Island hopping in the Indian Ocean

An update from Jean-Luc van den Heede's epic voyage

Day 77
Position at 1300: 38°50S / 82°10E
Wind 13 knots from S, slight sea.
Temperatures: day 19°C/ night 13°C/ sea 16°C
Distance covered in the last 24h: 235 miles.
To the Cape of Good Hope 3,083 miles.
Lead over P. Monnet 19 days and 12 h.

Hello

The Indian Ocean is still just as nice! Since passing Cape Leeuwin, I've only had one big blow, and since then it's been fine weather. Moreover, I'm more worried about the calm weather than about storms for the moment, and I'm heading back down towards the south (even if today I had to head back up because of yesterday's SSW winds).

I'll soon be back in the Forties. That won't be much of a holiday. Indeed, at 78° East there are two islands Saint Paul (39S) and Amsterdam (38S). I would have liked to get close to the southern one to look at it. It has an incredible history, which they dealt with once on Thalassa on French TV. Between the Wars, (I'm telling you this from memory, so there may be a few little mistakes), a fishing company decided to take advantage of the many crayfish you can find around this island. It's a volcano crater with just a little entry for low-tonnage vessels. They set up a small colony of around 30 people. After the early years of the business, they decided it wasn't profitable...and they forgot the people on the island. The time it took the families to work out what had happened and charter a boat, there were only two or three survivors left, one of which moreover took part in the programme The forgotten people of St Paul. I would really have liked to have seen this island, if only I hadn't headed back down to the south!

See you on Sunday

JL VDH

A day with the cuddly toy from the SOCA company put on board Adrien by Idée d'image