the job. This is called Mediterranean mooring and something that I had never done before. This was not easy to do single handed. The agent and his assistant were not much use on boat handling. Fortunately there were two people on the plastic dock to catch the stern lines.

The docking arrangement was going to get more interesting due to the huge surge in the harbour. I still had the nightmare of bureaucracy to go through. Immigration officials turned up in the full uniform and inspected the boat, then customs arrived again with the full regalia. The whole process with the assistance from the agent took hours with a forest full of forms and paper work to fill out. And of course, there were the requests for cigarettes and alcohol. I had bought duty free cigarettes in Langkawi for this very reason.

I walked out of the harbour grounds which has 24 hour security to the Agents office to pay fees etc. The fee for staying in Galle harbour, agents fee, visa etc for one month is US$235.00.

It took almost 13 days since leaving Thailand. The route distance from Nai Yang, Thailand, through Sombrero Channel, Nicobar Islands, Dondra Head and Galle, Sri Lanka was 1085 nautical miles. The engine was run for 66 hours for charging batteries and when the winds were too little to drive the boat. All in all it was a good trip other than the lack of wind toward at the start and at the end. It would appear that the wind becomes very fickle within 5 degrees of the equator. I would more than likely experience similar conditions to that I had experienced when sailing/motoring off the west coat of Sumatra in 2010. 

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